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Feeding Birds - First Steps

© Terrie Murray

By Terrie I. Murray

I can't decide what it is that got me started in my backyard bird feeding habit. It could have been that scene in "Mary Poppins" with the old lady feeding the birds on the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral. It could have been the mockingbird that lived in my grandparents' backyard in Santa Barbara, the one that was so tame that it followed Grandpa around while he did his yard work and would sometimes sit on Grandpa's shoulder and eat kitchen scraps. All I know is that I've been hooked since childhood.

Many of us are supplementing the birds' natural food sources with bird feeders which we stock with treats for our bird visitors. Here in the Pacific Northwest, birds can survive without artificial food sources year-round, but in cold or wet weather birds can lose a lot of weight overnight by expending energy just to maintain their body temperature. They must make it up again in the brief hours of daylight. Death can come quickly in a matter of hours to a healthy, small bird if it is without food in cold weather. In these harsher days of winter, birds will much appreciate the food we supply to them in our feeders. But even during the lovely days of the Pacific Northwest summer, feeding birds in your back yard is a source of great pleasure.

The problems are simple enough: what do you feed, and how do you serve it? Many of us started by throwing out bread scraps, but mass produced white bread does not provide the full range of nutrients that a bird needs, any more than it does for us. A visit to your local wild bird supply store can be overwhelming, with feeders, grains, nuts and seeds in all sizes and shapes. Where do you start?

If you have one feeder, start with black oil sunflower seeds. More birds will eat these than any other seed, thus it stands to reason that if you use it you'll attract more birds. If you buy a mix, consider one that is at least 50% black oil sunflower seed. Birds will simply kick aside most of the filler seeds such as milo, oats, wheat, canary or rape seed, especially if there is sunflower available. In my urban Portland backyard I keep two feeders full of black oil sunflower seeds, and we've attracted a wide variety of birds to our feeders.

If you want finches, nyger (or thistle) seed is a good choice. Special thistle feeders can be purchased which have a very fine

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