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Tips to feed garden birds

Some tips to feed garden birds over the winter to help them survive. And it’s a great way to introduce children to nature.

With the approaching winter (at least if you’re reading this in the Northern Hemisphere), it’s time to consider helping your local wild birds through the cold months ahead, when finding natural food can be difficult. Feeding the birds in your garden or on your balcony and then identifying and counting them is extremely enjoyable, and a great way to introduce children to the wonders of nature. Here are a few tips that might help you to get started.

nuts for garden birds
Peanuts are always a winner and a good first buy
Feeding garden birds in the winter
I prefer to semi-grind them up a little. They are easier for the birds to take
Peanuts for birds
I put the ground nuts in a nut hanger. I prefer the ones shown, with two or four holes and perches for the birds. Nuts in wire hangers are more difficult for the birds to take
Sunflower seeds for birds
Sunflower seeds are also very popular.
Feeding garden birds in the winter
I use sunflower seeds in two ways. A seed hanger like this is best for greenfinches, which just happily sit on the little pole and eat until they are full
Feeding garden birds in the winter
I also put them in a wire mesh hanger. The tits love these.
Feeding garden birds in the winter
Bird seed comes in various mixes. You pay for what you get. The more expensive mixes have better quality seeds and greater variety.
Feeding garden birds in the winter
In our garden there is a brick BBQ that we never use. This is the ideal covered location for a little seed holder like this on, as it keeps the seeds dry
Feeding garden birds in the winter
A lot of birds though are perfectly happy just to peck the seeds off the ground
Feeding garden birds in the winter
Fat or suet cylinders are also very popular and are a high-energy food. This one has got seeds mixed in with the fat.
Feeding garden birds in the winter
Others have small mealworms added to the fat mix.
Feeding garden birds in the winter
You simply fix a length of string to the hook in the top and suspend it from your bird table, feeding pole, garden shed or the low branch of a tree
Feeding garden birds in the winter
Dried mealworms are readily available these days, in pots of 500 grams for example.
Feeding garden birds in the winter
I put them into wire mesh hangers so that the tits can come and help themselves
Feeding garden birds in the winter
I also add some to a little plastic tray which I nail to the bird table so it doesn’t blow away. Robins in particular seem rather partial to mealworms

So those are the main foodstuffs I put out for the birds. During a really cold spell, for example when the ground is frosted over or thick with snow, I will also distribute bread, cheese, oats, and chopped up apples. When it’s icy I also put out a tray of water.

I am always amazed at how quickly the birds find the food. I start feeding the birds again in mid-October after the summer break. Just since then (4 weeks ago) I have already spotted 22 different species of bird in the garden, and 51 birds altogether. One winter the total number of birds in the garden was 155 (from 26 species).

I hope that your garden birds give you as much pleasure as mine give me. I am sure the birds appreciate your efforts.

For another article on this topic, check out this informative post on Feeding Wild Birds from Love Garden Birds.

Where to buy (in Belgium)

I find that AVEVE has a good range: its shops are throughout Belgium. For mail order, I recommend Vivara (in Dutch or French).

Any further suggestions?

Drop me a line if you have any other good suggestions of food items that your garden or balcony bids have found irresistible!

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72 thoughts on “Tips to feed garden birds”

  5. thebeasley
    Reply

    We recently bought a new bird feeder (throwing away the old wire one) & the birds have completely ignored it since! They still eat the fat mix that’s hung up too though. Love encouraging birds into our garden. I could watch them for hours.

  15. equipsblog
    Reply

    Wonderful ideas and great pictures to show us what you are talking about. I have an old friend who lives in Asheville, North Carolina in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She is an avid bird feeder. Squirrels are a constant issue. This past year she has had 3 bird feeders trashed because bears have also come down out of the mountains and when they want to get food from the feeders, they smash it with a paw. Hope you don’t have that level of problem. 🙂

    1. Denzil
      Reply

      My o my all the scary stories are coming out now (see Judy above). No we don’t have bears, nor even squirrels here, although I know squirrels can be a real nuisance, stealing all the nuts.

      1. equipsblog
        Reply

        Guess it’s an East Coast bears problem. We encroach into bear territory and they return the favor by encroaching into our neighborhoods. Lions (no), tigers (no), and Bears (definitely yes!) oh my.

  19. Maggie Wilson
    Reply

    We would feed the birds all year round if we didn’t have to worry about attracting bears and raccoons. Now that winter has arrived, our suet feeder is up and the chickadees and woodpeckers are munching away.

    Have to say, I startled when I scrolled down and saw the dried worms. And I didn’t think I was squeamish. 😉

  23. Lisa Orchard
    Reply

    We also put out bird seed in the winter and we get some very colorful birds! Thanks for sharing your ideas on the different types of food. We may start offering a variety to our feathered friends! 🙂

  25. josypheen
    Reply

    You are so good to your birdies!

    I couldn’t do that in the UK because our garden was small, and had a wall that was a cat/fox highway. If I fed birds it would end up being a buffet for cats and foxes!! We did make some of those fat/nut/cakes and leave them in our local park though.

  27. Gabe Burkhardt
    Reply

    I would love to be a bird around your place. A varied diet, plenty of comfortable perches for snacking, and a safe environment to stop and smell the nuts. Sounds like an avian paradise.

  31. Sharon Bonin-Pratt
    Reply

    What a wonderful bird host you are, Denzil. Thanks for the descriptions of the menus and how to present them. A favorite pre-school activity is to roll a pine cone or a cardboard tube in peanut butter, then in a seed mixture, and hang it for the birds. We hang a couple of hummingbird feeders amidst the milkweed we grow for the monarchs. These are two of the feeding stations not invaded by opossum, raccoon, squirrels, and rats in the neighborhood.

    1. Denzil
      Reply

      Hi Sharon, that sounds a good idea. Maybe I’ll try that. It’s amazing that in many regions of the world, other, less desirable creatures are around to take advantage of the bird food. Your list is by far the biggest yet. Do you not have bears too?

      1. Sharon Bonin-Pratt
        Reply

        No, but we do have skunks whose smell makes me very sick – have had a hard time getting them to leave. Beautiful animals though. Also coyotes, our scariest critters because they have no fear of people and brazenly walk down our streets. They’re usually interested in hunting cats and small dogs. We live across the street from an elementary school and I worry about the safety of the kids, especially those who walk home without an adult.

  34. Kevin
    Reply

    Hi Denzel,

    Great post as normal and made me get the bird feeder out and fill it with bird seed (a nice leftover from my wife’s crèche supplies on our lower floor.)

    Going to look at expanding our variety though for the different birds that visit.

    Have noticed how some do like eating from the ground (Blackbirds) and their various preferences…

    Our house and garden obviously is in Uccle Centre so I am curious how many species we get in the ‘city’.

    Cheers – Kevin

  36. arv!
    Reply

    wow! this is cool way to feed birds. Unfortunately, in India we don’t have such options. people just spread variety of grains in open spaces marked for bird feeding!

  42. Kevin
    Reply

    Hi Denzel, I’m a bit late to the party but we were inspired by your post to pick up a few new food holders and different types of feed. Those mealworms are a handful to deal with even in their mummified state!

    We’re in Brussels and I’ll be interested to see if we attract more species here with our larger buffet.

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  54. The Nutty Birdwatcher
    Reply

    Great tips. Thanks for your sharing. Feeding birds is a favorite of mine. I always prepare different feeders to be able to attract a wider variety of birds. I prepared to add birdbaths and plant some shrubs for them. Besides, we should plant natural grass instead of using artificial grass is also a great tip for our backyard.

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