Adding Birds As A "Winter Decoration" In Your Yard

The Relationship Cure: A 5 Step Guide to Strengthening Your Marriage, Family, and Friendships

If you have ever been to a friend's house when there has been snow on the ground and have been birds at their bird feeder, you may have been struck by what a pretty sight this is, and may even have thought of trying to attract birds to a bird feeder in your own yard during the winter - but while birds against a landscape of snow is certainly pretty, you will need to realize that achieving this goal is not as easy as just putting a bird feeder and some bird seed in your yard!

Birds often migrate to warmer climates during the winter, largely because there is a greater availability of food where the weather is warmer, so if you want to have birds in your yard for the winter, the first thing you need to do is make sure they know they will have food if they stay for the winter - and the best way to do this is to hang your bird feeder as early as possible; there is no such thing as hanging a feeder "too early" if you want birds for the winter, but there is such a thing as hanging a feeder "too late"!

Another thing you will want to do is make sure you hang your feeder in a place where it will be attractive to birds; you should hang the bird feeder about chest-high or shoulder-high, and it should not be hung too close to your window (even though you may want it as close to your window as possible!) - and also, you will want to make sure the feeder is hung near trees or bushes that the birds can fly to, so that they do not expend too much energy flying back and forth from the feeder to a resting place.

And as far as taking care of these birds that you attract to your feeder, there are two specific things you will want to keep in mind: firstly, you will want to give them bird seed that is healthy and high in energy (black oil sunflower seeds mixed with nuts, berries, and dried fruits is best!), and you will want to make sure you continue to feed them throughout the winter. After all, these birds are staying for the winter because they know they can get food from you - and you will not want to put them in a place where they are no longer able to find food once the snow starts to fall!