Feeding Backyard Birds On a Budget

What are we to do?  Those of us who enjoy feeding birds during the long winter months but don't have the "extra" money to spend, have two choices:  We can stop feeding them - and I know that these days some people must do that - or we can find ways to be thrifty and creative, and continue to feed our feathered friends.

Many people feed the birds and enjoy it immensely.  The constant flitting about the yard is a soothing thing to me.  I look forward to the early morning chipping of the Cardinals as they come looking for breakfast, and in early Spring the yellow Grosbeaks (pictured) swarm to the feeders for a short time.

With the high cost of sunflower seed, I've had to do some re-thinking about the ways I feed my birds.  If you must stop feeding altogether due to money issues, remember that many birds will come to your yard anyway, so don't feel too badly.

When I was growing up I remember all the fuss the adults would make over seeing a cardinal. It was a big deal to have cardinals in the yard and my parents and grandparents always fed the birds. In fact my grandfather made his own bird houses and sold them in summer from his front yard.

I moved to Florida where I spent many years enjoying the birds but not feeding them. It was summer year round and there were plenty of bugs to keep birds happy without my help. Then a move back to the northeast made me once again remember the birds of my youth and I also remembered how tough the winters can be and especially for the birds.

That was when I began to pay attention to the birds that visited my yard. I found that bring a variety of birds in winter meant feeding them in different ways.  Some like to eat off the ground and others will eat anywhere and from anything.  Instead of spending tons of money on store bought feeders I sometimes use everyday things to hold the food.

So many birds eat sunflower seeds that it is the single most popular seed to purchase to guarantee visitors to the feeder and ground.  

In my area of New Hampshire the Chickadee, Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, Blue Jay, Nuthatch, Grosbeak, and some Sparrows love it.  (Buy the black oil sunflower seeds.  The striped sunflower seed is different and not as well liked).

So buy the right kind of seeds and use the correct type of feeder to attract the birds you want.

Little squirrels love sunflower seeds, but keeping all seeds and feeders away from the house is a good idea.

Most everyone ends up with old, stale bread at one time or another.  Add peanut butter and cornmeal and you have a bird sandwich.

• Instead of throwing away stale bread goods such as bagels, donuts, and sandwich bread, save old baked goods in the freezer (this is easier to do if you have an extra freezer). 
• In winter, make a peanut butter sandwich using these remnants, with cornmeal in the middle to cut the stickiness.
• How to feed:  Cut or tear into small pieces and put on a tray-type area, or use larger pieces and push them onto branches, nails in a post, or something sharp.

(Bread photo courtesy of Pixabay)

It's easy enough, if you have the time, to make your own suet.

Many birds will enjoy it and it provides protein that they need. Just a warning - homemade suet will disappear fast! Be ready to refill the suet feeder often.  It can be made ahead and frozen.  Just wrap it up in individual cakes.  It doesn't have to be thawed before adding to feeders.

Woodpeckers are attracted to it, but so are nuthatches, chickadees and bluejays, among others.

Basic ingredients are left over bacon (meat) grease, fat cuttings (suet) from the store, and peanut butter which will be mixed with dry ingredients and other nutrients to make "cakes" to plop into the suet feeder.

I had placed an online order for bird feeders and this little window bird feeder with suction cups came free with the order. It's small, made of light weight plastic, and attaches to glass to bring birds right up to the house.  I had my doubts about it's usefulness, but thought I'd give it a try.

It took a while for the birds to find it, but once they did, I had regular visits and the seed vanished quickly. Mostly finches and small birds ate from it, but occasionally I'd get a bluejay who would try his best to figure out a way to get the seed.  This way you can feed just the tiny birds you like and keep the bird-hogs out of the feed.

Because of the reflection, from outside the birds couldn't see me (or the cats) who were right on the other side of the window. This gave us a perfect, up close and personal view of any bird that visited.  (That is my cat watching gold finches, who don't seem to notice she is there.)

I use a special feeder for my homemade suet cakes, but there are other ways to feed birds this delectable treat.

The tail prop feeder is my favorite for feeding woodpeckers during winter.   There is a piece of wood that supports a woodpecker's tail and they feel right at home on this feeder.  I have constant visits from woodpeckers all winter.

If you don't want to spend the money on a store bought feeder, mix up a batch of suet and hang it in a net (as pictured).  Save nets from onions, potatoes or other purchases to use as containers for your suet.   Beef fat can be purchased at the grocery store for minimal expense and that can be hung in netting as well.  Tie nets to bushes or tree branches around the yard, or hang from posts.

(Photo credit: Pixabay)

Hummingbirds are the only birds I feed in summer. There are bears in my area and leaving feed out can mean I'll get unwanted visitors, but I do mix up sugar water and hang one red, glass- type feeder by my office window. (The plastic feeders break, so opt for the glass ones.)

In New Hampshire, where I live, I put the Hummingbird Feeder out around Mother's Day and bring them in some time in September.

It's an easy recipe - 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 cups of water. Boil one cup of water and stir in the sugar, then add the rest and store it in the fridge in a container.  Clear water, not red, is fine so don't bother buying special mix.

There is no need to fill the feeder to the top - unless you have some hungry hummingbirds - since it will need to be cleaned out regularly.

Birds are cute (Chickadees), and beautiful (Cardinals), and sing so lovely (Sparrows).  They signify season changes as migrations ensue.  Where I live, October brings the little black and white Juncos; a sure sign of winter.  To me they represent freedom - to fly off at the drop of a hat - how nice would that be?  So maybe we envy them at times. 

They are curious little things that seem to expend all their energy grabbing a seed and then flying off to eat it, only to do the same thing a hundred times more.  Their gratefulness for food on a windy and bitter cold day does not show.   And they never seem to notice how thrilled we are to see them, but we love them anyway.

Feeding them from our own feeders, placed in conspicuous spots around the yard, brings them up close for our enjoyment and they don't seem to mind a bit.

(Baby robin-  my photo)