11/02/2025
The Importance of the Backyard Bird Feeder!!! Yup, I just could not resist taking a few days earlier this fall to build this backyard bird feeder at the new place. I do after all have a large continuous supply of gently used, and cleaned, bird seed that would otherwise be chicken food. This is a platform style bird feeder, 24 feet long overall with a feeding area that is 16 feet long and 2 feet wide, plenty of room to allow multiple species of birds to feed at once. Using some tree stumps as supports for inset laminated beams to hold up the roof and feeding area. And of course I had to put some lights on it, it is soooooo dark here at night! And a zoom and pan camera at the end lets me get a great view of the action!
Why are backyard bird feeders so important , and becoming more so each year? A backyard feeder gives a consistent source of much needed high quality nutrients during a cold fall and winter when natural food sources are at a low. It gives energy to migrating birds, and keeps overwintering birds in good health and feather condition, helping to keep up body temperature and alleviate the usual "die-off" that happens each winter. During especially hard cold snaps I close off 3 sides of the feeder, and masses of birds of all kinds spend the night there out of the wind, keeping warm with the trapped shared body warmth.
And when you combine climate change and the loss of natural habitat due to development, backyard bird feeders are becoming more important each year. A hard unexpected cold snap at the wrong time, or unusually hard weather can cause a reduction in population that could take years to reverse. One backyard bird feeder, or even a hundred, is not going to make a huge difference, but it does make a difference, especially for the birds in your area! And of course it is a whole lot of fun to watch the birdies, this feeder is in full view of my kitchen and living room windows, right off the patio. The birds are getting pretty used to me now, and will feed right in front of me even when standing right beside the feeder. My life list of identified birds has skyrocketed since moving here to the Island!
Of course there are risks with a backyard bird feeder, mainly disease spread, predation and pests. It is always important to keep the feeding area and especially any water clean, and provide a large feeding space to birds do not have to come into constant contact when feeding. Hawks can also use feeders for a quick meal, but a roof and nearby trees or bushes to flee to help with this. Of course, hawks and such have to feed as well, and I have been able to get a close up view of quite a few here. I even managed to startle one, and it flew right past my face on its way, brushing my head with its wingtips! Pests like rats can be a problem if living in the city, but keeping the floor around the feeder clean and installing barriers to climbing takes care of this, you just have to get a little inventive. I had problems with rats years ago, and had to raise my feeders off the ground and put barriers on the posts going up. Here in the ALR not so much, plenty of hawks and cats to keep the mouse and rat population down, and they would rather go after the easier food in other peoples chicken coops and barns.
It is also important to feed responsibly. Avoid foods like bread, rice or other junk foods, and provide a good quality high calorie and fat seed mix with plenty of black oil sunflower seeds and other natural treats. Bird owners usually have a good supply of used seed anyways! Also, birds do become dependent on feeders, so don't start unless you know you are going to be able to keep it up until the longer warmer days of spring. And make sure to keep feeders away from windows that are not taped or marked up to avoid collisions with the glass.
Water is also important, and just as important to keep it from freezing. Bird bath heaters are now pretty inexpensive to purchase online, and a smart timer can keep energy costs low.
Tips on making your own backyard bird feeder? The best one is basically just a platform, bowl or other feeding area with a roof to keep off rain. Very important to have a roof, otherwise the seed will rot, sprout, or otherwise just be an inedible and possibly dangerous mess. There are plenty of bird feeders in stores and online, but I find that most of these do no do well in keeping the rain off the feeding ports or feeding areas. Seed gets wet, it expands and clogs everything up, birds can't feed and people lose interest in cleaning an maintaining the gummy mess that results. All you really need is a good sized area to put seed, and a roof that overhangs a good amount all around. It does not have to be fancy, it does not need lights and cameras, just as long as it works and is somewhere you can watch and enjoy.
The feeder I built here is large, but simple in design. I took down two cedar trees as they were too close to the house and on the south side, keeping the whole house in shadow all day. I left the stumps about 10ft high and cut notches in them for the beams supporting the feeding platform and the roof. The rest are just 2x4's and exterior plywood with cedar shakes on the roof over a waterproof membrane. Just like the roof on a house, not a drop of water in the feeding area on even the wettest days. A lip around the feeding platform made from some posts keeps the seed from blowing away in the wind. Some oil stain and linseed oil to protect the wood, and acceptance that there is going to be a bit of repair and maintenance in a few years. I built in a little bow to the roof, for that rustic look, and with a span of this length it might need some support after a while if the sag becomes too much. Its not super pretty or fancy, but it does the job right enough. A good sized area to feed, and a roof to keep it dry, all that you really need.
And of course the birds! There are soooooo many birds here! Like everywhere! At the feeder all day! And they sing! And play! And they area already checking out the nest boxes all around! Collard Doves, band tailed pidgeons, sparrows, soooo many starlings, brown creepers, swallows, flickers, jays, thrushes, bushtits, chickadees, nuthatches, wrens, larks, juncos and sooo much more!
