A cold winter day is perfect for sitting by your living room window to watch a colorful parade of birds stop by your feeders for a meal. Here are a few tips for a successful winter bird feeding season: 

Offer Fuel: Make sure you use feeders with large size capacity and/or use multiple feeders to provide ample food, especially during snow and ice storms. Use feeders that deter squirrels and other pests, like the Droll Yankees Flipper Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder. This feeder allows birds to perch on a ring, while spinning squirrels off. English Gardens also recommends Birdscapes Squirrel Be Gone Feeder and Woodlink Audubon Squirrel Proof Caged Tube Feeder.

Keep Your Feeders Full: Winter birds need to stock up on calories, especially for those long and cold winter nights.

Offer Seeds: Most birds that stay in Michigan in the winter eat seeds, because insects become harder to find. Offer a variety of seeds in various feeders to attract as many birds as possible: 

• Black Oil Sunflower Seed: Birds, especially cardinals, woodpeckers, blue jays, goldfinches, purple finches, chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches, love sunflower seeds. It’s a good idea to put most of your sunflower seeds in hanging feeders, keeping it safer from squirrels and raccoons.
• Nyjer (Thistle) Seed: Nyjer seed resembles grains of wild rice and is coveted by Goldfinches for its high fat and protein content. Use a feeder that resembles a long hanging tube, such as Droll Yankees Bird Lovers Finch Tube Feeder and Aspects Nyjer Mesh Quick Clean Feeder. To enjoy bright gold finches, many people put out additional finch feeders. Hang the feeders where you can see them. Goldfinches will become tame and won’t mind your standing two feet from them, on the other side of a window, while they eat!
• Safflower Seed: Safflower is a white seed, slightly smaller than black sunflower seed. Chickadees, titmice, chickadees, and downy woodpeckers eat it. A big perk to serving safflower seed is that squirrels don’t like it!
• Suet: Birds love suet. It’s the solid fat rendered from beef and venison. It offers birds concentrated energy they need in the winter. English Gardens offers a variety of Friends of Flight Suet Cakes, including High Energy, Peanut, Berry, Orange, and Woodpecker.

Be Consistent: Birds grow accustomed to your feeders, especially in severe weather when the snacks you offer mean their survival. If you leave home for an extended period, ask a neighbor or friend replenish feeders.

Stamp Down the Snow Below: Ground-feeding birds, such as dark-eyed juncos, doves and many sparrows, will be able to gather up the seed that drop from feeders if they don’t have deep snow to try to manage.

Offer Water: Birds appreciate open, available water, especially when ponds and streams are frozen. They will seek it out if it’s available, which is a great opportunity for bird watchers. 

• English Gardens offers birdbaths with heating elements built into the bowl. In extremely cold weather, some ice may form around the edges, but there will always be open water that the birds go right for!
• If you already have a birdbath, but it doesn’t keep the water from freezing in the winter. We also offer de-icers, which are heating elements that sit in the basin.