Backyard Birding
Turn your backyard into a bird haven with tips on feeders, habitats, and attracting your favorite species.
Feeders and Food
Common Backyard Feeder Problems (and How to Solve Them!)
Bird feeding provides enjoyment to millions of North Americans each year. However, this hobby we all enjoy comes with its own challenges….
Top Four Foods to Attract and Feed Woodpeckers
Suet Suet is number one on most woodpeckers’ list of preferred foods offered by humans. Suet is dense, hard, white beef fat….
Top 10 Foods for Winter Bird Feeding
Winter: ‘Tis the season for feeding birds all across North America, especially in those regions where it gets mighty cold and snowy….
Feeding Eggshells
The Shell Game One of the lesser-known ways to attract birds is by putting out eggshells. Female birds, drained of calcium by…
Essential Tips for Summer Bird Feeding
Bird feeding is a rewarding pursuit—for us and the birds!—that can be enjoyed year-round. Whether you’re offering sugar water to hummingbirds, suet…
The Well-Equipped Birder: Squirrel-Proof Feeders
BWD Editor Dawn Hewitt and Production Director Bruce Wunderlich tested out a two different squirrel-proof feeders. Here are their reviews. Dawn Roamwild…
Keeping Squirrels Off Your Feeders
An acrobatic squirrel reaches for a backyard feeder. Photo by Shutterstock. People often go to extremes to keep their feeding stations squirrel-free….
Feeders and Feeding: Peanut Butter Suet
Help birds endure the harsh winter weather with a special treat! This recipe is popular with jays, titmice, nuthatches, chickadees, woodpeckers, sparrows,…
How to Revive a Faded Hummingbird Feeder
Each spring when I pull my hummingbird feeders out of storage in anticipation of the hummingbirds’ return, the red parts of the…
DIY Projects
These Recipes Are for the Birds!
The holiday season means lots of different things, like Christmas Bird Counts, family gatherings, and food—lots of food! As you busily prepare…
Build Your Own: Easy Platform Feeder
Attract Birds and Protect Seed With a Simple and Effective Feeder Design The more places birds can feed in your yard, the…
Build Your Own: Build a Brush Pile
Create a winter shelter for wildlife in your backyard High on the list of important microhabitats you can create for wildlife in…
Do-It-Yourself Stovepipe Predator Baffle
Materials: Aluminum electrical conduit, ½-inch diameter, 5-foot length Iron rebar, ½-inch diameter, 5-foot length One hanger iron (two 7-inch strips attached with…
Do-it-yourself Pipe House
A new use for PVC pipe! by A.J. Hamler, excerpted from the March/April 2011 issue of Bird Watcher’s Digest Many do-it-yourselfers use…
Do It Yourself: Bird Bath Heater
Keep your birdbath water warm all winter long When winter comes to our farm, the daily ritual of feeding our birds intensifies…
Do-It-Yourself: Prevent Squirrels from Raiding your Bird Feeder
This baffle prevents squirrels from accessing a hanging feeder from above. Two metal salad bowls, one 10-inches and another 18-inches in diameter,…
Do It Yourself: Birdbath Tips
Easy Drippers We know that water in motion attracts birds, and I’ve discovered an inexpensive, easy way to add a dripper to…
How To: Woodpecker Box
Build an Easy Box for Golden-fronted, Red-headed, and Hairy Woodpeckers Download detailed plans you can use to build your own woodpecker box….
Hummingbirds
Bees and Wasps at Nectar Feeders
Just like hummingbirds, bees, wasps, yellow jackets, and other stinging things love sugar water. In late summer, they can swarm a nectar…
Autumn is Here! Should I Take Down My Hummingbird Feeder?
This answer depends upon where you live. Some regions of North America host hummingbirds all year long, so the answer for them…
Top 10 Things You Can Do to Attract Hummingbirds
1. Add a new native plant species to your garden. You just can’t have too many good hummingbird plants in your garden…
Hummingbird Resources
The Hummingbird Society – The Hummingbird Society is a nonprofit charitable organization that strives to teach about hummingbirds and works to prevent…
Hummingbird Migration: How Do They Know When to Go?
Migration is about food and survival. Nearly all of our North American hummingbird species migrate seasonally, and for many this means the…
Hummingbird Resources
The Hummingbird Society – The Hummingbird Society is a nonprofit charitable organization that strives to teach about hummingbirds and works to prevent extinction…
Tips for Identifying Hummingbirds
Identifying a hummingbird is very similar to identifying other bird species—if the hummer is sitting or hovering in one place long enough…
An Introduction to Hummingbirds
General Info The hummingbird family, Trochilidae, occurs only in the Western Hemisphere, where it is second only to the tyrant flycatchers in…
Hummingbird Behavior
Feeding, Foraging, and Reader Observations Article Topics The Avian Nectar Feeders True Nectar Feeders Bill Shape Foraging Efficiency Flexible Bills Feeding Sugar…
The Number 1 Resource for Birders
Subscribe today for tips and advice for everything related to birds, from backyard birding to photography, plus entertaining stories, award-winning photography, an annual gear guide, ideas and inspiration for birding destinations, and more!