What You Should Plant In Your Yard To Attract Birds

Believe it or not, but the different types of flowers in your yard can have an effect on what type of birds visit you. Now, you need to start planning out your yard in the winter so that you are prepared and ready when Spring rolls around to start planing your yard with beautiful flowers and flowering shurbs. But how do you even get started?

The first place that you want to start with with trees and bushes. These are the places that birds will roost and sit when they are looking for new things to do, eat, and see. Bushes that produce flowers will help to provide both a hiding place as well as a food source for birds, as they attract insects too. Trees that produce large leaves will help to provide a good shady place to hide and those that produce fruits, nuts, or flowers will offer food for them as well.

When it comes to flowers, there are plenty of beautiful choices that you can pick from - in fact, there are so many that it can be hard to pick sometimes. One of the staples that you will want to plant every year are daisies. There are several varieties to choose from and they all offer a very nutritious, yummy seed that birds love. Just remember that when the daisies stop blooming, don't pinch off the dead blooms - leave them there. These provide a very yummy treat for finches, sparrows, cardinals, and towhes.

Zinnias are also an excellent choice to plant because birds also love their

seeds. Plus, this is probably one of the easiest flowers to grow. It offers a wide variety of colors, and they blooms are very large. Plus, it will entice tons of butterflies into your garden and yard as well - which not only provide food for birds but they also help to polinate flowers and keep them growing and blooming year after year. I would recommend planting several different patches of zinnias throughout your yard so that you can enjoy different birds and butterflies constantly.

Want to lure hummingbirds into your yard? It's not that hard, if you know what to plant. One of the main things that you need to know is that, just like a bull, hummingbirds are attracted to red. They will check out any spec of red in a landscape - from flowers to cars to feeders to a scarf around your neck. So, plant plenty of red flowers in your yard and try to find bushes that produce red flowers as well. There are tons of beautiful hybrid flowers that now come in red but they might not offer the nectar that hummingbirds crave, so make sure that you're going with some heirloom flowers that will attract them for the nectar while adding in some red to pull them in. Some of the best flowers for hummingbirds include: fuchsias, coral bells, bee balm, hybiscus, and petunias. They also love trumpet-shaped flowers and will investigate anything that resembles this shape. If they find nectar there, they'll come back again and again.

Tips For Introducing New Foods To A Picky Bird

When it comes to your feathered friends, choosing a well balanced diet is key to keeping them healthy and happy for a long time to come. But, when you have a picky bird, it can be hard to figure out what to feed them and how to introduce new foods to them. When you are ready to give them new foods that you aren't sure if they will like or not, here are some excellent tips that can help you make an introduction easier:

Start young if you can - young birds are usually much more willing to try new foods than older birds who may be "set in their ways."

If a food is totally new to a bird, it may not even recognize it as food. Offer new food in a familiar dish with other foods you know your bird already likes, and he or she may try the new food. Even if your bird only gets a taste of the new food by accident they still might decide they like it.

Place a couple of treats such as sunflower seeds, raisins or cheerios in a dish of new food. Your bird will likely get a taste of the new food while extracting the treat (the key here is to only use a couple of the treats and make your bird dig through the new food to get to them).

Offering new foods first thing in the morning is helpful, since this is when many birds naturally forage for food. Offer new foods alone first thing in the morning, and then give them their usual food a couple of hours later.

Try different forms of new foods - some birds prefer raw vegetables to cooked, while others are the opposite. Some like cooked veggies warm, others prefer them cooled. Some birds might be more willing to taste a puree or even juice made from new vegetables.

A food that is ignored in a food dish might be eaten if offered in a clip on the side of the cage or in a play area. Try weaving greens through the bars of the cage, and using a clip for slices of vegetable or fruits.

Offer a chunk of corn on the cob, which many birds like to gnaw on.

Bright orange or yellow fruits and vegetables often attract attention Try a mix of brightly colored veggies, in bite sized pieces and mixed together (cooked or raw).

Give leafy greens freshly washed and still wet and hung from a clip. The droplets of water may attract your birds attention.

Offer foods after you have a bite - watching you eat the food may be all the temptation your parrot needs. Try making a fuss, acting like this is the best food you have ever had, and maybe even feed some to another family member to help convice your parrot that this is something he/she really wants to eat!

Most birds enjoy eating freshly sprouted seeds, which are an excellent source of nutrition and are often helpful in enticing birds to make the leap from seeds to greens.

Never starve a bird into trying a new food.

Keep in mind that your bird might take a few tries with a new food or treat before they even go near it. So, don't worry if they don't take to it right away. Also, make sure that you don't leave a new treat in their cage until it rots and can cause health problems for your new bird.