Skip to content

Top Navigation

Midwest Living Midwest Living
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Home
  • Garden
  • Holidays
  • Videos
  • current issue
  • Sweepstakes
  • Road Rally

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Win Your Dream Getaway!
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Magazine Issues
  • Destinations
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Midwest Living

Midwest Living Midwest Living
  • Explore

    Explore

    • 14 Fresh Places to Eat, Drink, Play & Stay This Summer

      14 Fresh Places to Eat, Drink, Play & Stay This Summer

      Hot off the minds of Midwest travel writers: a fresh look at where to eat, drink, play and stay around the region. Read More
    • Out Now: Best of the Midwest 2022

      Out Now: Best of the Midwest 2022

      Find your summer adventure with our new bookazine, available now in the magazine store! Read More
    • This Family's Garden Farm is a Nature-Filled Paradise

      This Family's Garden Farm is a Nature-Filled Paradise

      On land passed down through generations, a Wisconsin family experiences—and shares—the glory of gardening. Read More
  • Travel

    Travel

    See All Travel
    Urban-Pop Art, a New Boutique Hotel and More—Here's What to See and Do in Fort Wayne Right Now

    Urban-Pop Art, a New Boutique Hotel and More—Here's What to See and Do in Fort Wayne Right Now

    On a trip to Fort Wayne, Indiana, catch a colorful wave of fresh development, plus a new hotel from the cofounder of Vera Bradley.
    • Weekend Getaways
    • Family Travel
    • Around the Region
    • Beyond the Region
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Michigan
    • Minnesota
    • Missouri
    • Nebraska
    • North Dakota
    • Ohio
    • South Dakota
    • Wisconsin
    • Free Travel Info
  • Food

    Food

    See All Food
    Mango Toast with Prosciutto

    Mango Toast with Prosciutto

    • Comfort Foods
    • Desserts & Baking
    • Breakfast
    • Quick & Easy
    • Chicken
    • Soups & Stews
    • Midwest Favorites
    • Fruits & Vegetables
    • Fish
    • Grilling
  • Home

    Home

    See All Home
    5 Clever Tips for Repurposing a Potting Bench as a Bar Cart 

    5 Clever Tips for Repurposing a Potting Bench as a Bar Cart 

    With smart accessorizing, a potting bench becomes a celebration station for summer soirees.
    • Quick Decorating
    • Featured Homes
    • Organizing & Storage
    • Outdoor Living
    • Seasonal Decorating
    • Room Decorating
  • Garden

    Garden

    See All Garden
    Expert Tips for Growing a Window Box Garden

    Expert Tips for Growing a Window Box Garden

    Casey Lawrence’s lush window boxes were a revelation to her online followers. Use her tips to grow your own.
    • Container Gardens
    • Flowers
    • Featured Gardens
    • Midwest Gardening Calendar
    • Garden Ideas & Inspiration
  • Holidays

    Holidays

    See All Holidays
    Festive 4th of July Dessert Recipes

    Festive 4th of July Dessert Recipes

    Get out your red, white and blue for these patriotic dessert recipes.
    • Easter
    • July 4th
    • Thanksgiving
    • Halloween
    • Christmas
    • Valentine's Day
  • Videos

    Videos

    See All Videos
    These DIY Orange Beeswax Candles Will Make Your Home Smell Amazing

    These DIY Orange Beeswax Candles Will Make Your Home Smell Amazing

    Don't toss those orange peels! Instead, use them as vessels for our super-simple and fragrant candles.
    • Brighten Your Front Door with This Colorful Easter Egg Wreath
    • These DIY Orange Beeswax Candles Will Make Your Home Smell Amazing
    • Ring in the New Year with This Glam Star Garland
    • How to Make a Modern Fruit Cake Box
    • An Eye-Catching Oval Treat Box You Can Make
    • Make a Colorful Paper Raffia Wreath to Welcome Fall
    • How to Make a Dried Floral Arrangement
    • How to Make an Easy Pina Colada
    • How to Make an Amazing Pavlova
    • How to Make Pumpkin-Spice Icebox Cake
    • How to Make an All-Butter Pie Crust
  • current issue

    current issue

    See All current issue
    Midwest Living's Best of the Midwest Winners 2022

    Midwest Living's Best of the Midwest Winners 2022

    • March/April 2022 Issue
    • January/February 2022 Issue
    • November/December 2021 Issue
    • September/October 2021 Issue
    • July/August 2021 Issue
    • May/June 2021 Issue
    • Summer 2022 Issue
  • Sweepstakes
  • Road Rally

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Win Your Dream Getaway!
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Magazine Issues
  • Destinations
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Midwest Living
  2. Garden
  3. Garden Ideas & Inspiration
  4. Tips for Winter Bird Feeding

Tips for Winter Bird Feeding

By LuAnn Brandsen October 03, 2014
Skip gallery slides
Pin
Bird buffet
Entice the greatest variety of birds to your yard this winter by serving a diverse menu in assorted feeders.
Start Slideshow

1 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Dining out

Dining out

Get off to a flying start with our avian friends this winter by putting out at least three kinds of feeders, such as a platform, a tube, and a suet feeder or seed cylinder. Birds prefer feeders be in the open with the safety of tree or shrub cover 10-12 feet away. Locate them near a deck or window for best viewing. On this slide and the next four are five feeders to try. The last slide has tips on what to feed birds.Cozy cafe Handmade in Ohio, this Amish Country rustic log cabin measures 20 inches wide. The roof lifts for easy refill; seeds dispense through a narrow slot onto the porch floor. amishwares.com

1 of 5

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Fast food

Fast food

Simply slide one of many long-lasting cylinders-compressed mixes with seeds, nuts or bugs-onto the Seed Cylinder by Wild Birds Unlimited for quick meals. $30.99. wbu.com

2 of 5

3 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Sustainable table

Sustainable table

Ohioans Paul and Deborah Bahm create varied Eco-Friendly suet and seed feeders from storm-damaged and fallen trees. $29–$49. schoolhousewoodcrafts.com

3 of 5

Advertisement

4 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

By invitation only

By invitation only

Outwit unwanted guests. When swishy-tailed creatures climb on this Squirrel-Proof feeder, their weight lowers a baffle to block access to seeds. $49.95. plowhearth.com

4 of 5

5 of 5

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Bird buffet

Bird buffet

Five menu items to offer:Black oil sunflower seed is a surefire favorite, attracting more than 30 species of birds, including cardinals, finches and chickadees.Nyger seeds pull in scores of finches, as well as pine siskins and juncos. The 40 percent oil content provides needed energy during cold weather.Suet, a rendered beef fat, is an excellent wintertime nutritional alternative for insect eaters, such as warblers, jays, woodpeckers and nuthatches.White millet appeals to cardinals and finches as well as to less common guests like quail, bobwhite and tanagers. (Millet left on the ground may sprout come spring.)Seed mixes come premade, or create combos like peanuts with safflower and sunflower seeds. For deck or patio areas, try no-mess blends that lack hulls. 

5 of 5

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By LuAnn Brandsen

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Trending Videos
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 5 Dining out
    2 of 5 Fast food
    3 of 5 Sustainable table
    4 of 5 By invitation only
    5 of 5 Bird buffet

    Share & More

    Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message
    Midwest Living

    Magazines & More

    Learn More

    • Contact Us
    • Help
    • Free Newsletters this link opens in a new tab
    • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
    • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
    • Renew this link opens in a new tab
    • Advertise this link opens in a new tab
    • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
    • Affiliate Program
    • Free Travel Info this link opens in a new tab
    • Special Promotions this link opens in a new tab
    • Sweepstakes this link opens in a new tab
    • Video
    • Home Advisor this link opens in a new tab
    • Accolades this link opens in a new tab

    Connect

    Follow Us
    Subscribe to Our Newsletter
    Sign Up
    MeredithMidwest Living is part of the Meredith Home Group. © Copyright 2022 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
    © Copyright Midwest Living. All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.midwestliving.com

    Sign in

    View image

    Tips for Winter Bird Feeding
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.