Attract birds to your garden by feeding responsibly | Beneficial Animals | Gardening Australia

To feed or not to feed? That is the question. Urban ecologist Darryl Jones says feed! But do it the right way.

Ultimately, feeding birds is something we do for our own enjoyment but if you follow the three important points – hygiene, quality and quantity – then you won’t do any harm.

Hygiene

"Really, one of the most important things is keeping the feeder clean” says Darryl. Every day the feeder needs to be swept clean with a brush, to remove any droppings or any food that hasn’t been consumed. The feeder then needs to be sterilised; you can do this by wiping it down with vinegar on a cloth and allowing it to dry in the sun.

This needs to be done before feeding every time, to prevent the feeder spreading disease among local birds.

Darryl has two types of feeders, one solid enough for large birds and one designed to keep out larger birds. Plastic is easier to keep clean than terracotta or metal.

For a really thorough clean:

Scrub all feeder parts with a firm brush and hot soapy water
Bleach by immersing the feeder in a mixture of 1 part household bleach 9 parts water
Dry in the sun

Quality

The quality of the food you’re putting out is the next thing to think about.

DO use:

“Appropriately mixed” bird seed with a variety of different sizes
Small, cut-up fruit, such as grapes, strawberries, blueberries, apple, even frozen peas.
Dry dog food or even garden worms for magpies and predatory birds

DON’T use:

Cheap seed “that won’t be eaten than anything other than pigeons”.
Mince
Bread
Black sunflower seed.

Quantity

Darryl puts food out about a cupful of food at random, at different times of day to avoid feeding birds developing a routine.

"It's just like a cup of tea and a biscuit with a visitor - just a top up on what they might eat in a day, a treat."

He adds that modern cultivars of native plants that flower for many months can attract more aggressive birds; it’s better to grow plants that attract insects (even pesky insects that eat your plants!), which form the bulk of many birds’ diets, and to include grasses in your garden for seed-eating birds.
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