In the wild, birds often climb trees to forage for food, and backyard birds may enjoy doing the same. However, birds may be enticed to use other objects in your yard.
A bird feeder pole is an alternative to using a tree for hanging feeders. Advantage: Birds are more likely to notice a cluster of feeders hung at a height of 4.5 to 5 feet from the ground. Feeders can be hung from a clothesline, bracket, or even guttering or other items in the yard.
Even if you don’t have any trees in your yard, you can still attract birds by hanging feeders and giving food.
So, you decide to buy a bird feeder pole to suspend several feeders for the birds. Birds are more likely to visit a large number of feeders placed in close proximity to one another. So that it’s quite improbable that you’ll come across a single bird feeder.
Put the pole with the bird feeders in the middle of the grass, but not too far from any nearby plants, so the birds have somewhere to hide if they need to.
If no birds are interested in your feeder, you can simply relocate the pole.
In my opinion, a clothesline hanging at two places is superior to a bird feeder pole since it allows you to hang multiple feeders at once and can be as long as 20 feet.
Hummingbird feeders should be placed far from other bird feeders because hummingbirds don’t like to feed with other species. Common songbird feeders can be strung on each end of the clothesline.
Clothesline While a bracket attached to the wall of a house or garage might work as a backup, I think the is the best option.
Although luring birds with a window feeder is one option, it seems wasteful since seemingly innocuous backyard fixtures, such as guttering, may be utilized to securely hang a wide variety of bird feeders.
Meanwhile, you shouldn’t endanger the lives of wild birds by putting feeders within the reach of cats or dogs, so hang them a safe distance from the ground, preferably between four and six feet.
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Hang off bird feeding station pole
Eighty-one percent of those polled say they still place a high value on having a lawn, and this is important information given that a bird feeder pole should be installed in the yard.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet; I know many of you live in flats or have very little space, so you can’t use a bird feeder pole.
You can make the most of your deck railing or any other type of railing by following the advice in my tutorial on how to attract birds to an apartment balcony.
Here we are again discussing the use of a bird feeder pole, or, more precisely, how to hang a bird feeder even if there isn’t a tree in your yard by employing a sturdy and functional bird feeding station pole, also known as a Shepherd’s Hook.
If you have a yard with a lawn or soft ground, a bird feeder pole like this can be impaled in the ground quickly and efficiently. However, a bird feeder pole can be supported by legs, providing an alternative.
Since different species of wild birds have varying food requirements, it’s best to hang as many as four or five different kinds of bird feeders to draw in as many species as possible.
Make sure the bird feeder pole is in a visible area, near some shrubs if you have them, and even near a neighbor’s tree or shrub if it overhangs your land.
Tie rope across two locations
If you don’t have a tree in your yard to utilize for a traditional clothesline, this will come in handy.
In the same vein, a clothesline might be set up without a pole for the same reason a bird feeder pole isn’t required. Still, if you want to hang several bird feeders, you should verify that the line is long enough to hold them at least five or six feet off the ground.
Mount one end of the clothesline, preferably using a retractable clothesline, and then run the other end of the line down or across the yard to a post, pole, or other suitable object.
Here, you can get a line long enough to hang a bird feeder, perhaps between ten and twenty feet.
Because bears can’t destroy the arrangement because it’s constantly out of their reach, this method is effective for preventing bears from eating birdseed from feeders.
What I suggest you do now is take use of this length of clothesline.
Since hummingbirds don’t like to feed near other popular backyard birds, you can use one end to hang a suet, peanut, or seed bird feeder, and the other end to hang a hummingbird feeder.
You can use a clothesline that isn’t being used, or you can hang bird feeders from it, but keep in mind that the birds might defecate on your washing if you do.
Mount high up on wall
A basic, heavy-duty iron bracket is all you need to hang a bird feeder in the yard without damaging any trees or other plants.
Why so sturdy? Wrought iron looks great in the yard, and an iron bracket won’t give way under the weight of those bird feeders.
A metal bracket will be mounted five or six feet up the wall using masonry screws. The wall of a home or outbuilding will do, however I wouldn’t recommend using a heavy-duty iron bracket on anything made of wood.
PVC brackets are available for plastic buildings, while wooden brackets can be painted to match the rest of the wood.
As an individual, I’ve found that if you don’t have enough room for a bird feeder pole, a bracket can be just as efficient.
Hang it from the side of a building or tree where passing birds may see it, preferably in a shady area.
Never attach a bracket with matching bird feeders to a low level wall or similarly low fence post; doing so would put the feeders within reach of wildlife predators like cats, who can get within less than a foot of these hanging bird feeders.
Hang or mount on window
Fun for many of you who live in a condo or other building where hanging bird feeders is forbidden is the use of a window feeder.
It may be challenging to entice birds to your windowsill, much less a bird feeder that can be attached to or hung from a window, but I think it’s worth a go.
If you want to attract a wide variety of wild birds, the best window bird feeder to use is a simple tray to which you can add peanuts, seeds, and a few dried mealworms.
To learn how to lure birds to a window feeder requires time and perseverance.
Even if you don’t have a yard, you can still attract birds by placing food and water near a window.
Your window of choice should allow birds flying overhead or perching nearby to be seen.
Even if no birds eat it, the food will eventually spoil and you may need to replace it. Stickers on windows are a necessary evil to keep birds from smashing through them.
Backyard structures
To attract birds to a bird feeder, you need not employ the methods you already do, I guarantee you.
Although it’s true that birds would always prefer to feed from bird feeders hung from a tree branch, less natural places to hang a bird feeder can be used, and often are.
Depending on the specifics of your backyard, guttering may be a suitable place to mount a bird feeder—so long as it is in good repair and free of rust.
Avoiding guttering on two-story buildings is essential, but a garden shed or other outbuilding might be advantageous.
A single bird feeder can be suspended from a hook or bracket screwed to the wall of a shed made of wood in the same way.
Bird feeders can be hung under hanging flower baskets, or flower baskets can be swapped out for bird feeders when they aren’t being used.
In order to attract birds, it’s best to utilize at least two and preferably up to four feeders together, as a single feeder may go unused due to its invisibility.
A bird feeder can be hung from a hook screwed into the ceiling of a porch, or from beneath the eaves by using a longer hanger or wire to hook it over a wider portion of the roof.
Children’s outdoor playing equipment
Even while this probably doesn’t apply to you, there are plenty of ways to attract birds to your yard by repurposing outdated playground equipment.
You shouldn’t put bird feeders near any playground equipment, and if your kids are old enough to be teenagers, you should wait until they’ve outgrown the toys before hanging the feeders outside.
A wooden or metal frame equipment of this type is, by default, suited to hang bird feeders, but it can give many other hanging options as well.
Horizontal bars that are too thick to hang a bird feeder from can still be overcome with the use of an additional hanger and some wire or rope.
If you don’t have any trees in your yard, you’ll need to get creative about where to hang your bird feeder. Any suitable item will serve, as long as it’s out of the way of pedestrians and keeps the feeder high off the ground.
Bird feeders that are still 5-6 feet off the ground can be hung from the frames of abandoned children’s outdoor play equipment, such as a trampoline.
To summarize
While trees can draw in a lot of birds because that’s where they naturally forage when they’re out in the wild, the tools we put to use in our yards will ensure that they really use it.
You can begin by hammering a no-nonsense bird feeder pole into the grass. A Shepherd’s hook or bird feeder pole, typically fashioned with a single bracket, can serve this purpose.
In order to attract more birds, I suggest installing a multiple bracket bird feeding station pole rather than hanging individual feeders.
Place the pole holding the feeder in an open area of the lawn where passing birds can see it but where there is some cover to avoid the food from getting too hot in the sun.
It’s too bad you don’t have a tree, because we could have used its shade if we could have hung our bird feeders there.
Let’s not think about what might have been; a bird feeding pole with a suet, seed, and peanut bird feeder will attract a variety of birds anyway.
You can use a hummingbird feeder, but it must be hung apart from any other bird feeders because hummers won’t feed in the same area as other birds.
A length of clothesline, secured at either end of the yard, can serve as an alternative to a bird feeder pole for suspending several feeders. The bird feeders will be safer from bears and other pesky animals if they are hung up high.
You can use a plastic or wooden bracket to attach to a timber structure, or a wrought iron bracket to screw into a wall.
The guttering or the children’s outdoor play equipment in the backyard are two examples of random objects that would work well in place of a tree.
When there isn’t a tree available to serve as a perch, bird feeders should be hung no lower than 5 feet off the ground, and no higher than 10 feet if dogs or wildlife may still reach them.
