What to Feed Birds in the Balcony Garden
Want to attract birds on your small urban dwelling? Well, it’ll be easy if you know what to feed birds in the balcony garden.
It gives great pleasure to get the birds visit and frolic about your balcony, this brings a bit of nature and wild life in your small space.
The most popular birds on the bird table are sparrows, chickadees, titmouse, tit, greenfinch, blue jay, house sparrow, bulbul and tree sparrow. However, doves, wood pigeons, rock pigeons, herring gulls, crows and magpie also share the feedings. In this way, these large birds displace some of the feeble and smaller birds, but this can be avoided if you do as directed in this article.
1. Is Birds Feeding Allowed in your Area?
Before you start feeding, you should check the rules in your area.
2. What are you Feeding?
If you want to be visited by small birds such as tits and sparrows, so it’s a good idea to serve them oil seeds such as sunflower seeds, nut kernels and hemp seed.
The little birds need lot of calories, both during the breeding season and during the winter. It is popular to feed bread, crackers and cereals too but it attracts mostly the larger birds that are not so popular on the balcony.
The little chickadees and sparrows are perfectly alright to eat those things. If you feed with corn, then you are almost certain to attract pigeons, which can cause problems in the long term.
Apples are good for blackbirds and other thrushes, but they are less likely to fly up on a balcony in search of food.
3. Do not Overfeed
It may be tempting to put extra food out to help a whole lot of birds. Unfortunately, it is a plan that can easily be disrupted by the mayhem of so many birds, so there is clear potential of spread of disease among birds.
4. Choose the Best Feeding Place
You can attract as many birds on the balcony where feed is freely available in an open space. Little birds are always wary of predators, it is important to provide them the visibility from where they can see large birds.
If you live near large trees, dense shrubs or other places where the birds can escape to safety, then your feeding place will certainly attract more visitors in diversity.
5. Birdfeeder vs. Bowls and Feeding Trays
A feeder shields the feed, so that the only small birds that have access to it can feed from it.
On the other hand, if you use a serving plate or bowl, all the birds will come to feed.
With feeder you will typically experience less waste of feed and less mess on the balcony. At the same time you’ll attract more of the little birds when they can have their meals without any interruption from crows and pigeons.
Whichever option you choose, keep feeding space wide and easy to clean.
6. Keep clean
Remove scattered and leftover ‘feed leftovers’ from furniture and balcony floor once a week and wash the feeder of once a month.
Birds can be carriers of germs, which at worst can be transmitted to humans. Therefore, it is important that you remember to wash your hands thoroughly each time you have been in contact with bird droppings.
If you live near the tall trees where birds can seek refuge, you are lucky, you’ll have lot of chirruping small beings on your balcony even if you live on the 5th or 6th floor, but for this you’ll require regular feeding for longer periods.
