Wild Bird Haven

Many people often start with a hopper feeder when bird feeding. This is because these bird feeders are simple to fill, and hold a great amount of seed. They can either be hung from a shepherd’s crook, under the eaves of your home, or from a tree. In addition, they can be mounted from deck rail, post, fence, or wall.
A hopper style feeder is one that uses gravity to fill up the seed as it is eaten, while the food is held in a box like container. Usually, any type of seed can be placed in hoppers. Some of the very small varieties of seeds may be too small however.

Since birds, like humans, have their favorite foods, they will often kick away the ones they don’t like, searching for their favorites. You can help catch these discarded seeds by having something under the hopper to catch them.

Hopper bird feeders can feed a large amount of birds in unison, and many species find this sort of feeder attractive. These are birds like the grosbeaks, jays, cardinals, woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches, sparrows, and finches. Since there is usually a great deal of spillage from this type of feeder, other birds are often attracted to what falls to the ground. These birds are juncos, mourning doves, towhees, and different sparrow species.

There are many different shapes and sizes of hoppers you can purchase. There are ones that are square, round, look like chalets, partially enclosed, dome topped, or steel framed. Usually, you can see the level of seed through the transparent sides. They also usually have a substantial covering, so that the food is protected from the weather until which time it is consumed.

Since hopper bird feeders will attract many different types of birds, if you want to attract only certain birds, you may want to consider a different feeder type.

Have you feeder in an easily viewed location, keep it clean and filled with seed, and you will get great enjoyment watching to see who comes to visit your yard.