How to Attract Roadrunners With Habitat, Not Handouts
Attract Greater Roadrunners with open travel lanes, native scrub, natural prey and safe perches—not meat, pet food or hand-feeding.
5 min read
Field guide · Topic
Attracting Birds
Birds come to yards that offer four things: food, water, cover and safe places to nest. These guides show how to provide them, species by species. Each one covers what a particular bird eats, the feeder it can use and the plants and shelter it looks for, so you can plan for cardinals, bluebirds, orioles or woodpeckers instead of hoping they turn up. Other guides deal with new feeders that birds ignore, small yards and balconies, native shrubs and trees, and seed-bearing flowers you can leave standing for fall and winter.
Attracting Birds guides
Zinnias for Goldfinches: Seeds Birds Eat in Fall
Goldfinches tear into aging zinnias for the seeds at the base of each petal. Here is which birds eat zinnia seeds, when the heads ripen, and how to plan a fall seed garden.
5 min read
Do Goldfinches Eat Coneflower Seeds? Seedheads for Birds
Goldfinches love coneflower seeds. Here is when the seedheads ripen, which other garden flowers they strip in fall, and why you should wait until late winter to cut back.
6 min read
How to Attract Nuthatches: Suet, Sunflower and Tree Bark
Sunflower, peanuts and suet near mature trees bring nuthatches in. Here is what each species eats, which feeders suit them, and how winter flocks with chickadees work.
6 min read
How to Attract Cardinals With Safflower, Shrubs and Water
Northern cardinals stay in one area all year, so a yard with the right seed, feeder, cover and water can keep a pair visiting in every season.
5 min read
How to Attract Goldfinches With Finch Feeders and Flowers
Goldfinches want fresh seed, a feeder they can cling to, and flowers left to go to seed. Here is what they eat through the year and how to bring them in.
5 min read
How to Attract Blue Jays: Peanuts, Acorns and Open Feeders
Blue jays come quickly to the right food in the right feeder. What they eat, which feeders suit a bird their size, and why fall is the best time to win them over.
5 min read
How to Attract Chickadees: Seeds, Suet and Nest Boxes
Chickadees are among the easiest birds to bring to a feeder. What they eat, where to hang the feeder, why they hide seeds, and the nest box sizes they use.
5 min read
How to Attract Woodpeckers to Your Yard: Suet and Dead Wood
Suet near a tree trunk, unsalted peanuts, and a dead limb left standing: the setup that brings downy, hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers to a yard.
6 min read
How to Attract More Birds to My Yard: A Practical Plan
Food brings birds in, but water, cover and nest sites make them stay. A practical plan for more birds, and more kinds of birds, in any yard.
6 min read