Attract More Birds: Bird Houses, Baths, and Feeders Explained

Ever wondered how to attract birds like the house wren, house sparrow, mourning dove, or dozens of other birds to the garden? In this video, we go over exactly that! You'll learn:

- General landscaping tips for birds
- How to identify what birds are local to your region
- The type of bird box or bird house each bird prefers, and where to locate it
- The type of food a bird wants to eat

You might be wondering, why would I want MORE birds? They just eat my berries and poke holes in my tomatoes. YES, this is true...but they're also pollinators, bug destroyers, and improvers of the local ecosystem.

As long as you approach attracting more birds to the garden in an intelligent way that matches the conditions your birds actually WANT, then you'll get a lot of the benefits without many of the downsides!

SPONSOR: HAPPY GARDENS

Brandon from Happy Gardens was nice enough to send out the birdhouse and bird bath you see in today's video. If you use the code 'Epic20' you can get 20% off any item on the site, so feel free to check it out if you're looking to get some bird baths, feeders, or houses. Links to individual products are below.

IN THIS VIDEO

SUPPORT EPIC GARDENING

LEARN MORE

MUSIC / CREDITS

DISCLAIMER

[epicgardening]

0:00 - Intro
2:50 - Bird Baths
5:05 - Bird Feeders
7:48 - Bird Houses

[flowergrowersmith]

Wow - that bird house is incredible! They'll be fighting over who gets the keys for that place.

[samantha.irenes]

I got a suet feeder this year for the first time and the woodpeckers have gone CRAZY for it, it's been so fun to watch!

[SmokyMountainBlessed]

thanks for the tips, just set up my first bird feeders at our RV in the smoky mountains, might have to change feed to attract them, but hopefully they come quickly, I am high functioning autistic so I love watching critters and nature, and have a couple trail cams also

[billiamc]

Even more important is planting for pollinators!!!! Do you know the failure rate for honeybees in USA is now over 50%? Some states like here in Maryland, the failure rate of honeybees is 65%...the lack of forage is directly responsible for the massive loss of native bees and honeybees....Another clear indicator is state honey production...in the early 1900s, Iowa had a honey production rate of over 300 pounds per colony and now it's about 40-50 pounds...that's a massive cut in productivity due to lack of available forage!!!! AWESOME You must live up in Hillcrest area or near the park? I grew up out there in Clairemont where my parents still live...the environment has changed drastically since when I was a kid back in the early 70s...

[WONDERring]

Very informative. How about a video about bees and wasps that eat pests? Attracting them and housing for them in the garden.

[luckyducky]

Looks like a fledgling! I have three in my garden right now that recently left a nest on my house. I'm glad I have a fence so they are protected while they learn how to fly. So cute to watch❤

[MonoiLuv]

This video is my jumping start for attracting birds. Thank you for laying out the information for us urban gardeners!

[falkharvard]

I started planting to attract certain birds 6 years ago and for the last 4, I have regular birds who diligently clear away nearly every pet I had.
For 4 years, the birds have meant I haven't bought pesticides.
A brilliant video, always more to learn

[lovelifelivelife]

We actually hang ceramic bird houses from shepherds hooks near our garden and one on our shed with the one inch diameter hole. We get house wrens every year, probably the same families come back year after year. Its fun to watch them build and catch winged predators from our garden. The mother house wren I'm assuming is singing to us all the time. she gets really close to me in the garden and is very happy there. We have a pond with a running waterfall for them so they are spoiled. I love to here her babies when they are hungry and to wait for them to Fletch their nest when its time. They also like the home-made gourd bird houses hung in trees as well. Thanks for all you do Good luck with your Wren family :)

[freeasabird]

How beautiful, dear little bird. I had a bare canvas to work with. I have put in numerous natives and different sizes bird baths. Lovely to sit at my window and watch the birds come to my yard. I have veges too, haven’t noticed them damaging my food. 😊

[ldcjohj]

Simple and detailed. I'm doing some research before starting a compact bird habitat in my constricted neighbourhood. Thanks, Kevin.

[Gotchapic]

About the squirrels: there is a bird feeder that will close the opening where the seeds are, when the weight of the squirrel steps on. Ingenius idea! I seen it on YouTube so should be easy to check out. Love your videos! A San Diego neighbor!👋

[banjodalew]

We've had a pair of Carolina Wrens nest in our garden the past two years. Once in a hanging basket about 5 ft high, and in a 5 gal bucket with a bushy determinate tomato. Beautiful songs for tiny birds.

[patrickmorgan]

Great video! I love that you have created a little ecosystem in an otherwise desolate urban environment. One suggestion for the bird house is putting a metal portal around the hole. Seeing that you had a squirrel in your yard, it would protect the nesting birds and their eggs/offspring from squirrel predation. Might mess up the aesthetics of the house, but it would make it safer for the birds.

[libbygoinstabor]

I'm watching this 3 years after posting but I noticed the website for the yard map has been hacked and it's a gaming site now? Any idea on where to find the same information on local birds?

[SR]

That website is amazing! Super helpful

[bigboya]

Nest watch is from cornell lab of ornithology. I work at cornell and go there a lot. Awesome place to visit

[boostjunkieMike]

good video, very informative. Thanks for doing the research to share with us👌🏾😎👍🏾👍🏾 I'm just starting out enjoying welcoming birds to my yard/garden. So far so good with keeping the squirrels off my feeders.

[xigzszw]

Metal bird baths will overheat the water and make the rim too hot to perch on. Ours is stone. It's placed near a tree but out in the open so predators can't jump from the tree into it and birds can easily see a predator coming. Our feeder is placed the same way. If it's hanging from a tree, any squirred or prefator can get at it.