Where to place your feeders to please the birds

Given a choice, birds choose feeders closest to cover to reduce the probability of predation and to save energy.

A team of researchers in Illinois came to that conclusion after examining the effects of distance to nearest cover on bird abundance at feeders.

They found that birds, given a choice, most often will use feeders closest to a tree or shrub, something that gives them cover while eating a seed, or a protected place to perch between feeder visits. The number of different species also increased.

The study was conducted in an Illinois suburb.

At each of four residences bird feeders were placed at varying distances from a tree — on the tree, and 8 feet, 16 feet, and 24 feet distant.

Eight species were found to be more abundant at feeders closest to cover — mourning dove, black-capped chickadee, Northern cardinal, white-throated sparrow, dark-eyed junco, red-winged blackbird, white-breasted nuthatch and house finch.

Specifically, researchers said, birds choose to feed in locations closest to cover to decrease the risk of predation, to reduce energy costs associated with flight, and to potentially minimize exposure in severe weather.

A Wisconsin study found similar results.

Chickadees and nuthatches hack open sunflower seeds to get at the seed meat. They need a perch on which to hack. Nearness to appropriate trees also was a factor in feeder use in the Wisconsin study.

Four feeders at different locations in a yard were monitored.

"Nearness to cover and the type of cover appears to govern the birds' choice of feeder," the researcher wrote. A feeder near a dense spruce tree was found preferable to those near a maple with a leafless understory, for instance. Overall, feeders closest to cover were preferred.

This study again showed not only more individuals but also an increase in the number of species using the feeders.

A study in North Cardiff, Wales, found that the amount of seed consumed at feeding stations adjacent to hedgerow cover was approximately double that of feeders 24 feet away.

A friend in Plymouth tells me that birds using his feeders seek shelter in nearby arborvitae shrubs, and in a shelter pile he made of pine branches, cone flowers, hydrangea and other dried flower stems and heads. (An old Christmas tree would work.)

He created a perching sanctuary near his feeders with a cluster of tall tree branches scavenged from a nearby woods. It is used "constantly" by his feeder birds, higher perches chosen first, he said.

Feeders in our yard — eight for seed, three for suet — all are located no more than 20 feet from a tree or bush. Six of those feeders are on our deck. Birds most often carry seed to a birch tree, branches of which are 15 feet away. Nuthatches take seeds to the trunk and main branches of a large maple tree 10 feet from the deck.

The busy feeders in the rear of our yard are about 10 feet from a medium-sized white cedar tree, well used, and a honeysuckle thicket. Mature trees nearby are used but as secondary choices.

In years past we've had success with brush piles. We place larger branches or pieces of log randomly at the bottom to provide open space, then add branches as they fall from trees in our yard. The bigger the pile the better. A scattering of dried leaves atop the pile help create shelter.

We have kept the pile in place into the spring until migrating sparrow species have moved on. Bird species feeding on the ground scampered for cover in the brush when any perceived threat, like me, was approaching.

Lifelong birder Jim Williams can be reached at woodduck38@gmail.com.