Just before it gets dark, the cardinals make one last visit to the feeders, grabbing a late snack before tucking themselves in for the night. As predictable as sunset, they will be there, adding their bright red color to an otherwise drab landscape. It is one of the little things that people who enjoy attracting birds to their yards become aware of as they observe the different habits and behavior of the various types of birds.

If you have a bird feeder in your yard, you are in good company. Surveys suggest that half of the homes in this country provide food for wild birds, and the numbers are growing. The appeal is obvious – birds bring color and activity to the yard and liven things up, especially during the bleak and barren days of winter, and feeding them brings the birds closer so we can enjoy them more easily.

Putting up a birdfeeder helps to make life easier for the birds, especially in the winter. Winter in the south is not as difficult a time for birds as it is farther north, but there are times when finding food can be a challenge. In the fall, nature provides a banquet for the birds as plants of all kinds produce large quantities of seeds before dying off. This ensures that there will be plenty for the birds to eat while leaving enough seeds to produce new growth in the spring. Birds tend to ignore the feeders in the fall as they feast on the natural buffet. That usually changes by January, and often sooner.

As the natural food supply dwindles and gets harder to find, the weather gets colder. Birds need to eat continually for energy and to produce body heat, since they do not store body fat. While most birds can survive the winter on the natural food supply, nature does take its toll. A study of chickadees in Wisconsin, using banded birds, found that 69% of the birds with access to feeders survived the winter, whereas only 37% of the birds with no access to feeders survived. Winters are much harsher in Wisconsin than in Georgia, but it seems likely that birds with access to a ready food source late in the day and first thing in the morning will have a better chance during the short cold snaps we have here.

Feeding birds is a simple enough thing, and doesn’t have to involve more than putting out a feeder with some seed in it or just throwing the seed on the ground, and for a lot of people that is all it is.  Those who take the time to learn more about the birds that come to the yard soon find that there is more than one way to feed a bird. The variety of birds can be divided into two groups – those that like to eat from an elevated feeder and those that prefer to feed on the ground. Each group favors a different seed. For birds that eat at the feeders the seed of choice is black oil sunflower seed, a small seed with a soft shell that is easy for small birds to crack. The birds that feed on the ground like white proso millet, the main seed in most mixtures.

Placing mixed seeds in an elevated feeder will result in most of the seeds ending up on the ground. These mixes contain millet and varying amounts of sunflower seed, along with filler seeds like milo, wheat and flax. The feeder birds – cardinals, finches, chickadees and tufted titmice are most common - only want the sunflower seeds, and kick the other seeds out to get at them.

Using individual seeds is more efficient; sunflower seeds, which are readily available, in the feeders and millet on the ground. Millet is harder to find other than in bird feeding specialty shops and feed and seed stores, but it is the primary seed in most bags of mixed seed, and many people just use that.

Safflower seed is another that is promoted to bird watchers, largely because squirrels do not like it and leave the feeder alone. We know people who use it and like it, but our own experience is that the birds don’t really like it either, so we stopped using it. Sunflower kernels (also called chips, meat, hearts, and nuts) are the edible part of the seed without the shell, and birds really love them. Try mixing kernels and whole sunflower seeds together in the feeder and watch the crowd it draws.

Then there is thistle, or nyger, as they now want to call it. Thistle is a tiny seed that finches really like. Other birds like it too, so they make special feeders for it that only small birds can use. These are long, tubular feeders with 6 or 8 small perches, and it is not unusual to find every seat taken.

Most birds, even seed eaters, rely on insects for part of their diet, but in the winter these can be hard to find. Suet and peanut butter are two foods that can be used to fill the gap in the food supply. Suet cakes are processed beef lard with seeds, nuts, berries and even insects mixed into them. Plastic coated metal cages hold the cakes and can be hung in a tree or anywhere the birds can find them.

Peanut butter is another food that is high in nutrients and that birds really like. Naturally there are feeders designed to hold peanut butter, but it can simply be spread in the crotch of a tree or on a branch. Another way to present the food is to find a dead pine branch with cones attached, spread the peanut butter on the pine cones and hang it for the birds to find. They will.

So now you see how a pastime that begins with a five dollar feeder and a bag of cheap seed can quickly develop into a serious mental disorder. But it is a fun activity, and one that helps the birds while bringing pleasure to more and more people every year.