A bird bath in a quiet space will surely attract feathered friends. You can make one inexpensively by putting a trash-can lid or a shallow cement bowl on a stand. Remember to wash it out weekly and fill it with fresh water.

Bird Feeders, etc.

Q. I live in a suburb and have a nice plot of grass in my backyard. I put seed out there for birds in the hope attracting them. Sometimes they eat the seed, but not always. I'm discouraged.

A. Simply throwing out bird seed won't make your yard a haven for birds. They will just fly in, feed and fly off. Neighborhood cats will scare off birds, so the first thing to recognize is that all feeders must be off the ground.

Place the feeder out in the open so that birds can fly off at the approach of cats or other predators. But place it where you have a view of it and can enjoy seeing the birds feed.

To attract a wide variety of birds, fill the feeder with bread, granola, chopped fruit, raisins and shelled peanuts. Or use hanging feeders to dispense bird seed - or a mix of millet and sunflower seeds. Also, put out a shallow dish of water.

To lure goldfinches, put out thistle seeds. To attract woodpeckers and chickadees, hang some suet in a wire basket. Hummingbirds, a thrill to watch will quickly find a colored sugar-water dispenser hanging from your window, patio or tree branch.

Don't put out more than two cups of feed a day. Over feeding can cause   disease to spread and upset the birds' normal foraging behaviour If you're away, have someone keep the dispensers full. Once you start feeding, you should continue, especially in the winter.

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Birds flying into windows -

To keep birds from flying into your windows or glass doors, hang up decorative hawk silhouettes in the windows.

Article published in The Herald on Dr. Fox Tropical Life