If you love birds, you’ll want your back yard to be a safe, inviting place for these creatures, and one they have every reason to visit and even nest in. There are three needs every bird has: Food, water and shelter. Providing these things can be expensive, but we’ve got a plan for attracting birds to your back yard for less than $100. In fact, you might have enough left over to pay someone to silence the neighbor’s cat…but we certainly can’t advocate that. Or at least we probably shouldn’t!
Food is the most fun, so let’s leave that until the end. Making sure birds have water is easy and can be relatively inexpensive. Consider a bird bath, for example. Rather than pay for a new one, you may find you can come up with one from what you already have. A saucer-type sled, for example, is perfect. Excavate a small area in the lawn that will accept the concave shape of the saucer and install it. Fill it with water, and you are done! Empty and clean the saucer periodically. You’ll likely think of other ready-made bird baths as you look through your garage or basement. Don’t use anything deep, since you don’t want birds or small critters like mice to get in over their heads. If you choose to elevate the saucer bath, perhaps an old grill stand will serve the purpose. These items might needs a little paint to make them look presentable, but that will cost much less than new items.
Attracting Birds to your Backyard with less than $100
For shelter, there are many options. Birds love trees, of course, where they can nest or rest off of the ground. Local arbor societies offer small trees, seedlings, or saplings very inexpensively. Yes, they’ll take a few years to grow to adequate size for nesting, but with some long-term perspective now, you’ll create a backyard that will be the envy of your birding buddies before you know it.
For bird houses, make them yourself out of scrap wood if you are handy. Easy to follow directions are available online, and the birds won’t care that it isn’t brand new! If you choose to buy a bird house, perfectly satisfactory models can be found for under $10, so two or three won’t break your budget.
When it comes to food, let’s talk about feeders. There’s no good reason to buy them if you are on a tight budget. Gallon milk jugs can be used quite easily. Clean them out thoroughly first. Then cut a small opening in one side for birds to access. Keep the cap on it to prevent rain from soaking the seeds. Tie some twine to the handle, and hang it wherever you’d normally place a feeder. Several of these in the yard will work really well as feeders. If you find the white unattractive you might be able to paint them brown or green to look better outdoors. Buy paint formulated to stick to plastic. Another option is to buy a few gallons of water in perfectly clear plastic jugs, which won’t will blend in well in the yard.
Finally, we suggest you grow your own bird food in a birdseed garden, since a season’s worth of buying it will break the budget pretty quickly. See our guide entitled “How to Attract Birds to your Garden” for details, but bird favorites like sunflowers, millet, milo, safflower, sorghum, and thistle may easily be grown. The simplest way might be to buy an inexpensive bag of bird seed, prepare a plot of it, open it up and scatter it in about the density you’d scatter grass seed. Rake it in, cover it with an inch or two of top soil and water it, then let it grow.
If you can purchase berry bushes or grape vines inexpensively, let the fruit on them dry, and the birds will feast on it! Do some research and find out what birds prefer which types of seeds, and grow what will attract your favorites. What you grow this year will serve as next year’s feed. If you want to remove the sunflower and seeds to place in feeders near the house for better viewing, that’s an option. Harvest enough to supply seed for next year’s garden, anyway. You can also leave it on the plant and let the birds harvest it for themselves! Grow flowers that produce an abundance of seeds. Don’t deadhead them, but let the seeds dry on the stem. The birds will find them and enjoy nibbling on their offerings. Good flowers for this purpose include Coneflower, Blazing Star, Black-Eyed Susan, Bee Balm, Indian Grass, Globe Thistle, and Evening Primrose. These are just a few. Check your growing zone to look for others.
Food, water, and shelter can be provided for your favorite birds, and on a budget, too! You’ll save money and experience wonderful satisfaction whenever you watch this creatures .
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