How to Attract Insect Eating Birds

The best insect-eating birds are chickadees, barn swallows, purple martins, robins, mockingbirds, nuthatches and woodpeckers. They are capable of eating 1,000 insects in a single afternoon without doing any damage to the environment. All birds have three primary needs: water, food, and shelter. How you provide these things will determine the types of birds you attract. The trick is providing the right type so that you are more likely to attract insect-eating birds.

Things You'll Need

• ALL ITEMS OPTIONAL
• Birdbath
• Bird feeder
• Bird food (See part 2, step 3)
• Suet feeder
• Suet
• Bird houses
• Nesting boxes
• Winter roosts

Instructions

Provide Water

1. 

   Set up a birdbath. Almost every type of bird, except owls, will be attracted by a birdbath.

2. Add a fountain to your birdbath. Birds are attracted to the sound of dripping water, and the movement will prevent mosquitoes from using it as a breeding ground.

3. 

   Most insect-eating birds do not migrate. If you purchase a heated birdbath or a heating device for your birdbath, birds will be able to use it throughout the year.

4. Make sure that your birdbath is no more than 3 inches deep with a rough surface to ensure the birds have a firm grip.

5. Place the birdbath away from trees, shrubs and fences that can enable neighborhood cats to prey upon them.

6. Clean your birdbath once a month. Use a solution of about 3/4 cup bleach to 1 gallon of water and a stiff brush.

Provide Food

1. Abandon the idea that if you feed insect-eating birds they won't eat the insects. Most birds use insects to feed their young or require a diet of both seeds and insects to survive.

2. Set out a bird feeder.

3. Fill your bird feeder with sunflower seeds, peanut kernels, nutmeats, safflower seeds, thistle seeds, canary seeds and safflower seeds. Do not fill it with bird food that contains corn, millet and milo which will attract strictly seed-eating birds.

4. Put out a suet feeder. Suet is a favorite of insect-eating birds such as woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, wrens, creepers, kinglets, and cardinals.

5. Keep all feeders stocked throughout the year. If the food level is too low, the birds will move on.

Provide Shelter

1. Set up several bird houses on posts in a sunny area about seven to ten feet of the ground. Make sure the house is the right dimensions to attract chickadees, titmice, or wrens. These three types of birds are good insect-eaters and will use bird houses.

2. Set up a few owl nesting boxes. Nesting boxes will attract screech owls, barn owls, barred owls and saw-whet owls. Owls not only eat insects, they also eat mice, voles and shrews.

3. Set up a martin bird house. Martin bird houses are birdhouses that have several rooms and will attract purple martins. These houses should be mounted onto poles at least fifteen feet high with forty feet of flying space around it. Clean out the house each year to ensure that the martins return.

4. Set up a winter roost. A winter roost looks like a bird house, except that the hole is at the bottom. It provides a temporary shelter for birds during the cold months.

Tips & Warnings

• Many insect-eating birds do not migrate and can be easily attracted during the winter.

• If you plan on using birds to eat your insects, do not use insecticides. It will drop the insect levels too low and cause the birds to move.

• Don't stop feeding birds once you start. It will cause them to leave the area.