Stokes Tips: Kids & Bird Feeding

One of the best ways to connect kids to nature is to set-up a bird feeding station near your home. Kids will get hooked on the up-close-and-personal view of beautiful wild birds and want to see and know more about birds. Connecting kids to nature at an early age gives us the conservationists of tomorrow.

1. Let children help shop for, then set-up, the bird feeder in the first place. Let them help with putting the pole in the ground, or mounting a bracket, or getting the hook over the branch. Then let them fill the bird feeder. Provide a scoop, or container for the seed that is right for smaller hands to manage.

2. Location, location, location. Make sure and locate the bird feeder where the children can see it well from inside the house. Out a window near the breakfast table is ideal. Birds are most actively feeding in the early morning, replenishing their energy after the night. So there will be lots of action at the feeder while kids are eating their breakfast.

3. Keep a bird book on the table so kids can identify the birds that come to their feeder. Stokes Beginner’s Guide To Bird Feeding and Stokes Beginner’s Guide To Birds, contain photos and good identification information on all the feeder birds. If possible, and children are old enough, keep a pair of small binoculars on the table also, for close-up views of the birds.

4. Let kids keep a list or journal, of what, and how many birds they see at the feeder. Even better, keep crayons and paper nearby and let them draw the birds. Remember, it’s not an art contest; any attempts at drawing are a good thing. Drawing is a tool that will make them look more closely, leading to better bird identification skills as they grow up. Place favorite kid’s bird drawings on the refrigerator.

5. Take steps to insure a successful bird feeding experience in the first place. A good, basic set-up includes choosing a seed tube or hopper style feeder and filling it with Black Oil Sunflower, or a quality mix containing a large percentage of sunflower. That’s the favorite seed of feeder regulars like chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, cardinals and jays.

6. Invite even more birds by including other feeders. A finch tube feeder filled with Nyjer (thistle) seed will attract goldfinches and other finch species. Use suet cakes in a suet feeder to attract Downy, Hairy, Red-bellied and other Woodpeckers.

7. Keep the feeders filled!! Let kids help with the feeder filling chores. Birds will stop coming if there is no food, or only food on a very sporadic basis.

9. Take steps to prevent squirrels from getting to the seed and ruining the bird feeding experience. Mount the feeder on a pole and put a squirrel-baffle on the pole below the feeder to prevent squirrels from climbing the pole. Place the pole at least 12 feet or more from any place a squirrel can jump from. If you cannot pole mount your feeder, then choose a squirrel-proof feeder in the first place. The Stokes Select Squirrel-Proof Feeder is a tube, surrounded by a cage, that small birds can enter, but not squirrels. This feeder can be placed anywhere, because a squirrel cannot access the seed even if it gets on the feeder. Another ploy is to divert squirrels with their own squirrel feeder, such as the Stokes Select Squirrel Lunch Box, placed well away from the bird feeder. Squirrels are entertaining for kids to watch too.

8. Help kids attract and enjoy even more birds on your property by offering bird baths, hummingbird feeders in summer and putting up bird houses. A wonderful project is to make a bird house with your child.

9. Delight in your child’s delight at attracting birds and continue to encourage them in this healthy, beneficial activity.