October is a fascinating month. It starts out as one season and ends up as the opposite. Wildlife is in a hurry. Migrants are rushing through to keep their appointment with nature further south. The squirrels are busily storing food for the winter. Of course, one of the best ways to get migrating birds to drop by your yard is to provide running or dripping water. Fall trimmings from trees and shrubs make excellent brush piles for your winter ground-feeding birds, including sparrows and juncos, who seek out these areas for roosting during cold winter nights.

October is also a good time to increase the variety of feeders and seed in your yard. Activity at your feeding station begins to pick up and it will become more and more intense. Continue to feed suet and a variety of seeds in feeders presented at four different levels. At ground level, feed millet; then at tabletop height, or from low post feeders, offer a seed mix like our Patio Mix®. Next, hang tube-style feeders from poles or mount them from high posts, and fill them with black oil sunflower, sunflower chips, or Nyjer® for goldfinches. Finally, use tree trunk zones for suet feeding. You will attract the greatest variety of birds to your feeders if your feeding system covers all four feeding levels.

Dealing With Squirrels

If you wish to deter squirrels, and have a suitable location, buy a squirrel baffle to keep squirrels away from your seed. Stop by our store, and we will show you the different styles and explain necessary placements. In the right spot, this simple barrier approach is extremely reliable, allowing you a wide range of feeders to choose from.

Offering safflower is another simple solution. Used by itself, safflower is unattractive to grackles, starlings and squirrels, but is relished by many popular songbirds, including house finches, mourning doves, nuthatches, chickadees, and grosbeaks. You can also use restrictive feeders that will not accommodate starlings and grackles. Such feeders are typically encased in a wire cage with openings that allow smaller birds access to the food while leaving unwanted visitors outside, including squirrels. To deny squirrels access to your seed, and perhaps have some fun along the way, use one of many squirrel-proof feeders available at your Wild Bird Center. There's a variety of feeders that use the weight of a squirrel as ammunition; the mechanisms in these feeders are tripped by the squirrel's weight and access to the food is effectively restricted.

If you're concerned with starlings eating your suet, use one of the upside down suet feeders available at the Wild Bird Center. By design, it forces the birds to hang from the bottom in order to feed, thus effectively eliminating access by starlings. Another strategy is to use a caged suet feeder, allowing access for smaller birds and restricting the larger birds and squirrels. Of course, you can always offer a separate squirrel feeder, or a premium seed blend in an open feeder away from your regular feeders, in order to divert starlings, grackles and squirrels. Once they have their own "table", they may not bother the rest of your backyard birds.

During the Fall Seed & Feeder Sale, October 23-28, come to the Wild Bird Center and see the Ultimate Backyard Feeding Workstation. Sign up to win the Workstation and/or buy a set of scale drawings to build your own. This workstation features a large platform feeder which doubles as a platform for filling other feeders. Underneath the platform feeder are two squirrel-proof and raccoon-proof 20 gallon steel seed cans. Lattice side panels allow the birds to use the Workstation for winter roosting and plant support for your garden. A $150.00 value.