Bird House and Feeder Safety Tips

Keep your feathered visitors safe

Enjoying birds at your feeder can be a great winter activity for you and your family, but if you want to keep enjoying your visitors, you need to be aware of bird house and feeder safety. Your feeders and bird houses should be a sanctuary for any species that make a home in your yard. When you set up a habitat for birds, you have a responsibility to keep it safe from anything that could harm the inhabitants - including other animals that may carry disease or prey on smaller species.

Protecting Against Predators

All animals have predators - it's part of the natural cycle. However, you can do your part to help keep your birds safe by making it harder for predators to get to them in your yard. Birds' natural predators include other birds of prey, like owls, kestrels, falcons, eagles and hawks; native animals, like squirrels, raccoons, snakes and chipmunks; domestic animals like cats and occasionally dogs; and other birds, like cowbirds, jays, crows and grackles. A lot of these predators won't eat the birds themselves, but they will go after the eggs in bird houses and nests. Some, like the birds of prey and cats, will kill an unsuspecting bird at a feeder.

Protect your feeder and bird houses by:

• Hanging the feeder or house in an open space, away from heavy underbrush or hedging
• Squirrel-proofing the feeder so that squirrels can't eat the bird food or sneak up on young hatchlings
• Adding extra features, like a flap, or making holes and perches smaller so that unwanted birds can't move into bird houses, such as a purple martin house
• Buying a specific type of feeder or house so that you only attract the birds you want
• Keeping cats indoors; failing that, putting a collar with a bell on them

Protecting Against Window Strikes

Window strikes are a huge cause of death in the bird population; birds see differently than humans and will view a large reflective picture window as another part of the garden or, if they can see through the room to another window, as a safe fly-through zone.

Protect your birds from window strikes by:

• Not hanging the feeder in front of a window, unless the window has tinted glass or you are willing to hang a curtain or blinds on the inside. Getting rid of the window's reflective qualities is the first step to protecting birds from colliding with it.
• Placing decals or window-safe stickers of birds of prey or spider webs on the window so that birds will see the decals as hazards and fly in the other direction. Make sure that the stickers are solid and colored to be the most effective. For example, if the window reflects the garden, then stick a red decal on it so that birds will see it. If another window, and therefore your front or backyard, can be seen through the existing window, then place a black decal on it so that birds won't mistake it as a fly-through zone.

Protecting Against Disease

Occasionally, you may have to deal with diseased birds landing at your feeder or mold and mildew growing on the bird food. Sometimes you may find a dead bird around your feeder or bird house. Disease can spread quite quickly among the bird population if it isn't controlled, so follow these tips:

• Wash the bird feeder carefully if you spot a diseased bird feeding from it. Also wash bird baths, as disease can be spread easily there. Use a weak bleach solution and scrubber; make sure to wash and rinse the feeders and bird baths well.
• Report any mysteriously dead (as in, it is not apparent that the bird was killed by a cat or any other predator) or diseased birds to your local health unit or environmental society. If the bird you find is a dead crow, jay or pigeon, don't touch it - it could be carrying West Nile disease. If you live in an area with avian flu, don't touch any dead bird. Keep children and pets away.
• Look for signs of disease in birds that visit your feeder. These can include crusty eyes, growths on bills or feet, or general weakness and strange behavior. If you think you have a diseased bird, then report it.
• Move the feeder or bird bath periodically to reduce contamination levels from too many birds in one place
• Some feeders are better than others for reducing disease; for example, a tube feeder is better than a table feeder, where many birds can stand and contaminate the table and food. Consider what kind of feeder you want for your yard and what kind of birds you want to attract. Make sure to always practice good feeder hygiene, whichever type you choose.
• Make sure to wash your hands and forearms after cleaning a feeder or bird house. Wear gloves and use a disinfectant to kill germs.
• Keep an eye on bird food and change it often to prevent mold and mildew growth.