In many areas, birds like American Goldfinches tend to relocate during the nesting season, but return to seed feeders shortly thereafter (photos by Paul Konrad). In most areas, hummingbirds are summer visitors, but some birders only see/host hummingbirds during spring migration and after their nesting season. Late summer is the peak of hummingbird activity at many feeding stations, with young hummingbirds adding significant numbers to adult populations. It’s especially rewarding when birds that nest nearby bring their fledglings to your feeding station, where you can see interactions and feeding bouts firsthand. Who wouldn’t be thrilled with a surprise visit from a colorful Scarlet Tanager – a “First Yard Bird” for photographer Paul Konrad.

It’s still the first week of summer, and while you probably made a feeding station transition from early spring to late spring, the easiest transition is from spring to summer. Changes at your feeding station can be gradual, or abrupt, depending on what the birds communicate through their appearance at your feeders, or their absence. Songbird and hummingbird migration dictated our last major changes, but now it comes down to the local nesting birds and their new fledglings. We also need to be aware that some non-nesters or failed nesters may show up earlier than expected too.

The numbers of birds that visit your feeding station should also dictate your feeding activities. For example, while we started with one oriole feeder in early May, we had to expand to 3 feeders with grape jelly and sliced oranges by the end of the month. We also needed to buy a greater volume of both foods each week. On the other hand, our seed feeders have been all but deserted, although every once in a while an American Goldfinch stops by to brighten our day and grab some thistle seeds.

We like to be a multipurpose buffet while emphasizing the birds that are present or expected month to month. It’s always best to provide seasonal foods before the birds they are intended for are scheduled to arrive. We have kept records of when different species arrive, which we’ve found especially is useful. If a bird arrives and doesn’t find the “right stuff,” we figure there’s a chance we may not see it again; and if that bird happens to be an Evening Grosbeak or White-winged Crossbill, for example, we could miss a “First Yard Bird.”

A shallow water basin filled with fresh water as an integral part of our feeding station, and fresh water has the best potential of attracting the greatest variety of birds – plus providing fresh water daily is cheap and easy. We also have a decorative bird bath in our largest flower garden to provide a secondary water source.

Our suet feeder is nowhere near as attractive to birds that inhabit the area during June and July, but we want to be stocked up in case woodpeckers or nuthatches check out the action at the feeding station. Of course, we offer no-melt suet during the warm weather months, but we actually take that a step farther to provide “no-melt hot pepper suet” that keeps squirrels from feeding at our bird buffet. For that matter, we only use squirrel-proof seed feeders, and frankly only rarely see a squirrel – probably because they have become aware that our feeding station is not accessible for them.

You may be surprised that your hummingbird feeder will attract other birds, such as orioles, House Finches, and others. Plus your oriole feeder with grape jelly and orange slices may attract thrushes, such as robins and catbirds, mockingbirds, and some finches, grosbeaks, and even warblers. If goldfinches have been absent for a while, they may be back at your feeding station soon to feed on thistle or shelled sunflower seeds – and there will be many other potential visitors at those seed feeders with the passing of each month.

Even if you’re an ace at summer bird feeding, there are always surprises. At times, it may seem like you’re in the summer doldrums, but just when you think the bird action at your feeders is static, new birds and even new species will appear as long as you have “the right stuff” when they arrive.

For many birders, the summer feeding period is the most exciting time of backyard birding. The birds are the most colorful, the most active; they are singing and displaying, feeding on different foods, and they have a greater need for fresh water for drinking and bathing. If you have summer feeders – a hummingbird feeder and oriole feeder; a seed feeder and suet feeder, plus a bird bath or other water feature – you’re in business!

By July many songbirds have completed their nesting period, and individual birds become more mobile again, detached from territories; that’s especially the case for males that don’t participate in the nesting stage – including hummingbirds and some others. Eventually, males that help incubate eggs, feed nestlings, and care for fledglings begin dispersing along with females and new fledglings.

In addition to adult birds, watch for the appearance of fledglings at your feeders and water features. In fact, adult birds nesting in your yard or neighborhood may bring their fledglings to your feeding station to introduce them to the foods you have provided for the adults before and during their nesting period. When fledglings do appear, it’s always exciting, and whether they are repeat visitors, or one-visit wonders, it’s all a rewarding part of the summer feeding experience.

We have had a variety of fledglings stop in over the past few years – rarest among them were fledgling Hairy Woodpeckers, plus Orchard Orioles, House Finches, American Goldfinches, American Robins, and more.

July is not too soon to be ready for birds that will begin to move beyond their nesting territories farther north. After nesting, many species’ pair bonds break down and birds begin dispersing and may travel in any direction, but mosty southbound. In some cases early migrants begin moving by late July through August, making stopovers where they find needed resources – and that location may be centered at your feeding station for a time! Are you ready to attract them and keep them returning? Is your feeding station welcoming to the next birds to arrive in your backyard habitat?

That’s where the buffet comes in, providing a little bit of everything, just in case you can entice a new species to your feeding station, or especially interesting species that you don’t see every year. But don’t overlook the birds that visit your feeders regularly – what birds can compare with hummingbirds, orioles, cardinals, goldfinches, chickadees, woodpeckers, nuthatches, jays, thrushes, and more? If they don’t come to your feeders regularly, they will surely be a thrill if they suddenly appeared.

There was a time when summer bird feeding was novel, when feeding birds was mostly limited to providing seeds during the cold weather months. Since the ’90s, that’s changed, in some ways dramatically. With the summer feeding station foods described above and water, you should attract the usual favorites plus the seasonal, the rare, and the passing birds that will thrill you as summer dispersal from nesting territories begins. Enjoy new birds as they arrive and join your summer favorites.

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