One fun aspect of feeding birds is learning what birds are visiting your backyard habitat. There are several good identification field guides such as National Geographic, Peterson's East & West and Birds of North America through which the wild birds can be identified. Birds are grouped by physical characteristics. It is fairly easy to distinguish a duck from a songbird by just looking at body shape and size, as well as the beak and feet shapes. These physical characteristics will help identify birds: size, body shape, colors, markings, beak shape, feet and wing shape in flight. Birds have a variety of calls. Good listeners can learn to tell the difference between "chickadee" and "cheerily - cheerio - cheeriup" calls of the Black-capped Chickadee and the American Robin. The most important element is the type of food offered to the wild birds. The widest variety of food sources ensures the widest variety of birds. Ensure that your bird feeder is kept clean. Old, moldy seed left in the feeder will not attract wild birds. Not only is the food type important, but the time period you feed and the consistency of feeding is very important as well.

Many people will only feed the birds in the winter months, which is when they need it most, however, by feeding throughout the spring and summer months you will attract the migratory birds returning from southern climates. In addition, by feeding in the spring and summer, parenting birds will have easy access to a food source for their young. Food like seeds, protein rich insects and worms, flies; birds love mosquitoes, spiders, aphids and ants. Do not kill all the bugs in your yard if you want birds. Flowers, shrubs and trees will encourage a rich insect life in your yard that will, in turn, provide necessary food for wild birds. If you want to attract hummingbirds to your garden, this can be accomplished in several ways. If you plant honeysuckle, common lilac (with purple flowers), red geraniums, nasturtium, red petunias, red salvia, coral bells, columbine, fuchsia and even scarlet runner beans, there is a good chance that you will see hummingbirds feeding among your flowers. Fresh, clean water made available year round is an important element of attracting wild birds.

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Paul is Head of Training for a major UK Charitable Organisation with a wealth of experience in personal development, management development, e-learning and operational management. In addition he owns PK eBooks (http://www.pk-ebooks.co.uk) and has just published a series of Bird Watching eBooks which can be found at http://www.pk-ebooks.co.uk/birding_for_everyone.htm