Seasonal
Feeding Birds During Migration
For a few weeks each spring and fall your yard is a fuel stop for birds that will never nest within a hundred miles of it. What you offer in those weeks reaches a different set of birds entirely.
The short answer
- Migrating birds arrive at a stopover with depleted fat reserves and need to refuel fast. High-fat and high-protein foods do the most: sunflower hearts, suet, mealworms, peanuts and fruit.
- Spring migration peaks from March in the South to late May in the North. Fall migration is longer and more diffuse, running from August into November.
- Water attracts more migrants than any feeder. Many migrating species eat insects and fruit and will never touch seed, but every one of them drinks.
- Migration is peak season for oddities: grosbeaks, buntings, orioles, tanagers and sparrows passing through for a few days.
- Window strikes spike during migration. Treat the glass before the peak weeks, not after you find a bird on the deck.
A migrating songbird may burn most of its fat reserves in a single night of flight, then land at dawn somewhere it has never been, with a few hours to find enough food to do it again. That is what a stopover is, and for a few weeks each year your yard is one.
The birds using it are largely not your regulars. Warblers, tanagers, grosbeaks, buntings and passage sparrows drop in for a day or two, eat hard, and leave. Most of them will never nest anywhere near you, and many will never touch a seed feeder.
What follows covers when the peaks hit your region, what to put out for birds in a hurry, why water outperforms every feeder during passage, and the two hazards that spike in exactly the same weeks.
What a stopover bird needs#
Speed of refueling, not variety. A bird that has to spend four days rebuilding fat instead of two spends two extra days exposed to predators in unfamiliar habitat.
That argues for the most calorie-dense, least effortful food you can provide. Shelled and chopped items beat whole seed in hulls, because cracking a shell costs time and energy. Fat beats carbohydrate. Insects and insect substitutes beat everything for the many species that do not eat seed at all.
It also argues for cover and water alongside the food. A migrant will not use a feeder in an open lawn if there is nowhere to retreat to.
Peak weeks by region#
Spring migration is compressed and dramatic. Fall migration runs longer, starts earlier than most people expect, and involves far more birds because the year's young are moving too.
| Region | Spring peak | Fall peak |
|---|---|---|
| Gulf Coast, Florida, south Texas | Late March to late April | Late September to early November |
| Southeast, southern Plains | April | September to October |
| Mid-Atlantic, Ohio Valley, lower Midwest | Late April to mid May | Late August to mid October |
| Northeast, Upper Midwest | Early to late May | Late August to early October |
| Mountain West, Southwest | Late April to late May | August to September |
| Pacific Northwest, coastal California | April to May | August to October |
| Southern Canada | Mid to late May | Late August to late September |
Weather shifts these by a week or more. A cold front in spring or a north wind in fall can drop a large number of birds into a small area overnight, which is why the busiest morning of your year usually follows a change in the wind.
Fall starts in August
Shorebirds and some songbirds are moving south by late July, and the songbird push is well under way in August in the North. If you stop feeding at the end of summer you miss the longest and most interesting part of the year at a feeder. More in fall bird feeding.
What to put out during passage#
Cover the three main diet groups and you will catch most of what passes through.
| Migrant type | What works | Where to offer it |
|---|---|---|
| Seed eaters (grosbeaks, buntings, finches) | Sunflower hearts, black oil sunflower | Tube or hopper feeder |
| Ground foragers (sparrows, juncos, towhees) | White proso millet, cracked corn | Ground feeder or low tray |
| Insect eaters (warblers, wrens, catbirds) | Mealworms, suet, no-melt dough | Shallow dish, suet cage |
| Fruit eaters (orioles, tanagers, waxwings) | Orange halves, grape jelly, grapes | Nailed to a post, or an oriole feeder |
| Nectar feeders | 4 to 1 sugar water | Hummingbird feeder |
Two additions do most of the work. A dish of fruit brings in species that ignore seed entirely, and a scatter of millet on a low tray brings in the sparrow flocks that spend passage on the ground.
Keep everything stocked and fresh through the peak weeks. A migrant checks a yard once. If the feeder is empty that morning, it does not come back tomorrow to try again.
Water outperforms every feeder#
If you do one thing for migrants, put out water. Warblers, vireos, thrushes and flycatchers will never eat your sunflower seed, but all of them drink and bathe, and a bird that has flown all night is thirsty before it is hungry.
Moving water is dramatically more effective than still water, because the sound carries and migrants respond to it. A simple dripper or a mister over a shallow basin will pull in birds that you would otherwise never know had passed through. See drippers, misters and moving water for the setups that work.
Keep it shallow, no more than about 2 inches (5 cm) at the deepest, with a rough surface for grip and a clear sight line so a bathing bird can see a cat coming.
The unusual visitors#
Migration weeks are when the odd bird appears. Species that never feed in your yard in summer turn up because they are passing through and hungry.
Watch for the rose-breasted grosbeak on the sunflower feeder in May, the indigo bunting picking at millet on the ground, Baltimore orioles at orange halves during the first week of arrival, and white-throated sparrows scratching in leaf litter in October. Dark-eyed juncos arriving is the traditional sign that fall passage is turning into winter.
Irruptive species are the wild card. In some years pine siskins and other northern finches move south in large numbers when the conifer seed crop fails. Those years are unpredictable, and a nyjer feeder up in October is how you find out you are in one.
Leave the leaves and the weeds
Migrating sparrows, thrushes and wrens forage in leaf litter and seed heads, not at feeders. Leaving a corner of the yard unraked, and letting native seed heads stand, feeds more migrants than an extra feeder does. The case for it is in native plants for birds.
Nectar and jelly during passage#
Sugar feeders matter more in migration than in midsummer. A hummingbird crossing your yard in late August is fueling for a flight of hundreds of miles, and nectar is close to pure usable energy.
Keep hummingbird feeders clean and full through the whole fall passage, and change the nectar on the same schedule you use in summer even if traffic looks light. Leaving a feeder up does not delay anyone's departure, a point covered in when to take down hummingbird feeders.
Orioles and tanagers work the same way in spring. Orange halves and jelly put out during the first week of arrival catch birds that will not look at a feeder a month later, once insects and blossom are abundant. Put the fruit out before you expect them rather than after you see the first one.
The hazards that spike at the same time#
Two risks rise sharply during passage, both because unfamiliar birds are moving through in numbers.
Window strikes. Migrants do not know your house. Spring and fall are when collisions cluster, and treating glass with external patterns spaced about 2 inches (5 cm) apart is the only approach that reliably works. Do it before the peak weeks; the methods are in preventing window strikes.
Night lighting. Many songbirds migrate at night and are disoriented by artificial light. Turning off outdoor floodlights and drawing blinds on lit rooms during peak passage weeks is a free, effective measure.
Keep cats in during migration
A tired migrant in an unfamiliar yard is unusually vulnerable, often feeding on the ground and slow to flush. Migration weeks are the single most important time to keep cats indoors, as set out in cats and birds.
A migration-week routine#
- Fill every feeder the evening before a forecast wind shift, and check them at dawn.
- Add fruit and a dish of mealworms for the birds that ignore seed.
- Get water running: a dripper or mister, shallow basin, clear surroundings.
- Scatter millet on a low tray for ground foragers, and rake nothing.
- Treat problem windows before the peak, not during it.
- Turn off unnecessary outdoor lights at night.
- Keep cats indoors for the duration.
- Keep notes. Arrival and departure dates in your own yard are more useful than any regional average, and they set your calendar for spring feeding next year.
Frequently asked questions#
Should I feed birds during migration?
Yes, and these are among the most valuable weeks of the year to have feeders and water available. Migrating birds land in unfamiliar places with almost no fat left and have to refuel quickly. A stocked feeder, fresh water and native cover let a bird finish that job in a day or two instead of three or four.
What foods attract migrating birds?
Fat and protein. Sunflower hearts, suet, peanut pieces and mealworms cover most seed and insect eaters. Orange halves and grape jelly attract orioles and tanagers. Millet on a ground tray brings in migrating sparrows and juncos. Water attracts species that ignore every one of those foods.
When is spring migration where I live?
It moves north through the season. The Gulf Coast sees the first big arrivals in March, the mid-Atlantic and lower Midwest in April, and the Northeast, Upper Midwest and southern Canada from late April into late May. Warblers and other insect eaters generally arrive after the earliest sparrows and blackbirds.
Why do I get unusual birds at my feeder in May and October?
Because migrants are moving through and will drop into almost any yard with food, water and cover. Rose-breasted grosbeaks, indigo buntings, orioles and white-throated sparrows commonly appear at feeders for a few days during passage and then move on. It is worth keeping the feeders full through those weeks.
Do feeders make birds delay migration?
No. Migration timing is driven by day length and internal cycles rather than food supply. Birds fuel up at your feeder and leave on the schedule their biology sets. A well-stocked feeder helps them leave in better condition than they arrived.