Seasonal
Spring Bird Feeding
Spring is the one season when your feeder lineup should actually change. Migrants arrive hungry, resident birds shift from fat to protein, and the suet that worked in January starts working against you.
The short answer
- Late winter into early spring is the leanest food period of the year, not midwinter. Keep feeders full through March.
- Shift the emphasis from pure fat toward protein and calcium: mealworms, peanuts, sunflower hearts and crushed eggshell.
- Swap regular suet for no-melt dough once daytime highs pass roughly 90°F (32°C), which happens in April in the South.
- Put hummingbird and oriole feeders out about two weeks before the first arrival date for your area, not after you see one.
- Offer nesting material as short natural fibers only. Never yarn, string, dryer lint or hair longer than about 4 inches (10 cm).
Spring is the season to change what is in your feeders. Fat still matters in March, but by May the birds around you are raising young on insects and need protein and calcium far more than they need suet. At the same time, migrants are arriving with no local knowledge of your neighborhood, and your feeder is a landmark they find by chance.
The mistake most people make is timing. They ease off in March, exactly when natural food supplies bottom out, and they hang the hummingbird feeder in June, weeks after the first birds passed through.
This page covers the spring calendar, the switch from fat to protein, the feeder changes warm weather forces, nesting material, and what to do when the birds seem to vanish in May. For the breeding-season detail, see feeding during nesting season.
Late winter is the hungriest stretch of the year#
Natural food peaks in fall and declines all winter. By March the seed crop, berry crop and cached food are largely gone, and insect emergence is still weeks away. That trough, not January, is when a feeder does the most good.
Keep the winter menu running through this period: suet, black oil sunflower, peanuts and a ground tray. The full cold-weather approach is in winter bird feeding. Do not start scaling back until you see insects on the wing and the first migrants settling into territories.
If you feed only part of the year, feed in March
The most common seasonal mistake is treating December as the hard month and March as the easy one. It is the other way around. Feeder traffic in early spring is often heavier than midwinter traffic in the same yard.
The spring calendar, month by month#
Dates shift by roughly two to four weeks between the Gulf Coast and southern Canada. Use these as a sequence, not a schedule.
| Month | What is happening | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| February | Natural food at its lowest, resident birds start singing | Keep suet and sunflower going; clean feeders during thaws |
| March | First short-distance migrants, juncos and winter sparrows depart | Add mealworms; put nectar feeders out in the South |
| April | Main migration wave, territories forming, first nests | Nectar and oriole feeders up in the middle latitudes; offer nesting material |
| May | Peak migration in the North, incubation begins | Switch to no-melt suet, add calcium, expect feeder traffic to drop |
| June | Nestlings and first fledglings | Mealworms and sunflower hearts; keep water clean and full |
The regional feeding guides go into local arrival timing in more detail, including how far behind the Gulf Coast your own yard runs.
From fat to protein#
Nestlings are fed almost entirely on insects and other invertebrates, even by species that eat seed as adults. Chickadees, wrens, bluebirds and warblers all switch to caterpillars in the breeding season. You cannot replace that, and you should not try, but you can support the adults doing the hunting.
The useful spring additions:
- Mealworms, live or dried, in a shallow dish or a proper mealworm feeder. Dried ones should be soaked briefly in warm water so that they carry moisture. This is the single change that turns a seed feeder into a bluebird and wren attraction.
- Peanuts in a mesh feeder, high in both fat and protein. Whole peanuts in the shell suit jays; pieces suit titmice and nuthatches.
- Sunflower hearts, easier for an adult to carry back to a nest than a shelled seed.
- Calcium. Egg-laying females need far more calcium than usual. Crushed eggshell, baked at low heat to sterilize it and broken into pieces the size of a grain of rice, or crushed oyster shell, offered in a separate dish. See grit, calcium and eggshells.
Never offer whole bread, or peanuts to nestlings
Adults will carry whatever is easiest back to the nest. Large chunks of bread and whole peanuts are both choking hazards for nestlings. Offer peanuts as small pieces during breeding season, and keep bread and other kitchen scraps off the menu entirely. The reasoning is in what not to feed birds.
The warm-weather feeder switch-over#
Once daytime highs start climbing, three things need changing.
Suet. Regular rendered suet is stable below roughly 90°F (32°C). Above that it softens, turns rancid fast, and can smear onto the head and breast feathers of the birds that press against it, which damages the waterproofing they depend on. No-melt suet dough, which is blended with flour or cornmeal, holds its shape through summer. Switch when your daily highs start reaching the upper 80s, and move the suet feeder into shade regardless.
Seed volume. Warm, humid weather spoils seed several times faster than winter cold does. Fill feeders to about half capacity so the seed turns over in a few days rather than sitting. Store the rest in a sealed container somewhere cool and dry.
Cleaning frequency. Move from a monthly winter schedule to every one to two weeks. Wet spring weather plus warmer temperatures is the combination that grows mold in a tube base, and moldy seed is a genuine health risk rather than an aesthetic one.
Nectar and oriole feeders: get ahead of the arrivals#
Put nectar out about two weeks before the first hummingbirds normally reach your area. The first arrivals are scouting, and a feeder that is not there yet does not get remembered.
Mix four parts water to one part plain white sugar, no dye, no honey, no brown sugar. The recipe and the reasons are in the hummingbird nectar recipe, and timing by region is in when to put out hummingbird feeders.
Baltimore orioles arrive in a narrow window in late April and early May across most of the East, and they are far easier to attract during that first week than later. Orange halves and a small amount of grape jelly in an oriole feeder is the standard opening move.
Nesting material: what is safe#
Birds will take material from your yard whether or not you offer it. The point of an offering station is convenience, not necessity, and the wrong material is actively dangerous.
| Safe to offer | Never offer |
|---|---|
| Untreated cotton, wool and jute in pieces under 4 inches (10 cm) | Yarn, string, twine, fishing line, tinsel |
| Dead grass, straw, pine needles, small twigs | Dryer lint, which crumbles when wet and holds detergent |
| Moss, plant down, shed pet fur from untreated animals | Hair longer than about 4 inches (10 cm), which tangles legs |
| Mud in a shallow tray for robins and swallows | Plastic strips, cellophane, foil |
Offer it loose in a suet cage or a mesh bag hung where you can see it, and take the station down once nest building tapers off. Full detail is in offering nesting material safely.
When the birds disappear in May#
Every spring, someone concludes their feeder has stopped working. Usually it has not.
Late spring is when insect abundance peaks, adults are tied to territories and nests, and winter flocks have broken up and dispersed. Fewer birds visiting is normal and often means the neighborhood is well supplied. It usually reverses within a few weeks when adults start bringing fledglings to easy food.
If the quiet lasts and looks wrong, work through the checklist in why are no birds coming to my feeder. The usual real causes are stale seed, a new cat, or a hawk that has started patrolling.
Keep a dated arrival list
Write down the first date you see each species each spring: first junco departure, first hummingbird, first oriole, first fledgling. After two or three years you will have arrival dates for your specific yard that beat any general regional chart, and you will know exactly when to hang each feeder.
A spring checklist#
- March: deep clean every feeder, keep the winter menu running, put nectar out in the South.
- April: hang nectar and oriole feeders in the middle latitudes, add mealworms, set out nesting material.
- May: switch to no-melt suet, cut fill volumes by half, add crushed eggshell, expect a quiet spell.
- All spring: water topped up and clean, since migrants find water from farther away than they find seed. A dripper or mister is the most effective single attractant during migration.
- All spring: watch for window strikes, which spike with migration and with fledglings. The one foot and thirty foot rule is in feeders and windows.
Frequently asked questions#
Should I keep feeding birds in spring?
Yes. Late winter and early spring are the hardest weeks of the year for food supply: the fall seed and berry crop has been stripped and insects have not emerged yet. Feeders get heavy use in March and April, including from migrants passing through who have no local knowledge of where food is.
What should I feed birds in spring?
Black oil sunflower and sunflower hearts as the base, plus protein-rich options for the breeding season: mealworms, peanuts and nyjer for finches. Add crushed, baked eggshell or oyster shell grit for calcium. Nectar for hummingbirds and orange halves or jelly for orioles go out as those species arrive.
When do I stop putting out suet?
Regular rendered suet holds up fine below roughly 90°F (32°C). Above that it softens, goes rancid quickly and can smear onto feathers, which damages waterproofing. Switch to no-melt suet dough for spring and summer, or move the suet feeder into full shade and offer less at a time.
Is it safe to put out nesting material for birds?
Only certain kinds. Short lengths of natural fiber are fine: untreated cotton, wool, straw, dead grass, moss and small twigs, cut to under about 4 inches (10 cm). Avoid yarn, string, fishing line, tinsel, plastic strips, dryer lint and long hair, all of which can wrap around legs and necks or fall apart when wet.
When should I put my hummingbird feeder out in spring?
About two weeks before hummingbirds typically return to your area. In the Gulf states that means late February or early March, in the mid-Atlantic and Midwest mid-April, and in the northern states and southern Canada early May. Early arrivals scout for reliable feeders, so being late costs you the season.
Do birds stop coming to feeders in spring?
Visits often drop off in late spring, which is normal and usually a good sign. Insects have hatched, natural food is abundant, and adults are busy on territories and nests. The birds are still nearby. Traffic usually spikes again in a few weeks when fledglings appear.