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You May Think You're Helping Birds But an Expert Says Your Timing Might Be Quite Wrong

If you put the birdseed in the feeder outdoors during these months of the year, your birds may never actually eat it.

PUBLISHED 1 DAY AGO

A person brings the bird feeder into their garden. (Representative Cover Image Source: Freepik | Bearfotos)

It is depressing to reach into your fridge in the middle of the night only to realize that the pint of ice you hid in the back of the freezer has disappeared. Someone ate it. Think of Ross’ reaction in Friends when he realized that someone had eaten his beloved sandwich. Now apply the same thing to bird guests visiting your garden. Although they won’t have such an elaborate reaction to stolen bird seeds, they would certainly be put off by your bird feeder. This is exactly what happens during spring and summer.

Cute red bird perched on a feeder filled with seeds (Representative Image Source: Freepik)

If you put out seeds, nuts, and snacks in the bird feeder, your birds will be the last candidates to receive them. Before they can eat the food, the birds' food will attract other wild animals prowling nearby. In an interview with The Spruce, Zachary Holderby, a wildlife ecologist and bird naturalist, shared why putting up bird feeders during this season is not a good idea. “Contrary to popular opinion, spring and summer should be the season when you move your bird feeders indoors,” Holderby explained.

Cute blue-colored birds perched on a feeder (Representative Image Source: Freepik)

“I start feeding birds black oil sunflower seeds in early September when cold weather begins to affect insects, and plants are going dormant. And I usually end seed feeding in late April when migratory birds start coming back.” Holderby is not the only one who suggests doing this. Many people online have shared that they prefer to slow down feeding during the warmer months. There are several reasons why they do this. For instance, Diane Amdahl believes that there’s already plenty of natural food, like flowers, bushes, and grasses, for the birds during this season. So, she feeds only the hummingbirds and puts down the feeders for the rest of the feathery friends.

Beautiful hummingbird kissing a flower and sipping its nectar (Representative Image Source: Pexels | Djalma Paiva Armelin)

Ruthann Meiers said that she puts away feeders during summertime because if she adds the bird seed, the bears lurking around would gobble it up and destroy the feeder. Another woman, Dwane Johnson, has a complex story behind why she cut back the feeding in the spring of 2025. She noticed that some of her bird visitors, like English Sparrows and European Starlings, were interfering with the baby bluebirds that nested in her yard. Some sparrows even dismantled a nest of three bluebird eggs, tossing three newly hatched baby bluebirds out of the box. This “chasing, food stealing, harassing” tendency of powerful animals against less powerful ones is often known by the term “kleptoparasitism,” per Science Reporter.

Cute bird perched on a feeder (Representative Image Source: Freepik)

“Studies have shown that during the nesting season, birds that feed their chicks birdseed from the feeder are less robust than birds that take advantage of the insect larvae that are abundant during this time,” Holderby echoed. As Meiers said, putting out bird seed or nectar in the warm months can attract unwanted visitors like bears or squirrels, and may even trigger a disease among the bird community. To avoid these issues, birdkeepers should take down their feeders as soon as the snow melts and the flowers start to open. Plus, if you’ve plants like raspberries or seed-bearing sunflowers and black-eyed Susan in your garden, there’s already a bounty of food for the birds to enjoy.