Everything Else We Use in Our Backyard

Once your nest box is up and your mealworm feeder is out, you're already ahead of most people. But over the years we've added a few extra things that have made the whole experience even better — for us and for the birds. They've got different restaurants to choose from and their very own pool. Not a bad life.

Bird Baths & Fountains

Bluebirds need a clean water source just as much as they need a good food source — and once we added a bird bath to our backyard, it didn't take long for them to find it. We have a couple bird baths in our backyard, one standing and one hanging.

The upgrade that made it even better was adding a small floating fountain that sits inside the bath and sprays a gentle stream of water. Moving water attracts birds faster than still water — the sound and movement catches their attention from a distance. Our bluebirds use it regularly and honestly it's one of our favorite things to watch.

Shepherd Hooks

Shepherd hooks are one of those things you'll end up wanting more of once you get started — we have several throughout our backyard for hanging our mealworm feeders and bird feeders. They're easy to reposition if you need to find the right spot and they give the birds a natural place to perch between visits. Our bluebirds love sitting right on the hooks themselves, which never gets old to watch.

One thing we do on every single feeder hook — we add a baffle. Same reason we have one on our nest box pole. It keeps squirrels and other unwanted visitors from climbing up and raiding the feeders. It's a small addition that makes a big difference. The one we linked below actually comes with a baffle included, which is a nice bonus.

And don't overlook how multi-purpose these are — we also use ours for hanging flower baskets. One hook, a lot of uses.

Binoculars

A good pair of binoculars makes a big difference, especially for kids. Once you have them you'll wonder how you watched without them. These are the ones we'd recommend for families just getting started.

Merlin Bird ID App

Merlin is a free app from Cornell Lab of Ornithology and it's one of our favorite backyard birding tools. The sound ID feature listens to birds in real time and identifies them automatically — it's genuinely impressive and kids love it. If you hear something in your yard and can't figure out what it is, Merlin will tell you in seconds.

It's completely free — just download it.