About Perch & Feed

Perch & Feed is a backyard birding site for the homeowner with a yard, a feeder, and an interest in the birds that show up. Or the ones that haven’t yet. It is not a life-list site, not a competitive birding site, and not a bird-identification app. There are sites and apps that do those things better than we ever could, for ID specifically, the Merlin Bird ID app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is the answer. We don’t try to replace it.

What we do is the everything-else: which feeder for which bird, what seed actually works, when to put out your hummingbird feeder where you live, how to keep squirrels off it once you have, what binoculars are worth the price, and how a regular backyard turns into a busy one over the course of a season.

What we cover

Hummingbirds, end-to-end. Feeders, nectar (4:1 sugar water, no boil, no red dye), placement, ant moats, bee baffles, when to put feeders out by region, when to take them down. The species you’ll actually see at a backyard feeder, not the rare flyovers.

Feeders by species and by problem. Cardinals, finches, orioles, woodpeckers, each prefers a different feeder type, and the right one matters more than most people realize. We also cover the problems: squirrels, larger birds bullying smaller ones, weather, mold, raccoons.

Attracting birds to your yard. The four-element framework (food, water, shelter, nesting) that turns a quiet yard into a busy one. Native plants by region. Yard layout. The setup mistakes that quietly suppress activity.

Optics and gear. Binoculars, spotting scopes, bird cameras. We review three tiers honestly: under $200, $200 to $500, splurge. We tell you what a beginner actually needs versus what the gear-snob register pushes.

Backyard species guides. Cardinals, blue jays, chickadees, goldfinches, bluebirds, orioles, downy woodpeckers, ruby-throated hummingbirds, the birds that show up at North American backyard feeders. What attracts each one, when they show up, what feeder, what seed.

Seasonal calendar. Spring migration prep, summer setup, fall migration windows, winter feeding strategy. Birds don’t show up in the same numbers in June as in April; the calendar is the difference between a yard with birds and a yard without.

What we don’t cover (and why)

Bird identification by sight, sound, or photo. The Merlin app does this better than anything we could publish. If you have a bird in your yard you can’t identify, open Merlin. We don’t try to compete with the Cornell Lab.

Hardcore competitive birding. Life lists, county records, big-day birding, rarity chasing. There are excellent resources for that work; this site is not one of them.

Wild bird rehab. If you’ve found an injured or orphaned bird, contact a licensed wildlife rehabber. We will sometimes point readers to the right resources, but we are not the resource ourselves.

Who writes Perch & Feed

Two editors, each owning a side of the site.

Owen Marsh (Field Editor) writes the field side: species behavior, what shows up when, migration patterns, the attract-them-with-the-right-habitat approach that beats just adding more seed. He works from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds database, the Audubon field guides, and peer-reviewed ornithology research, and cites them in every article. He is not a credentialed ornithologist; for bird identification, he points readers to Merlin.

Hannah Reed (Habitat Editor) covers the gear: feeder design, seed types, bird baths, and the optics decisions worth paying attention to. Her real opinion: most beginner birders overbuy on optics and underbuy on the right feeder for their actual yard. She’s been feeding birds in a small backyard for ten years and has tested most of the feeders, scopes, and seed blends we review.

Our sources

Every biological claim, every range map, every behavioral observation is cited to an authoritative source. Our primary references:

Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds, the canonical reference for North American bird species, behavior, and habitat
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Merlin Bird ID, for identification (we link out, we don’t try to replicate)
The Audubon Society Field Guide, for species profiles and conservation context
Peer-reviewed ornithology journals (The Auk, The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, The Condor), for citations on behavior, migration, and feeding research
Project FeederWatch, for backyard-feeding observation data

If we make a claim about a bird’s habits, range, diet, or behavior, we cite it.

Affiliate disclosure (short version)

Some links on this site are affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you click and buy. We disclose every article that contains affiliate links at the top of that article, and we only recommend gear we have used or that has been independently reviewed by sources we trust. For the long version, see our affiliate disclosure.

Contact

Tips, corrections, suggestions, or questions: hello@perchandfeed.com.

If you have a bird ID question, please use Merlin first, we’re not the right resource for that, and Merlin’s accuracy is genuinely good.