{"id":12405,"date":"2025-01-07T17:11:22","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T22:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=12405"},"modified":"2025-01-07T17:11:23","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T22:11:23","slug":"backyard-birders-fall-checklist","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/backyard-birders-fall-checklist\/","title":{"rendered":"Backyard Birder’s Fall Checklist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our Backyard Birder’s Fall Checklist is not just about winding up after a busy nesting season, it’s also about setting up for the next one! If you want to support the health, if not the very survival, of Spring nestlings\u2014and as a result have more free time to enjoy Fall birding<\/strong>\u2014we have some win-win tips for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Backyard Birder’s Fall Checklist<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Key Tip: Do more for your backyard birds by doing less!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What do we mean by doing less? Work your way down the Backyard Birder’s Fall Checklist and after #7, stop and DO NOTHING. Seriously. Step away from the rake, and (please oh please) leave that noisy leaf blower in the shed and just let Autumn do its thing. The potential benefits of having an undisturbed layer of leaves in your yard are infinite. Come Spring nesting season, you’re going to be glad you ‘did nothing’ back in the Fall. If you’re not convinced already, we have some resources at the end of this post for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, if we collectively check #8 off our Backyard Birder’s Fall Checklist, backyard by backyard… this could be huge! But, first:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Backyard Birder’s Fall Checklist: Food<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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  1. Hummingbirds are on the move and your feeders are supporting Hummingbirds as they’re passing through!\u00a0<\/strong>Keep feeders filled with fresh nectar.<\/strong>
    Keep Hummingbird feeders up for\u00a0two weeks after<\/strong>\u00a0your last sighting. This\u00a0Will NOT<\/strong>\u00a0keep your Hummers from migrating \u2013 promise! Any visitors now need to bulk up for an incredible migration! We will miss them so very much. See our Hummingbirds!!!<\/a> page for more.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Goldfinches (and their newly-hatched broods) are active, too! <\/strong> Remember, juveniles are the squeaky ones learning to navigate your nyjer feeders <\/strong>and discovering the tastiness of hulled sunflower kernels.<\/strong>. They are feeding voraciously, so you will need to keep a closer eye on seed levels. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Check the freshness of your bird seed!<\/strong> It\u2019s time to buy fresh<\/a><\/strong> if your seed is left over from last winter.  Oils in seed go rancid over time and are unhealthy. (Yes! It’s safe to put your feeders and bird baths out, if you put them away earlier due to the mysterious bird illness. See our previous post here<\/a>, for more on that.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Clean your bird feeders!  <\/strong>Now’s the time to clean your feeders<\/a> and remove any moldy remains from our hot and humid summer.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Backyard Birder’s Fall Checklist: Water<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    1. Fall Migration is on!\u00a0 Keep your\u00a0bird baths<\/a>\u00a0clean\u00a0<\/strong>with fresh water to lure in beautiful Fall migrants as they head south. These are mostly non-seed eaters, but water is essential to all wild birds and will encourage them to hang out and rest a bit.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Backyard Birder’s Fall Checklist: Shelter<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      1. Don’t deadhead the flowers in your garden!<\/strong> Goldfinches will do it for you and it is pure joy to watch them in action.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. Clean out your bird houses<\/strong> to get them ready for winter roosting during bad weather. Chickadees, Carolina Wrens<\/strong> and Bluebirds <\/strong>will be particularly grateful!<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      3. Leave the leaves this year!<\/strong>\u00a0If you rake up and throw away all of your leaves this fall, you\u2019ll be getting rid of important habitat for countless\u00a0beautiful and beneficial insects, many of which are pollinators.
        Come spring nesting season, you’ll be so glad you did!<\/strong>\u00a0This leaf layer will nurture an invaluable\u00a0and critical<\/em>source of food for developing nestlings! We can all make a difference, backyard by backyard!!!\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        Our Backyard Birder’s Fall Checklist Supplemental Resources:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

        Read ‘Leave the Leaves for Wildlife’<\/a> on the National Wildlife Federation<\/strong> website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        See our resource page ‘Supporting Native Pollinators’<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        See Doug Tallamy ‘Bringing Nature Home’ video presentation on Vimeo.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \"Backyard<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

        Most important Fall Checklist takeaway: Leave the leaves!!!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

        There are so many reasons to just stop doing so much Fall yard work. But here’s a good one: With the time saved by not raking and blowing leaves, you’ll have more time to focus on actual Autumn Backyard Birding! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Birding during Fall Migration is awesome! Keep your field guides and binoculars handy for unusual sightings, because you never know who’s going to show up! It won’t be long before Juncos and White-throated Sparrows<\/strong> make their appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Our Backyard Birder’s Fall Checklist is not just about winding up after a busy nesting season, it’s also about setting up for the next one! If you want to support the health, if not the very survival, of Spring nestlings\u2014and as a result have more free time to enjoy Fall birding\u2014we have some win-win tips […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":7002,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-resource.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12405","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12405"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12426,"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12405\/revisions\/12426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebackyardnaturalist.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}