The Bird Feeding Calendar: What to Do Each Month
Twelve months of feeder work in one table, with a rule for shifting every date to your own latitude.
The short answer
- Four dates carry most of the year: nectar up two weeks before your first hummingbird, plain suet down when highs pass 70 °F, back up when highs drop below 70 °F again, and nectar down two weeks after your last sighting.
- Shift every date in this calendar using the classic bioclimatic rule of thumb: roughly 4 days later for each degree of latitude you live north of the reference, and about 4 days later per 400 ft of elevation.
- Cleaning frequency, not food choice, is the thing that changes most across the year: every 2 days for nectar in July heat, every 3 to 4 weeks for seed in a hard January freeze.
- Two months do almost all the damage if skipped: April, when winter mold under the feeder gets cleared, and October, when the pre-winter deep clean happens.
- In bear country the calendar overrides everything else. Many agencies advise feeders down from roughly 1 April to 1 December, and local advice wins.
Everything below is written for about 40 degrees north, which runs through Denver, Columbus and Philadelphia. If you live somewhere else, shift the dates before you use them.
The twelve months#
| Month | Put out | Take down | Clean | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | Suet, peanuts, sunflower, hearts; fill to the top before dusk | Nothing | Seed feeders every 3 to 4 weeks; keep water ice-free daily | Storm-front feeding frenzies 12 to 24 h before weather arrives; snow blocking ports |
| February | Same, plus a ground tray under snow cover | Nothing | Seed feeders every 3 to 4 weeks; scrub ice-crusted trays | Peak traffic and peak seed cost; early cardinal song; first bird disease reports |
| March | Nyjer for returning finches; keep suet running | Heaviest fat blends as highs climb | Every 2 weeks now; strip and wash any feeder that held wet seed | Snow melt exposing three months of hulls and droppings under the feeder |
| April | Nectar (south of 40 N), mealworms, fruit; oriole feeder late in the month | Feeders in bear country by 1 April where advised | Deep clean everything, and rake or shovel the ground under feeders | First hummingbirds; grackle flocks arriving; nest building starting |
| May | Oriole nectar and jelly, orange halves, mealworms in a dish | Whole peanuts, replaced by chopped or mesh | Every 2 weeks; nectar every 4 to 5 days | Migration pulses after warm fronts; species that stay ten days and go |
| June | Small portions only; nectar; a shallow water source | Plain suet once highs pass 70 °F, or switch to no-melt | Weekly; nectar every 3 days | Fledglings arriving with parents; feeders slowing noticeably |
| July | Quarter-fill seed; nectar; keep water topped daily | Anything that has sat more than a week | Weekly, and after every rain; nectar every 2 days, daily above 90 °F | The lull; wasps at nectar; ants; molting birds looking terrible |
| August | Same reduced portions; fruit for late orioles | Fruit or jelly the moment it ferments | Weekly; nectar every 2 days | Quietest month of the year; hummingbird numbers actually peaking in some yards |
| September | Restock seed feeders; nyjer back up; first suet in the north | Oriole feeders about 2 weeks after the last oriole | Pre-winter deep clean on everything | Winter finch forecasts; first juncos in the north; migration in reverse |
| October | Suet, peanuts, full seed feeders; ground tray back | Nectar 2 weeks after the last hummingbird (except the Pacific coast) | Every 2 weeks; disinfect and dry everything before the freeze | Caching chickadees and jays emptying feeders fast; first white-throated sparrows |
| November | Everything running; add a second suet cage if woodpeckers queue | Bear-country feeders can usually go back up from about 1 December | Every 2 to 3 weeks; check for damp seed before it freezes solid | Irruptive finches arriving if it is that kind of year; hawks following the flock |
| December | Fill before dusk daily; heated bath if you have one; roost box up | Nothing | Every 3 to 4 weeks; keep water open | Dawn and dusk rush; first deep snow burying ground feeders |
Which birds to expect, by month and region#
Regions here are rough: north means southern Canada and the northern tier states, middle means roughly 37 to 43 N, south means the Gulf states, Florida and the low desert Southwest.
| Month | North | Middle | South and low Southwest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan to Feb | Chickadees, nuthatches, jays, redpolls and siskins in irruption years, woodpeckers | Cardinals, juncos, white-throated sparrows, titmice, downy and red-bellied woodpeckers | Cardinals, doves, wintering warblers and sparrows, Anna's Hummingbird in the West |
| Mar to Apr | Late-winter flocks thinning, first purple finches, red-winged blackbirds back | Grackles and blackbirds in flocks, goldfinches turning yellow, first hummingbirds late April | First hummingbirds early March, orioles from late March, migration in full flow |
| May to Jun | Hummingbirds and orioles arriving, rose-breasted grosbeaks at trays | Nesting residents, fledgling chickadees and cardinals by June | Breeding residents only, most migrants gone north |
| Jul to Aug | Quiet, molting adults, fledgling house finches, hummingbird numbers building | The lull, plus wasps and ants at nectar | Very quiet, early southbound migrants from mid August |
| Sep to Oct | Juncos back, siskins possible, sparrows moving through | Migrating warblers in trees (not at feeders), first juncos, white-throated sparrows | Hummingbird passage peaking, first winter sparrows |
| Nov to Dec | Full winter set, evening grosbeaks in irruption years | Winter set settling in, cardinals at dusk | Winter arrivals settling, Anna's on territory in the West |
The four dates that actually matter#
Most of the calendar is habit. Four decisions genuinely change outcomes.
- Nectar up: two weeks before your area's average first hummingbird. At 40 N that is mid April; on the Gulf Coast, late February. Early is free, late costs you the first birds. The band-by-band version is on hummingbird feeder timing.
- Plain suet down at 70 °F. Rendered fat softens above about 70 °F, coats feathers and goes rancid fast in heat. Above that threshold switch to a no-melt dough (fat cut with flour and cornmeal), which holds to about 90 °F, or stop offering fat entirely until autumn. See suet for birds.
- Suet back up below 70 °F highs. Early October at 40 N, mid September in southern Canada. Woodpeckers, nuthatches and chickadees find it within days because they are already checking the trees it hangs in.
- Nectar down two weeks after your last sighting. Not a fixed date, and not because it will trap anyone: migration is triggered by day length. The two-week tail exists to catch late migrants from further north.
What suet buys you when it goes back up#
Suet is the single highest-value autumn change, because it reaches a guild that seed feeders barely touch. These are the birds in our dataset that take it, ranked by how strongly.
- Top-tier favorite for: Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Carolina Wren, European Starling
- Eaten readily by: Blue Jay, Eastern Bluebird, Steller's Jay, California Scrub-Jay, Common Grackle
- Taken occasionally by: Northern Cardinal, American Robin, Baltimore Oriole, House Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird
Two cages instead of one is the cheap upgrade in November. Woodpeckers will not share, and a single cage with a queue means the smaller birds (downy, chickadees, wrens) get pushed off all day by the bigger ones.
Cleaning, month by month#
The cleaning schedule is inverse to the feeding schedule, which catches people out. The busiest feeder months need the least cleaning, and the quiet months need the most.
| Condition | Seed feeders | Nectar feeders | Water |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below 32 °F, dry | Every 3 to 4 weeks | Not applicable in most areas | Break ice or run a heater daily |
| 40 to 60 °F | Every 2 weeks | Every 4 to 5 days | Rinse and refill every 3 to 4 days |
| 70 to 79 °F | Weekly | Every 3 days | Daily |
| Above 90 °F | Weekly, and after any rain | Daily | Daily, and site it in shade |
Two full strip-downs a year sit on top of that: April, once the last freeze has passed, and October, before the first one arrives. Both mean complete disassembly and the standard wash, disinfect and dry routine on how to clean a bird feeder. The reason it is not optional is on bird diseases at feeders.
The ground under the feeder is the part everyone skips. Three months of hulls, droppings and dropped seed thaw out in March and turn into the wettest, warmest thing in your yard. Rake it, bag it and move it in the first week the ground is workable.
Regional overrides#
- Bear country. Many state and provincial agencies advise no feeders from roughly 1 April to 1 December, and that instruction beats everything above. Check your own wildlife agency, and read bears at feeders before deciding to push it.
- Deep South and low desert. Your busy season is January and February and it is short. Suet may only be practical from November to March, and no-melt dough for most of that.
- Pacific coast and Southwest. Anna's Hummingbirds are resident, so nectar runs all twelve months, including through frosts. Do not take that feeder down in October.
- Southern Canada and the northern tier. Everything above shifts two to three weeks: suet up in September, nectar down in early September, and a genuinely open water source becomes the hardest and most valuable thing you provide from December to March.
Working the calendar in practice#
Two habits make the rest of it automatic. Put the four key dates in whatever calendar you actually look at, with a reminder a week ahead. And do the deep cleans on fixed weekends in April and October rather than "when it looks bad", because by the time a feeder looks bad it has been a problem for a fortnight.
For the reasoning behind each season, work through winter, spring, summer and autumn, or start with what changes across the whole year on the seasons hub.
Frequently asked questions#
When should I put my bird feeders out for the year?
If you feed year round, never take them in. If you feed seasonally, put seed feeders out in late September to early October, before the first winter residents arrive, so juncos and sparrows find the station while food is still easy and they are still exploring. Waiting until the first hard frost costs you two or three weeks of discovery time. Suet goes up when daytime highs stop exceeding about 70 °F, which is early October at 40 N and mid September further north.
When do I take the hummingbird feeder down?
Two weeks after your last sighting, not on a fixed date. A feeder left up does not hold a hummingbird back: migration is triggered by shortening day length, not by food supply. Late birds passing through are usually migrants from further north, and a feeder they can find is genuinely useful to them. On the Pacific coast and in the desert Southwest, where Anna's Hummingbirds overwinter, feeders stay up all year.
What month is best to start feeding birds?
Late September or early October, for two reasons. Winter residents are arriving and actively prospecting for food sources, so discovery is fast. And you get the whole busy season ahead of you rather than joining it late. The second best time is any time at all: birds find new feeders year round, they just take longer in summer, when a new feeder in a food-rich landscape can sit for two to three weeks before anything commits to it.
How often do I need to clean feeders through the year?
Seed feeders: weekly in warm damp weather (June to September), every two weeks in spring and autumn, every three to four weeks in a hard freeze when nothing is growing. Nectar feeders: every 4 to 5 days below 70 °F, every 2 days at 80 to 90 °F, daily above 90 °F. Add a full strip-down clean in April and October regardless of what the calendar says, and clean immediately if you see a sick bird.
Do I need to change seed with the season?
Sunflower and hearts stay all year. What rotates around them is fat and protein: suet from October to April, no-melt dough or nothing in high summer, mealworms weighted toward late spring when adults are provisioning nestlings, nectar and fruit only while hummingbirds and orioles are present. Cut portion sizes to a quarter or half in July and August so nothing sits long enough to spoil.
Should I stop feeding in spring so birds forage naturally?
No. Birds treat feeders as one source among many in every season, and stopping in spring achieves nothing except missing the migration pulses, which are the most interesting two weeks of the feeder year. The thing that genuinely changes in spring is the food itself: cut whole peanuts down to pieces or use mesh once chicks are hatching, and keep everything scrupulously clean as temperatures climb.
Sources and further reading
- Feeding Birds Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Project FeederWatch Seasonal food choices and feeder use through the year; Cleaning frequency and method
- Hummingbirds National Audubon Society Nectar feeder timing and migration
- Birds Canada Birds Canada Northern timing for winter feeding and nectar season