How To Attract Sparrows To Your Yard | 10 Best Tips

Sparrows are one of the most desired garden visitors all over the world. These birds are native to Europe but found in North America and many other regions across the globe. Many backyard birders cannot resist themselves when they hear sparrows’ continuous chirping in the morning.

Just like those enthusiast birders, you may also want a close interaction with a wide variety of sparrows. But, you may not know how to attract sparrows to your yard. The following tips can help you attract these beautiful songbirds.

• #Tempt with the right treats.
• #Hang sparrow-friendly feeders.
• #Place the feeders in the right spot.
• #Always keep the feeders clean.
• #Install a birdbath.
• #Keep water from freezing.
• #Plant native trees and shrubs.
• #Provide nesting materials.
• #Mount nesting boxes.
• #Ensure proper safety…….. and more.

This guide is a supplement to our recent articles on what sparrows eat and how to deter sparrows. Those articles will let you know what sparrows take to survive and how you can repel them. You can read those articles or continue this guide to know each tip in detail.

Related Blogs:
How Long Do Sparrows Live? [Read here]
What Do Sparrows Eat? [Read here]
How To Get Rid Of Sparrows? [Read here]

How Can You Attract Sparrows?

You need to provide sparrows various food, freshwater, suitable nesting areas, comfortable shelter, and protection from predators. Here we’re going to talk about the top 10 best tips for attracting a wide variety of sparrows to your yard.

1. Tempt with the Right Treats

If you’re willing to attract sparrows to your yard, tempt them with the right treats, such as sunflower seeds, millet seeds, cracked corn, oats, and buckwheat. For much-needed protein, sparrows feed on suet and insects, including aphids, caterpillars, ants, spiders, and mealworms.

If you want to feed sparrows, we recommend you feed the little birds Audubon Park Songbird Food from Amazon. It comprises nyjer, millet, sunflower hearts, and flaxseed oil without fillers. Also, the Kaytee Dried Mealworms from Amazon are highly recommended.

When you’re going to feed sparrows, make sure to provide them with high-quality food. They don’t eat the cheapest quality seeds. Since sparrows are ground foragers, you should offer them various seeds and grains directly on the ground.

2. Hang Sparrow-Friendly Feeders

You may already know that sparrows prefer eating foods on the ground. This doesn’t mean that they don’t use feeders. Sparrows love to eat from tray feeders, hopper feeders, window feeders, and suet feeders. They avoid tube feeders because they don’t comfortably perch on.

Let’s see some of the feeders that sparrows usually use:

• Tray / Platform Feeder
• Hopper Feeder
• Window Feeder
• Suet Feeder

Tray / Platform Feeder: Sparrows like tray/platform feeders because these feeders can accommodate plenty of foraging flocks. These feeders remain hung or sit on the ground according to the convenience of sparrows. They’re easier to clean and refill.

If you’re willing to buy a tray/platform feeder for sparrows, we recommend you pick the Nature’s Way Platform Feeder from Amazon. This feeder is made of premium-quality cedar that ensures water-based protective stain and insect resistance.

Hopper Feeder: As the second option, sparrows can usually eat seeds from hopper feeders. These feeders have comfortable spaces for perching. Not only do they attract sparrows, but they also invite other songbird species, like chickadees, titmice, and cardinals.

There are a lot of hopper feeders out there in today’s market. You can buy a beautiful one from your nearby pet stores. Instead, we recommend you purchase the Woodlink Hopper Wild Bird Feeder from Amazon. Its mind-blowing appearance will definitely lure sparrows.

Window Feeder: If you want close interaction with sparrows, placing a window feeder with strong suction cups could be excellent. A window feeder allows you along with your children, elderly, and pets to see a wide variety of sparrows from your house.

Are you looking for a high-quality window feeder? Here’s the solution! The DF OMER Weatherproof Window Feeder from Amazon is highly recommended. This feeder comes with 4 strong suction cups, an acrylic roof, perching space, and multiple sections for various seeds.

Suet Feeder: During the winter months, sparrows need high calories to survive the harsh weather. That’s why they’re searching for insects and suet. If you want to supply suet to these little birds, you’ll need to install suet feeders (at least one) in your yard.

Plenty of suet feeders are out there, not all of them are sparrow-friendly. The Squirrel-X Squirrel Proof Suet Feeder from Amazon is a sparrow-friendly suet feeder. As the name suggests, this feeder helps sparrows be safe from squirrels.

Related blog: You can read about “How To Get Rid Of Crows?” [Read here], “How to Attract Blue Jays” [Read here] and “How To Attract Finches” [Read here]

3. Place the Feeders in the Right Spot

Placing the feeders in the right spot is quite essential. If you do that, potential predators, like squirrels and cats won’t reach your feeders. Do these three things; hang your feeders 1.5 meters above the ground, 3 meters away from trees, and 4.5 meters away from other feeders.

Once you’ve installed the feeder according to what we’ve just said, you can attract a wide variety of sparrow species to your yard. Don’t place the feeders in thick trees and shrubs. Sparrows prefer human backyard to forest areas.

4. Always Keep the Feeders Clean

Sparrows are slightly picky when choosing feeders. They don’t like moldy feeders. Consequently, they go somewhere else for searching for food. If you’re willing to attract sparrows, make sure to provide them with fresh feeders both inside and outside.

Use a solution of 9 parts water and 1 part bleach a couple of times every 30 days. After cleaning the feeders, wash them with fresh water and wipe them with a clean paper towel. To make the solution, you can use the Clorox Liquid Bleach from Amazon.

5. Install a Birdbath

Sparrows require a water source to drink and bathe. Since sparrows are ground foragers, they prefer ground birdbaths. We suggest buying Ground Level Bird Bath with Dripper Tube from Amazon. If you purchase the combo, you won’t need to buy a dripper separately.

Place your birdbath near bushes and shrubs so that sparrows can get enough protection. If you already own a birdbath but don’t have a dripper, you should purchase one. Sparrows feel attracted to moving water. Check out AADPLAIN Stainless Steel Bird Bath Dripper on Amazon.

6. Keep Water from Freezing

In colder months, the water of your birdbath might get frozen. A heated birdbath can provide your little friends liquid water, even on the coldest winter nights. For that, you can check out the K&H Pet Products Heated Birdbath on Amazon.

Have you already purchased an unheated birdbath? Don’t worry! Make sure to have a deicer. The API Bird Bath Deicer from Amazon could be what you’re actually looking for. It features a built-in thermostat that helps you make the birdbath water liquid.

7. Plant Native Trees and Shrubs

The prerequisite of attracting sparrows is planting native trees and shrubs in your yard. Native trees and shrubs supply sparrows with various fruits and berries. They can also help sparrows to build nests and protection from predators.

Plenty of native trees and shrubs are out there that you can plant in your yard. If you want your yard to look like an overgrown pasture, then you should plant the following trees and shrubs around your house. The most common native trees and shrubs include:

• Switch Grass
• Prairie Drop Seed
• Redbud
• Serviceberry
• Native Roses

8. Provide Nesting Materials

If your yard is full of nesting materials for sparrows, they will be more likely to stay in your yard. Sparrows usually make their nests with coarse dried vegetation and finer materials, including paper, string, feathers, and small twigs.

If you want to attract these little birds to your yard, make sure to provide them these nesting materials. Fortunately, sparrows may reuse their nests. If a flock of sparrows makes nests in your yard, chances are they will come back next year at the same nests.

9. Mount Nesting Boxes

Although sparrows are ground foragers and don’t prefer staying in nesting boxes, you can offer them a few so that they can accept you as their friends. You can also provide them birdhouses, but the entrance holes of the birdhouses are big, which invite predators.

We recommend buying the Nature’s Way Cedar Bird House from Amazon. It comes with premium-quality cedar with a water-based protective stain. We have found a natural-looking nest box on Amazon, which is the Running Pet Bird House.

10. Ensure Proper Safety

Since sparrows are ground foragers, they need enough protection from predators, like squirrels and cats. Do you know cats have already killed billions of songbirds in the United States? If you’re willing to attract sparrows, keep them away from predators.

Keep your housecat inside your house once you observe an active pair in your yard. Use squirrel-proof feeders so that squirrels cannot disturb the sparrows. Regardless of feral cats and squirrels, consider falcons and owls as predators.

More Tips for Attracting Different Types of Sparrows

Many different types of sparrows are out there in North America. If your yard is sparrow-friendly, they will definitely visit your yard. The most common sparrow species are house sparrows and song sparrows. Apart from that, you can attract the following species:

• American Tree Sparrows
• Golden-Crowned Sparrows
• White-Throated Sparrows
• White-Crowned Sparrows
• Lincoln’s Sparrows
• Chipping Sparrows
• Harris’s Sparrows
• Eurasian Tree Sparrows

If you want to attract a wide variety of sparrows to your yard, you have to follow the above-mentioned methods. The following tips will increase the chances of attracting them. Hopefully, you won’t feel trouble inviting them to your garden.

• Provide loose soil in a sunny area for dust bathing
• Create several thicket areas for allowing them to flit
• Establish multiple feeding areas for large sparrow flocks

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

#1. What are the most common sparrows you’ll likely see?

Even though you live in the United States, determining the most common sparrows depends on your geographic location. On Average, the most common sparrows are house sparrows, song sparrows, and American tree sparrows.

#2. How do I encourage sparrows into my garden?

To encourage sparrows into your garden, tempt them with their favorite seeds. Then, offer them water to drink and bathe. Most importantly, you need to create a sparrow-friendly landscape in your yard by planting various native trees and shrubs.

#3. How do you befriend a sparrow?

When sparrows see you first, they will be very afraid of you. If you want to befriend them, spend some time near their feeding area. Sparrows may go away when you’re present around their feeding area. With time, they’ll be accustomed to you.

#4. What is the best food for sparrows?

There are many foods out there that sparrows like most. The sparrows’ favorite foods include sunflower seeds, millet, cracked corn, oats, and wheat. They love many wild foods, such as crabgrass, buckwheat, ragweed, and other grasses.

Concluding Remarks

Now that you know how to attract sparrows to your yard, you can befriend them using the tips explained above. You can apply the techniques to attract almost all sparrow species. If you really want to keep in touch with the sparrows, you shouldn’t frighten them.

Anyway, we hope you’ve already learned how to make sparrows your friends. If you have any experience in attracting sparrows to your yard, you can share it with us below in the comment section. Your valuable comments will always be appreciated.