Suet — rendered fat mixed with seeds and grains — is the highest-energy bird food available. In Australian winters and US/UK winters, suet feeders attract species (woodpeckers, treecreepers, robins) that won’t visit

Hummingbird feeders are mostly a US/Latin America thing (Australia has no native hummingbirds), but the spinebills, honeyeaters and silvereyes that visit our nectar feeders here use the same designs and the same syrup re

A bird bath is the underrated bird-attracting tool — birds need water more reliably than they need feeders, especially in hot summers. The right bath has the correct depth (shallow!), is easy to clean, and survives a w

Squirrels eat through standard bird feeders in days — chew the plastic, raid the seed, intimidate the birds. A genuinely squirrel-proof feeder uses one of three mechanisms: weight-activated closure, baffled pole, or ca

A backyard bird feeder is one of the easiest ways to add daily wonder to a garden — within weeks of setting one up you start recognising the regulars, and within a month the kids know their wattlebirds from their honey

String trimmer line is the cheapest consumable in your gardening kit — but the cheapest line snaps every five minutes, jams the auto-feed, and turns a 30-minute edge job into an hour. The right line for your trimmer ma