About & editorial policy

What this site is

Birdyard publishes practical guides to backyard bird feeding: which foods and feeders work, where to place them, how to feed through the seasons, how to build a bird-friendly yard, and how to handle the problems — squirrels, mess, window strikes, disease hygiene — that come with the hobby.

It is written for people with a small garden, a balcony or a window box, not for ornithologists. The aim is to answer a real question at the feeder with something you can act on today, and to be honest when the answer depends on your region, your birds or your yard.

Who writes it

Guides are written and edited by the Birdyard Editorial desk. We deliberately do not invent named authors or attach credentials the site does not have. When a guide would benefit from specialist review, we say so; when it would not, we do not pretend otherwise.

We are not veterinarians, wildlife rehabilitators or licensed pest controllers. Our guides summarise published guidance from conservation and bird-science organisations and explain it in plain language. They are not a substitute for professional advice about a sick bird, a protected species, or a wildlife regulation where you live.

How we research

Each guide is built from primary and authoritative sources rather than from other content sites. In practice that means organisations such as Project FeederWatch (Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Birds Canada), the National Audubon Society, the National Wildlife Federation and the American Bird Conservancy.

We follow a few rules:

• State numbers with their conditions. "About ten feet" means the recommended compromise, not a law of physics.
• Separate fact from common advice. Where a popular claim is not well supported, we say so — for example, the idea that garden feeding creates birds that will starve if you stop.
• Name the uncertainty. Food preferences, squirrel pressure and local regulations vary by region, so we tell you what to check yourself.
• Link the source. Every guide ends with a source list, and the links are checked when the guide is updated.

How we use AI tools

We use AI tools to help draft, structure and edit, in the same way a writer might use a spellchecker, a thesaurus or a research assistant. They are not a substitute for judgement. Every published guide is checked against its cited sources, edited for accuracy and plain language, and updated when guidance changes. We do not publish pages generated to fill a keyword gap, and we do not run autogenerated article libraries.

How we update and correct

Guides show a published date and, where relevant, an updated date. We revise a guide when a source changes, when a reader points out an error, or when our own understanding improves.

If something here is wrong, out of date, or unclear, please tell us. Include the page and, if you can, the source you think we should look at. Corrections are made on the page rather than quietly deleted, and we are grateful for them.

Independence and funding

Birdyard is independent. If and when the site carries advertising, ads are clearly separated from editorial content and never influence what a guide recommends. We do not accept payment for a favourable mention or a product recommendation. Any future affiliate arrangement would be disclosed on the page where it appears.

Artwork and photographs

Scenes and diagrams are original vector artwork made for this site. Species profile photographs are openly licensed images from Wikimedia Commons, each credited with its photographer and licence on the profile itself and on the artwork and credits page. We do not use all-rights-reserved images, and we do not publish a photo unless its licence and author are recorded.

Bird portraits are a visual aid, not an identification tool. For identification you intend to rely on, use a regional field guide or a recording app.

Contact

Email [email protected], or use the contact page.