In article , Requester wrote:

X-No-Archive: yes
hello. if i was to buy a few bird feeders and hang them up. will it =
attract birds that will eventually make nests in the trees?

The vast majority of nesting birds are territorial so if you have inviting
trees suitable for nest-building, you will likely have one por or perhaps
at most two couples nesting, but birds rarely nest extremely close to
feeding stations which are too "busy" for the large comfort zone needed
for nesting purposes, & if you have a collection of nesting boxes
scattered around the place, only one or at most two boxes are ever apt to
be used. You don't have to have a lot of nesting birds to have a lot of
birds visiting to eat insects, berries, & seeds from your garden. Many
birds have extensive territories, others are on their way north or south &
are only going to be around for a few days at best, so the trick is to
make your garden so bird-friendly there is a continuous flow of visitors,
some more or less local residents, the majority in transit.

is there =
any particular bird that eat flying insects like mosquitos and gnats and =

Though even seed-eating birds will eat some garden insects, few eat eat
gnats & midges & mosquitos. Those which do so include nighthawks,
swallows, a few others that mostly will never land nearby but could be
fluttering about the house at dusk & dawn -- & most especially: BATS! You
should read up on bat-boxes & try to attract bats to your garden. They're
harmless & helpful to have about.

perhaps small spiders?

Spiders are garden pals. They eat harmful insects.

If so what type of bird and what food would i =
need to add to the feeder to attract them?

For feeding purposes, birds are most comfortable in an area that is
enclosed by trees or very high bushes on two or three sides. They need the
trees to escape to quickly in case something disturbs the feeding stations
(cat, dog, person, hawk...) & vastly fewer birds will visit a feeding area
that is exposed on more than two sides.

They also very greatly need a birdbath or pond area, & a pond will attract
more insect-eating birds which aren't interested in the seeds. Worm- &
insect-eating birds will appear most numerously in the garden during or
immediately after the garden has been watered, & even the seed-eaters seem
to get more numerous & happy after a good wetting.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/