Archive for the ‘Finch Feeders’ Category
I Love Birthdays
I especially like them when they are mine. Everyone knows exactly what to get me. Today was my birthday and feel like the Queen for the Day. I have a brand new bird house, and a brand new bird feeder.
I can’t wait for the spring thaw so my husband can mount the bluebird house. The feeder is got is one I have been wanting for a long time. It is a NO-NO (brand name) finch feeder like the one in the picture. I can’t wait to fill it and get it hung where I can watch the Goldfinches, purple finches and house finches.
What a great day, and we are celebrating it tomorrow. Who knows what tomorrow may bring.
The Power Of Positive Thoughts
I am sitting at the table in my kitchen staring out at the snow and enjoying the company of both of my cats along with the chickadees, finches and juncos that are gathered on the patio to fight over rights to the window bird feeder. It’s snowing again.
So I closed my eyes, and see flowers in bloom and green, green grass. I see the hummingbirds gathering nesting material from the hummer helper cage. I see bright yellow goldfinches eating hungrily at the finch feeder and robins all about. And when I open my eyes, I am smiling.
I hope you are too.
Wishing you
A special weekend filled with fun, snowmen, snowball fights, friends, family and love.
What a great time I had today trudging up the hill to fill the finch feeders and the tube feeders! Through 30 + inches - not really too easy, but well worth it in the end when the birds came to call for their dinner!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Happy New Year
“Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it’s at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.”
Earl Nightingale
Happy New Year! This is my day off - that is a day off from everything except things that bring me true joy. I will add some nyger seed to the finch feeder and mesh feeder. I will filll the heated bird bath with fresh water and add seed to the caged feeder and platform feeder. I will watch the Mummer’s Parade and eat pork and sauerkraut that I do not have to cook. Who knows, I may even take a nap.
Whatever it is that this day brings, it will not include one moment of anything that doesn’t bring me happiness and joy. That is my choice. Happiness is a choice. I hope you start the New Year off choosing to be grateful and filled with joy.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Time For The Big Guns
It’s time to pull out all the big guns. Wow, it isn’t even officially winter until the 21st, but we are expecting a foot of snow here tomorrow. That means the big bird feeders that will withstand the wind and snow and hold enough seed to keep them happy for a few days until I can walk up the hill to fill them again.
I usually don’t have to resort to the all weather feeders until well into January. The tube feeders will remain where they are, and I will replace one of the finch feeders with the large all weather feeder that I reserve for these really Oh, but it does mean we might have a white Christmas!
The All Weather 6 Quart Clear Feeder is the first weatherproof wild bird feeder. Through rain, snow, sleet and ice, the All Weather Feeder delivers the seed - DRY!! Won’t clog up with snow and ice. The circular perch lets you see all the birds that are feeding, even those on the far side. Catches spilled seed for less waste. Easily removed for cleaning. Comes completely apart so each piece can be individually cleaned. A clean feeder helps keep the bird population healthy.
Fall Fall Out
Well, the hour of migration is taking its toll. The finch bird feeder is full to the brim with nyger seed ( often referred to as thistle seed), and only requires a refill every couple of days instead of twice a day. Now that is some serious fall out, and the other bird feeders are less frequented as well.
The good news is, that by having all of the feeders full and welcoming and the suet feeders out and full, my back yard is a probable stop off point for the birds that are migrating south from farther north. In a few weeks, the yard will be filled with the snow birds and others that will be here all winter.
Big Seeds, Small Seeds, Black Seeds, White Seeds
There are scads of articles and entire books about what to put in your backyard bird feeders. I really don’t want to lose your attention, so I am just going to give you a thumbnail sketch, and then I have a very nifty table that serves as a wonderful guide to the seed preferences of the common backyard birds. I am not exactly sure how to post the table in here yet, but the info will get here - I promise.
I choose to feed the birds 12 months a year. In the spring and summer, most birds don’t need the seed I offer in the bird feeders. They have access to all kinds of natural food, insects and seeds. I feed them anyway and somehow those bird feeders have to be refilled at least once a day, and often more.
Birdseed is the mainstay of any winter bird feeding program. Not only are seeds nutricious and widely accepted by most wintering birds, they are also easily stored, affordable and convenient to use.
For many years, no one knew which commonly offered seeds birds preferred. Sunflower seeds are very popular and ounce for ounce, they contain as much protein as ground beef. There are 3 kinds of sunflower seeds for birds: black oil, black striped and grey striped. The small black oil generally attract the largest number of birds. The one drawback to sunflower seeds is that the shells are inedible and quickly pile up beneath the bird feeder.
The majority of birds that usually eat small seeds prefer white moso millet. These same birds also eat cracked corn and milo, but generally choose the white millet when it is available. Peanut hearts, which are often used in seed mixes are similar to sunflower seeds in nutritional value. The disadvantage to peanut hearts is that they are attractive to starlings and they are pretty expensive. Niger seed (sometimes referred to as thistle seed) is a tiny black seed high in protien and calories that Goldfinches and several other species prize. Niger seed can get pretty pricy at times, and it requires a thistle bird feeder to accomodate the tiny seeds.
There are also hundreds of commercial bird seed mixtures. Beware that many of them are full of additives that are of no interest to any birds. These would be wheat, oats, flaxseed, to name a few. They stretch out the more expensive seeds and literraly get tossed aside. Some ground eating birds may do some of the cleanup. When you buy a commercial seed, consider getting a premium mis that has less fill, and mixing it with addional sunflowers seeds.
Tomorrow I will see what I can do about posting the table of seeds that are attractive to common backyard birds.
Just Passing By
We don’t live in the woods. There are lots of wooded areas and a large creek bed close by, but the large birds that visit my yard and terrorize the smaller song birds at the bird feeders are usually crows and big black birds and starlings. Behind our house is a very large area of wide open space. Acres of pure open field.
I often sit up on the hill with my binoculars to watch the larger birds of prey who fly in circle over the field, but I had never really been able to put a name to all of them with any certainty. And, now I can name at least one of them.
I was sitting in the kitchen with my binoculars as a ferocious storm drew to a close this afternoon. I was anxious to get outside and clean up the mess the storm had left behind and at the same time, I was enjoying watching the finches, still bright in gold and red and purple colors at the thistle feeder.
I was about to put the binoculars down and wait out the balance of storm by doing something productive in the house when a very large bird landed right under the thistle feeder. Glory me, it wasn’t black! I froze even though it was at least 30 feet away and on the other side of a closed sliding door, and lots of rain in between. And through the binoculars I realized that I was looking at a Red-tailed Hawk. Now don’t get me wrong, I have seen them at the zoo, and in bird books and even flying high over the field behind our house. I had never actually seen one land on the ground, and his one was in MY backyard. I was excited. It was the first one I have seen here that close and we have lived here for 5 years.
My feathered visitor was a rich chocolate brown on the top fading to pale below. His belly was streaked and when he flew away I noticed the dark brown bar on the underside of the wing between his shoulder and wrist. The short and wide tail was cinnamon-red. He hung out under the thistle feeder for only a few minutes, but his visit brightened an otherwise mediocre day! I am quite happy that the Red-tailed Hawk decided to stop by.
One Of My Favorites
You won’t have to guess too hard to find out why the bird feeder in the picture is one os my favorites. It is a 3-tube thistle feeder and will accommodate 24 finches at the same time.
It holds a lot of thistle seed so refills are less frequent than other feeders. I find it easy to clean and maintain. Nothing comes close to its poplarity among the Goldfinches, Purple Finches and House Finches to name a few. Mine has never exactly looked like the picture here as it has all Goldfinches on it. I always get a mix, and there is usually a fight for the perches. It is just a lot of fun to watch
Just a reminder to make sure all of your bird feeders are cleaned out. I had to laugh the other day. I harp on the topic of bird feeders, bird baths and hummingbird feeders being kept clean. Most of my friends know I am a bit of a bird kook, and when we went to visit a friend the other day, my husband and both noticed that the tube feeder that was hanging in their yard was only about half full and the seed inside of it was wet and there were stalks of something growing out of the ports. It wasn’t attracting any of the fine feathered type but I am sure there are all kinds of awful things breeding in there.
Whatever kind of bird feeder you like best, enjoy it. The few little chores that go along with birding and bird watching are a small price to pay for the beauty and the delight that the birds will give you.
They May Be Dull, Admire Them Anyway
Let’s face it. There isn’t much that compares to the march of the males to the bird feeders. Their vivid colors are always what people talk about. The bright red plummage and black crown of the male Cardinal in the bird bath is a sight to see. The startling contrast of the black and yellow of the American Goldfinch as he feeds at the thistle feeder or perches high at the top of a red maple tree is the subject of many a Kodak ( or digital) moment. The male Ruby Throated Hummingbird is a favorite at the Hummingbird feeders and the Audubon binoculars are always in hand when a male Baltimore Oriole comes to call at the fruit and jelly feeder.
It is true that when someone says they spotted a Rose Breasted Grosbeak they are more than likely referring to the male. Some of the female partners of these birds go totally unrecognized because of their dull plumage, but they should be looked at from another perspective. The females are often the hardest working of the pair. For instance, the male Hummingbird plays absolutely no part in the building of the nest, the incubation of the eggs or the feeding of the young. It’s all up to Mamma! And while some of the males do play some role in the process, it is usually the female that does most of the work.
And why is the plumage of the female so dull and boring when compared to their male mates? Well, for one, they do most of the nesting, and while Dad is off showing off his bright and awesome colors, she is sitting on the nest and raising her babies. Her coloring, though considered by most to be subtle and almost unseeable, it is protecting her and the young from intruders. So when you have the priveledge of seeing one of the females at the bird feeders, and bird baths, or drinking nectar from the the Hummingbird or Oriole bird feeders, have some respect. She is undoubetly a hard working and a loving mom. She is beautiful in her own right and should be admired.