Archive for August, 2009
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.
Let Their Bill Be Your Guide
Red-Breasted Nuthatch
What foods do you put in your bird feeders? The information below may help you decide not only what type of feeder to buy, but what you are going to put in them. Truth be told, you might want to decide 1) what type of bird you want to attract. 2)Then look into the foods they like to eat. 3)After that, you will buy the bird feeder and fill it with the foods that are most likely to bring the birds you are trying to attract to your yard. Now, that being said, let’s take a look at some of the diets of our fine feathered friends. Then you can make an educated decision about purchasing a thistle bird feeder, a seed feeder, a mealworm feeder to mention a few, or just a simple decorative bird feeder.
I am going to do this in two parts. First we will take a look some of the different diet requirments and how you can tell what they might like to dine on based on the type of bill they have. Tomorrow I will expand on to the seeds they might like. And don’t forget, many bird feeders are dual purpose and can hold a combination of foods. Now, here we go.
When you consider the energy requirements of a bird, it is easy to understand why they consume a proportionally greater quantity of food than a human does to survive. Besides having high metabolic rates, birds require extra energy for their daily flights as well as for migration. In general, the smaller the bird, the greater amount of food in proportion to its body weight it needs to consume each day. Garden Songbirds, for example, usually consume between 30 and 80 percent of their body weight in food each day. A person weiging 150 pounds would have to eat 75 pounds of food a day to keep up with the average Warbler.
Birds eat a wide variety of foods, including many kinds of plants, animals and insects, For all this diversity, the foods that birds favor have in common a lot of nutritional value wrapped in a small package.
The best way to tell what kind of food a bird eats is to look at its bill. If it is short, heavy and powerful, it is a good bet the bill is used to crack seeds and cones. Cardinals, juncos, sparrows, finches and siskins all have this type of bill. Crossbills have a further modification of the basic seed-cracking bill. The tips of their bills curve and overlap each other to help them open stubborn evergreen cones.
Narrow bills are frequently used to eat insects. Long, narrow bills such as those of creepers, thrashers and nuthatches are used to probe for bugs beneath the bark of the trees or in the litter on the forest floor. Short pointed bills, like those of the warblers and other leaf gleaners, are sometimes used for picking thrips and aphids from the underside of foliage. Woodpeckers and sapsuckers have sharp, chisel-shaped bills for carving nest holes and digging out burrowing grubs and borers.
While most of our common garden birds have bills that are specialized to some degree for a certain food. Many switch back and forth according to their nutritional needs and the availability of food. Anyone who has watched a nuthatch hammering its way into a sunflower seed with its pointed, insect-eater’s bill has seen an example of this adaptability. May birds gladly gorge themselves on fruits and berries if the opportunity arises. This flexibility of diet is a boon for bird lovers. It means that many garden birds can be lured closer to your bird feeders with one delicacy or another.
Next we will take a closer look at the seed and treats, that we can use to fill the bird feeders.
It Was A Northern Harrier
Four of my five grandchildren and I spent the day at French Creek State Park which is not too far from my home here in Pennsylvania. It was a very last minute decision to grab the binoculars as I left the house. Oh how grateful I was that I had those bird watching binoculars with me.
I am always on the lookout for a new and exciting siting of one of my feathered friends. I had never seen this one before and frankly had to come home to the bird book before I actually knew what it was.
The most striking and eye-catching feature was the pure white underside that was visible when the bird was in flight. The one I saw was very large and based on the descriptions I found, it was a male. Yes, the binoculars came in very handy. I was only sorry that I had left the camera at home.
I found the picture and description below on the web.
Interesting facts:
The male Northern Harrier feeds the female while she is sitting on eggs and for 2 weeks after they hatch. He catches prey, flies home, and calls to the female from the air. She flies up and catches the prey as he drops it to her. She takes it back to the nest, where she rips it apart to feed herself and her young. This method is also used to feed the young when they start flying.
Description:
Male Northern Harriers are pale gray by the age of three. Females are brownish with streaks on the undersides. They are about 16 to 24 inches long and their wingspread is about 42 inches. They have long tails and a white rump.
Habitat:
Northern Harriers start arriving in the Northeast by March. Most continue as far north as northern Canada. They appear again on their way south in August, and migrate, singly or by twos, as far south as Central America. A few spend the winter in the northern and north eastern states, roosting along with short-eared owls in groups.
They usually find a marsh or prairie to nest. The male collects grass, sticks, and hay for the female, who builds the large nest. It is up to 18 inches tall if the ground is wet, and from 15 to 30 inches across. The female lays 4 to 6 round white eggs, one every 2 days. She incubates them for about 21-34 days. The young start flying when they are about a month old.
Food:
Each Northern Harrier has a hunting range of 3-40 acres up to one square mile. It hunts in slow flights at a height of 10 to 30 feet, flapping, and gliding over fields. It looks for small mammals, birds, amphibians, and reptiles.
Status:
In some states the Northern Harrier is considered endangered because of the destruction of marshland and prairies. The open ground nests are prey to predators like mink and dogs. Adults can live up to seven years.
The March Is On
Fall is definitely in the air. I can never really explain myself with that statement. It is after all, still summer. The temperatures are still summerish and the humidity is still at summer levels. It’s just the air “feels different”. The heat of the day doesn’t feel as hot, and the mornings and evenings just feel like fall is on the way.
You might understand that a bit better if you have hummingbird feeders in your backyard. The fall migration has begun. The families of hummingbirds who have been here all spring and summer are still about, and in addition there is a magnificent march of new ones who are stopping to load up on nectar before continuing on their journey south. The parade has been non stop for the last week.
I don’t think I am exagerating when I say that the number of hummingbirds passing through is at least double that of last year, and the good news is it isn’t over yet. I have 3 hummingbird feeders and keeping them full of nectar has been a challenge this week. It’s really amazing to me when I realize that I don’t even get to see but a small fraction of the hummingbird visitors. That would mean a sun up to sun down vigil at the window, and I really don’t have that much spare time
I hope you are enjoying the fall migration as much as I am.
Spotting a Bird of Prey
Ever since I installed a trout pond in the backyard, I’ve been lucky enough to spot many predatory birds. A blue heron makes regular pilgrimages to the pond, as does a persistent kingfisher. But the most impressive bird I’ve seen so far is that most majestic of predators – the bald eagle. When I first noticed it swooping through the air to latch onto a rainbow trout, I immediately reached for a pair of bird watching binoculars.
Upon close inspection, it looked as though the eagle was flying to a nest high in the pine trees behind my house. The next day, I packed the binoculars in a carrying case and set out for a short hike. As I had suspected, the nest was about 100 feet up near the top of a towering white pine. Putting the binoculars to my eyes, I was astonished by the size of the branches these eagles had collected to build their nest. I’ll be restocking the pond with more fish very soon, and hopefully there will be enough to feed a family of eagles.
If You Can’t Beat Them, Then Feed Them
Since I work in a store that sells bird foods in abundance, I constantly hear people remark on the squirrels and their total commitment to getting into the bird feeders.
In the past I have given you lots of information on the different types of squirrel proof feeders available, and some of them actually do work. Many of my customers at the store, however, have just given in to the fact that the squirrels are smart, they are diligent and relentless and they usually find a way to win the war.
So, if you can’t beat them at their game, give in and get a squirrel feeder. They love the corn and will pretty much go about chomping on that rather than eating your bird feeders clean every moment.
To Tint Or Not To Tint
Fall is in the air. The temperature is still way up, but the air just has a different feel to it. To me it is quite noticeable, but most don’t pay that much attention.
Whenever I sense a change of season coming up, I start paying attention to some of projects that are bound to appear. I always like to be ahead of the game. Today I cleaned out two novelty bird houses. They weren’t used for nesting this year, but the wrens and chickadees love playing in them.
Both of them have faded pretty badly over the years. Decorative birdhouses have a tendency to do that. Most are initally stained or painted with a non-toxic coloration.
My contemplation to spruce them up with new color, prompted me to write this just to advise against it. Yes, there are paints and stains that are non-toxic, however, there isn’t one of them that will not leave an odor behind that the birds will sense.
So, if you have novelty and decorative birdhouses in your yard, and your intention is both to have a cute and coloraful addition to your landscape as well as provide a functional birdhouse, let them fade. Do not tint, paint or stain them at all. On the other hand, if you just want a cute converstation piece, go ahead. Stain, paint and tint your decorative bird houses to your heart’s content. Just please, select a non-toxic product.
All Year Round
One thing I do all year round that others don’t is keep the suet feeders full. I purchase all of the suet cakes at my local Ace Hardware Store. In the heat of the summer I get the no melt mixtures and in every one I purchase I look for quality ingredients.
The suet feeders are great for attracting the woodsy birds and it is where I see the woodpeckers most frequently. One of the suet cakes I buy is specifically mixed to attract woodpeckers. I can attest that they are attracted to it, and so are a number of other bird species.
For anyone who is tired of watching the squirrels scarf up all of the suet cakes, may I recommend an upside down suet feeders? The squirrels and grackles can’t get to it, and you will love watching the woodpeckers on it.
Water Logged
Yikes, the end of August is upon us and yet when I look out the window, I see a lawn that is lush and green and in need of mowing twice a week. We usually debate about whether to cut at all at this time of year. Every time I am out and see the lush green that is everywhere, I see a spring like appearance and yet fall is just around the corner. It has without a doubt been a very wet summer and we are reaping the benefits of having to water very little, of having green and thick lawns and plant life that is flourishing.
It does have it downsides though. It means paying attention to the condition of the seeds and nuts in the bird feeders, and paying close attention to the cloudiness of the hummingbird feeder nectar and the bird bath still needs to be emptied and refilled every day.
Depending on the type of rain and the direction it comes from, it is a good idea to check and make sure the seed in your bird feeders is loose and dry and not packed tight with moisture, and thus spoiling. If your seed feeders and tube feeders have been unfortunate enough to take on the rain, it can be a bit annoying, but cleaning them out is simple enough and definitely safer for the hungry birds.
Why do you have to dump the bird baths and fill them with fresh water every day? The residue, feathers and seed along with any insects that may be in a bird bath after a day of use are subject to producing fun things like algae, West Nile virus and mush more. It is just simpler to be safe and dump the old water and clear out all of the debris and then refill the bird bath with clear fresh water.
Keep your eye on the Hummingbird feeders as well as the nectar will have a tendency to turn cloudy which means it has started breeding bacteria, and it is time to change the nectar.
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.