Birdfeeders

At first, I worried that the mourning dove laying in our bird bath with one wing up in the air was hurt. Then I realized he was just sunning and cooling off! It looks so strange that if you haven’t seen it before, you very well may think the bird is injured. I have seen other mourning doves do this as well as some sparrows, but never while sitting in the bird bath! While sunning, a bird is trying to expose different parts of its body to as much sun as possible, so they often do this out in the open to avoid shadows. This is a frequent behavior on our large deck as well as in our raised beds, but never before in our bird bath.

Hot summer days can be as challenging for birds as they are for us. They have some natural adaptations to help cool them off. They pant, just as dogs do, they will seek shade and lower their activity level. If there is any breeze, you will see birds puff out their feathers and lift up their wings to get air to their hot skin. Although birds have their own ways to keep cool, a backyard bird bath will certainly draw birds to your yard on a hot day. Some birds will come only to drink, but many will come to either wade or really splash around. We have two bird baths, one large saucer type that is about 2″ deep that we have right on the ground. It is regularly visited by quail, doves, robins, grosbeaks, jays and other larger birds. The hanging bird bath has sloping sides to a center depth of 2 inches. This is used most often by finches, sparrows, orioles and any birds that love to splash around. On the hottest days, I try to fill it at least once during the day to keep the water cool, but this certainly isn’t necessary. If you can add a mister or dripper to your bird bath, the birds will be drawn like a magnet!

Vines not only provide roosting and nesting locations, but also offer a safe haven for daytime cover. Ivy climbing a trellis or the side of a building will attract house and purple finches, Brewer’s blackbirds, hummingbirds, sparrows and others as well. Clematis and climbing roses are also quite popular with these same birds, but also with towhees and cardinals. Our hummingbird feeders are near a fence that is covered with ivy and we watch hummingbirds going in and out of that ivy all the time and obviously have their nests in there. We have had to put up 3 hummingbird feeders in an attempt to lessen the competition, but these aggressive little birds are constantly chasing each other - great fun to watch!

We often talk about having shelter near our bird feeders, but why does it have to be so close? Birds are constantly scanning the ground and the air for predators and will hesitate to approach a feeder that is too far from protective cover. If you have ever had a Cooper’s hawk visit your yard, you will immediately understand why birds are so cautious. These hawks arrive quickly and any song bird that doesn’t make it to cover quickly will be caught. However, be sure that there is not ground cover too close to bird feeders that can be used to hide a hunting cat. The maximum height most cats can jump is about 5 feet so that helps to decide how much open space needs to be around a bird feeder. Squirrels however, can jump 10 feet easily, so if they are a problem in your area, this must also be considered when placing a bird feeder.

Now that some birds are busy building nests and others already have eggs, it is normal for you to notice less seed is being taken from all your bird feeders. This always happens during the breeding season for birds need a much higher level of protein to feed their young. Therefore, many birds who are normally seed eaters, begin eating as much insect protein as possible..Adults feed baby birds massive quantities of protein to help them grow and develop rapidly. Happily, this also helps to control the insect population in our yards! The birds you have been feeding will certainly continue to visit your bird feeders, just not as often. Also, they will frequent bird baths for a drink or a quick bath. Even hummingbirds will be busy catching insects to increase the protein in their diet.

Especially during the spring time, some male birds are much brighter colored than the females of their species. We are watching the beautiful male Orioles come to our Oriole bird feeder and then the much less colorful females. There is a very good reason for these differences. The females need to have a camouflaged appearance in order to sit still and be nearly invisible to predators while incubating eggs. On the other hand, males use their bright colors to attract a mate. Females judge a male based on the quality of his feathers when picking a mate. The males do not develop their bright colors until they are a year old, so when the new fledglings begin coming to your oriole bird feeder, they will all look much like females.

We often talk about birds building nests, but what exactly is nesting material? It’s anything that birds will use to build a nest with and offering this during early spring will certainly encourage birds to stay near your yard. If you are really lucky, you may get several nests built nearby so you can watch the fledglings visit your bird feeders. Just this morning, we had a pair of mockingbirds doing all sorts of flying acrobatics right outside our kitchen window. Since different birds use different materials for nest building, it is good to offer as large a selection as possible. The perfect way to do this is with a suet bird feeder. The wire cage is an excellent container to hold yarn, string, thread, pet hair, human hair, feathers, dental floss, dryer lint, dhredded paper and cloth, cotton balls, small twigs - anything you have available that you think they might use. Just be sure nothing is more than 6-7″ long to avoid having birds get tangled. You can certainly drape these items over branches, etc. but I find they blow away or just make a mess. We have been much more successful using a suet bird feeder and place it out in the open and near the bird feeders that birds are use to visiting regularly.

It’s time to stock your yard with nest building materials which will draw lots of birds in to explore your offerings. Suet bird feeders are perfect for this. There are all sorts of things to collect from around your house for this purpose. Start with dryer lint, pieces of string and yarn (not too long), pieces of straw, short strips of cloth, even dog and cat hair. Stuff it all in a suet bird feeder and see how quickly the birds will find it, especially if it is on the end of a known bird feeder. If it is a suet cage that you just hang for this purpose, it will take a little longer, but they will find it. It’s great fun to see which items are picked by each bird. If you watch carefully as they fly off, you may be able to discover the location of a nest. Ah yes, I love spring!

Are you a bird watcher or a birder? I think I am both, although many people prefer one term or the other. In general, a bird watcher loves to spend time just watching and enjoying birds, usually in the backyard, but often out on walks specifically to find birds. Observing bird feeders to figure out which feeder suits which birds is certainly important and we tend to put up multiple bird feeders to encourage a variety of birds to frequent our yards. A birder will also have bird feeders, but generally is more avid and interested in seeing and listing as many species as possible. This can include travel plans with the express desire of seeing more species. I personally know some people who are quite hung up on the terms, but I say, what difference does it make? Let’s just relax and enjoy the good weather, the birds beginning to mate and build nests, the Orioles returning and the spring flowers blooming!

Bird watching is considered to be the number 1 spectator sport in North America! It is second to only gardening as the favorite leisure activity and hey, why can’t we do both at the same time? While most of these people are watching birds that they have encouraged to come to their backyard bird feeders, more and more people are grabbing their binoculars and field guides and venturing out to find different birds. I have a good friend who started a few years ago with one bird feeder in her yard and now not only has several, but right now is in Africa on a bird watching adventure. In most communities there are many bird watching hikes sponsored by local birding clubs. We regularly go on 2-4 hour trips going to the shore, in forests, near rivers, etc. We love watching “our” birds at our backyard bird feeders, but what a thrill it is to go out and see a bird you have never seen before. Then you decide to start a Life List - hooked!!