Birdfeeders

The term sparrows covers a large group of small birds that can be quite difficult to identify by species for many of them look like “little brown birds”. They all have short, cone-shaped beaks that are perfect for cracking open seeds. This group includes Towhees, Juncos and Longspurs that are easier to identify, but for others, you need to closely observe colors and patterns. All of these birds can be regularly seen scratching at the ground looking for seeds, so short legged platform bird feeders are perfect to attract them. They usually are seen in flocks so they can make your yard a busy place. Millet and black oil sunflower seeds are their favorites, so we use these 2 seeds in our platform bird feeder. We often also add fruit, clean crushed egg shells and white bread crumbs so there is something for everyone. This platform feeder will also attract mourning doves, quail and other ground feeders.

We have watched a couple of acorn woodpeckers in the big oak tree behind our house for a year or more, but have only occasionally had them visit a hanging tube feeder or a suet feeder. A couple of months ago we added a No-No hanging bird feeder which holds 2.5 pounds of black oil sunflower seeds. During these cold winter months, it adds a food source for our hungry birds. We have been thrilled that the acorn woodpeckers love this feeder! They have been visiting it regularly, grabbing a seed, flying back to a tree, then back down for another seed. We have a hanging platform feeder nearby and now they are spending time on it as well. The No-No hanging bird feeder is also attracting jays so the hanging tube feeder is much more available to the smaller birds. We are now using the hanging platform feeder for millet, sunflower seeds, bread crumbs and whatever leftovers we think the birds will like. The acorn woodpeckers are a really enjoyable addition to our yard.

Once you are lucky enough to have a mated pair of Bluebirds choose your bluebird house, the female builds the nest in 4 to 5 days with very little help from the male. The female incubates the eggs with the male occasionally spending the night with her. The female lays 4 or 5 light blue eggs that hatch in 13-15 days. The male catches insects to feed the nestlings a high protein diet for their rapidly developing bones and muscles. The young will fledge in 15-20 days, but for about 2 weeks after fledging, the parents continue to feed the young while they learn to fend for themselves. This is always fun to watch. Often Bluebirds will re-nest and raise a second brood. These family units often stick together until the following spring. The key to attracting Bluebirds to nest is having plenty of nesting locations along with food and water. Many people have 3-4 bluebird houses in different locations on their property. Bluebirds prefer open areas mixed with trees. Since they naturally use tree cavities, a tree trunk is an ideal mounting place for the house. However, they also love wooden fence posts, so mounting a bluebird house on a pole 4-8 feet high in an open area can  also be quite successful. It is also a good idea to have the hole facing south or east for sun exposure if possible. If another species like a Tree Swallow insists on using the bluebird house, put another bluebird house up right next to the first one. Tree Swallows will not let another swallow nest nearby, but they will let Bluebirds occupy the neighboring house.

Bluebirds live throughout the United States. Typically, the Easter Bluebirds occur east of the Rockies and the Western and Mountain Bluebirds are found west of the Rockies. Their courtship actvities can occur as early as late February, so now is the time to get up bluebird houses. Up until about 1970, bluebird populations were declining because of lack of habitat as well as competition from non-native birds such as European Starlings. Luckily, since then there as been a great effort to put up bluebird houses in all parts of the country and the populations are again on the rise. Offering bluebird houses in your yard does more than just help this bird. It also helps our yards by providing chemical-free pest control as they eat thousands of insects including grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars and many others. Bluebirds have little fear of people and will happily move into a bird house located in a relatively open and undisturbed part of your yard.

As I am wishing spring would come, I started looking forward to the return of lots of hummingbirds. I am always curious about the lives of these fascinating little birds, so looked up some interesting facts. I did not know that hummingbirds only exist in the Western Hemisphere - all 338 species of them. In the U.S. there are only 16 kinds, many of which only visit the extreme southwest of the country. Hummers are very loyal to feeding sites, so if you had lots of them visit your hummingbird feeders last year, chances are quite good they will return this year. If last year’s turn out was disappointing, there are things you can do to encourage more visitors. We all know how much they love red, so planting some red nectar rich flowers will certainly help. Male hummers are very territorial, so many people have found that having multiple hummingbird feeders allows more birds to feed in your yard. When we added a second hummingbird feeder to our yard, there was an immediate increase in the number of hummers we saw. The most important thing to remember is to keep all hummingbird feeders clean with fresh nectar. If a hummingbird gets a taste of fermented nectar, it will stay away from the offending feeder for a long time.

It was not too many years ago that orioles rarely visited feeders. Now, they seem to have learned that oriole bird feeders mean food. They are attracted to the color orange, so good oriole feeders are orange and have perches for the birds to land on. These are nectar feeders and should be filled with a solution made of 4 parts fresh clean water and 1 part white sugar.

From spring until fall, orioles are frequent visitors to oriole feeders over much of the United States. They move far southward during the winter, but these bright colored birds are a joy to have visit during the warm months. The most common species is the northern oriole which includes the eastern Baltimore race and the western Bullock’s race. Both are bright orange and black, but the Bullock’s also has big white wing patches and the Baltimore has a full black hood. Commonly seen in the southwest is the Scott’s oriole which is vivid yellow and black. These beautiful birds will frequently visit oriole bird feeders but will also be drawn to orange halves.

As the winter storms have moved across the country, we are all experiencing more birds visiting our hanging bird feeders. Of course we expect this and welcome all the activity. However, what about when our hanging bird feeders are under constant attack by starlings, Grackles and doves? These large birds can empty a hanging bird feeder in no time. I have had questions about how to keep them out. In my experience, the tube bird feeder that is most effective at keeping out these large birds as well as squirrels is the Squirrel Buster Plus made by Brome. By keeping them out and having seed ports designed to control seed flow, the cost of seed that is saved will more than pay for this bird feeder.

These tiny birds beat their wings an average of 25 times per second, so it is obvious that they use a lot of energy just flying. Even though the nectar they eat is high calorie, they need to eat as many as 2,000 times a day! Even when resting, the hummingbird uses a lot of energy. This is because it needs to keep its flying muscles at a high temperature to be ready for instant take-off. Our hummingbird feeders offer some simple fuel for these fascinating birds and are even more useful if they have perches for the hummers to land on and rest a little. During the day, a hummer’s heart beats 500-1200 times a second, but during the night, a hummingbird ruffles its feathers and allows it’s body to cool. It’s heartbeat slows down so much that it is almost undetectable. The bird is basically hibernating at this point, but it does it every night! The more I learn about these amazing birds, the more I enjoy watching them at our hummingbird feeders.

Hummingbirds are the only family of birds that can truly hover in still air for any length of time. This is a necessary skill in order to hang in front of a flower and drink the nectar from it. Any of us who have hummingbird feeders have seen this skill close up. How do they do this? Well, their wings are very different from other birds. They have paddle-shaped wings that are basically like hands that swivel at the shoulder. When they beat them, the tip of each wing follows a figure-eight pattern, lying on its side. As it goes forward and down it creates lift. As it comes up and goes back, the wing twists 180 degrees so it again creates a downward push. If the lift produced on each loop of the figure-eight is equal, the hummingbird will remain stationary in the air. Changing the angle of the twist will move the bird forward, backward, etc. Amazingly, the average hummingbird does this 25 times a second! This takes a lot of energy, so no wonder our hummingbird feeders are so popular!

Putting up hanging bird feeders in the yard will most certainly draw birds to the yard. The birds most likely to visit our hanging bird feeders are the seed eating species that are normally living up in the trees for they are use to clinging on branches and swinging twigs. Titmice, goldfinches, titmice and Pine Siskins are common visitors. Other birds such as woodpeckers and nuthatches have actually changed their behavior and have learned to visit our hanging bird feeders. Tube feeders, hopper feeders and platform feeders that have places to easily perch will also attract the larger birds like grosbeaks. Thistle feeders that hold tiny nyjer seeds will be very popular with goldfinches, redpolls and siskins. If squirrels are a problem in your yard, there are many styles of squirrel-proof bird feeders to keep them out of the seed.