Birdfeeders

We all notice that different seasons bring different birds to our bird feeders. It doesn’t matter where you live, you will notice bird migration if you leave your bird feeders up year around. In the spring, birds will move north where food is plentiful, to raise their young. In the fall, they will again move south where they can find food and shelter for the winter months. Depending on where you live, you will observe different parts of this pattern. By paying attention to what species visit your tube feeders, hopper feeders and platform feeders and when they visit, you can determine the pattern for your area. Some birds will be permanent residents. There are always some species that do not migrate. The farther north you are, the fewer species will fall into this classification. As the warm days of spring begin, there are flocks of many birds that make their way north. Again, depending on your location, some may simply be transients. They will stop off at your bird feeders in route to locations farther north. At this time, there will be a great variety of birds to be seen if those bird feeders are kept full and you don’t forget to have an easy source of clean, fresh water available. Some of these species may be summer residents in your area. They will stay all summer, mate and raise their families before heading south again. These offer lots of entertainment as they collect nesting materials, then are quite busy feeding babies. Later, the adolescent birds will begin visiting bird feeders frequently to get strong enough for the migration ahead. As fall begins, the process begins in reverse as the migration heads south. If you live in a southern region, you may have a variety of winter only residents.

Hummingbirds are exclusively nectar feeders but other birds eat a variety of foods including insects, seeds, berries and fruit. Wild birds will not ever become completely dependent on your bird feeders. Sure, backyard bird feeders offer a great source of easy food to be taken advantage of, but wild birds will explore their territory for all sorts of other foods. This is easy, but other myths seem to persist  no matter how much evidence is available to disprove them.

Many people insist that red food coloring must be added to hummingbird nectar in order to attract hummingbirds. In fact, hummingbird feeders are designed with plenty of red on them to attract hummingbirds. There is nothing in red food coloring to benefit a hummingbird!

Often, people think they should only feed birds in the winter and take down the bird feeders in the spring. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In the spring, birds are quite stressed with mating and raising a family. They are frequent visitors to an easy supply of food. An additional benefit is that they will teach their young to visit your bird feeders as well.

There is also a concern that birds won’t migrate if they can continue to get food from bird feeders. This is just silly. Birds naturally migrate or stay not based upon a bird feeder, but based on what that species has done for thousands of years. The added advantage of having year around bird feeders is that migrating birds will stop by to visit.

We had an exciting experience yesterday. We were watching all the birds visiting our bird feeders in the late afternoon. There were many sparrows, finches, blue jays, quail, mourning doves, juncos, etc., all filling up for the night at our tube feeders, thistle feeders and platform feeders. All of a sudden, they all vanished. As I was wondering what had scared them, a large Cooper’s hawk landed on the fence. They feed on song birds which they usually catch in flight. It is fairly uncommon to see one for they usually hunt in forests or at the edges of open country. However, Cooper’s hawks are attracted to yards with bird feeders. It must have spotted all the activity in our yard. Anyway, it sat on the  fence for a minute looking around. As it looked one way, a small bird behind it would scoot from the ground up to a nearby tree. When the hawk turned the other way, there would be an escape from the other side. Finally, the hawk dropped to the ground and slowly walked behind a large plant. Suddenly, a sparrow shot out from under the plant and headed over the top of the house with the hawk right behind it. It was exciting to watch the hunt, but we were glad not to witness the kill. I felt badly for the sparrow, but realize this is part of the balance of nature.

Some people are happy with any visitors to their bird feeders, but many would prefer to keep the bullies, like jays and mockingbirds, away from their bird feeders. The easiest way to accomplish this is with squirrel proof bird feeders. The most efficient feeders are weight sensitive. When a heavier bird lands, the perch drops down and brings a cover over the feed ports. These of course also keep squirrels out. When a smaller, lighter bird lands, it can feed with no problem. There are also many squirrel proof bird feeders that come surrounded by wire cages which prevent larger birds as well as squirrels from getting to the seed, while smaller birds enter freely. 

The Pine Siskin is a frequent visitor to most tube bird feeders that are filled with sunflower seeds as they range all over the United States. They also love nyjer seed so will happily visit thistle bird feeders as well. They also eat pine seeds, weed seeds and insects. Pine Siskins are quite common in most suburban areas as well as in evergreen woods, mixed wooded areas and in thickets. The male and female are very similar in coloring - a streaky brown bird about the size of a finch. There are noticeable yellow patches on the wings. It’s streaked back distinguishes it from other birds of the same size. They say that Pine Siskin are able to predict storms by their frenetic eating beforehand. Occasionally, they  never migrate to the south.