Birdfeeders

Finches can easily become some of your favorite backyard birds. They aren’t particularly shy around people, they gather in sociable crowds and their energetic behavior is always entertaining. The most common members of this family to observe at your bird feeders are goldfinches, purple finches and house finches. The goldfinches are the easiest to identify for they are bright yellow with black and white wings. They will gather with as many of them as will fit on a thistle feeder, which holds the tiny nyjer seed. It’s much harder to tell the difference between the purple finches and the house finches. The males of both species sport lots of red, but the purple finch has a red back as well as chest and head. The females of both species are streaky brown. Both the purple and house finches will flock to sunflower seeds in tube feeders, hopper feeders and platform feeders. They can even be visitors to window feeders that hold sunflower seeds. Most birds eat insects at least some of the time, but finches feed almost exclusively on seeds all year long.

A favorite bird to have visit a birdfeeder is a chickadee. They are very active, quite cute and best of all, they quickly get accustomed to humans coming and going in the yard. They can even be hand-tamed, especially if you stand still and hold pieces of nut in your open palm. They will quickly move into a birdhouse and like the same size house as a wren so look for a wren house and you have a good chance of one of the two species setting up housekeeping. Chickadees are attracted to gardens with trees where they can gather insects, larvae and insect eggs. From your birdfeeders they will eat sunflower seeds, chicken scratch and suet. There are chickadees year around almost everywhere in the United States so with a little encouragement, they can be a common visitor to your yard. With a wren house in place, you may be lucky enough to watch a new family grow.

Before you put up a birdhouse, consider whether or not you have the correct habitat for the kind of bird you are trying to attract. If your yard either contains or is near an area of big trees, you will most likely have an easy time attracting woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches and tufted titmice. These birds can be drawn to birdhouses in shaded areas for they usually nest along woodland edges. Knowing habitat needs will help you place your nestboxes in the appropriate sites. Chickadees will not nest in a field the way bluebirds or swallows will. Most woodland species favor having shrubs near the birdhouse to use as perches as they travel in  and out. Remember that birds need to find food in the area of the birdhouses so be sure to keep all those birdfeeders filled at all times. Knowing what birds exist in your area during the breeding season and assessing your habitat can certainly result in luring the desired species to your birdhouses.

After many years of clearing land for farms and then housing, there is a real shortage of sites available to cavity nesting birds. Add to this the increase in number of cats, there was a real decline in the population of bluebirds and wood ducks. Happily, there has been a noticable increase in both populations over the last 25 years, mostly because there have been aggressive programs to put up birdhouses for both of these species. There are now similar efforts in place to help restore the dwindling populations of American Kestrel and Red-headed Woodpeckers. We can all help in these efforts by simply putting up birdhouses for the species of our areas.

If you stock your yard with plenty of food, housing and water, it is sure to become a hotspot for the birds that visit your neighborhood. There are reports of backyard birders who have spotted literally hundreds of species in their own yards! While your neighbors may only see a few members of a limited number of species, your yard can become the gathering spot for many species. None of our neighbors even knew there were orioles visiting our area, yet within a week of putting up an oriole bird feeder last spring, we had 3 pair visiting and later they brought their offspring to visit our oriole feeders. We are adding a second oriole bird feeder this spring in the hopes of attracting even more.

Birdwatching is an easy and enjoyable hobby to start. It also has great rewards for you as well as for the birds. You may find a wonderful lifetime hobby starts with a simple bird feeder in your yard. To begin being serious about watching birds in your yard, all you need is a bird field guide and a wall calendar. The field guide is important to help you identify birds and calendar is a handy place to jot notes about the birds you see in your yard. When do the migrating species arrive and leave? When do the young begin to appear at your feeders? It’s quite interesting to compare notes of your sightings from one year to the next. For example, in my notes last year I noted that the first orioles appeared at my oriole feeder in mid March. Therefore, I will put it up about March 1 this year to have the best opportunity to encourage them to nest nearby.

A basic wooden birdhouse will offer the essentials for just about any type of nesting bird. This includes birds from the beautiful bluebird to the large owl. The important thing is to be sure the birdhouses you put up are the right size for the species of birds you want to nest in them. For example, chickadees prefer a small birdhouse, bluebirds need a medium size birdhouse and barn owls need a jumbo version. It is extremely important that the entrance hole is the correct diameter for the birds of your choice. The best way to insure that the birdhouse you choose is correct is to buy one specifically designed for the species you hope to draw into your yard.

The most important thing to have to attract bluebirds is one or more bluebird houses. Once you have your bluebird houses securely mounted, there are other things to do to further your chances of having bluebirds nest in your nest box. If you have a backyard full of natural insects, that will be a great advantage. Although bluebirds get most of their nourishment from insects, they also feed year-around on berries and other small fruit. Three species of these beautiful birds live in overlapping areas of the U.S. and Canada. This almost ensures that bird watchers everywhere can enjoy these birds.

Many people assume that suet feeders are only used by birds during the cold winter months. However, suet feeders have lots of customers during late spring and early summer. The reason for this is simple - suet is a nice soft food that is ideal for feeding nestlings. When you see  adult birds visiting the suet feeders and leaving with a piece of suet in their beaks, try to follow the flight with binoculars. You will very likely discover a nest. It is particularly difficult to spot the nests of cavity dwellers such as chickadees and tufted titmice. Once the nest is discovered, we can watch for the baby chicks to peak out. Then we can look forward to the parents bringing the chicks to the suet feeder for the first time. How fun to see  fuzzy-headed baby chickadees at suet feeders. As the weather turns warm, be sure to use non-melting suet cakes.

People are so ignorant about bats. They think that they are pests that should be exterminated, but those people are wrong - bats are our friends. They are here to help us, not to cause us harm. Bats are just like birds in that they need safe and secure shelters in which to bear their young. Without these shelters bats are likely to slowly die off because humans are taking up all of their natural habitats.

Because bats prefer to spend most of their time in caves, it’s important to create a bat house that looks and feels like a cave. That means it must be dark and quiet. Hosting bats in your yard will help get the bat population back on track. You’ll feel a little bit better about making a positive difference in your local endangered animal population. You may even choose to teach your children about bats!