Birdfeeders

When you have various bird feeders in your yard, such as tube feeders, platform feeders and hopper feeders, we can easily observe the nuances of bird behavior. The most common behavior is aggression in its various forms. This is not aggression as it is displayed by humans. So as not to waste energy fighting with each other, birds establish a hierarchy of dominance among themselves. The less dominant birds give way to the more dominant with little fuss. When that big jay arrives at the platform feeders, all others quickly leave. In the end, all birds get their chance.

Kestrels hunt and nest in open country, cities, farmland, deserts, at the edges of woods and even in highway right-of-ways.  They will use the same size birdhouse as screech owls, so by putting up an owl house, you may find it occupied by either an owl or a kestrel. Actually, it has been noticed that local populations of kestrels increase when owl houses are provided for there has been a decrease of natural nesting cavities.  These birds are especially valuable because they eat large quantities of rodents and insects. In the South or in other areas where prey is plentiful, kestrels often use the same owl house for a second brood in the same season. They hover while hunting and hunt by day, so they are always interesting to watch.

As soon as the weather gets warmer and local plants begin to bloom, we will notice a dramatic decrease in the traffic at your bird feeders. During the cold of winter, we were putting at least a quart of sunflower seeds in our tube bird feeder every day. Now that the sun is shining, the temperature is mild and the native plants are blooming, we are only filling our tube feeder with less than a pint of sunflower seeds every day. Soon we will be filling it every other day. This isn’t because there are fewer birds, it is because there is now an abundance of natural foods and birds don’t require as much food when they aren’t constantly trying to stay warm. This is the time to watch the birds cleaning up the insects from your yard, for they much prefer tasty bugs to sunflower seeds!

No, please don’t use unrefined sugar in your hummingbird feeders. Almost all of our white sugar is produced from crushed sugar cane or sugar beets. The resulting liquid  is separated into molasses and raw sugar. The raw sugar is refined to remove impurities and contaminants that were in the plant matter. Therefore, the unrefined sugar sold here is really “less refined”. The impurities it contains may cause faster spoilage of the nectar solution which can cause illness or death in hummingbirds. Commercially made white sugar is almost pure sucrose which is the most common sugar in flower nectar. Therefore, a solution made of one part white sugar to 4 parts water is very similar to natural nectar. Any trace minerals or nutrients found in unrefined sugar are of negligible benefit to hummingbirds who get most of their proteins and other nutrients from the insects they eat. Hummingbird feeders filled with a plain white sugar solution will keep the hummers healthy and coming back for more!

It really isn’t a good idea to feed bread to birds. It doesn’t do them any harm, but bread offers pretty much empty calories. Bread contains little nutrition and sometimes contain more salt than is good for birds. Also, bread will grow mold quickly so it needs to be cleaned up regularly. The biggest problem is that the creatures that really like bread are mice and rats. If you have bread on the ground, they will be sure to find it and nobody is happy about attracting mice and rats to a neighborhood. It is a much better idea to have an inexpensive tube feeder and offer sunflower seeds.

Although it is perfectly acceptable to put up a single bluebird house, many people put up several in the hopes of attracting this beautiful bird. Because the bluebird has lost so much of its natural habitat, bluebird houses have become very important to their survival. Several bluebird houses put up in an area are called a “bluebird trail”. This  is because people often put up large numbers of bluebird houses along roads, hiking trails, railroad tracks, fence lines, etc. in places that are easy to monitor. Bluebird houses placed on a trail should be about 100 yards apart in open areas that have short ground vegetation. Bluebirds like having small trees or shrubs or other perches such as fences fairly nearby. If your property isn’t right for bluebird houses, consider starting a bluebird trail in your area on public or private land, of course with the proper permission. These beautiful birds need all the help we can offer.

When we fill our hopper bird feeders with assorted seeds in their shells, we not only need to occasionally clean up the shells under the hopper bird feeders, but inevitably some of these seeds will germinate as they are carried whole by birds or wind to nearby locations. There are other options that will be sprout-free. Instead of filling hopper feeders with whole seeds, use sunflower hearts or chips and broken peanuts, none of which will sprout. All nyjer or thistle seed imported into the U.S. must be treated so it cannot germinate so a thistle feeder is also a good choice. Other ideas include raisins, mealworms and suet cakes without seeds.

While there’s a lot of negative stigma that goes around about bats, in truth, bats are some of the most beneficial creatures to have in your backyard.  Most bats feed on harmful insects, and even a few bats can reduce the population of harmful insects in a small area by a significant amount.  It can be difficult to attract bats to a backyard, but it’s easier than one might think.  Chances are, bats already frequent your backyard; if you’ve ever seen a shape flitting around in the air at night, there’s a good chance it was a bat.  Most birds sleep during the nighttime hours.  You can attract bats to your backyard by placing numerous bat houses in shady corners around the yard.  These bat houses should be in dark and cool places, and should also be away from pets, people, and other sources that might cause sleeping bats irritation. Once you’ve put up a few bat houses in your backyard, you need only wait until the bats come and decide to stay. 

Once you have bats nesting in the bat houses, you can enjoy the benefits of having a yard with far fewer pesky insects.  Bats are also a lot of fun to watch during the nighttime hours, especially for kids. 

The American Kestrel, also called the sparrow hawk, is our smallest hawk measuring only 9-12 inches in length. It is also our only cavity nesting hawk and can be found throughout the United States. It is a valuable rodent and insect predator that like other cavity nesting birds, is in decline because of a shortage of available nesting sites. Fortunately, kestrels readily use an owl house. The kestrel prefers open country such as grasslands, meadows and fields with scattered trees. They will also breed in open woods, orchards, farms, deserts and unforested mountainsides up to 13,000 feet. These are highly adaptable little hawks that love to occupy an owl birdhouse, which is essentially a bluebird house made bigger.

When we put up our first window bird feeders, I was at first disappointed. They sat there untouched for over a week so I thought maybe birds just didn’t want to come that close to the house. Eventually, one brave pine siskin discovered the seeds. He wasn’t alone for long! Now we often see birds “lining up” on the deck railing waiting for a turn at one of the small window bird feeders. These small, inexpensive feeders attach to the window with suction cups so are easy to remove for window washing. What a wonderful way to watch birds up close and personal. Now we sit at the kitchen table in the morning and watch birds coming and going not three feet away! Most window bird feeders are basically a rectangular platform with a roof made of clear plastic for easy viewing. It doesn’t take long for the regular visitors to get use to having you right inside. Although it is thrilling to watch birds this way, know that there will be droppings below these feeders, so plan which windows to attach them to with this in mind.