Birdfeeders

When we are trying to attract birds to our yards, the most important part of our bird feeding program is what food to offer. Without the right food, few birds will visit no matter how many bird feeders you have. The best way to know what foods are preferred by your visitors is to offer choices and watch carefully. Hang a large platform feeder as your experimental bird feeder.  In each corner, put a different food and see which one disappears the fastest and which may not be touched. For example, start with sunflower seeds, nutmeats, fruit and cracked corn. If one of those is ignored, try some bread, millet or suet. It really is fun to experiment and a platform feeder works well for this project. I often introduce a new food in ours, just to see if it is accepted. Also, by placing the platform feeder on the ground and beginning the experiment again, the ground feeding birds can also be included.

Woodpeckers generally feed on insects that can be found in tree bark. Therefore, they are most comfortable approaching feeders that are fairly high off the ground. They will happily come to tube bird feeders filled with sunflower seeds and also to suet bird feeders. We love having them visit our yard. However, their springtime behavior can sometimes be quite annoying. If you hear loud, rapid volleys of pecking on your house, this is woodpecker “drumming”. They do it on the sides of homes, on gutters, drainpipes, TV antennas, etc. They are not digging for insects as many people fear, but trying to attract a mate! This drumming is like a song in other birds. They use it to announce their territory, attract a mate or simply keep in touch with a mate. The bird picks a resonant spot and keeps drumming there until the beginning of the breeding season. No damage is done to the house, but the early morning noise may wake you up. Once the breeding season is in full swing, they will go back to just visiting your tube bird feeders.

Birds have two types of predators to watch out for. There are those that approach from the ground which include mostly humans, cats and snakes. From the air, they need to watch out for mostly hawks. Because they respond so differently to each of these dangers, it is easy for us to figure out what type of predator may be approaching. If a ground predator is spotted, you will probably hear some short, harsh calls and any birds that are feeding on or near the ground will immediately seek higher perches. The platform feeders on the ground will be deserted, but hanging bird feeders will still have activity. However, the predator will be kept constantly in sight and the calling will continue until it leaves and is no longer a threat. The behavior is quite different if the predator approaches from the air. Usually, the bird that spots the hawk first will give a very high pitched whistle that is immediately noticed by all other birds in the area. In our yard, this has been a scrub jay. I have read that when this happens, all other birds become silent and freeze. This has not been our observation. On both occasions that we have been visited by a Coopers hawk, the jays certainly gave the loud warning, but this caused all birds to race for cover and then remain silent and hidden. As the hawk sat on the fence looking around, there was not another bird to be seen or heard in the area. When the hawk left, the birds slowly returned to their normal behaviors.

There are several species of hawks that target small birds, but the two most common are the sharp-shinned hawk and the larger Cooper’s hawk. Remember that hawks are protected by law, so don’t even consider harming them in any way. Also remember that they are part of the balance of nature. However, none of us wants to see a hawk catch a songbird that is feeding in our yard. The best solution is to provide plenty of shelter and places for birds to hide. We have our hopper bird feeder hung near a large tree with a 6 foot hedge nearby and a pile of brush just behind the fence. I never use to like having scrub jays in our yard, for they are often bullies. After having a Cooper’s hawk visit, I welcome the jays! As the hawk approached unnoticed by many birds as well as by me, the jays put up such a racket that all birds raced to cover. The hawk sat on the fence for a while watching the yard and the hopper bird feeder and eventually left. It was exciting to see it, but I was thankful to the jays for voicing the warning.

Cats can be a real problem in many neighborhoods. Encouraging people to keep their cats indoors is one solution, but not always practical when neighbors won’t cooperate. Feral cats are another problem. The best solution is to be sure your yard is not an easy place for a cat to hide. Prune bushes so they are off the ground, make sure bird baths are in very open areas or up off the ground. Hang tube feeders at least  four feet off the ground. There will be birds cleaning up under the tube feeders, so be sure that area is clear of hiding places. If you have platform feeders on the ground, a short fence between them and any brush is a helpful idea. We had a cat contining to crouch next to a stump near the platform feeder. Chasing it away didn’t do any good, but after putting up just an 18 inch high fence, we haven’t seen it in weeks and the platform feeder is a very popular site with birds.

For most of us, the warm weather is finally arriving! The days are long, the sun is shining, and the hummingbirds are visiting our hummingbird feeders often. This is all good news, but now is when it is most important to keep these hummingbird feeders clean. Between the sugar water and the warm weather, the feeding ports often start collecting black fungi and bacteria. This is easily avoided if the feeders are emptied every 3-4 days and cleaned thoroughly. I use hot water and a little vinegar to clean them and then rinse the hummingbird feeders thoroughly. Remember, our feeders are stops in a hummingbird’s travels looking for food. Our feeders certainly do not offer a balanced diet. Therefore, do not be surprised if suddenly there are very few visitors to your feeders. This could just mean one or more of their favorite flowers are blooming. If your area has blooming wild honeysuckle, trumpet vines, mimosa, etc. the hummingbirds may be temporarily too busy to bother with your feeders, but don’t worry, they will return very soon.

I read lots of articles about making suet holders at home, buying suet at the local butcher shop (it is the hard fat found near the beef kidneys and loins) and creating your own mixture of suet, seed, etc. I really don’t see any point in doing any of this, for ready made suet feeders are quite inexpensive and buying suet cakes that are even made not to melt on hot days is even cheaper! Woodpeckers, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, starlings, jays and mockingbirds all love suet. If there is a way to perch near the suet, even more birds will feed from it. Suet feeders have a wonderful other use as well. In the early spring, I set up one suet feeder that I fill with short pieces of string and yarn, lint from the dryer, small twigs, etc. and watch the nest builders eagerly take my offerings.

This is an often asked question. There are some people who think birds might forget how to find food for themselves if we provide seed for them. This is absolutely not true. Just notice how visits to bird feeders slow way down during the summer months to be sure that birds are always checking out the natural environment for food. Birds are extremely resourceful and are continually exploring and eating a wide variety of wild foods. During the summer months, birds drop in occasionally to check out the offerings in our platform feeder, but during the winter there is constant activity at the platform feeder, and all other seed bird feeders for that matter. This is because food in the wild is scarce during the winter months, especially in very cold areas of the country. For this reason, it is important not to suddenly stop filling your bird feeders during the winter. If you know you are going to be gone, either have someone continue to fill your bird feeders while you are gone, or gradually taper off your feeding before you leave. If you do this, you give birds a chance to look for other food sources before you completely discontinue feeding them.

If you have recently put up your first seed bird feeder, you may be disappointed in the number of birds visiting it. Visits to all feeders, except nectar feeders, dramatically falls off during the summer months as there is a great abundance of natural foods for birds to choose from. During the winter and early spring, I need to fill our hopper bird feeder almost every day for there are birds visiting it almost constantly. As spring turns to summer, the traffic at this hopper bird feeder slows so dramatically that I don’t need to fill it more than twice a week. In a way, I am happy about this for this is when we normally take some vacations, so I don’t have to ask friends to fill the bird feeders as often. However, as winter approaches, this all changes. The first sign of change will be in the fall when migration begins. This is the time to keep a sharp eye on your bird feeders, for you will likely see birds passing through your area that are not normal residents. As winter approaches and the food supplies begin to dwindle, birds will visit your seed feeders with much more regularity.

There are many birds who will rarely or never visit our hanging bird feeders. These are the birds who are naturally ground feeders. This group includes quail, morning doves, dark-eyed juncos, most sparrows, tufted titmice, jays, crows, towhees, cardinals, etc. We have designated an area that is about 10 feet x 8 feet specifically for the ground feeding birds. By scattering cracked corn, which can be purchased quite cheaply at the local feed store, and mixed seeds, many more birds can visit at one time than can at our hanging feeders. Of course, the downside of this is that you must be careful to only scatter as much as can be eatten in a day or two. If the seed sits around too long it will get spoiled and moldy. If old seed begins to collect, it must be cleaned up immediately. The easier alternative is a large platform feeder. This is usually a large square with short legs, short sides and a screen bottom. The ground feeders will love it and you avoid the clean up problem. Water will drain out so the seed can quickly dry during the wet months. We also add some sunflower seeds to our platform feeder to attract even more species than we draw with cracked corn and mixed seed.