Birdfeeders

The American goldfinch is one of the most popular and common birds to visit our bird feeders. They can be found almost everywhere in the United States for they seem to easily adapt to a variety of habitats. Their favorite seed is the small nyjer seed which is best served to them in thistle bird feeders for this is a fairly expensive seed and has a lot of waste if used in any other type of bird feeder for these seeds are so small. They also like sunflower seeds so will often also visit other bird feeders to grab a sunflower seed or even small seeds such as millet. Goldfinches normally travel in small flocks, so you can expect many individuals visiting your feeders, especially as they migrate. In the southern third of the United States, goldfinches are normally seen only in the winter. Everywhere else, except the far north, they are common all year round. During migration, if you keep various feeders filled, you can attract dozens of goldfinches at a time, or even more! If you also have bird baths, count on goldfinches to keep them busy. They are extremely fond of splashing around in any water feature available.

When we get a species of bird that becomes too aggressive at the feeders, too piggish and has way too many individuals hogging the bird feeders, they get labeled as nuisance birds. There are a few birds that often are in this category such as house finches, house sparrows, pigeons, starlings and jays. Depending on your location, some, none or many of these can become a problem. To discourage the larger birds, the easiest solution is to switch to squirrel proof bird feeders. These have cages that are too big for them to feed through while the smaller birds have no problem reaching the feeder. Another way to minimize the effect of these birds is to take advantage of their eating habits. Pigeons, house sparrows and jays would rather eat cracked corn than sunflower seeds and niger, so they can be detracted by offering cracked corn in another area of the yard. They will happily go after what they prefer leaving your existing bird feeders to other species. Of course, this method could draw more of these birds to your yard. I don’t mind this, for they are entertaining to watch. It is hard to discourage house finches for they like the same foods as many other birds such as goldfinches and grosbeaks. They also are small enough to feed through the cage of squirrel proof bird feeders. For us, they are a welcome addition to the yard so we haven’t tried to discourage them.

Songbirds sleep standing up. There legs and feet lock into place around a perch which keeps them upright while they sleep. They usually band together at night to keep warm while standing on a comfortable perch in a bush or evergreen. They will choose, if possible, a dense conifer such as a cedar or spruce as a roosting spot and like to be not far from a food source. Therefore, if you are lucky enough to have a good roosting tree nearby, you can watch birds leave your bird feeders at dusk and head for their nightly perch. It is amazing to see how many birds will head for a large tree at night. Knowing that our large hopper feeder will be a very busy place at dusk, we enjoy sitting quietly and watching the activity. Often a bird will leave the hopper feeder and head right for the big spruce in our neighbor’s yard. Soon we can often hear the quiet twitters of juncos and sparrows as they settle down for the night.

It has been an interesting observation that as more and more people are putting up bird feeders, the number of birds and the number of species of birds that visit these birdfeeders has increased quite a bit. In the eastern part of the United States, there were only 55 species recorded visiting any kind of feeding stations before 1910. In the same area that number has more than doubled since then. This represents a broad segment of the bird population of the eastern U.S.  Throughout the country this effect is being observed as more and more birds are becoming familiar with bird feeders. As some birds discover for example, the new platform feeder you have just put out, other birds will approach to see what the attraction is. Especially during spring and fall migrations, the variety of visitors to a platform feeder can be quite surprising and often in conflict with what you read in bird books. This isn’t because the books are wrong, but because bird behavior seems to be ever changing or you will often notice a “stray” that somehow got off its regular course. A variety of types of bird feeders and the height they are hung at will also increase the variety of visitors.

When our goal is to attract as many different birds as possible to our yards, there are two important things to keep in mind. The first of course is what food to offer. By offering a variety of seeds, nuts, fruit, suet and nectar, a wide variety of birds will find something appealing in your yard. However, it is also important to offer this food at different heights.  There are many birds who feed almost exclusively on the ground, so they will be happy with food scattered on the ground or put in a platform feeder located on the ground.  However, many birds are uncomfortable on the ground so will do much better with a hanging hopper bird feeder or tube feeder. It is also a good idea to place bird feeders in locations away from each other and some not too near the house. When bird feeders are all close together, it is easy to have a dominant species that chases all others away. Sometimes it can even be one dominant bird that is determined to keep all others away from a feeder. If you are noticing aggressive behavior around the bird feeders, it might be a good idea to add another feeder, but not too close to the first one. Maybe hang another hopper bird feeder at a slightly different height in a different area of the yard.

Seeds are generally more nutritious than grains. Many types of seeds have only limited appeal to birds which is why it is not a good idea to buy a seed mixture to put in your bird feeders. They seem rather inexpensive, but when you consider that much of the mixture ends up not being eatten, they are not really a good deal. It is a better idea to first fill a hopper bird feeder with black-oil sunflower seeds. Every bird that can open shells will eat them and even those who can’t will find the tidbits left by others. These rich, oily seeds are really an indispensable part of a backyard feeding program. A large hopper bird feeder will attract lots of birds in a short period of time. Also important to feeding birds are the cereal grains such as corn, oats, millet, canary seed, etc. Because they are rich in carbohydrates, they are excellent suppliers of heat and energy. Corn is appreciated by most birds and has the added benefit of being very inexpensive. I buy the cracked corn from a local farm supply store and put some in the platform bird feeder and also scatter it on the ground and it always disappears rapidly.