Birdfeeders

If you put up a bird feeder in an area where squirrels live, they will find it, so it is necessary to take measures to keep them out of your bird seed. There are basically two goals when dealing with squirrels. First, do everything you can to keep them from getting to the bird feeder and second, if they do get to it, prevent them from destroying the bird feeder and eating all the bird seed. For the first goal, hang your bird feeder at least 8 feet away from the nearest jumping off point (roof, fence, tree, etc) and at least 5 feet off the ground. If the bird feeder is mounted on a pole, be sure to use a baffle under the feeder. If you are using a tube bird feeder, don’t use a tray under it, for that is a great landing platform for a squirrel! A top baffle will prevent a squirrel from coming down to a hanging bird feeder. Even with all of these precautions, squirrels somehow manage to figure a way to get to that bird feeder, so the last defense is a good quality squirrel proof bird feeder. If they cannot chew through the feeder or reach the seed ports, your seed will be protected. We have found that by offering inexpensive cracked corn on the ground, the squirrels may be content to eat that. Besides, they are fun to watch too.

There are so many ideas for birdbaths! Of course, there are many styles of beautiful and functional birdbaths on the market, but any shallow container can become a birdbath. All birds visiting your bird feeders also need water for drinking and for bathing, so offering a birdbath is just another way to make your yard more bird friendly. We have two in our yard. One is attached to the deck railing about 4 feet off the ground and seems to be preferred by finches, woodpeckers, orioles and jays. Right on the ground, we have a clay dish - the red kind that a planter sits in. The mourning doves love it as well as towhees, juncos and many others. They are both used so much that I need to clean out and refill them daily. As soon as I have filled them, there is lots of splashing and bathing activity. Another inexpensive item to use is an upside down aluminum garbage can lid. Maybe add a few rocks and pebbles to make this large birdbath a little more bird friendly. Whatever you use, just be sure that it isn’t slippery, should have a gradual slope and never be more than 3 inches deep. It is best to have a perch nearby to preen on.

Sunflower seeds are the most popular food with most songbirds and should be in at least one bird feeder in our yards, but what kind to use? There are 3 kinds of sunflower seeds commonly available. The gray-striped seed is the largest, then there is a medium-sized black-striped sunflower seed and the smallest is the black-oil seed which has solid black shells. Birds will be happy with any of these, so price and availability is a factor, but the black-oil sunflower seed is the most popular with the most birds. Its thinner shell makes it easier for small birds to crack and it also has a higher percentage of oil for its weight. A hanging bird feeder filled with these seeds will be a popular place indeed! You can also buy sunflower seeds already shelled, but they are quite a bit more expensive. The advantage of hulled seeds is that they are loved even by goldfinches, but the best advantage is how clean they are for there are no empty hulls under the bird feeder!

There are many advantages to tube bird feeders which is why most people choose them for their yards. A tube feeder filled with black oil sunflower seeds is a good first choice when beginning feeding birds. These bird feeders are easy to clean, easy to fill and protect the seed from wind, rain and snow. They have metal reinforced perches and ports for durability and protection from squirrels. There are many styles and designs that come to fit any budget and size requirements. There are many models that are squirrel proof feeders and most can have trays added to allow larger birds to perch. If you like, there are very large tube bird feeders that don’t need to be filled very often,  small ones, brushed copper attractive ones and many others to suit any taste.

Suet is a hard type of fat that is found near the beef kidneys. It is a high energy food source that is appreciated by many birds, but is a favorite food of woodpeckers. It is available at the meat counter of most grocery stores and there are many recipes and methods of dealing with it. However, I don’t see the point in fussing with it in its natural state. Suet bird feeders are inexpensive and ready made suet cakes mixed with bird seed and rendered to not melt are quite reasonably priced. I keep a suet bird feeder up all year, but during the coldest months, I have a second one up because the demand is so high. Suet is especially popular with woodpeckers, chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches, but when the larger birds have a place to perch near the suet feeder, it is visited by mockingbirds, jays and starlings as well. Suet bird feeders can be hung from a fence, from another bird feeder, from the branch of a tree, wherever is convenient.

The easy answer to this question is - all the time! However, if you have never fed the birds, now is a fabulous time to begin. During the fall, birds are searching for reliable food sources and will stay where they find them. Chickadees and juncos will flock in the fall and stay in an area that includes good feeding areas. Hang up a squirrel proof bird feeder filled with black-oil sunflower seeds and watch the activity begin. Once you have a faithful following at your new bird feeder, you have a responsibility to not stop feeding abruptly during the winter. If you know you will be away, you can gradually taper off so birds have an opportunity to find other food sources. The best solution is to ask a friend to keep your squirrel proof bird feeder filled while you are away. Many people stop feeding birds in the spring when natural food becomes abundant again. There is no reason to take down your bird feeders. We feed birds all year long and love watching the courtship in the spring and then the arrival of the new fledglings at our bird feeders.

The first and most important bird feeder in your yard contains only sunflower seeds. This can be a hanging bird feeder or a pole mounted feeder but must contain only sunflower seeds which are the number one choice of most songbirds. Usually  a tube bird feeder or a hopper feeder, it must have baffles to keep squirrels out and needs to be far enough from the house that birds feel safe to approach it. If there are trees or shrubs nearby for protection, birds will be even more comfortable. What birds is this feeder likely to attract? Many species actually, including chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, cardinals, pine siskin, all kinds of finches and woodpeckers, evening grosbeak, starlings, common flickers, house sparrow and jays.

When birds of different species are together for some length of time, it could be expected that friction would develop. This can certainly happen, but if we offer a variety of foods in a variety of ways, this can be easily avoided. We have several hanging bird feeders. The tube bird feeders are filled with black oil sunflower seeds and the thistle bird feeders are filled with the small nyjer seeds preferred by finches. The suet bird feeders are visited by many different species and the platform feeders are enjoyed by the ground feeding birds. Birds will go to whichever foods are whichever level suits them best. Some birds will even time their visits to the bird feeders to avoid the busiest periods of feeding activity. If our feeding stations are arranged this way, many species will happily feed in close association with very few problems of competition. If a single food is offered in a confined space, it is not unusual for fighting to begin. If you see this happening, spread out the feeding area and add additional feeders to solve the problem.

When I stop to think about how many birds visit our bird feeders and birdbaths regularly, it really is amazing that predators do not catch more birds in our yard than they do. With all the small hawks as well as cats that are in our area, I would say that I am not aware of even one bird a year killed near our bird feeders. Of course, there could be some killed that we are not aware of, but in all the years I have maintained feeding stations, I have only found telltale feathers on three occasions. Even if a few more birds are caught each year, it is still a very low number and doesn’t even account for sick, aged or crippled birds. This means to me that birds have developed great skill in identifying and avoiding common predators. In general, the heaviest losses occur during the nesting time in the spring when a significant number of nests are robbed by  many predators including other birds. The rest of the year, there appears to be a truse where birds feed near each other, sound warnings for all to hear and generally exist in the same areas. Even though our hanging bird feeders are an attraction for predators, the birds visiting our yard are fully capable of looking out for themselves.

As we watch birds at our bird feeders and birdbaths, we notice that birds frequently lift their heads, briefly look around and continue on. Some birds are more alert than others so are the most likely to sound the alarm if danger is near. This alarm will be heard by all the birds in the area, who will respond depending on the nature of the warning. A high -pitched call probably means a small bird hawk is approaching and it is important to stay hidden. Enemies approaching on the ground usually  give the birds more time and are not considered as dangerous once they are discovered. The goal is to keep them in sight and maybe even try to drive them out of the area. As a general rule, birds at hanging bird feeders feel more secure than birds feeding on the ground and so are generally slower to fly off. Also, notice that often the grayish or brownish birds will rely on their coloring to blend in with their surroundings and actually freeze when danger is near as all the other birds around the hanging bird feeders have flown off. When one of the many cats in our area approaches our yard, I am always thankful for the loud scrub jays who frequent our yard and are quick with warning calls.