Birdfeeders

Even if you live in a city, there are many birds to be seen and fed. Most likely, your bird feeders will attract house sparrows, starlings and rock doves with other species appearing as well. The advantage to watching birds in a city environment is that they are quite tolerant of humans, so it is fairly easy to approach them for a closer look. I have heard stories about house sparrows that are so comfortable with people that they will actually come and eat seed from your hand. How cool would that be?! As urban areas are adding more parks and ponds, we are seeing more species being comforable in these areas. Having more people add bird feeders to their yard and decks is further encouragement for birds.

Many people take their hanging bird feeders down during the summer months, assuming that birds won’t visit these feeders with so much food available naturally. However, this is not true. Raising a family is hard work (don’t we know!). Some birds make hundreds of trips a day with food for the nestlings! Birds don’t usually feed their chicks the seeds we have in our hanging bird feeders, but they will certainly stop for some quick nourishment for themselves. Several kinds of birds such as cardinals, titmice, mockingbirds and mourning doves have spread into new areas during the past few decades, nesting in areas where they were never seen before. The scientists are not sure of the cause of these changes (climate change? changes in land use?), but the increase in the number of hanging bird feeders could certainly have an effect. It doesn’t matter if our yards are a bird’s first choice or second choice, our yards are certainly a better choice for birds than high-density buildings or areas of intensive agriculture.

With an estimated 90 million people in North America feeding birds, we must wonder how this actually affects birds. There have been a few scientific studies done that show that some species, including titmice, nuthatches, chickadees and woodpeckers, can really benefit from extra food supplies during the winter. For example, a black-capped chickadee requires the equivalent of 150 sunflower seeds daily and during especially cold days, this figure easily rises to 250. Under normal conditions, research has shown that this bird only gets about 25% of its diet from hanging bird feeders, so our feeders are merely supplemental food. However, when temperatures drop below freezing and birds need much more fuel to stay warm, this supplemental food can mean the difference between life and death. Birds that visit our hanging bird feeders put on a little more fat and can survive the cold longer. Especially when the temperature drops, be sure to keep those bird feeders full and help out the local bird population.

Yes, we have hanging bird feeders, ground feeders, nectar feeders, etc. in our yards to do what we can to help the declining bird populations, but the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is fully involved in many conservation efforts. According to their mailer which I just received, they are involved in moving international conservation efforts forward, they are working on new tools and technologies to find and monitor the world’s most rare animals, from birds to forest elephants and sponsor educational programs and science projects to promote the importance of conservation. Did you know that the number of birds migrating across the Gulf of Mexico has decreased by more than 50% since the 1960s? This is a horrifying statistic. The Eastern Meadowlark has declined by 70% since 1966. We all need to keep our yards as bird friendly as possible, and certainly our hanging bird feeders are helpful, but supporting this organization is important and inexpensive. Please visit their website www.allaboutbirds.org to learn more about them and add your support.