Birdfeeders

I know I’m thinking about feeding the hatchlings way too early, but I am sooooo ready for spring! I’ve had enough of winter and am looking forward to spring courting, nest building and the arrival of hatchlings. I think this year I am going to add a second hanging platform feeder to our yard just for offering foods from the kitchen. We have a year around hanging platform feeder that we keep stocked with assorted seed, sometimes eggshells or left over rice or pasta. However, when the chicks are hatched in nearby nests, there is a greater demand for soft foods and having a separate hanging platform feeder might be easier and less messy. I’m planning on keeping the seed offerings in the permanent platform feeder and using the second one to offer “baby food” such as soft bread crumbs, eggs, either hard scrambled or mashed up hard boiled, even canned dog or cat food. Lots of kitchen leftovers are appreciated at this time such as cottage cheese, soft cooked peas, lentils, pasta or rice, even finely chopped up meat. Soft bananas, apples and other fruits will also be taken.

There are great advantages to attracting bats to your area for they are natural insect zappers. Depending on the season and your location, they fill up nightly on mosquitoes, moths, cucumber beetles, June bugs, stink bugs, leafhoppers, etc. One brown bat can consume up to a thousand mosquitoes per hour! More and more people are discovering the advantages of providing housing for bats. With luck, a bat can live for 20 years, and mature females will have one baby a year for most of their adult life. Bats like to live in old hollow trees, caves or attics. However, there has been a serious reduction of available roosting sites which has led to a decline in bat populations. Therefore, bat houses are essential to help bats and stop this decline. To encourage bats to use bat houses, they should be placed high in trees or high on the side of a house in a sheltered place that gets sun for part of the day.

Most of the time, we don’t worry about what colors most birds prefer. Sure, we know that hummingbirds love red so most hummingbird feeders feature red. However, if a new platform feeder or hopper feeder is introduced, it is helpful to know that white food is most bird’s favorite. If a new platform feeder or hopper feeder features small pieces of white bread, it will quickly draw the attention of many birds. Once they find the new feeder, they will eat other foods, but white is a strong attraction. The next most attractive color to many birds is red, so adding red fruit and berries will also draw attention. Another attractive color to many birds is orange. Put an orange half in a platform feeder and watch how many birds are drawn. The one bird who prefers orange above all other colors is the oriole. There are now many oriole bird feeders which are orange nectar feeders designed specifically for orioles. These beautiful birds will arrive in the U.S. from Central and South America in late Feb. or March so we need to get our oriole bird feeders cleaned, filled and out by early March.

Kestrels are small falcons that feed on mice, voles, insects and beetles. They are commonly seen hovering over the grasslands along highways and can be seen swooping down on their prey from this hovering vantage point or from a high perch. While driving, watch for them perched on telephone wires which is a favorite place. They can be found in open country and in cities all over the United States. If you live near open grassland with large trees available, you might want to consider putting up a Kestrel house. These attractive birds usually nest in hollow trees but seem to take easily to an artificial Kestrel house. The house should be placed at least 20 feet off the ground, either in a tree or on the side of a building in a sheltered position. It is a good idea to put a couple of inches of wood chips in the bottom of your Kestrel house.

I just came across a recipe to help out our ground feeding birds during the cold winter months. Since they do not use our hanging suet feeders, this is a way to offer them a high calorie treat in a platform feeder. Put in a food processor, 4 cups coarse ground cornmeal (found in a farm supply store, not the fine ground from the grocery store), 1/2 pound cubed fresh suet (without any meat or blood on it), and 1 cup of peanuts and also 1 cup of raisins if you like. Pulse the processor on and off until the mixture is crumbly (only takes a few seconds). This mixture can be scattered on the ground, but on a platform feeder there is much less mess. You can just put out the amount that is eaten in a day and keep the rest in a ziplock bag in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. You can also freeze it for later use.

Tube feeders are a really simple way to feed lots of birds. It’s clear tube makes it easy to see when the hanging tube feeders need to be refilled, they are easy to keep clean and many species are happy to visit hanging tube feeders, especially if they are filled with black oil sunflower seeds. We have a large one hanging in our yard that is constantly being visited, especially in the winter. The one drawback of this feeder, at least in our yard, is that is regularly dominated by all the scrub-jays that hang out in our yard. Especially during the spring breeding season, the scrub-jays constantly empty our tube feeder. I have just discovered the solution. We are adding a tube feeder that is designed for clinging birds only. It doesn’t have perches, so the jays will find it quite difficult to access. Instead, it will be perfect for Chickadees, small Woodpeckers, Titmice, Nuthatches, Goldfinches and other small birds.

February is National Bird Feeding Month. It’s a good time to be sure we are all feeding our backyard birds the foods that will keep them warm and healthy. The best foods have a high fat content - black oil sunflower seeds, nyjer, peanuts and suet. The first three can all be easily offered in hanging tube feeders. Many people find squirrels to be a particular problem since they love all of these foods. Luckily, there are many styles of squirrel proof feeders available in a wide range of prices. There are those that are weight sensitive so whenever a squirrel gets aboard, the ports will close, it will twirl faster and faster until the squirrel flies off or the platform tips them off, etc. Many are surrounded by a cage to keep the squirrels out. Some people think that by offering squirrels their own feeders, they will stay away from the bird feeders. This can work to a point, but squirrel proof feeders are a much more reliable deterrent. The pictured squirrel proof feeder from Brome is actually guaranteed to keep out Red and Gray squirrels as well as large birds such as Grackles and starlings.

Once you are lucky enough to have a mated pair of Bluebirds choose your bluebird house, the female builds the nest in 4 to 5 days with very little help from the male. The female incubates the eggs with the male occasionally spending the night with her. The female lays 4 or 5 light blue eggs that hatch in 13-15 days. The male catches insects to feed the nestlings a high protein diet for their rapidly developing bones and muscles. The young will fledge in 15-20 days, but for about 2 weeks after fledging, the parents continue to feed the young while they learn to fend for themselves. This is always fun to watch. Often Bluebirds will re-nest and raise a second brood. These family units often stick together until the following spring. The key to attracting Bluebirds to nest is having plenty of nesting locations along with food and water. Many people have 3-4 bluebird houses in different locations on their property. Bluebirds prefer open areas mixed with trees. Since they naturally use tree cavities, a tree trunk is an ideal mounting place for the house. However, they also love wooden fence posts, so mounting a bluebird house on a pole 4-8 feet high in an open area can  also be quite successful. It is also a good idea to have the hole facing south or east for sun exposure if possible. If another species like a Tree Swallow insists on using the bluebird house, put another bluebird house up right next to the first one. Tree Swallows will not let another swallow nest nearby, but they will let Bluebirds occupy the neighboring house.

Bluebirds live throughout the United States. Typically, the Easter Bluebirds occur east of the Rockies and the Western and Mountain Bluebirds are found west of the Rockies. Their courtship actvities can occur as early as late February, so now is the time to get up bluebird houses. Up until about 1970, bluebird populations were declining because of lack of habitat as well as competition from non-native birds such as European Starlings. Luckily, since then there as been a great effort to put up bluebird houses in all parts of the country and the populations are again on the rise. Offering bluebird houses in your yard does more than just help this bird. It also helps our yards by providing chemical-free pest control as they eat thousands of insects including grasshoppers, beetles, caterpillars and many others. Bluebirds have little fear of people and will happily move into a bird house located in a relatively open and undisturbed part of your yard.

We have had a few sunny days and I have been pushing the season and thinking about spring. However, let’s face it, it is still winter and the birds know it. For those who live in areas where it is still mostly freezing, a heated birdbath is really an essential component to a backyard bird habitat. When I heard there was snow on the ground last Friday in 49 of the 50 states, I realized I should mention this again. Not all birds eat seed, but all birds need water, so a heated birdbath will attract even species who won’t visit your bird feeders. Birds don’t have to burn as many calories drinking heated water and they can also clean their feathers. The heaters are designed to just keep the water above freezing, so are quite economical to operate. If you already have a birdbath, a heater can be purchased separately, or many birdbaths come with the heater already installed.