While you are patiently awaiting the nesting season to begin here are some specific feeders with specific food for specific birds!!!
*Have your kids help- They can choose the bird they want to see, then as a family buy or build the feeder. Finally let them fill the feeder with food.
All of this information came from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Build a birdfeeder…Save a bird =)
*TUBE FEEDER WITH BLACK OIL SUNFLOWER
goldfinches chickadees
woodpeckers nuthatches
titmice redpolls, pine siskins
*ADDING A TRAY TO THE TUBE FEEDER WILL ALSO ATTRACT
cardinals jays
crossbills purple finches
white-throated sparrow house finches
white-crowned sparrows
*TRAY OR PLATFORM FEEDER — WITH MILLET
doves house sparrows
blackbirds juncos
cowbirds towhees
white-throated sparrows tree sparrows
white-crowned sparrows chipping sparrows
*TRAY OR PLATFORM FEEDER — WITH CORN
starlings house sparrows
grackles jays
juncos bobwhite quail
doves ring-necked pheasants
white-throated sparrows
*PLATFORM FEEDER OR TUBE FEEDER AND TRAY — with PEANUTS
cardinals chickadees
grackles house finches
titmice house sparrows
sparrows starlings
mourning doves white-throated sparrows
jays juncos
*NIGER THISTLE FEEDER WITH TRAY
goldfinches house finches
purple finches redpolls
pine siskins doves
chickadees song sparrows
dark-eyed juncos white-throated sparrows
*NECTAR FEEDER
hummingbirds orioles
cardinals tanagers
woodpeckers finches
thrushes
*FRUIT
orioles tanagers
mockingbirds bluebirds
thrashers cardinals
woodpeckers jays
starlings thrushes
cedar waxwings yellow-breasted chats
*HANGING SUET FEEDER
woodpeckers wrens
chickadees nuthatches
kinglets thrashers
creepers cardinals
starlings
*PEANUT BUTTER SUET
woodpeckers goldfinches
juncos cardinals
thrushes jays
kinglets bluebirds
wrens starlings
*HANGING PEANUT FEEDER
woodpeckers
chickadees
titmice
Admist my bird feeder research (while my birdhouse sits empty) I found this disclaimer about feeding the birds straight from Wikipedia.
“Despite a widespread belief to the contrary, the use of bird feeders does not have a positive impact on bird populations and biodiversity. For example, depending on the feeder design and the type of feed used, species such as the House Sparrow can dominate the use of the feeder. As a result, House Sparrow numbers can become inflated locally where feeders are used.”
My interpretation is- yes, still feed the birds but get specie specific food, the U.S. does not need(or want) any more House Sparrows(or Starlings)
I still think my new mantra Build a bird feeder…Save a bird -rings true!!
Here are some things to think about when you are getting ready to feed the birds. An FYI: most of my information came from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Selecting a bird feeder:
Do you want to buy a feeder or make one- this can be as simple as throwing bread crumbs out
on your back patio to actually busting out the circular saw and making one that can hang from your maple tree to laying out some cash for the super duper squirrel zapping feeder =) Just kidding about the zapping part. It is better to use a feeder since food left on the ground is subject to mold and bacteria and other unseen things.
When you are picking a feeder its best to consider placement 1st. Where can you watch the birds easiest? Where would you most likely refill the feeder? Where are you ok with a mess? Is the area mostly squirrel proof?
Now that you know where you will put the feeder the next step is buying or making.
**Ask these questions before getting your bird feeder: Is it durable? Will it keep seeds dry? Is it easy to clean(my most important qualifier)? How much food will it hold(meaning how long before I have to get off my butt to refill it)? How many birds can it hold? And is species specific?
Durability: You can buy “disposable” plastic bag feeders; feeders made of cloth, nylon, vinyl and metal netting; clear, lexan, colored and PVC plastic tubes; ceramic and terra cotta; redwood, western cedar, birch, pine and plywood; sheet metal and aluminized steel; glass tubes and bottles. There seems to be no end to the type of materials used to make feeders. Pick one you like and that is safe for the birds!!
Keeping seeds dry: water gets into almost all feeders. Remember seed will spoil so check your feeder after rainstorms. You can improve the likelyhood of keeping your seed dry by adding a plastic dome to your feeder(which can also help deter those pesky squirrels). Also look for feeders that have drainage holes.
Cleaning the feeder: Remember with a bird feeder come birds that leave behind feathers and droppings!! A thistle feeder for goldfinches should be cleaned about once a month. Hummingbirds feeders requires cleaning two or three times a week. Sunflower and suet feeders may need to be cleaned only once a month. Use hot soapy water and let it sit if its plastic, ceramic or glass. Wood feeders need to be cleaned too. Otherwise use your eyes, if you wouldn’t give it to your pet bird it’s probably time to clean it out. I like easy!!
Food capacity: This is important to me(I can be somewhat lazy in the refill arena). The bigger the better exceptbeware that large volume feeders can lead to a waste of seed if it rains alot.
Number of birds & species: This is in your control. You can put out small amounts of seed, put out specialized seed or use restrictive feeders. If you use more than one type of seed, put them in separate feeders. Most birds prefer black oil sunflower. If you want to feed only cardinals, doves and white-throated sparrows, switch to safflower. If you want only finches, doves and white-throated sparrows, try niger thistle. If you want only jays, titmice and white-throated sparrows, try peanuts. The most non-selective feeders are the tray, platform or house feeders. Tube feeders with wire mesh are good for small birds. Remove the perches and only birds that can cling will feed.
So now that you are armed with the basics of choosing a bird feeder now we can temporarily change my slogan to Build a bird feeder… Save a bird =)
Staring up at my empty birdhouse I listened to the bluejay and cardinal calls and wondered who the super smart people were that figured how to sound out a bird call in English. I mean did people submit their phoenemic guess and then everyone vote for the best. Do you really think the American Robin says “cherrio.” I think the person that came up with that call was hungry or possibly even staring at their child eating cherrios. Couldn’t it have been any number of things “cheers”, ”sherry”,or “charlie”? Are these people only experts found in Departments of Ornithology or just well-known field guide authors?
It seems that even here in my humble home that there are bird song decipherers waiting to be released. Looking back at my early birding days I know from experience you usually hear a bird before you see a bird. I have successfully learned most of the suburbian bird calls- Bluejay, Cardinal, Sparrow, Grackle, Ravens, and Chickadees. And it seems that this is a great track to be on- learn the common before the exotic. Go me! I loved this article on how to increase your bird call vocabulary.
So it’s not just me that wants to know what that bird is saying. Our 3 year old is a sponge in the knowledge department. We just found this site you can play a bird sound game and then look up the answer. Today she and I played with Bird Songs from Around the World
Aren’t birds awesome! If you haven’t done it already Build a birdhouse…Save a bird =)
So as I said yesterday I thought today might be more “birdy” than usual since we had our fun day at the park. We started off our day looking through National Geographic’s “Field Guide to Birds of North America”. Just a bit off light reading before breakfast. I must say the bird guides are getting better at showing the underside of birds!! I was quite impressed with the number of “in-flight” pictures of ducks, shearwaters and gulls. Now I can be sure the kids and I will be even more proficient naming the birds since what we usually see is their bellys (as they fly away from us)!
So the birding did not end there. We took our usual 20 minute walk about our neighborhood which by chance is also bird related- Quail Creek. Kids are natural birders (kind of). They are quick to see, point out and then scare away all birds that happen by our happy group. We saw Mourning Doves and House Sparrows aplenty. We walked home to “Mom did you see that bird”, “Mom I saw another bird”, “Mom SEEEEEEEE”
So just when I thought perhaps we had our fill of birds I turned on our pre-lunch TV show “Build a Word” and lo and behold they were talking about birds. It was the cutest thing. The star of the show was an egg. The other animals on the show picked the most motherly and fluffy animal to care for it while its mother was away (the sheep of course). The egg wouldn’t stay where it was put- it would jump and hop around until they solved that problem with a nest (or if you want to stay with the theme of this blog- a birdhouse). So after a night in the nest the sheep awoke to the horror that the egg had a crack in it. All the animals gathered around trying to figure out what had happened. The duck of course just laughed and said that the egg was ready to hatch and voila it did. Oh happy day- the little bird emerged just as mother bird swooped in to claim its baby. And all the while these characters are teaching young ones to spell. GOSH I am tired just writing this.
Well I couldn’t let all this good bird training go to waste so my 3 year-old and I sat down after lunch and did a fun bird craft. We took muffin cups and flattened them out and snipped away at the muffin cup to where it had tail feathers and wings. Then we glued these partial birds onto paper leaving the wings free. With a marker we made necks and heads and eyes. Pretty cool craft =)
So that was just the first half of my day. What did you do today?
Build a birdhouse, save a bird!
Did you know there is a ‘most wanted’ list for birdhouses. Can you imagine such a thing? Cornell University has a great ornithology department. Their website “The Birdhouse Network” mentions the usual birdhouse occupants: Eastern Bluebirds, Western Bluebirds and Mountain Bluebirds, Tree Swallows, House Wrens and House Sparrows but they are eager to learn more about the other “cavity-nesting” birds that don’t show up on their usual “Top 10″ lists. So they have given the public an assignment. One I am sure avid bird watchers will take quite seriously. Please if you want to help Cornell in their research department they are eager for you to set up bird houses a.k.a. nesting cavities for the following birds: Mountain Chickadee, Purple Martin, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Eastern Screech Owl, Great Crested Flycatcher, Bewick’s Wren and many more. Check out http://www.birds.cornell.edu/birdhouse/outreach/most_wanted and see the birds and what kind of cozy home you can build for them!!
Build a birdhouse…Save a bird!
