The Zen Birdfeeder

FAQ - Will Birds Die If I Stop Feeding Them?

Q.  Will birds die if I stop feeding them? 

A.  In a word:  NO!

The birds that visit your feeders do not singularly rely on those feeders for all their food.  To start with, birdfeeders are only a supplemental source of food for birds.  Throughout the year, they will be able to find other food supplies - whether natural food or at nearby birdfeeders - if your feeders go empty.

While your feeders help birds by providing an easy source of food especially during winter, they'll do just fine if they go empty.  

Wordless Wednesday - Diving for Mealworms

Black-capped Chickadee diving into a WBU APS Side-dish feeder

Windblown Birds

On a cold and windy winter day, some typically tidy birds can look quite unkempt. 

American Goldfinch

Black-capped Chickadee

Dark-eyed Junco

It's amazing that they can hold on!

FAQ - How Do I Test a Birdbath Heater?

Q.  How do I test my birdbath heater?

A.  If you have a birdbath heater that you place into an existing birdbath bowl, here's a way to test it inside and at anytime throughout the year to see if it works.  

Place the unit in a freezer for an hour or so. Remove it, and after making sure there's no moisture on the plug, plug the unit into an electrical outlet.  You should feel the unit start to heat up.

Heaters that you place in birdbath bowls serve to keep the water from freezing but will not warm the entire bowl of water.  In the coldest weather, these heaters may only keep the water closest to the unit from freezing while the water further from the unit may freeze or be slushy.  This is to be expected.

Even Great Feeders are Second Best to Natural Foods for the Birds

As avid bird feeders, we'd like to think that with all we put out for the birds - all varieties of seeds and nuts and fruits and suets in all forms - the birds would always be at our feeders to fill their nutritional needs, 100% of the time, from dawn to dusk, 365 days of the year.

Well, that's not gonna happen!  Even with the best of offerings at our birdfeeders, when natural food sources are plentiful, birds will spend much of their foraging those natural foods.

Most birds will prefer natural food sources when available

It's coming up to the middle of January here in upstate New York, there's no snow cover out there and the temperatures are above freezing just about every day.  We had a warm summer and plenty of rain that produced an abundance of natural food supplies.  Birds have been foraging at those natural food sources and, for the most part, away from the feeders since fall.

American Goldfinch picking seeds out of Hemlock cones

American Goldfinches, that seemed to disappear from the area right after Tropical Storm Irene passed through, are back in good numbers.  They're feeding a little from the birdfeeders, but they're mostly taking advantage of natural food, like seeds from hemlock cones in back of our house. 

I've had some Pine Siskins come through the yard with goldfinches a couple times in the past month, but they, too, are feeding in the trees and not visiting feeders.

Until these natural food supplies are either depleted or ice covered, I guess I'll have to accept slower than desired goldfinch activity at my feeders.  And I may have to wait until next year for a winter finch invasion, maybe in the form of Common Redpolls instead of Pine Siskins.

What to Put in Your 3-cup Spiral Treat Feeder

Our Wild Birds Unlimited shop has a fairly new feeder that's really cute and lets you offer a variety of foods.  It's our 3-cup Spiral Treat feeder, featuring a nice cover and 3 cute cups to fill with treats for the birds.  Here's the foods we suggest and the birds that you might attract:

• Bark Butter® Bits - our popular Bark Butter in bite-sized nuggets.  Made of rendered beef suet, peanut oil, roasted peanuts, corn, oats and calcium carbonate. Attract a variety of birds like woodpeckers, jays, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, wrens, bluebirds, as well as some birds that do not normally visit feeders.   Bark Butter Bits are pictured above in the bottom cup.
• Mini Nut balls - these cute little balls are made of pecans and peanuts and fit perfectly in the feeder's cup.  Chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, jays, and woodpeckers will peck away at this high-fat food.  Mini Nut Balls are pictured above in the middle cup.
• Nutty for Nuts™ Treats - this high-protein, high-fat treat is loaded with peanuts and large tree nuts, including almonds, walnuts, cashews and Brazil Nuts. Watch for nut-loving birds like woodpeckers, nuthatches, titmice and chickadees to eat Nutty for Nuts.
• WBU TreeNutty™ Plus Blend - a rich blend of chopped tree nuts, shelled peanuts and sunflower chips along with oil sunflower, striped sunflower and raisins. It also contains added calcium, an important ingredient that helps promote strong bones and eggs.  Woodpeckers, cardinals, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches and jays will enjoy this blend, and you might also attract some fruit-eating birds like bluebirds, wrens, and catbirds too.
• Peanuts in the Shell - a special favorite of jays who will carry them off to open or cache elsewhere, you might also see woodpeckers, titmice, or chickadees peck at the shell to extract the nut inside.
• Shelled Peanuts - birdfeeding enthusiasts in England have known for years that there are many birds that love peanuts!  Who likes them best here?  Titmice, nuthatches, chickadees, and jays!  Woodpeckers, juncos, cardinals, grosbeaks, and many other birds will also eat peanuts offered out of the shell.

Give these foods a try and enjoy watching the birds enjoy these special treats!

FAQ - Why are Juncos called Snowbirds?

Q:  Why are juncos called snowbirds?

A:  Some say they get that name because they appear with the arrival of the snow.  And on this snowy winter day, I can see how they got the name.  These beautiful Dark-eyed Juncos seem to appear out of nowhere as they become more visible than ever against a blanket of snow. 

But in my yard, juncos are here all year long, snow or no snow.  So my preferred explanation is that juncos are called snowbirds because you'd describe them as you might describe a winter day:  leaden skies above, snowy white below. 

Tell us what you think!

Wings on Wednesday - Dove Takeoff

A Mourning Dove sprays snow on take-off

Chickadees: What's Not to Love?

I asked my Facebook Friends and our Wild Birds Unlimited Facebook Fans to help me write this blog post by sharing why they think chickadees are so easy to love.  Here's what everyone had to say:

Ellen Morosoff Pemrick
Chickadees are among the most resilient little creatures - it amazes me how well they survive the coldest temperatures. (Far better than I do, for sure!)

Mark Moore
They are a fun loving little bird. They don't mind you getting close to them and they are so fun to watch in the trees and at the feeder.

Lynne Casperson Schoenborn
The Black-capped Chickadees follow me when I walk through the woods at Hasty Brook in northern Minnesota and if I sit quietly their curiosity will bring them quite close. They are always the first at the feeders in the morning and the last to leave as it gets dark. Though quick to scold when the oilers are gone, they often will sit on my shoulders as I refill the feeders.

Kimberley Dengler Wakelin
The black-capped chickadee is my spark bird and the reason is simple - they are the most trusting of all of the song birds. I remember being around 6 years of age and hand feeding them under the pines in my backyard. If they can trust me at 6, then they're perfect, in my books :)
At 44, I still get giddy when I hand feed them.

Shirley Brumbaugh
I like the way they announce themselves when they come to the feeders.

Curt Rawn
They sometimes land on one half of the feeder while I'm filling the other! So brave!

Luisa Serrano
My great-aunt -- the most wonderful person ever -- could imitate the songs/calls of Mountain Chickadees so well that they'd carry on conversations with her. I never hear them without thinking of her -- what a blessing! And I love that my sister could feed them from her hand. Terrific little birds!

Donna Simonetti
I love the Mexican Chickadee because they are a wonderful treat from Mexico & we are lucky to have them at least in a small range in Arizona & New Mexico.  Also, because they have the longest & thickest most awesome beard of all chickadees. :)

Jeff Nadler
Chickadees often are the leaders of bird feeding activity. It seems immediately after a pair of chickadees arrive, all the other species show up!

Diane Smythe
Because I can hand-feed them!

Anne Kenlon
Their flight pattern is so dainty and charming.  Plus, they like to tell us their names. It's very courteous of them, I think.

Lindsey Duval
They are so curious that it leads people to believe they are "friendly" to humans. :)

Mainecoonaunt 
I love Chickadees, They are so friendly. Their songs are awesome. I love to see them "play" and they are not selfish at the feeder. They are to tiny but braver to the hot and cold temp. I could go on and on. They are very smart birds.

MaryJane Lewis
I love the way they will land on the feeder, even while I am trying to fill it! Almost like they are saying, get out of my way, I'm hungry!

Elaine Moore
What's not to love with their pleasing attitude and appreciation; what's not to love with their melodious singing, their colorful coats of black, white and grey; what's not to love; I do say, with a landing on a shoulder and a word or two of chickadee, dee, dee... I say Welcome Mr. or Mrs. Chickadee, and how are you today?

Why do I love chickadees?  I like that they're just a little chubby and always cheery.

Thanks everyone for sharing why you love chickadees.  Anyone else care to add more??

WBU Year in Review 2011

For us, 2011 will be a year we will not likely forget.  We had our lows, with the economy ending up in our discussions just a little too frequently, especially during the second half of the year.  But we had many highs as well; here are some we're particularly proud of:

- In February, the Associated Press contacted us for an interview about the upcoming Great Backyard Bird Count.  We welcomed AP writer Mary Esch and AP photographer Tim Roske to our home, where we watched and talked about birds over some Bird-friendly® coffee and warm scones.

The resultant AP story with our quote and pictures of our birds at feeders showed up online at the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, NPR, Albany Times Union as well as dozens of other news organizations, print and online, all across the country.

- One week later, our 24-hour news network YNN visited our home for another interview about the Great Backyard Bird Count.  We were thrilled with a nice 1-1/2 minute piece encouraging participation in the count.  It ran locally, but also in Ithaca and one customer saw it in Rochester!

- We stirred up enough local interest in the Great Backyard Bird Count that Saratoga Springs ended up #4 in NY state with 73 checklists submitted and Gansevoort was #8 with 47 checklists submitted.  Here's a list of all localities in NY that had checklists submitted.

- We were honored to be asked to be an Official Blogger at September's Midwest Birding Symposium. Our posts highlighted symposium speakers wildlife photographer Marie Read, Ben Lizdas of Eagle Optics, and the Birdcall Lady Nicolle Peretta and told of the Guinness World Record we set imitating a Barred Owl call.

- We were thrilled (and just a little nervous, to be honest) to be asked to write the Cover Species article about the Common Redpoll for the November/December 2011 issue of BirdWatcher's Digest.  Here's a link to an excerpt from our Species Profile of the Common Redpoll.

- At the invitation of local birding expert Rich Guthrie, Nancy was a guest on the Northeast Public Radio WAMC Vox Pop call-in radio program on December 7.  Here's a link to listen to the show. 

- On December 11, international birder Richard Crossley visited our store to sign copies of his revolutionary book, The Crossley ID Guide.  WBU customers Paul Pacco, Lindsey Duval, and Robin Laurenzo bought their guide at WBU and won the opportunity to have lunch with Richard. 

- We've always taken our responsibility to the community seriously.  This fall, we turned our focus to the Franklin Community Center Food pantry.  We and our customers are fortunate to have the resources to feed the birds; many people in our area have trouble finding the resources to just feed themselves. 

In October, we hosted a "Garage Sale" selling used, repaired, swapped, and donated feeders and gave 100% of the proceeds, $273, to the Food Pantry.

We also hosted a food drive during our Open House in December.  We gave a Birdseed Bell to anyone who donated a non-perishable food item.  33 customers donated food, and we were able to deliver 130 pounds of food to the Food Pantry.

-  All in all we had a good year; not our best as far as sales are concerned, and we're always striving to improve.  We love what our little shop does: we help thousands of people enhance their enjoyment of the birdfeeding hobby.  How great is that for a "job"???  And last year, we had nearly 900 new customers through our doors - we're so excited to introduce new people to this wonderful hobby!

For 2012, we're looking forward to more fun, adventures, experiences, and discoveries.  We already have a new product in line to introduce to you early in 2012 (we're teasing you with a picture clip of it below!)  We wish you a year of magical birdfeeding!

Coming soon to WBU!!