The Zen Birdfeeder

FAQ - How Long Can Chickadees Live?

Q.  How long can chickadees live? 

A.  The following are longevity records for banded chickadees in the wild:

• Black-capped Chickadee - 12 years and 5 months
• Carolina Chickadee - 10 years and 11 months
• Mountain Chickadee - 10 years and 1 month
• Chestnut-backed Chickadee - 9 years and 6 months

Material provided by WBU, Inc.

Wings on Wednesday - Swallow Nests

Cliff Swallows
Ontario Canada, July 2011

Garage Sale to Benefit Food Pantry

Wild Birds Unlimited - Saratoga Springs NY is holding a GARAGE SALE

Saturday October 29th ~ 10a - 6p

100% of proceeds benefit the
Franklin Community Center Food Pantry

In these tough economic times,
we are lucky to have all we do
with enough left over to feed the birds.
Others are not so lucky.

Please stop by our store on
Saturday, October 29th
and check out our Garage Sale table.
We'll have birdfeeding supplies (some used, some new)
and other treasures for you to search through.

100% of proceeds will go directly to the
Franklin Community Center Food Pantry in Saratoga Springs.

CASH ONLY.

FAQ - Should Birdhouses Be Cleaned Out at End of Season?

Q.  Should I clean out my nestboxes at the end of the nesting season?

A.  It seems there are no hard-and-fast rules out there about cleaning out birdhouses at the end of the season.  If the nest is soiled with feces or ridden with mites or other insects, you should remove all materials and clean with a weak bleach (1part bleach to 9 parts water) solution.

We have left nests in our boxes, one of which is used regularly as a roost box by a sweet Downy Woodpecker female.  If you'd prefer that the nest remain unoccupied during the winter (whether by birds or by mice or squirrels), you can seal the entrance or leave the box with panels wide open.

RELATED POST:  This Downy's a Sweetie (about the downy woodpecker that roosts in a bluebird box)

Wordless Wednesday - Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglet
New York state - October 2011

2011 Fall Migration Parade

Except for a group of White-throated Sparrows and a hummingbird feeder hanging in hopes of a rare vagrant bird, it looks like fall migration is wrapping up here in east-central New York state.  Here's a photo recap some of the migratory birds that I hosted in my yard this fall.

Blackburnian Warbler
August 8th

 

Ovenbird
August 21

Black-throated Blue Warbler
August 24th

Black-throated Green Warbler
August 27th

 

Black-throated Blue Warbler eating from suet log
September 8

Blue-headed Vireo
September 26th

 
Hermit Thrush
September 27th

 

Yellow-rumped Warbler
September 29

 

Ruby-crowned Kinglet
October 4

 

White-throated Sparrow
October 5

Writing about Redpolls

 

I just got my copy of the new November/December 2011 issue of Bird Watcher's Digest - the one with the Common Redpolls on the cover - and I'm pretty excited!!  Why, you ask? 

Well, I was honored to write the Species Profile article about redpolls!!

 

Here's a few excerpts:

"The most recent large and widespread common redpoll irruption was in the winter of 2007-2008.  The winter finch forecast predicted "a big flight of redpolls into southern Ontario and bordering United States" because of the poor birch seed crops.  We were told to expect redpolls, and redpolls we got!  The irruption that winter helped produce one of the busiest winters I've ever had in my yard.  It also brought me a first-ever visit by a small group of pine grosbeaks and 30 evening grosbeaks as they, too, irrupted southward."

Redpolls come to us from the low-arctic tundra, a green and brown world of low-growing birches, willows, alders and areas of dense grasses, heaths, mosses, and lichen.  In this scrubby habitat the birds build a cup-shaped nest low in a shrub, often just a few feet off the ground.  On a base of fine twigs, they add a thick, soft layer of plant fibers, animal hair, or feathers from another tundra nester, the willow ptarmigan."

Watching a few hundred redpolls in the yard is a feast for the eyes and ears.  They're a raucous lot, constantly chattering.  The mesh feeder looks like it's filled with swarming bees, and it's in a perpetual state of flux as the birds jockey for position.  Even so, redpolls seem to get along better than their cousins the siskins, which at times seem to be more intent on fending off the next siskin than on eating."

To read the entire article, you can pick up single issues at our Wild Birds Unlimited shop in Saratoga Springs NY and possibly at a Wild Birds Unlimited near you.  Print and digital subscriptions are available on the the Bird Watcher's Digest website. 

Cover art for the issue was painted by artist Stephen Leed. 

My heartfelt thanks go to the folks at Bird Watcher's Digest - especially Bill Thompson III - for engaging me in this project!

Wings on Wednesday - Dark-eyed Junco

Chickadees by the Numbers

27    times per second a chickadee in flight flaps its wings

6-8    eggs in a typical chickadee clutch

12    days chickadee eggs are incubated before hatching 

21    days in nest before baby birds fledge

20    times more food a chickadee needs in winter than in summer

37    percent is the winter survival rate when chickadees don't have access to birdfeeders (at temps below 10 degrees)

69     percent is the winter survival rate when chickadees do have access to birdfeeders

Derived from material provided by WBU, Inc.

Are Redpolls or Siskins Coming to our Area this Winter?

The 2011 Winter Finch Forecast is out...so what does it mean for us?  I'm going to try to interpret the forecast on how it might apply to us birdfeeding enthusiasts in east-central New York state. 

First, a little background.  Ron Pittaway issues an annual Winter Finch Forecast in which he assesses natural food supplies and makes a prediction of the movement of winter finches based on those food supplies.  He and his associates have surveyed cone crops of various conifers, specific berry and fruit crops, birch crops, spruce budworm outbreaks; all the foods known to impact movement of the winter finches.  The winter finches included in his forecast are the Common (and Hoary) Redpoll, Pine Siskin, Evening Grosbeak, Pine Grosbeak, Purple Finch, and crossbills.

 
Eastern Hemlock

Ron's report is written from an Ontario, Canada point of view (and is published on the Ontario Field Ornithologists website) and for the most part, he forecasts movement within Canada.  Nevertheless, I'll try to read into the forecast to determine whether the winter finches that are most likely to frequent birdfeeders might make their way down to our neck of the woods this winter.

Common (and Hoary) Redpolls are not expected in our area this winter.  Birch seeds (their food preference) are plentiful in Canada, from near Hudson Bay to the northern shores of Lake Ontario, so little movement further south is predicted.

Common Redpolls on WBU mesh feeder
February 2008

 

Small numbers of Pine Siskins may make their way to our area.  It was a good breeding year for siskins, so there are lots of birds and just an average spruce cone crop in the far northern reaches of Canada.  Siskins may be widespread in Ron's home territory of Ontario, while the good supply of hemlock and spruce cones in our area might bring some of them down to our area.

Pine Siskin
January 2009

 

Evening Grosbeaks have become somewhat uncommon in our area and every sighting is exciting.  Their numbers increase where there are spruce budworm outbreaks, and those outbreaks are expanding in Ontario.  They are expecting "another good showing at feeders" in central Ontario and northeast Canada.  That might very well bring some to area.

Evening Grosbeaks on WBU Catch-a-Seed Tray
December 2007

 

Pine Grosbeaks last delighted area birdfeeding enthusiasts in the winter of 2007-08.  It was a new yard bird for us when 1 - 4 individuals visited our feeders from late November until early March that winter.  We even saw a couple Pine Grosbeaks eating berries from mountain ash trees in a Saratoga Springs parking lot! 

They're expecting small numbers of these approachable birds in southern Ontario due to a poor berry crop in the boreal.  Decent amounts of mountain ash berries here just might lure them to our area.  We can hope!

Pine Grosbeak
February 2008

 

I'm lucky enough to have Purple Finches breeding in my yard, but I haven't seen much of them since Irene passed through in late August.  Keep an eye out for Purple Finches at your feeder since they are expected to head south this year - perhaps to your backyard!

Purple Finches enjoying safflower seed
March 2010

 

In summary, the food is plentiful across much of the boreal forest so we just don't expect to see the type of winter finch irruptions we had with the siskins in 2008-09 or the redpolls in 2007-08.  If we do see any, it looks they will be spread out and in small numbers.