The Zen Birdfeeder

Chickadee Mugshot

Top 5 Facts to Know about Squirrels and Birdfeeders

If you learn, accept and then apply these 5 facts about Gray Squirrels, your birdfeeding experience will be more enjoyable. 

Other advantages: your blood pressure will go down and you will no longer find yourself cursing at a squirrel on your feeder in front of your neighbors and kids.   

1)  Gray Squirrels can jump up to 10 feet horizontally. 
So, place any birdfeeder or birdhouse you don't want them on at least 10 feet from any jumping off point.  Get a tape measure to be sure.  Look around for "jumping off points"; they include not only  trees, but roofs, wires, bushes, birdbaths, well heads, deck rails, boulders, cars, tree stumps...well, hopefully you're getting the idea.  

2)  Gray Squirrels can jump up to 4-5 feet vertically. 
To deal with this, place anything you don't want them to get to at least 5 feet high. When placing a baffle on your birdfeeding pole, the top of that baffle should be 4-5 feet high.  Just as importantly, make sure no feeders dangling below the top of the baffle. If you miss this point, squirrels will just jump to the bottom of the low dangling feeders, bypassing a baffle and accessing your entire feeding station!

3)  If you live in the north, snow piles become jumping off points. 
Keep an eye on this as winter progresses and as snow accumulates.

4)  Each new litter of squirrels will explore and discover their new world by chewing, climbing, jumping, stretching, and testing everything in their path.
Summer is an especially trying time as young squirrels and nursing mother squirrels try to get at an easy source of food.


5)  We are the humans; they are the rodents.  We are smarter than them. 
They ARE persistent though. But when we are armed with this knowledge of their physical limitations, we CAN set up our birdfeeders in a way that squirrels cannot access them.

Apply these squirrel facts and be happier and healthier!

Wings on Wednesday - Beautiful Feeder for a Beautiful Bird

This gorgeous hand-blown glass hummingbird feeder is made in Rhode Island and is available at Wild Birds Unlimited - Saratoga Springs NY.

Birdfeeding on a Budget - Make Your Own Nectar

Dollars are tight - we know that.  But giving up birdfeeding is something we're just not willing to do!  Not with all that the birds add to our life!  Whether we're enduring the shortest of winter days or the sweltering summer heat, birds add color and sound and life to our lives and to our yards.

In our Birdfeeding on a Budget segment, I'll provide hints on how to be able to continue feeding the birds in this tough economy.  I'll help you make smart decisions so you can continue to feed the birds.  Note that I said SMART decisions, not necessarily CHEAP decisions, since cheap decisions can sometimes cost us more in the long run, and that just doesn't make sense.  Let's Feed the Birds!

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Make Your Own Hummingbird and Oriole Nectar

Hummingbird and oriole nectar can be made quickly at home with two simple ingredients every kitchen has: white granulated sugar and water.

Birdfeeding hobby stores like ours sell boxes of sugar to make into nectar and we even sell pre-made nectar, but you can save money by just making your own.  Making your own nectar also removes the temptation to purchase RED nectar, which is not needed to attract hummingbirds and could very well be detrimental to birds.

Here's how to do it:

HUMMINGBIRD NECTAR

The ratio to make hummingbird nectar is 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. 

• Warm the water in the microwave (it doesn't need to boil - just warm enough to dissolve the sugar).
• Stir in sugar to dissolve.
• Cool.
• Fill feeders.
• Store remainder in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or use for oriole nectar "starter" (see shortcut below)

Easy Conversion Chart
To Make           Water      Sugar
1 cup nectar       1 cup      1/4 cup
2 cups nectar     2 cups     1/2 cup
3 cups nectar     3 cups     3/4 cup
4 cups nectar     4 cups     1 cup

 

ORIOLE NECTAR

The ratio to make oriole nectar is 1 part sugar to 8 parts water.

Easy Conversion Chart
To Make           Water      Sugar
1 cup nectar       1 cup      2 tablespoons
2 cups nectar     2 cups     1/4 cup
3 cups nectar     3 cups     6 tablespoons
4 cups nectar     4 cups     1/2 cup

Shortcut to oriole nectar:
1) Start with a batch of hummingbird nectar from recipe above.
2) Double-up on the water only.

NECTAR TIPS

• Store prepared nectar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
• Change nectar and clean feeders every 4-5 days whether the nectar is being consumed or not.
• Change nectar and disinfect feeder immediately if you see black spots in the feeder.
• Change nectar immediately if you see cloudiness in the nectar.

Chickadee NestWatch Report #5 (2012)

On about June 14-15, five days before the nestlings’ estimated fledge date, I noticed a significant increase in parental activity.  Mom and dad chickadee were making many more trips into the nest with juicy insects in their beak.  

The parents seemed to became much more vocal as well, perching on branches just outside the nest.  Most likely they were scolding chipmunks and squirrels and any other living thing they thought were getting too close to their babies (like me!)

I checked inside the nest for the very last time on June 17.  I estimate that the nestlings were 13 days old, with 3 days left in the nest.

What a change since last time!  They each had big, beautiful black eyes and had all gained their namesake black cap.  They were short-tailed but fully feathered.  No more checks into this nest otherwise they might leave earlier than is good for them! 

This was the first time in a couple checks that we've been able to get a good count of 6 nestlings.  The 7th egg must not have hatched and remains hidden beneath the nestlings.

They're so beautiful!  In just 3 days, they'll all take their first flight.  In the days leading up to the big fledge day, they'll stretch and flap their wings to strengthen them for that flight.  They'll fledge in the morning, maybe even before I get up and about.  I'll try to check on them early on fledge day to try to catch their very first flights!

But the bad news (for me) is that even though they stay with their parents for a number of days, the little family unit immediately leaves the area.  So after they fledge, I probably won't see the young anymore.  The parents, however, will most likely return to my yard, leaving their young ones to join another group of chickadees.  I'll welcome the parents back with open arms (and open feeders) to thank them for the little bundles of joy I've enjoyed observing over the last month.

If you are observing a nest and would like to report what you see, join Cornell Lab of Ornithology's NestWatch citizen science project.  Talk to us in store if you have questions about NestWatch.

NestWatch Report #1
NestWatch Report #2
NestWatch Report #3
NestWatch Report #4

A Late Spring Walk through my Yard

A couple weeks ago, I shared a spring walk through my yard.  So now that summer has set in, here's one last look at my yard from a late spring perspective.

This spring has been a good one for butterflies and moths.

 

Yellow Swallowtail on a zinnia in a window box.

 

Red Admiral

 

 

I'll go out on a limb and call this a Pale Beauty. If I'm wrong, let me know.

I just couldn't get this image to do justice to these fuschia-colored Dianthus

 

Sweet William volunteer. I love volunteers!

 

A Big Brown Bat in our bat box

 

No walk in my yard is complete without running into an Eastern Chipmunk....

 

...or Red Squirrels

 

Wrens by the Numbers

Carolina Wren

40  the number of different songs a single male Carolina Wren can sing

400 the number of small twigs that might make up a House Wren nest

36  notes per second a Winter Wren can sing.

10  times louder is the Winter Wren's call than that of a crowing rooster (in proportion to its size and weight)

1821 the year that the Bewick's Wren was first identified by John James Audubon.

3,000 times a Carolina Wren might sing its song in a single day.

Wren image and facts provided by WBU, Inc.

Wildlife Wednesday - Baffled Red

Chickadee NestWatch Report #4 (2012)

After my last nest check, I had planned to check in again on June 12th.  By afternoon, though, the skies had opened up and a steady rain was falling.  Temps were only in the 60s so I passed on my check so that mom wouldn't be forced off the nest on a cool, nasty day.

The next day was warm and sunny, a much better day to look in on the nestlings.  Mom was at the nest hole, but flew to a nearby perch when dad approached and entered to feed the young.  While dad was in the nest, mom stayed nearby quivering her wings.  This is a common parent behavior while the young are in the nestling phase.  

The small nestlings are still tucked deep in the nest and very hard to see and count.  They did not respond to my opening the nest door by chirping or gaping.  I see their feathers developing, with many of them still in their sheaths.  Their eyes don’t look open yet, and I cannot clearly count how many nestlings were in that pile of birds.  Boy this nest watch stuff is hard work!

Nest check June 13

These nestlings are 9 days old and have just one week to go before they fledge.  They’ve grown quite a bit from those pink, rubbery-looking things that emerged from their eggs just 9 days ago.  But they also have a lot of growing to do so that on day 16, they emerge well-developed and as good flyers.

My next nest check will be my last; hopefully I’ll get a good (and countable) look at gaping nestlings just a couple days from their big fledging day!

If you are observing a nest and would like to report what you see, join Cornell Lab of Ornithology's NestWatch citizen science project.  Talk to us in store if you have questions about NestWatch.

NestWatch Report #1
NestWatch Report #2
NestWatch Report #3

 

Bark Butter Take-out

This is a common sight in my yard in late spring: Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers grabbing masses of Bark Butter from the feeders, and then flying off with beaks overflowing.  This is usually a sure sign that they are taking these gobs of high-fat Bark Butter back to their young.

And I know that within days, I'll be able to see their young, like the juvenile male below, cleaning the last little bits of Bark Butter off my feeders!

Buy Bark Butter at Wild Birds Unlimited - Saratoga Springs NY, at your local Wild Birds Unlimited, or online.