The Zen Birdfeeder

Does Your Yard Have the Blues?

Here's a fun and quick bird exercise to do: make a list of the (primarily) blue-colored birds that are most likely to visit your yard.  If you're like me, the list is pretty short!

Most Likely
1.  Blue Jay

Possible but not for sure
    2.  Eastern Bluebird
    3.  Indigo Bunting
    4.  Tree Swallow
    5.  Black-throated Blue Warbler

Unlikely
    6.  Northern Parula

That's only six birds!  But I'm lucky to have actually had all six visit my yard over the years. 

And just within the last week, my yard has been a little bluer with visits from the jay (of course!) and surprise visits from an Eastern Bluebird (not too common on my wooded road) and a second of the spring visit from an Indigo Bunting.  Half the blues, present and accounted for!

Indigo Bunting

Blue Jay

Eastern Bluebird

What blue-colored birds have been in your yard lately?

FAQ - Will Chipmunks Eat Safflower?

Q.  Safflower helps deter or at least slow down seed consumption by gray and red squirrels.   But will chipmunks eat the safflower seed?

A.  In a word - YES. 

Unfortunately these little critters will eat safflower seed, as well as sunflower seed, peanuts, tree nuts, and suet, in other words, just about any seed you typically put in a regular feeder.  I have noticed that they're a little slower eating millet - unfortunately, millet is not a favorite of many birds and it also draws in House Sparrows.

The Hummingbird's Fickle Red Throat

The stunning throat feathers of the male Ruby-throated Hummingbird is what earned the bird its name.  When glowing a bright red, it's a sight to behold.  But one turn of the head can click off the color, like switching the lights off in a room. 

Why is his gorget an iridescent red at times, and at other times, just a patch of dark feathers?

You see, the little individual feathers that make up the Ruby-throated Hummingbird's gorget are not red at all.  They have no pigment or coloration within them.

So why do the throat feathers (sometimes) look red?  Well, the color comes from the shape and microscopic structure of the feathers and how light interacts with those microscopic structures. 

I don't want to get in over my head with something I struggle to fully comprehend myself, but the easiest way for me to understand it is when I think of these particular types of feathers like a prism.  A prism is clear but when light hits the prism at the right angle, it refracts color. 

So depending on the lighting and the angle at which you see the hummingbird's throat, the feathers will either appear an iridescent red or a flat black.

Here's a series of pictures of the same bird on the same branch, all taken in a 2-minute time frame.  It's interesting to watch the throat color turn on and off almost with each turn of his head.

Fortunately, not all birds' feathers are so fickle.  For no matter what light we see a male Northern Cardinal in, he remains his beautiful red.

Top 5 Ways to Get Orioles at your Birdfeeders

If your yard is home to Baltimore Orioles, here are the top 5 ways to get them down to your birdfeeders.

1. HANG FEEDERS BEFORE THEY ARRIVE
It's important to have your feeder hanging when orioles arrive or very shortly thereafter.

They arrive here when Black Cherry is in bloom but before the insects and fruit they feed upon are plentiful.  If an easy source of the food they like is there when they arrive, they'll be more likely to partake and feed from it all summer.

2.  HANG FEEDERS SO THEY CAN FIND THEM
Orioles are tree top birds so hang the feeder where they can easily find it.

3.  OFFER FRUIT
Orioles love fruit and are especially drawn to oranges halves.  They'll also eat grapes, softened raisins, apples, and other fruit.
Plant fruit trees in your yard and you may find orioles as well as waxwings, catbirds, robins, mockingbirds, tanagers, and towhees enjoying their fruit.

Orioles love fruit! Peel the apple a little to help get them started.

4.  PUT OUT MEALWORMS
Orioles are insect eaters and may come to a feeder offering live mealworms.  Live mealworms are always preferred over dry-roasted mealworms.

Female oriole with mealworm

5.  OFFER OTHER FOODS TO SATISFY THEIR SWEET TOOTH
Orioles have a sweet tooth, so to speak!  They really enjoy grape jelly and nectar.  Serve the jelly only in a shallow dish.  And here's the recipe for oriole nectar - it's weaker than hummingbird nectar.  You'll need an oriole feeder for the nectar; most hummingbird feeder ports are too small for the beak of an oriole.

 

Be patient! 
It may be many years before you can draw orioles down from the trees.  But keep at it - their brilliant coloration and whistling song will be worth the wait!

All pictures are from the WBU, Inc. image library

Denver Botanic Garden in the Snow

Temperatures were in the 80s just two days ago in Denver, but today we ended up at the Denver Botanic Garden after 2-3 inches of snow had fallen and the temps were in the mid-30s.  It would've been easy to pass on a visit to a botanic garden in such conditions, but taking it in during a light snowfall was delightful.

We had a wonderful visit and hope you enjoy these images of our early spring visit to the Denver Botanic Garden.

Squirrel Babies Like Soft Nests Too!

I've moved what was left of last year's nesting material over to a tree and now momma Red Squirrel has discovered some soft alpaca for the nest she's building.

Multiple times during the day, she has worked to extract the remaining alpaca fiber from the grapevine ball, organized her treasure in a neat little wad, and headed off to her nest in the woods.

Don't worry, soon I'll be hanging a brand new alpaca nest ball in a squirrel-proof location for this year's bird nests in my yard.  I've seen Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, and even Purple Finches gather nesting material to line their nest.  I love nesting season!!

A Winter with Few Birds

As we near the end of a winter that has been the oddest in recent memory, it doesn't take much for birds to return to the birdfeeders.  Today, I woke up to about 2" of new snow and the temperature had dipped to a few degrees below freezing.  But just that little bit of snow and a couple degree temperature drop reawakened the activity at my feeders.  At least for the time being...

American Goldfinches busy on the feeders

This has been the warmest and least snowy of all the winters that I've experienced since I moved to upstate New York in 1991.  Snowfall is well below average - I've recorded only 29" of snow, well below my winter snowfall average of around 80" (I live at an elevation of 1,345 feet, so we generally have more snow than Saratoga.)  Our winter has been so weird that I had more snow fall in October (5") than in December (1")!!  And temperatures have been above average all winter long as well.

As a result, birds have just not been visiting birdfeeders.  But I'm note alone. Birds have been less busy than normal at my house, at the majority of our customers' homes, throughout the Northeast, as well as at other locations.  In areas around the country where winters are closer to "normal", birdfeeder activity has also been somewhat normal.

Dark-eyed Juncos

The good news is that there hasn't been any known widespread outbreaks of disease amongst bird populations.  What we're experiencing is just nature being nature and birds being birds:

When temperatures are warmer, birds need less energy throughout the day.  When the ground is free from snow cover and trees are not iced over, birds can find their daily energy requirements in the natural food sources that are still accessible to them on the ground and in trees and bushes.  The birds are around - they're just not frequenting our feeders as much as they typically do and certainly not as much as we'd like them to. 

Male American Goldfinch - is he molting already?

But as was demonstrated this morning, add a little snow to the equation or turn the temperature down a few notches, and the birds readily return to an easy source of high energy food at your birdfeeders.  And winter is still not over; all you have to do is look back to the 20" that fell on March 7-8, 1996 or the 18" that fell on April 9, 2000.  But whatever happens in March and April, the winter of 2011-12 will go down as one of the weirdest and one of the least birdiest.

But as happens when nature is just being nature, we know that spring migration is really just right around the corner.  Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have started their migration and are starting to arrive along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.  In 10 weeks, they'll be here. 

Our harbingers of spring, Red-winged Blackbirds, will be here "konk-ler-eeing" within 2-3 weeks' time, followed shortly by native sparrows, cowbirds, and phoebes.

American Goldfinches

Until then, enjoy the bursts of bird activity that accompany temperature drops or whatever snow we do get.  The birds are out there, but they're just getting along without our birdfeeder offerings.  In other words, they're doing just fine, even though we're missing them dearly.

Return of the Birds?

As I wrap up my 11th week of counting for the Project FeederWatch season, the birds finally seem to be coming back!

We're having an awful winter here in upstate New York: above average temperatures and below average snow.  In fact, essentially NO snow.  No ice.  And lots of natural food sources still available and accessible.  All the makins' of poor activity at bird feeders.

Here's an insect that was outside on my window on the 1st of February!

In fact, on my FeederWatch days, the temperatures have averaged 5 degrees above freezing.  The ground was snow-free until January 23, and even now, each snow cover we get is followed by warm temperatures or rain.

Until our first decent snowfall just a couple weeks ago, I averaged only 8 species at my feeders.  For comparison, over the last 7 Project FeederWatch seasons, I average 12 species, 50% more!  And the number of individual birds each count period averaged only 46.  Again, this is WAY down compared to my previous seasons' average of 71 birds.

Two Blue Jays on a overcast winter day

I knew things were bad when I had very few Blue Jays around.  Blue Jays for gosh sakes!!   Blue Jay populations have been increasing around my area and I've had jay counts in the thirties!  So I really notice the difference when there's no blue in the yard and I average only 5 jays.

16 Blue Jays fill the plum tree

But...things MAY be looking up (where's the wood to knock on?)  Since we got a little snow, the jay numbers are up (25 this week!)  Dark-eyed Juncos are up too; 31 of these guys shared the ground beneath the feeders with 21 Mourning Doves.

Female Northern Cardinal

But I've also had the return of a couple birds that have been absent this winter.  Mrs. Northern Cardinal has pretty regularly now been making at least one visit a day to the yard.  A couple Tufted Titmice finally visited the feeders over the weekend and I was glad that at least one of them showed up on count day.  And I was was very happy to have a couple Purple Finches drop by!  They breed in the area, but are infrequent visitors during the winter months.  Even an American Robin stopped by, since there are still berries on some shrubs in my yard.

Tufted Titmouse at a heated birdbath

  

American Robin enjoying berries

But alas, today is warm and rainy again and I expect that what remains of the snow cover will soon disappear.  My 2011-12 Project FeederWatch season is slipping away, but I have to remember that low bird counts tell scientists as much as high bird counts do.  Small consolation to a girl that just wants a little more birdlife in her yard.  Is that too much to ask?

Birdfeeding on a Budget - Reduce Birdfood Consumption by Starlings

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.

Birdfeeding on a Budget is a new feature on The Zen Birdfeeder blog.  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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Starling-resistant Options

When European Starlings come to your feeders, they can come in large groups and consume A LOT of food.  They crowd your feeders and keep away the birds you really want to see.  Here's how to minimize starlings and starling food consumption.

Offer food that starlings don't care for

Starlings don't care for safflower seed.  Most song birds enjoy safflower, though it may take them a little time to get used to it.  Just be patient!  At my house, it is the preferred food of Purple Finches, and cardinals, chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, and grosbeaks all readily eat it.

Purple Finches enjoy safflower seed in a tube feeder

Serve it straight up (not in a blend) in tube feeders, hopper feeders, or open trays. Added bonus:  squirrels, grackles, crows, and jays don't typically care for safflower either!

Serve suet upside down

Starlings cannot cling upside down at suet feeders like many of our suet-loving birds can.  So serve your suet upside down!  While chickadees, titmice, woodpeckers, nuthatches, and wrens will all cling to an upside-down feeder to eat high-fat suet, starlings just can't physically do it.

Woodpeckers can cling upside down to access suet at this upside-down suet feeder.

There are specialty suet feeders that hold suet cakes in an upside-down position.  Leave the suet cake in the plastic tub to keep the feeder cleaner.  At a minimum, buy a specialty "Starling Stumper" chain for your existing suet cage that hangs the cage flat.  Keep the suet cake in the plastic tub with the open side facing downward and the starlings won't be able to cling to the underneath surface.  "Starling Stumpers" are available at your local WBU shop.

These two tips will slow down seed and suet consumption by starlings, our first way to be dollar-smart about feeding the birds!

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.