The Zen Birdfeeder

Top 3 Benefits from Bats

Bats can sometimes get a bad reputation, but before we judge them, here are three really big benefits that bats provide:

Pest control

• They eat millions and millions of night-flying insects
• They help control agricultural pests - farmers love the work bats do!

Mexican Free-tailed Bats emerging from Bracken Cave
in search of flying insects

Pollinate

• Bats help ensure production of seeds and fruit - again, the farmer's friend!
• They improve genetic diversity
• If you love bananas, or avocados, or peaches, or cashews - thank bats.  These foods depend on pollination by bats

Disperse seed

• Bats help to restore lost or damaged rainforest
• They are more effective seed dispersers than birds

So give bats a break.  Learn about them and learn to protect them.  Add a bat box.  Do whatever you can to help these beneficial creatures of the night.

Here's a couple videos of Mexican Free-tailed Bats as they emerge from Bracken Cave in Texas.

 

 

Video by Nancy Castillo
Facts Source:  Bat Conservation International

 

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Wasp Nests in My Bat Box

5 Tips to Attracting Orioles into your Yard

One of the first questions we ask customers who come in our shop hoping to attract orioles is whether they've seen them in their area before.  If they answer "no", we usually suggest they watch for them and pick up a feeder when they know they have the proper habitat for orioles.

If they say "yes, I saw them last year" or "yes, I've seen their unmistakable pendulous nest in a nearby tree", we then encourage them to try an oriole feeder.

If you can answer "yes" to my question, here are my top 5 tips for attracting orioles into your yard.

1)  Have the oriole feeder up and ready BEFORE they arrive.
In our area of east central New York state, that means putting out an oriole feeder near the beginning of May.

2)  Hang the feeder so it's visible from the treetops.
Orioles are treetop birds, so make sure you hang your oriole feeder where they would be most likely to see it from their perches at the top of deciduous trees.

3)  Offer fruit.
Oranges are the easiest food to offer orioles at a birdfeeder.  Cut them in half so the insides are up.
You can also offer grape jelly.  Orioles have a sweet tooth and will eat mounds of grape jelly daily.  Don't make the jelly pile too deep, just in case some other smaller bird with a sweet tooth gets into it.

4)  Offer mealworms.
Orioles eat insects, especially tent caterpillars, and will eat live mealworms offered in a birdfeeder.

5)  Offer nectar.
Orioles will lap up nectar, but because of the size of their bill, it needs to be in a specialty oriole feeder that has ports bigger than those on a hummingbird feeder.
The nectar concentration is weaker too, 8-to-1 instead of the hummingbird nectar ratio of 4-to-1.  Check out the nectar recipe page on our website.

At our Wild Birds Unlimited shop, we have a number of oriole feeders for providing these foods.

So, get those feeders out and watch for that stunning flash of orange and black of the beautiful male oriole!

Photo credits: 
Image 1 & 2 - WBU Inc. image library
Image 3 - Mary Foss Bullard, WBU-Saratoga's Fan PIC of the YEAR 2012.

Top 5 Tips for Welcoming Native Sparrows to Your Yard

Fox Sparrow

It's peak time for native sparrows in our area right now.  Those most likely to visit your yard include Fox, Chipping, Song, White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows.  But also keep an eye out for less common Savannah, Field, or Lincoln's Sparrows as well.
 
Here's how you can make your yard more inviting for native sparrows:

1)  Offer White Millet
Offer white millet or a seed blend that contains millet such as WBU Deluxe Blend or Select Blend.

2)  Present seed in ground feeders and open tray feeders
Offering seed in ground feeders or a large open tray will give you the best chance of seeing these birds use a birdfeeder.  Chipping, White-throated, White-crowned Sparrows and juncos are most likely to use these feeders, the other sparrows less so (but never say never!)

White-throated Sparrow at window tray feeder

 

3)  Broadcast seed under birdfeeders and in nearby shrubs
Some of these sparrows are less likely to use a birdfeeder, so broadcasting seed on the ground will keep them happy.  I've personally never seen a Fox Sparrow, or the rarer sparrows, on a birdfeeder.  All the native sparrows are a little "spooky" and feel comfortable foraging under shrubs, so toss some seed in those shrubs.  Also spread it under birdfeeders for when they come out from the cover.
 

4)  Water
Offer a water source such as a birdbath.

Song Sparrow on birdbath

5)  Keep cats indoors
Native sparrows feed primarily on the ground.  Keep them safe by keeping cats indoors.

While some of these sparrows may breed in our area, for the others, our yard is just a welcome respite on their long trip to the boreal forest of Canada.  You can help make their trip a little easier by doing these tips!

Top 5 Reasons I Love this Feeder

The WBU Cylinder Cafe birdfeeder is a relatively new feeder for us, but it has rapidly become one of my favorite feeders.  Here's 5 reasons why.

Versatility
The feeder is built to hold our WBU birdfood cylinders as well as up to three WBU Stackables.  The tray is divided into four sections where you can place loose birdfood like seed, peanuts (in or out of the shell), Bark Butter Bits, mealworms, and more.  These features allow you to feed a nice variety of birdfood all on one feeder.

Easy to fill
All our WBU cylinders and Stackables have a hole down the middle.  To put them on this feeder - WITHOUT TAKING THE FEEDER DOWN - all you do is pull the middle stem of the birdfeeder down, place the cylinder/Stackable(s) in the middle, then raise the middle stem through the birdfood.  Easy peasy!

Hairy Woodpecker enjoying a large Supreme Fare cylinder

Large cover for protection
The attractive powder-coated cover protects the birdfood and the birds from the elements.

Ventilated tray keeps ground clean
The round vented tray catches seed and/or pieces of the cylinders, keeping the ground underneath your feeders clean.

Holds large-sized cylinder
This large feeder is large and sturdy enough to hold our large-sized birdfood cylinder like WBU Supreme Fare, all 4+ pounds of it!  Large cylinders are great for birdfeeding while you're on vacation because they last longer.

I should probably add a 6th reason too:  THE BIRDS LOVE IT TOO!  You can get the WBU Cylinder Cafe Feeder at Wild Birds Unlimited - Saratoga Springs NY or online.

Top 5 Tips for Feeding Common Redpolls

Trust me on this one: it's only a matter of time until Common Redpolls start arriving in our area.  Here's how to make sure they make a stop at your feeding station this winter:

1) Offer fresh niger seed

Make sure your niger seed (aka thistle or Nyjer) is fresh (less than 3 months old, whether it's in the feeder or in the bag).  Also make sure the seed is loose and dry in the feeder.

2) Hang multiple finch feeders

Redpolls are VERY gregarious.  Flocks can number over 100.  Having multiple finch feeders for them will allow you to host more redpolls.

3) Use a mesh finch feeder

Most finch tube-type feeders limit the number of birds on it at one time to the number of perches it has.  A mesh finch feeder allows more redpolls to cling on the feeder to eat and the sight it amazing - it looks like a busy beehive.

4) Keep your feeders and feeding area clean

Redpolls are susceptible to salmonellosis, and because of their flocking behavior, they could easily spread it to others in the flock.
Help them out by cleaning your feeders often with a weak bleach solution (1 part bleach to 9 parts water) and by cleaning the area beneath the feeders as well.

5) Watch for the rarer Hoary Redpoll

Within any sizeable redpoll flock, you might be able to pick out a Hoary Redpoll, a frostier-colored cousin of the Common Redpoll.  Read up on the Hoary Redpoll so you can be ready to look for one!

Related articles

• Top 5 Tips for Feeding the Pine Siskins
• Are We In for a Great Birdfeeding Season? I'm Thinkin' So!

5 Tips to Attract Red-breasted Nuthatches to your Yard

Red-breasted Nuthatches are on the move this fall and it's easy to host them in your yard. 

In winter, these nuthatches eat seeds, especially seeds from conifer trees.  When those natural food sources fail or are inadequate, they migrate in search of better cone crops.  That's what is happening this year and why you might see this feisty little bird in your yard for the first time.

Here's 5 tips for hosting them in your yard:

1) Red-breasted Nuthatches love peanuts.

Offer peanuts out of the shell (unsalted of course) and you will be offering one of the Red-breasted Nuthatches' favorite feeder foods.

2) Offer Suet.

Red-breasteds will also eat suet, especially those that have peanuts in it like Bark Butter, Peanut Butter & Jelly or Naturally Nuts suet cakes.  And for suet logs, Bark Butter Plugs and PB&J plugs will satisfy their suet cravings.

3) Offer Stackables or cylinders with nuts.

Nutty for Nuts cylinders or Stackables.  Filled with nuts...'nuf said.

4) Consider hanging a mesh peanut feeder.

These mesh feeders hold peanuts out of the shell.  Nuthatches (and other birds like chickadees and titmice) will cling to the mesh while pecking at the nuts to get them the right size to pull out.  You'll get better views of this handsome bird as they spend more time at the feeder.

5) Try feeding Red-breasted Nuthatches from your hand.

Red-breasteds are extremely approachable and have been known to take food from an extended hand.  I'd use peanuts (no surprise there considering items 1-3!)
 
The good thing is that if you do these things, other birds like chickadees and titmice will also take advantage of these offerings!  Enjoy the nuthatches this year, especially if they are a new visitor in your yard!

Top 5 Tips for Feeding the Pine Siskins

Now that Pine Siskins are becoming widespread, here's some tips for feeding these gregarious finches.

1)  Offer Niger (thistle) seed but make sure it's fresh. 
Don't buy more niger seed than you'll go through in a couple months.  Always buy your niger seed from a quality shop like Wild Birds Unlimited to ensure that it's fresh.  You never know how long that big, cheap bag of thistle has been sitting in a warehouse or on the shelves of that big box store!

 

2)  Put out multiple feeders.
Siskins are feisty and combative amongst themselves so have plenty of feeder space for all of them to feed.

3)  Spread the feeders out.
Siskins are prone to salmonellosis so spread the feeders out so the disease is less likely to spread.

4)  Keep your feeders and feeding areas clean.
Clean them now while you're thinking about it and then again a couple times during the siskins' presence.  Again, they are prone to salmonellosis and clean feeders and feeding areas reduce the spread of disease.

5)  Watch for them on other foods.
They eat lots more than just niger seed!  At my house, they've eaten Bark Butter, they often eat from seed cylinders and Stackables, and they'll also eat black oil sunflower and sunflower chips (shelled sunflower seed).

Enjoy the Pine Siskins while they're here.  They may just be moving through, with another winter finch, Common Redpolls, coming later!  It's gonna be a fun winter full of birds!

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!

Top 5 Hints for Operating a Solar Birdbath Fountain

A solar birdbath fountain has been one of the best additions to my yard's bird habitat, attracting birds of all kinds.  They drink and bathe, and watching them in the bath is great fun to watch.  Here's some hints on how to operate your solar fountain.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak at birdbath with solar fountain

1. Keep the pump clean.
Pumps can clog from bird and organic debris.  Most pumps have a plastic sponge-like filter inside that can be cleaned with a good blast of the hose.  If it is particularly scummy, use a weak bleach solution (9 parts water to 1 part bleach) to clean, rinse well, then let air dry.  The housing can get scummy so make sure you clean the housing as well.
Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a self-cleaning pump, but a quick clean up now and then will keep the fountain flowing nicely.
 
2. Keep the water clean.
Don't let the water become filled with bird waste and debris.  This is not good for the birds or for the pump.
Clean the birdbath often with a stiff-bristled brush that is used only for birdbath or feeder cleaning.  If the bath is really dirty, clean it with a weak bleach solution (9 parts water to 1 part bleach), rinse well, and let air dry before refilling.

3. Don't let the water get too low.
Pumps that run dry will burn out and kill the pump.

A Chipping Sparrow pool party!

4. Use a sufficiently deep birdbath.
Running a fountain will increase the rate of evaporation of the water in the bath.  Having a deeper bath with a higher volume of water will help.
At a minimum, the birdbath should be able to hold enough water to cover the pump.

5. Put it where you can enjoy the show.
Moving water is like a bird magnet and you wouldn't want to miss the show!
Besides your regular yard and feeder birds that could use the fountain, the moving water might attract other birds like tanagers, warblers, and more.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird attracted to the moving water

I love my solar-powered birdbath fountain.  Follow these tips and your fountain can provide years of bird enjoyment!

 

Top 5 Reasons to Use Port Protectors on Your Birdhouses

A port protector is an easy-to-install piece that goes over the hole of your birdhouse.  It is usually made of a metal like copper, though beautiful slate protectors (pictured below) are also available.

Here's why you should buy birdhouses with port protectors or add them to your existing birdhouses.

1. Protect the hole from being enlarged by squirrels.
Squirrels can chew the hole opening of most birdhouses, making the hole bigger than it needs to be for the birds.  When the hole is enlarged, it makes it easier for squirrels and other predators to enter the box and cause harm to the eggs, nestlings, and/or parent.

2. Protect the hole from being enlarged by woodpeckers.
Woodpeckers may enlarge the hole to use the box themselves (which is not necessarily a bad thing), but again, if it makes the hole larger, it also makes the inside more accessible to predators.

3. It makes the box look nicer.
Chewed up edges never look nice while a nice copper or slate port protector can add a decorative touch to even a plain wooden nestbox.

4. A port protector can repair a damaged hole.
If the nest hole has been previously widened, you MAY be able to cover up the damage with a port protector and restore the nest hole to its proper size. 

5. It's a small investment for lots of benefits.
Basic porthole protector: less than 5 bucks. 
Benefits to the birds: priceless