The Zen Birdfeeder

Focus on Fledglings 2010 - 6

Though we've had Northern Flickers in our yard every year, this was the first year I was able to pick out a young flicker.  It was foraging on the ground like flickers do, but in a location that I've seldom seen resident adults.

NORTHERN FLICKER

First fledgling sighting:  July 15
What to look for:  "The young are strong fliers upon leaving the nest, and in many cases stay with the parents for two to three weeks." (Source: Stokes Guide to Bird Behavior Vol. I)  The young flicker I sighted seemed to have been on its own already, having left the family group.

Though there are no distinct field marks that help identify adult vs. young flickers, I did notice these characteristics that helped me feel that this was indeed a young bird:

* tail seemed shorter than an adult bird's
* less "spooky" then flickers typically are in my yard
* the red crescent on nape is just barely forming
* despite the black "mustache", if this is indeed a young bird, you can't tell whether it is male or female.  The mustache will remain until first fall molt.

I'm open to feedback if you feel I am mistaken!

An Infrequent Visitor

She's here, every 18 months, just like clockwork! A female Red-bellied Woodpecker first came to my yard on New Year's Day 2009.

She enjoyed the Supreme Fare seed cylinder, and stayed a couple days.  Unfortunately, we left for a business trip shortly after her arrival, so we don't know just how long she stayed. 

Then, a year and a half later, another visit!

This time the food of choice was a WBU No-Mess Stackable and Bark Butter sandwich.  Like 18 months earlier, she stayed only a couple days.  And unfortunately like before, we left on another business trip shortly after her arrival.  So that was that - I haven't seen her since!

The good news is that both the number of Red-bellied Woodpeckers as well as their range are expanding within New York state as well as elsewhere.  The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State indicates, "The expansion of the Red-bellied Woodpecker's range is clearly continuing, and it will be interesting to see the distribution map of this species in the next Atlas."

With good indications like that, hopefully I won't have to wait until New Year's Day 2012 to see another Red-bellied Woodpecker!

WBU-Saratoga Customer Favorite Birds

We recently surveyed our customers asking for their favorite birds and the votes are in!  The Northern Cardinal is their #1 favorite bird!

Northern Cardinal
Our customer's favorite bird (Digiscoped image)

Top Ten WBU-Saratoga Customer Favorite Birds:

1. Northern Cardinal
2. Black-capped Chickadee
3. American Goldfinch
4. Eastern Bluebird
5. Ruby-throated Hummingbird
6. Rose-breasted Grosbeak
7. Tufted Titmouse
8. Pileated Woodpecker
9. Downy Woodpecker
10. White-breasted Nuthatch

Black-capped Chickadee
Our customer's 2nd favorite bird

The full list of all 60 birds is available to add to your Thayer Birding Software.  Follow this link to the list and this link to instructions to download it to your software.  Thayer Birding Software lets build custom lists of your own and to share those lists with other users.

Thayer Birding Software is available at Wild Birds Unlimited - Saratoga Springs NY, at many other WBU shops, and online.

Foods to Serve the Birds in Summer

The Importance of Calcium, Protein and Fat in a Bird's Diet
During the spring and summer, birds are looking for foods high in calcium, protein and fat to bolster their energy supply and help them through nesting season, raising their young and molting their feathers.

SEED

Seed-eating birds will continue to look for natural sources of seeds that will provide them with their essential protein, fat and calories.  So it's important to offer the right seeds in your birdfeeders.  Many of these seeds, including black oil sunflower, sunflower chips, niger seed (thistle), are key ingredients in our regionally-selected seed blends. 

Read my post Good Seed Bad Seed for a nice chart on seeds to look for and seeds to avoid.  Here's some information about WBU seed blends that will help your birds during spring and summer.

No-Mess Blend
Loaded with protein and fat, our No-Mess Blend is a mix of shelled seeds and is a clean feeding solution that is perfect for helping birds prepare for nesting, raising babies, and molting their feathers.  No shells means no mess under the feeders!

Choice Blend
Choice Blend is the top-selling blend in our store.  It combines black oil sunflower, sunflower chips, striped sunflower, safflower seed, and peanuts to provide a high protein, high fat blend for the birds. 
It is what we recommend to fill the WBU Eliminator Squirrel-Proof Birdfeeder.

Supreme Blend
Our Supreme Blend features black oil sunflower, striped sunflower, safflower seed, and sunflower chips.  It attracts a wide variety of birds.  We use it in our hopper feeders.

Deluxe Blend
Full of black oil sunflower, millet, striped sunflower and safflower seeds, Deluxe Blend is an excellent blend for ground-feeding birds like juncos, doves and native sparrows like Chipping Sparrows and White-throated Sparrows.

MEALWORMS

As baby birds are born, a bird's need for protein increases dramatically.  Mealworms are loaded with protein and can help you attract commom feeder birds like chickadees and titmice as well as insect-eating birds like bluebirds and wrens.  Bird parents like bluebirds will often bring their young to mealworms and feed them these live treats.  What a show!

SUET & FATS

Suet is a high-energy, pure-fat substance that is helpful in spring and summer (especially when loaded with nuts), when birds are looking for supplemental sources of nutrition.
Some WBU suet contains added calcium, which is especially helpful during nesting season to build strong eggshells and replenish mom bird's lost calcium.

NECTAR

Hummingbirds and orioles look for reliable nectar sources in the spring and summer.  Start your nectar supply early, but if you don't, it's not too late to start during the summer when young hummingbirds leave the nest.

 

NUTS & BERRIES/FRUITS

Loaded with protein and fat, peanuts provide birds with the necessary energy to defend territories and raise healthy families.  Fresh and dried fruits are popular with some summer birds and can help provide proper color pigments, new feathers, and other nutritional needs.  Fruit is a favorite of birds such as orioles, robins, catbirds, bluebirds, and mockingbirds.

Our Cranberry Fare Seed Cylinder is loaded with seeds, nuts and cranberries and is a great way to offer these foods to your birds.

Book Review: Bayshore Summer

Bayshore Summer is Pete Dunne's second book in a four-book series on the seasons, a fact I wasn't aware of when my review copy arrived.  Not that I wasn't familiar with Pete Dunne.  His Essential Field Guide Companion is on my bookshelf, and I knew I liked and appreciated the light style he sprinkled throughout that 710-page totally un-illustrated volume.

In Bayshore Summer, we accompany Pete Dunne as he experiences the geography and natural and cultural history of New Jersey's Cumberland County in perhaps its toughest season - summer.  From the Prologue, I knew it wasn't going to be your typical full-of-myself description of a premier natural area.  I should have anticipated that for reasons mentioned above.   Yet by halfway through page four and barely without knowing it, I had learned 7 new things about New Jersey, its history, its birds, and its convenience stores.  And the facts - I'm purposely avoiding the word "trivia" because of its negative connotation and shared etymology with the word "trivial" - keep flowing throughout the book.

This is part geography lesson, part biology lesson, part science and nature lesson, part law lesson, and part history lesson.  We learn about birds, fish, salt hay, weather, bugs, fruit, poaching, constellations and more, yet it is written in such a delightful manner, you don't realize you're being taught!  Dunne is a consummate teacher, filling us with facts from beginning to end and it isn't until you're done that you realize you know more about blue crabs than 95% of Americans!

One gaping hole in the book was the lack of a map.  As Dunne described his exploits through south Jersey, I kept saying to myself, "I want a map!", to the point that I pulled out my own atlas to place all the locations Dunne visited.

There was an agenda that clearly emerges as the book wraps up.  In experiencing first-hand and then sharing the region's natural and cultural history, Dunne's Bayshore Summer is an attempt to shine a light on the loss of these precious resources and natural heritage.  The book is an effort to highlight the area so as to gain support for the protections he feels are necessary for New Jersey's Delaware Bayshore.  But oh, but what an enjoyable way to get the message across!

Now I'm off to catch up by reading his first volume, Prairie Spring.  I'm sure I won't be disappointed and may come away just a little smarter.

Bayshore Summer - Finding Eden in a Most Unlikely Place
Pete Dunne
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt  June 2010
ISBN 9780547195636
Hardcover    $24.00

In accordance with Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR Part 255, it is disclosed that the copy of the book read in order to produce this review was provided gratis to the reviewer by the publisher.

Top 5 Reasons to NOT Use Red Hummingbird Nectar

The question never goes away: "Shouldn't hummingbird nectar be red?"  The answer is an unequivocal "NO!"  Here's my Top 5 reasons why.

Reason #1:  It serves NO purpose

The great majority of hummingbird feeders on the market, and certainly the hummingbird feeders at our Wild Birds Unlimited shop, have enough color on them (red or otherwise) to attract hummingbirds without the need for red dye in the nectar.

Reason #2:  The dye is petroleum based

The dye in colored nectars is red dye #40, named Allura Red AC.  Red dye #40 was originally made from coal tar, but it is now made mostly from petroleum.  Read that last sentence again, please.  I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound good for ingestion by me or by hummingbirds.  In Europe, red dye #40 is not recommended for consumption by children. (Source: www.3dchem.com)

Admittedly, there is no scientific proof that red dye #40 definitely harms hummingbirds but knowing its source, why chance it, especially if it has no benefits to the hummingbirds and will not attract hummingbirds any more than clear nectar does.

Reason #3:  Nectar from flowers is clear - not red

Nectar made with water and simple table sugar at a 4-to-1 ratio most closely approximates the naturally clear nectar found in flowers.

Reason #4:  The red dye passes though the hummingbird

The Hilton Pond Center website has an image showing red dye #40 stains on a hummingbird at the site of excretion.  And the dye also stains their excretions red.  Naturalist and author Julie Zickefoose made this interesting observation while rehabbing a female hummingbird.  The bird had been fed red nectar before entering her care, and she was shocked by the red droppings that the hummingbird continued to excrete for over a day after the red nectar was stopped.  You can see pictures of the red-stained droppings and read Julie's blog post, but a more complete account is in the May/June 2010 issue of BirdWatcher's Digest.

These indicators mean the red dye is "not metabolized, but passes through the kidneys, where it might cause problems."  (Source: Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History)

Reason #5:  You can make clear nectar more simply

No more trips to the store to buy nectar.  Make it at home.  A simple 4-to-1 water to table sugar solution will attract and feed all the hummingbirds you can handle!

I have a request of you.  If this material has convinced you to discontinue the use of red nectar, or if you've already sworn off it:

1. Let me know, but more importantly,
   
2. Spread the word to family, friends, enemies, whoever you know that uses red nectar in their hummingbird feeders.  Forward the link.  Share the post link on your website or blog.  Print a copy of the post.  Just do what you can to stop the use of red nectar in hummingbird feeders.  Do it for the birds!

Focus on Fledglings 2010 - 5

I'm so glad I have a little elevation where I live (1300') so I enjoy Dark-eyed Juncos year-round.  I saw a young junco first on June 18, just about the same time as last year.

Here's some things to look for to identify young juncos.

DARK-EYED JUNCO

First fledgling sighting:  June 18
What to look for:  Look for adult juncos feeding the young; they may be fed by adults for three weeks or more after leaving the nest. (Source: Stokes Guide to Bird Behavior Vol. III)

Look for these physical characteristics to help identify young juncos:

    * streaked neck and breast vs. gray neck and white breast of adults
    * can be more brownish overall rather than gray in color
    * sparrow-like streaks on head and back

The challenge may not be in differentiating the young junco from the adults, but rather identifying a young junco that is unaccompanied by an adult.  Young juncos can be sparrow-like in their look (a little brown job) and in their ground-feeding behavior.  Watch for signs of the developing white outer tail feathers, which are excellent field marks of the Dark-eyed Junco.  This is shown nicely in the photo above.

To aid in identifying any of the young birds in your own yard, anticipate what you may see based on the adult birds that visit your yard during breeding season.  Become comfortable with the adult birds' overall size and shape and feeding behaviors.  You'll find that despite plumage differences between young and adult, these characteristics - size, shape, and feeding behavior - will generally be similar and can be of great help in narrowing the possibilities and eventually identifying the young, unaccompanied bird visiting your yard.

Wings on Wednesday

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird
at Holland Hill window box feeder

Why I Feed Birds in the Summer

Many folks say they don't feed birds in the summer.  Here's the two main reasons I do:

To See Young Birds Up Close at my Birdfeeders 

Young female Hairy Woodpecker with mom
WBU Supreme Fare Cylinder on seed cylinder feeder

Chickadee parent with 2 young
WBU APS® Sidedish serving mealworms

Young male Downy Woodpecker
Suet log feeder

 
Purple Finch young
Safflower Seed in WBU Quick Clean Seed Tube

Carolina Wren young (left) and adult (in feeder)
Bluebird mealworm feeder

Young American Goldfinch
WBU Mesh Finch Feeder with tray

Young Tufted Titmouse checking out a hummingbird feeder!

To See Birds at my Feeders
That I Wouldn't See if I Fed Only in Winter

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
WBU Supreme Fare Seed Cylinder on seed cylinder feeder

Ruby-throated Hummingbird
WBU Decorative Window Hummingbird Feeder

Pine Warbler
WBU Eco-tough Tail Prop Suet Feeder
Image by Rita S., Gansevoort NY

Female Baltimore Oriole
Mealworms served in WBU Dinner Bell Feeder

Male Indigo Bunting

Chipping Sparrow

By feeding during the summer, you do not make the birds lazy or dependent on you.  And there is no harm if your feeders run empty while you leave for vacation.  Birds only supplement their diet up to 10-20% at feeders.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office of Bird Management states, "If you enjoy feeding the birds, there is no reason to stop feeding the birds in the summer.  You can do it year round.  Feeding the birds in the summer will not make them lazy or too dependent."

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology scientists state, "Keep the restaurant open year round and offer a variety of seeds and suet."

So, don't miss out on the great summer show of birds - feed your birds all year round!

Focus on Fledglings 2010 - 4

Mourning Doves begin mating early so you could see young doves quite early in the season.  A few years ago I saw doves copulating in mid-March!  This year, I saw my first young dove on June 7, just a little later than 2009 but about the same time as 2008.
While I haven't noted behaviors to differentiate young birds from the parents, here are a couple things to look for to identify young doves.

MOURNING DOVE

First fledgling sighting:  June 7
What to look for: within a week of leaving the nest, young doves are feeding on their own.

Look for these physical characteristics to help identify recently fledged doves among the flock:

    * shorter tail
    * wing feathers edged in a light buff color

Doves can have 1-2 broods. Territories are small and doves flock together to feed so you may see young from a number of dove pairs all throughout the breeding season.