wildbirdsunlimited.typepad.comThe Zen Birdfeeder

focuses on the birds and other nature we find in our own yards and the zen principles of ATTENTION, ACCEPTANCE, and RESPONSIBILITY. Home Archives Subscribe WBU-Saratoga November 12, 2019 Things at Your Bird Feeders are a-Changin’ Not more than a week ago, our bird feeders were almost abandoned. We’d see doves (4 or so), chickadees (4 or so), 1-2 cardinals at dawn and dusk, and little else. Temps were still moderate, the ground and trees were unencumbered by snow such that birds and other wildlife were harvesting their needs directly from nature. There wasn’t a whole lot of need to visit our bird feeders except for a quick ‘n easy snack on the way to their next destination. In response, our feeder set-ups were correspondingly minimal - only about 1/3 of the feeders were in use, and those, only 1/3 to 1/2 filled. A good strategy - we don’t want to waste food in feeders if the birds aren’t coming! Our first Project FeederWatch count of the season documented the reality of things - albeit only over a short period of time, we saw a total of 11 individual birds of 5 different species. Pretty low for a property boasting all the food, water, and shelter that birds and other wildlife thrive in. A handful of chickadees and titmice, a hairy, cardinal, and a couple jays. That’s it. MIA were downies and even the doves. No nuthatches, no finches. Sad. But just one day later, with the outdoor “thermostat” down add a little snow cover, as they sing, “times, they are a-changin’.” Just 24 hours after our first count, we’ve had 28 individuals birds in the yard of 12 different species! The surprises were a single Red-winged Blackbird (very late for us, we haven’t seen one in months) and two Fox Sparrows doing their scratch-back motion to uncover food just below the snow and leaf debris. Juncos (five), jays and chickadees, a pair of cardinals, as well as a Red-breasted Nuthatch and a couple goldfinches. Much better! So now is the time to start looking for this gradual increase in birds at your feeders and in the area surrounding them (the Fox Sparrows were foraging under shrubs). SLOWLY add more food to your existing feeders, proportionate to the bird activity and SLOWLY add additional feeders back to your set up. We’ve been anxious for the birds to return. The yard has been somewhat sad of late, and we were missing the movement and color and antics of our beautiful birds. We joyously welcome them back to our yard! Posted at 08:45 AM in Acceptance , Attention , Birds by the Numbers , Feeder Birds , Project Feeder Watch / ebird / GBBC | Permalink | Comments (4) | | | October 02, 2019 Natural Food Sources for Birds and Wildlife When bird feeder activity declines in the early fall, we usually write it off to the abundance of “natural food sources”. Well, what exactly do we mean by that? Here’s just a sampling of the natural foods that become plentiful and are available (until covered by snow) to birds and other wildlife in a typical autumn. Some years there’s more of one and less of the other (we hear that acorns are widely available this year) which makes each year different in the amount and type of foods available and thus impacts the bird and wildlife activity in our yards. Fruits and berries from trees and shrubs (examples: sumac, mountain ash, chokecherry, crabapple) Weed and grass seeds Spent flower heads (fading coneflowers, sunflowers, zinnia, nasturtium, goldenrod, etc.) Insects that hide in dead wood, in plant stems, in rolled up leaves, in and under bark Leftover vegetables in gardens Pine cone seeds Acorns and other tree nuts (seeds) Small insects under leaf litter Tent caterpillars Crabgrass seeds Garden herbs gone to seed Insect and spider eggs, casings, larvae, and carcasses You can have a hand in providing and preserving these great foods for birds and wildlife by choosing natives when you plant and maintaining a “messy” yard and garden. Posted at 11:16 AM in Attention , Care for the Birds - Care for the Environment , Flora , Food for Birds | Permalink | Comments (4) | | | May 23, 2019 Adults Acting Like Children When I heard the “feed-me” call, I recognized it as the begging cry of fledgling Purple Finches. Persistent and seemingly never-ending, the “feed-me, feed-me, feed-me” was coming from the area most frequented by these pretty finches. But is was May 20th, WAY too early for young Purple Finches to be emerging from a nest. I had a suspicion about the source of the call and had to seek it out. I’d just seen full grown Blue Jays in early May acting like children - wing quivering and begging - but in this case, to form a pair bond between birds. I've seen and heard it with chickadees as well - kid-like behavior exhibited well before young birds are expected to fledge. I followed the “feed-me, feed-me” solo halfway up the tree and saw a clearly adult male Purple Finch. At this time of year, only an adult male is that beautiful cranberry color all over - no young finches have earned those colors yet. And off on a nearby branch was an apparent female purply. I say “apparent” because at this time of year, last year’s males aren’t cranberry either. They’ll molt into their colorful plumage this fall. The beautiful male was wooing a mate, crouching with shoulders low, rear end up, beak up, and wings a-fluttering. And vocalizing with that incessant “feed-me” call I had typically associated with their young. It was beautiful to watch and listen to this pretty male serenading his girl. He had her attention but sometimes you have to work hard to get the things you want. She took off, with her amorous suitor following behind. Posted at 09:25 AM in Attention , Bird Songs and Calls , Feeder Birds , Molt , Young Birds | Permalink | Comments (5) | | | January 02, 2019 Birds Have Wings Yesterday was a Project FeederWatch day and there were few birds around to be counted. A few chickadees, a few titmice, a couple downies and hairies. A few others too, but only one jay. That was weird. Any day that I welcome more cardinals than I do Blue Jays is just weird. Today as I sit reading and glancing out my windows at the feeders, the jays are crazy busy. At least 8 of them bouncing around in the plum tree at all the Hot Pepper offerings, dominating the tray below the hopper feeder, and chipping away at a bug nut cylinder. Why today and not yesterday? It’s the same time of day. It’s a little clearer but 20 degrees colder. Maybe it was a colder overnight too. No precipitation either day. We can’t always put an exact reason on why birds are there one day and gone the next, but to calm our minds and satisfy our curiosity, it sometimes helps to remember a comeback from Roger Tory Peterson to a woman inquiring about a wandering bird: “birds have wings”. Posted at 08:55 AM in Acceptance , Attention , Feeder Birds , Project Feeder Watch / ebird / GBBC | Permalink | Comments (9) | | | May 30, 2017 A Cardinal Loss We had a fatal window strike last week, a male cardinal. I found him laying in the seat of the Adirondack chair that sits beneath our front windows. I had been sitting in that chair about 12 hours earlier, so it had to have occurred either at nightfall or quite early in the morning. It was puzzling because we'd been in the house, and didn't hear that awful "thunk" against the window. We buried him but he hasn't left my mind since. Spring wildlife deaths bother me maybe the most. Whether it's roadkill or a bird in my own yard, spring deaths seem so unfair. Animals that survived a northeast winter's cold and ice and snow, lived to greet the spring only to meet their demise as breeding is just getting underway. It doesn't seem fair. No bird loss is easy, but a cardinal loss is extra hard. We just don't have many cardinals in the yard. I knew we definitely had one pair, and the loss of one-half of that pair is devastating to me. We didn't even have cardinals in our yard until 2005! Cardinals have been expanding their range northward and to higher elevations, and it wasn't until aft...