Tom's Bird Feeders and Reptile Supplies

With the fall bird migration starting, watching our birdfeeders becomes more exciting again. Although not all migrants are rare, all are fun to see as they pass through.

This morning we had a Lazuli Bunting at our tube bird feeder. This male was in the middle of a molt. That is not unusual for Lazuli Buntings when they visit our bird feeder here in Portal, AZ.

The Lazuli Buntings have a very unusual way of molting during migration. The birds begin their Prebasic molt during late summer on the breeding grounds, then abruptly stop this molt and migrate to one of two known molting “hotspots”. These are in southern Arizona and New Mexico and northern Sonora, or the southern tip of Baja California. They then finish molting before continuing their migration to wintering grounds in western Mexico.

So, if you get to come birding in our area be sure to watch out for the Lazuli Buntings.  Their molt is something for you to talk about when you return home, and you will only see it here while bird watching in the United States.

A question we are often asked, especially by our more northern and eastern customers is  “Should I quit feeding my hummingbirds around Labor Day?”  Apparently a number of people have found information in the literature somewhere saying that to continue feeding the hummingbirds after Labor Day may keep them too far north and they may be caught in the winter weather as a result.

Recent studies and literature tell us however that there is no evidence that feeding hummingbirds after Labor Day will keep them from migrating.  In fact, feeding may help weakened stragglers refuel for the long haul to Central and South America.  So leave the hummingbird feeders out until the birds stop coming in.

We recently received a question from a wonderful lady who had purchased a Best 1 Hummingbird Feeder from us at a birding festival.  She was concerned that her hummingbird feeder seemed to empty mysteriousy overnight.  I thought I would share my answer to her with everyone.  I hope this answers some other concerned people who have the same question.

Hi,

I’m glad that the hummers have found the new hummingbird feeder. Our hummingbird
migration in in full swing here so you should be getting several different
species shortly.

You said that your feeder seems to be emptying overnight. I would bet
that you have nectar eating bats coming into your feeder. These are
endangered species that come up from Mexico approximately in August following
the yucca and cactus blooms. With this dry year, they are visiting
hummingbird feeders even more than usual.

We simply feed the bats. We like to help endangered species whenever we
can. You can take your feeders down overnight to stop the bats from
feeding. Hummingbirds will still use your feeder even if it is not up at
sunrise. With their metabolism, eating all day is necessary.

If you are handy you can make a homemade cage to stop the bats from coming
in by purchasing some fencing called rabbit guard. Turn the rabbit guard
upside down and make a dome out of the fencing. Be sure the smallest
squares are by the feeder ports. It should be twice the diameter of your
feeder. Hang you feeder inside the dome. The bats will not be able to
reach the ports, but the much smaller hummingbirds will have no problems.

Hope this helps, and feel free to contact us anytime.

Nancy Hays
Tom’s Bird Feeders

Well, according to the quail, a great tragedy has befallen our bird feeders.  You see, we didn’t fill the bird feeders before we went to bed last night and the platform bird feeder was out of seed.  Now before you get terribly upset it was only the recycled platform bird feeder.  The cedar platform bird feeder had some seed in it.

But according to the quail that were on our porch squawking and calling and generally making their displeasure known it is a tragedy.  You see, the Curve-billed Thrasher has claimed the cedar platform bird feeder as his and only his.  He can’t get by with that year round, but we still have very young baby quail coming in with their parents and at the first sign of trouble, everyone heads for cover.

The question you may be asking yourself is why did the quail come onto the porch?  Well, they come up to the sliding glass door and holler at us until the bird feeders are filled.  This is a learned behavior.  They have learned that the bird feeders are filled when someone comes out that door.  They are not quite as bad as chickens, but will come with in a few feet of us at feeding time.

Now you know why the quail had a bad Monday morning.  The next question would be why was our morning bad?  This all took place before 6:00 am, before we are normally up.

Did we get up to feed the quail?  Of course we did!  Our quail are really spoiled.  The only thing more spoiled are our grandchildren.

You can send sympathy cards to our daughter after we visit for a week at the end of the month.  She will deserve them. Spoil them rotten and then leave-that is our motto when it comes to grandchildren!

The fall hummingbird bonanza is gearing up in Portal, Arizona now.  We are having to put out the 32 ounce Best 1 hummingbird Feeders along with the 8 ounce Best 1 Hummingbird feeders.  We have also put up a couple of 8 ounce saucer hummingbird feeders on pole mounts to supplement our other feeders.  Currently we have Black-chinned, Rufous, Broad-tailed, Magnificent, Anna’s and Calliope Hummingbirds coming in to our feeders.  Violet-crowned, Costa’s, Lucifer’s and Blue-throated Hummingbirds have all been observed in the Portal area in recent days.  White-eared and Berylline Hummingbirds have been observed in the nearby Huachuca Mountains in the past week.  We had a large hummingbird which we tentatively identified as a Plain-Capped Starthroat a few days ago.  It appeared to be as large as a Magnificent but sat more horizontal on the branch it was perched on.  The red throat was visible but the bird took off before we received a decisive look.  Portal is definitely the place to come to for hummingbirds and now is a great time to break out the hummingbird coffee cups.

This is just a short note to let bird watchers who plan to visit our area that the fall migration has started.  This morning our bird bath was visited by a Lazuli Bunting, a Wilson’s Warbler and two Yellow Warblers.  We have not had many hummingbirds through yet, but will keep you posted.

The Pyrrhuloxias that fledged several weeks ago came back for a visit to our platform bird feeder.  No parent birds were present, so they are on their own.  We hope they continue to visit throughout the winter.  Pyrrhuloxias roam more during the winter and will sometimes leave the dry thorn scrub they prefer to nest in to visit more stream side and even urban settings.

Beginning bird watchers have a tendency to misidentify Pyrrhuloxias.  They are quite often confused with the female cardinal.  This mistake can be avoided by looking at the beak.  The Pyrrhuloxia has a strongly curved bill that can be described as “stubby”   The beak is dark in the juvenile and yellow in the adult.  The cardinal has a larger, more triangular bill.  The juvenile does have a dark beak, but adult cardinals have an orange to red bill.

The odd name Pyrrhuloxia comes from the genus names Pyrrhula (bullfinches) and Loxia (crossbills). The roots mean “flame-colored” and “crooked,” and aptly describe the reddish bird with the crooked bill.

During the summer the Pyrrhuloxia will glean insects from the plants around our bird bath.  During the winter they would normally forage while hopping on the ground, so to attract Pyrrhuloxias the platform bird feeder will be most likely feeder used by this species.

It is alway exciting for birdwatchers out of our area to see their first Pyrrhuloxia and we still enjoy seeing them, specially when we know that a successful nest has taken place in our yard.  If you download our Portal, Arizona birding map you can find the Pyrrahuloxia along the Portal Road or along the Foothills Road.  Good Luck and Good Birding!

The House Finch is a fairly common bird throughout the country now, but, it has not always been that way.  In the early 1900s they were common only in the southwestern states.  At that time they were also commonly sold as cage birds because of their beautiful song.  When American birds became protected under federal law (the Migratory Bird Treaty Act) many pet shops and bird dealers in the eastern states, especially New York released all of their captive birds so they would not be caught with them and fined.  These birds rapidly became quite common where they were released and began spreading to the west and south.  The southwestern birds also began spreading to the north and east.  In the early 1970s I banded the first House Finch identified in the state of South Dakota.  This was like the Golden Nail that joined the railroads from the Atlantic to the Pacific.  The eastern and western populations of this bird had met in the middle and now they occupy all 48 states and Hawaii and are fairly common throughout the country.

This is truly a beautiful bird.  The male is dressed up with a bright red forehead, supercilium, breast and rump in addition to its pretty song.  The female is more sparrow like, brown in color with a light belly with brown streaks.  They are easy to attract with sunflower seed or thistle Nyjer seed.  These birds are cling and peck type feeders so perches on the sunflower feeders or thistle feeders are not necessary as they can just cling to the side of the feeder.

Water is also a good way to get House Finches to your yard.  This can be provided with a simple bird bath or something as elaborate as a backyard pond kit.  Moving water is always better for attracting birds and you can add this dimension to a simple birdbath through the use of a mister or dripper.

While these birds are beautiful and fun to watch in your yard, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.  In many areas House Finches are as common as the English House Sparrow.  In my mother’s backyard in Wyoming the House Finches are overwhelming, occurring in large numbers and eating a lot of seed in the process.  We have a lot of them on our property here in Portal, Arizona also, but nowhere near the numbers that my mother plays host to. 

So, are the House Finches beauties or beasts?  You can decide and let us know how you feel by commenting on this entry.  As for Nancy and I (and my mother), we operate on the premice that birds coming into the feeders attract other birds to the feeders and, in general, we have found that to be true.  What do you think?

Cooper’s Hawks like to eat smaller birds.  It is their way, and we have an article in our hints and tips about what to do when you have one of these birds visiting your bird feeder for his snacks.  The suggestions we make have been proven to work at our feeders and we have had people tell us they have helped at their bird feeders also.

But…..(you could hear that but coming, couldn’t you)…  we have a new bird feeder problem.  We have a young Cooper’s Hawk that has decided that our four tiered bird pond is a great place to soak it’s feet on a hot day.  It comes in and just stands in the water next to the water fall so that it gets a little splash, but not soaked.  We have never seen it attempt to hunt while it is here.  In fact it comes in with a great deal of wing flapping and hopping around.  It seems to want to clear every other animal out so that it has the bath to its self.  It is great to see the hawk stand so still for so long when you want to identify the bird or want to show it to a fellow bird watcher……but….you sure aren’t going to be able to show your fellow bird watcher any other birds when the hawk is around.

Now I realize that Cooper’s hawks have a rough life.  In a recent study of 300 skeletons,  23 percent showed old, healed-over fractures in the bones of the chest, especially of the wishbone.  The males have a particularly hard life.  Let me remind you that:

1. Cooper’s Hawks eat birds smaller that they are. 

2. The females will eat medium-sized birds.

3. Male Cooper’s Hawks are smaller than the female. 

 Are you getting the picture?

This tends to make the male submissive and he will make sure that his mate is in the mood before he makes his move, for reasons I’m sure are obvious to you.

The male will build the nest and will then feed both the female and the babies for the next 3 months, the time it takes for the young to be ready to go out on their own.

Now despite this rough life, I wish this particular Cooper’s Hawk would find some other way of cooling off this summer.  He is wreaking our chance to see the baby birds that would usually visit our yard.  It is always fun to watch the adult plumage slowly emerge.

We do have bird feeders on other sides of the house, so we haven’t been totally out of touch with the maturing of the baby birds, but it is just not the same when we fill our coffee cups each morning.

This hawk does not have a flight plan, so we can’t discourage him in the normal ways.  Our only solution is to let the pond go dry and water the birds in the other bird baths are offered around the yard.  I hope he gets the message soon.

Of course, we are not having to put out as much bird seed as usual, so we are saving some money. But, doesn’t the President want us to spend money right now?  Maybe I can get him to address this problem over a beer at the White House some time.