Tom's Bird Feeders and Reptile Supplies

Recently a birding friend of ours approached us with a problem he was having.  His wife, who was also a long time birder had recently been admitted to a nursing home due to failing health.  While still being of sharp mind (It was her body which was failing.) she was bored with the daily routine of the facility.  He said that she missed the birds that she had so happily watched at their home.  We suggested that they talk to the facility’s management about putting up a window mounted bird feeder on the large window in her room.   This was allowed and this story had a happy ending.

Window mount bird feeders are great for people who are home or facility bound or that wish to bird while they work in home or office.  These feeders bring the birds into easy viewing distance from inside the house.  Draw the birds of your choice with the variety of platform, suet, oriole or hummingbird window mount bird feeders.  To properly mount your feeder be sure the glass is clean and then soak the suction cups in hot water until they are pliable. These feeders will stay put!  Yet, they are so simple to remove! 

Some people have expressed the concern that window mounted bird feeders may lead to more window collision deaths or injuries for their birds.  This could not be farther from fact as the feeder breaks up the reflective quality of the glass.  The birds slow down for the feeder as they approach it.  We have far more problems with birds leaving the feeders 15 feet away from our sliding glass door on our patio when a cat or hawk passes through.  We have never had a casualty as a result of our window mounted feeders.

Window mount bird feeders are a nice solution to the problem of being home bound.  It allows a person to observe up close a variety of the local birds and keeps one’s mind sharp with the identification process.

For many years now the bluebird populations have been declining because land has been cleared for new houses, shopping malls and highways.The old wood fence posts that provided nesting cavities are now being replaced with metal posts. Much of the natural nesting cavities for bluebirds and other native cavity nesters has been greatly reduced.

We also have to remember that the House Sparrow and the European Starling have been introduced to the U.S. Both starlings and sparrows are cavity nesters, and both are very aggressive. House Sparrows are small enough to enter any hole that a bluebird can, and are so aggressive that they will chase away the more timid bluebird. Starlings can be excluded from bluebird boxes by using the correct size entrance hole, but will compete with bluebirds for woodpecker holes and other natural nesting cavities.

During the summer, bluebirds feed mainly on insects. In the winter, bluebirds depend on many kinds of wild berries for their food supply. However, the supply of wild berries has also decreased over the years. The few berries that remain are often stripped quickly by large flocks of starlings.Even though the bluebird population has greatly decreased, you can impact the population positively. One very important step you can take to help bring back the bluebird is to provide nesting sites by setting out a bluebird box or starting a bluebird trail. A bluebird trail is simply bluebird boxes placed along a prescribed route. In areas where nesting boxes have been put up in suitable habitat, bluebird populations are increasing. Bluebirding is a great project that people of all ages can enjoy. Many a good bluebird trail has been set up by boy scouts and other similar youth groups.

Another way to enhance your area for bluebirds is to add a bluebird/mealworm bird feeder.  These feeders have entrance holes the correct size for bluebirds, and been designed specifically so that your mealworms will not be able to escape from the bird feeder.

These simple steps will encourage bluebirds to stay around your area and help increase the bluebird population nationwide.

We all have watched a TV station that advertises that they have America’s favorite “characters” on their station.  Well,  I just spent quite a bit of time in South Dakota, and now remember that one of my “favorite characters” in the bird world is the Black-capped Chickadee.  This character was busy taking sunflower seeds out of my parents  sunflower bird feeder and hiding them for a snowy day.  The Black-Capped Chickadee hides seeds and other food items to eat later. Each item is placed in a different spot and the chickadee can remember thousands of hiding places.  Not that a chickadee should ever worry about going hungry - my parents would never let their bird feeders go empty for very long.

Chickadees will flock in the winter.  The center of a flock of chickadees contain a mated  pairs and nonbreeders, but generally not the offspring of the adult pairs within that flock. Other birds that can be observed with chickadee flocks include nuthatches, woodpeckers, kinglets, creepers,  and further south  wintering warblers and vireos.

One of the reasons other species of birds may follow chickadee flocks may be the great danger call of the chickadee.  The more dee notes in the chickadee-dee-dee call the greater the threat level.  Even species that do not have a danger call will respond to the chickadee’s threat level.

One story I have heard about the Black-capped Chickadee was about Robert Bates who trained a rehabbing chickadee to pull a string, to raise the cup, to make the cup spill a sunflower seed into his cage.

The flocks that visited my parents do not have to work quite that hard for a sunflower seed, but the acrobatic stunts they do pull make them one on my favorite characters.

Today when we went outside to fill our bird feeders,  a Great Blue Heron was sitting on top of our roof. This would not be an unusual species except I live in the middle of a desert with the nearest body of water several miles away.  All I can say is birds are where you find them.