Young goldfinch begging from its parent.

Question:  The goldfinches and siskins are birds that I want coming to my yard so I purchased a thistle sock.  It seemed to let a lot of thistle seed slip through and land on the ground.  I then tried a feeder from a box store and have the same problem.  What do I look for in a finch feeder to stop this?  Thistle is too expensive to waste.

Answer:  First, please go out to your feeding station and take a good look at the seed on the ground.  Finches and siskins crack the seed, eat the meat and leave the hull.  What you may perceive as wasted seed may have already been eaten by the birds.  If this is not the case, then it is time to pick a quality bird feeder.  When looking for any bird feeder the first criteria should be easy to clean. The feeder should come apart so you can get into every nook and cranny. You should clean your feeder at least once a month.  Second, the bird feeder should be easy to fill.  This may not sound important at first, but after the first month or two hard to fill feeders are usually empty a great deal of the time.  Third, look for a company whose main line is bird feeders.  These companies take the time to develop a great design.  Many companies who build bird feeders as a side line will ususally build a pretty feeder, but not pay attention to the details that make bird feeders great.  The bird feeders we carry meet the above criteria and most have been tried in our yard or in the yards of the savvy birders we know personally. 

Finches feeding at a thistle sock.

You have tried a sock, but know that there are different qualities of  thistle socks.  Look for a sock that is made of heavy duty material and has a locking closure.  To keep the seed fresh after rain, roll the sock between your hands.  It will keep the seed from retaining moisture and molding.

The finches cling to the screen of the thistle feeder.

Many of our customers first step from a sock to a thistle feeder will be the one quart acrylic finch feeder.  The features that make this a quailty feeder are the  stainless steel screen, durable acrylic top and bottom with drainage holes in the base and a seed diverter so there will be no waste of your thistle seed.  It comes in 4 different colors.  If you are feeding lots of finches we also have a 3 quart acrylic thistle feeder.

Once our customers try a quality thistle feeder, it is usually a short time before they start looking for larger feeder or one with a lifetime guarantee.  Browse through our large selection to find the perfect feeder for you.  If you have any questions about any of the feeders, please contact us.

The black and white pattern along with the long tail make identification easy.

When I started bird watching I was startled to see a magpie sitting on the back of a deer.  I watched it land on the deer’s back, fly away and then land on the deer again four times.  This behavior sent me back to the books (this was before the internet) to find out why.  It seems that magpies are tolerated by the deer because the birds are removing ticks.  The magpies will eat some and then cache some for later use as many members of their family do.  The problem with this is that the ticks are stored alive and unharmed.  The ticks simply crawl away and resume their lives.

The large domed nest of the Black-billed Magpie is unmistakable.

 The nest of the Black-billed Magpie is unmistakable.  It is a large domed nest, made primarily of sticks and mud. The interior of the nest is lined with hair, grass, bark, or rootlets. The nest can take the birds up to 40 days to build.  A recent study found that the pair only spent about 1% of their daily energy to build their nest.  The female on the other hand spent 23% of her energy laying the eggs.

 As with other members of the corvidae family, the magpies will predate the nests of  birds taking both eggs and nestlings.  However this predation only makes up a small part of the Black-bill Magpie’s diet.  Most of the time the magpie will forage on the ground for insects, grains, with acorns being a favorite, small mammals and some carrion.

 When we lived in South Dakota the magpies would sometimes visit our suet feeders and our platform bird feeders.  The smaller songbirds would sound the alarm and quickly make the magpie feel unwelcomed.  They never stayed very long and we never seemed to be visited on a regular basis.  Maybe they just came in with the deer that visited our birdbath for a drink  occasionally.   :^)

Scenes like this are why we always start our day in front of the bird feeders. You just never know what is going to happen and which of nature’s wonders you will have the privilege of observing.

Reply to to the Question: This isn’t the first time I’ve got this inquiry from people who begin to use “thistle” in their feeders for finches. The dilemma happens in the terminology. What we sold you is Guizotia abyssinica, an upright, stout, branched annual plant originally out of the Ethiopian Highlands. The common name there is nigernood, which in turn translates to  blackseed. When the seed became a cash crop, and exported to the U.S., corporations changed the name of the blackseed to thistle seed to take advantage of the finches affinity for native thistle (certainly not the invasive thistle your husband is referring to.)

Later the Wild Bird Feeding Industry (WBFI) has trademarked the name Nyjer. The industry’s objective is to have the seed known as Nyjer so birders won’t mistake it with Russian Thistle. They thought a spelling adjustment was in fact recommended in order to avoid any ideas of a racial slur.

Before you buy Nyjer to use for your thistle feeder, the seed is going to be heated to 120 degrees for 15 minutes to actually sterilize the Nyjer seed. It insures that you can fill all your “thistle feeders” for the finches, Pine Siskins and Redpolls without propagating invasive seeds within your landscape.

Subsequently, your hubby is correct, Russian Thistle does indeed create tumbleweeds. Nonetheless, you should feed Nyjer seed with no need of concern.

The goldfinches and I appreciate your interest in feeding birds.

Answer: To start with, please do not change to a inexpensive seed mixture.  Nearly all of these types of seed blends have “filler seed” which help to make it considerably less costly, however a lesser number of birds are going to consume it. Furthermore a great many of these kinds of bird feeds are not really cleaned properly, consequently you are paying for chaff. The preferred choice is to get the little window feeder from the motorhome and install it on a window from which you will enjoy seeing the birds.  This compact feeder may dissuade pigeons,  jays and a good number of squirrels.  Fill the feeder with a small quantity of feed at the exact same time each and every morning. Figure out how much you wish to spend and then put out only that amount of bird food.  I understand that you might have birds investigating  an empty feeder, nevertheless keep in mind that really quite little of what birds eat really come from bird feeders, therefore you should not feel bad. ( See Tom’s article entitled “Will Birds Starve If I Stop Feeding Them?“)  You may discover that you  have the birds patiently waiting for you every single morning each time you fill the feeders.  You might possibly  be scolded when you are tardy some days.

Furthermore, attempt to buy bird seed in the biggest quantity feasible.  Pound for pound it is the more cost-effective approach.   Always be sure to keep your bird seed in a cool dry place.  I utilize a twenty gallon steel trash can.  The birds and I say thank you for your continuing enthusiasm for feeding wild birds.

I remember when I first started birding and had memorized the song of the Vesper Sparrow in South Dakota.  When we visited North Carolina there were many songs that were not familiar, but I was seeing a Vesper Sparrow singing and thought the song was not quite right.  I have learned since then that the songs of the Vesper Sparrow can vary between regions, but a Vesper Sparrow in South Dakota will sound like every other Vesper Sparrow.  And a North Carolina Vesper Sparrow will sound like every other Vesper Sparrow.  I’m not sure how the regions are established, but there will be regional differences in their songs.  There is even a documented report of a Vesper Sparrow that learned to sing like a Bewick’s Wren!

The Vesper Sparrow was first called the Bay-winged Bunting and then the Grass Finch.  John Burroughs gave the bird the name Vesper Sparrow because he felt that its singing was “sweeter and more impressive toward the evening”.

This sparrow is a very adaptable little bird.  It is often the first species to return to a  forest area when a mining site or farm fields are reclaimed.  We felt complimented by his visit to our bird feeder, as we are slowly reclaiming over grazed pasture land and have some native trees that are now taller than we are!

The Ruby-throated Hummingbird was first described as a “spritelike bird, scarcely bigger than a good sized insect……..most unbirdlike, more like an overgrown bee.” ( Scott- 1890)  Comments like this are understandable when the Ruby-throated Hummingbird can beat its wings 53 times a second, can hover in one place and is eastern North America’s only breeding hummingbird.  How would you describe a hummingbird without using a camera?  I think Scott did the best anyone could do!

Scientists have placed hummingbirds and swifts in the same taxonomic order, the Apodiformes. This name means “without feet.”  If you observe this little hummer for a while you can see why the classification is appropriate.  These short legs prevent it from walking or even hopping like many birds do, it does more of a shuffling motion when it moves along a perch.  The only time you may see its legs are when the hummer has an itch on its head or neck.  The bird can scratch by reaching around its wing to get to the itchy spot.

When you put out a hummingbird feeder for the Ruby-throated Hummingbird, you need to be patient.  These hummers are a creature of habit, and will return to the same spot to look for the bird feeder they used last year.  If you have moved the feeder or put out new ones, they will take their time in adjusting to the newness of the situation. They will eventually adjust and come back to a new spot until you move or change something again.  Then the process will start all over again!

Next time you see a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, try to describe it to someone who has seen a hummingbird before.  Try to see it’s feet.  If you are really brave, move the hummingbird feeder and see how long it takes for the little guy to find the new location!

There are two solutions to hummingbirds that try to posses a hummingbird feeder for themselves.  One is place every feeder in your yard out of sight of any other feeder.  The option we use is to offer 30 Best 1 Hummingbird Feeders along the front of our house.  The ‘bully’ cannot posses all of the feeders at one time.  While he is at one end of the house, the hummers enjoy a snack of sugar water at the other end.  We do not fill the hummingbird feeders full and always clean them every 3-4 days.   You can learn how we clean our hummingbird feeders.

Today we we lucky enough to witness a very brave act!  We had a Magnificent Hummingbird that ignored the bomb diving, hovering and buzzing of the Rufous and helped himself  to a hearty breakfast.  Several of the Rufous where just plainly enraged by this act.  But, no matter what they tried, the Magnificent was going to have his breakfast!

While I was laughing out loud at the activity in front of the porch, Tom was counting the number of feeders that had hummingbirds at them.  We had 14 feeders being used at the same time!  It seems that many other hummingbirds knew enough to use the distraction to grab a sip or two.

I have blogged about the migration the Rufous Hummingbirds undertake each year. I should realize their tenacity is necessary to their survival, but today I was really tickled that their tenacity (I still call it bullying) was held in check by the Magnificent Hummingbird!  It was a “magnificent” sight!  Pun intended.

Well, it’s that time of year down here.  As we sipped from our Southwest Canyon Bird Coffee Mug, the fall sparrow migration hit our bird feeders.  We had had a few Lark Sparrows into the recycled platform bird feeder last week.  Today the flock arrived!  We had them enjoying our bath bath and then using both platform feeders.  While we were watching them the Chipping Sparrows started filtering into the triple tube feeder.  Shortly we also had Savannah Sparrows, Lincoln Sparrows, Black Headed Grosbeaks, Blue Grosbeaks and a Green-tailed Towhee.  Most of these species seemed to prefer the platform bird feeders, but many used the various tube feeders we have scattered around the yard, especially the shy species.  Many of these species will stay with us for the winter.  Some will get their field marks back after this molt, making the ID so much easier.

We were surprised that so many species arrived at the same time, perhaps it is because we put up a new novelty crossing sign - ”Wild Bird Crossing!”

These birds reminded me of watching a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches build a nest at my folk’s house in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  When I arrived the pair were busily collecting resin globules from coniferous trees and plastering them around the entrance of  their  nest hole.  I expected the birds to carry the resin in their bills.  I was amazed that the nuthatches used what I considered a tool.  The male collected  pieces of bark with pine pitch on it and then used the bark as an applicator. The male puts the resin primarily around the outside of the hole while the female puts it around the inside. It is thought that the resin helps to keep out competition for the nest cavity and also deters predators. The nuthatch avoids the resin by diving through the hole, not perching in the entry as most birds do.

My father reported that the Red-breasted Nuthatch had fought hard to claim the nesting cavity.  He had first seen a Downy Woodpecker hammering away, trying to enlarge the hole.  The Red-breasted Nuthatch aggressively chased the Downy away after a two day battle.  Next the Red-breasted had to defend the cavity from a White-breasted Nuthatch.  It seems this pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches were particularly feisty and again won the battle.

This pair brought 3 young off the nest.  My folks were as proud as “grandparent”s could be.  In fact,  they purchased a peanut bird feeder when the young left the nest as a way to keep the nuthatches in the area.  I don’t know if the same pair stayed around, but the familiar “yank-yank” has been heard for years at my parent’s house.

The Lark Sparrows are still here in great numbers enjoying the platform bird feeder.  Their face pattern on this sparrow plus the fan shaped tail with the white band make this  one of the easiest to identify of the sparrows. 

 One interesting observation is that Lark Sparrows walk rather than hop across our bird feeder. If fact, hopping is only used during courtship.  During courtship a male Lark Sparrow crouches on the ground, holds his tail up at a 45 degree angle from the ground, spreads the tail feathers to show off the white tips, and then struts with its wings drooping so that the wingtips nearly touch the ground. When the female is receptive, the male gives her a small twig just before copulation.

In our area we have observed Lark Sparrows recycling old Mockingbird and thrasher nests.  I have also read reports where  the eggs and young of two species are found in the same nest, suggesting that the Lark Sparrow shares the nest with the other bird.

I will continue to report on the spring bird migration here in Portal.  Good Birding to all.

We came back to Lark Sparrows in great numbers at our bird feeders.  We had 9 in our platform bird  feeder and about 10 more on the ground under the bird feeder.  The Pine Siskins and Lesser Goldfinches are still coming into the stainless steel thistle feeder, but we have not seen the Lawrence’s Goldfinches since we got back. 

We have had a Cassin’s Kingbird into the bird bath and the warblers are bathing on a regular basis with the most common being the Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Our first juvenile Black-throated Sparrow was being fed just above our triple tube bird feeder in the mesquite tree.

The most common birds at our Best 1 hummingbird feeders have been the Broad-tailed and the Black-throated Hummingbirds.  All three of our orioles have be into the saucer oriole feeder and they have been sneaking sips from the hummingbird feeders.

We have reports of the Elegant Trogan in our canyon (see our birding map for directions)

This is a great time to visit Portal, Arizona.

Meanwhile, a Magnificent Hummingbird was quietly sipping nectar from our saucer hummingbird feeder.  The Black-chinned Hummingbirds chose not to challenge him.  I’m not sure why as they have done so in the past.

The Lawrence’s Goldfinch continues to come in to the thistle bird feeder.  He comes in with a flock of Lesser Goldfinches, so be sure to check the entire flock out.

We still have only the Scott’s Oriole coming into the jelly at the oriole feeder.  The rest of the orioles should be arriving soon.

Hope everyone’s bird migration is great this year.  Ours is off to a good start.

We had a Broad-tailed Hummingbird into our saucer hummingbird feeder this morning and the Cactus Wren and the Curve-billed Thrasher are fighting over the telephone pole. Both feel they  have territorial rights to this pole.  We cleaned out the nesting platform, but the Cactus Wren has started moving nesting material into it already.

The spring bird migration has started, the flowers are blooming and it is a GREAT day for nature lovers!

We also had  Mountain Bluebirds come into our Supper Dome bird feeder. If you are not familiar with the Supper Dome, it is both a mealworm feeder and a suet feeder.  We had put out some mealworms for the Says Phoebes, but phoebes weren’t fast enough.  I guess the old saying  “The early bird gets the worm” would apply.  Our new supply of mealworms came in Monday, but the poor pheobes had to find breakfast the old fashioned way-hunt for it.

With the bluebird migration on, remember to have your bluebird houses cleaned out, repaired or replaced, as territories will be established soon.  Get the mealworm feeders out and get your supply of mealworms stocked.

Remember to only put out a little nectar in your hummingbird feeder until the hummingbird migration is in full swing.  Also remember to change the nectar regularly. 

Hope your bird migration is great this year and I will let you know what is coming into our yard.

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.

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.

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.

We had recently had to take an agave stalk down because we had a Loggerhead Shrike use it as a perch. But with the stalk down we had not seen him lately.

This morning when we went to fill the bird feeders, we discovered that we had not discouraged the shrike, but only accomplished moving him to the top of our television satellite dish. Now he can see all three bird feeding stations at the same time.

We can’t take down the satellite dish. He does not fly away when we try to scare him. But, we do have some neighbors worried about our sanity.  It seems that yelling and waving your arms while staring at your dish is not normal.

This shrike thinks he has outsmarted us.  And I guess we may have lost the battle, but have not given up the war.

If you have ideas, PLEASE let us know.

Goldfinches cling sideways mimicking feeding on seed heads.

In my continuing series on different types of finch bird feeders I would like to review our 1 quart stainless steel thistle bird feeder. 

I have to admit that this thistle bird feeder is my favorite.  It truly optimizes our philosophy of easy to clean and easy to fill bird feeders.  It’s die cast yellow top and bottom along with the  perforated stainless steel sides and lifetime guarantee will make it one of yours also.

You may notice that this bird feeder has no perches.  If you review our article on attracting finches to your yard you will remember that these acrobatic bird use a cling and peck method in nature, so no perches are necessary.

To fill it, you simply lift off the yellow die cast top.  This top is very tight fitting and will keep squirrels from lifting the lid.  Because it is die cast metal the squirrel has no chance of chewing on the lid to get to the thistle/Nyjer seed.  This feeder does not have a center pole, so the seed does not bounce out when you are refilling.  It  also has a seed diverter so that every seed can be consumed and you will not have any waste.

Top lid swings out of the way for filling. The bottom is completely removable by pulling the stainless steel pin.

  This bird feeder will come apart without the use of any tools.  A stainless steel pin, complete will a hoop for easy removal, has to be pulled to remove the bottom.  Once the bottom is removed, I use a Swab wet with a mild bleach solution to clean the inside of the feeder.  I rinse well, allow to dry, and refill.  It’s that easy and as we all know, easy is better.  It also means that the feeder will get cleaned more often.  The  advantage of good hygiene is obvious.

Now I warned you from the beginning of the blog that this was my favorite finch feeder, and now I’m sure that you know why.  If you want me to continue to sing its praise, contact me and I will write pages and pages for you.

You might notice that I say he “ran”.  He did not fly.  Crissal Thrashers are known for their habit of running or walking around their territory.  Even when threatened by a predator or disturbed by us he runs for cover.  He does not fly unless death is imminent.  This unique habit makes things interesting when a Cooper’s Hawk flies over the bird feeders and a covey of quail are also in the yard.  They will all head for the same juniper/acacia tangle.  If the quail have young they win, if not the quail will usually head for the brush pile.

We have only found one Crissal Thrasher nest.  It was built close to the trunk of a tree, under a large branch.  Access to the nest was difficult for even the parent birds and should have provided great protection from predators and becauses of the location the nest was in a shady spot.  The Crissal Thrasher is only thrasher that lay unspotted eggs.

The energy of the Crisssal Thrasher inspired us to get moving or at least inspired me to get out to the office and write this blog.  You can find Crissal Thrashers and observe their habit of running by going to our Portal, Arizona birding map and looking for the big thicket.

We have often heard the comment “I don’t feed birds because I travel and I don’t want to make them dependent on my bird feeder.”  Often we are asked about this at our booth at various birding festivals and trade shows.  For the longest time I really didn’t have a good answer based on facts.  Now I do.  Margaret Brittingham at the University of Wisconsin’s Wildlife Ecology Department conducted a three year study, tracking 576 Black-capped Chickadees and found no difference in the rates of survival of feeder visitors to wild foragers.  Her study indicates that feeder birds obtained only 20 to 25% of their daily energy requirements from feeder food.  However, when temperatures dropped below 10 degrees Fahrenheit the chickadees increasingly turned to feeder seeds.  The goal of Brittingham’s study was to learn whether birds become dependent on feeders and loose the ability to forage in the wild.  Her study did not support that premise.  The specific citation for this study is Journal of Field Ornithology, 63(2):190-194:  Does Winter Bird Feeding Promote Dependency, by Margaret C. Brittingham and Stanley A. Temple.

With this said, let’s get out there and put up the bird feeders.  Birds are colorful and interesting.  They provide a wonderful link for both children and adults with the natural world around us.  Studies show that relaxing and enjoying the birds coming into a feeder reduces stress.  These are good things for you and your family.  The food does help the birds out so it is a win-win situation.  And you will not make them dependent on your feeding in the process.

I have been thinking about why my grandkids are interested in bird watching and would like to offer the following suggestions to parents and grandparents.  These suggestions are for young children.  In another blog I will talk about older children.

First, you need to get them involved.  Pointing though a window and saying “Look at the pretty bird” just does not do it.  My grandson (2 1/2 years old) helps fill the bird feeders.  When we have finished filling the bird feeders and hear the birds singing, I tell him that it is their way of saying “thank you”.  If we have not filled the bird feeders, the singing is their way of saying “please”.  I don’t make an issue that he helps every day and I never interrupt a good game of stacking the blocks to do this.  I try to pick a time that he is looking for something to do.  And yes, some times the birds get fed more often than they need to, but who cares as long as the child is interested in birds right then?

We have bird feeders that are at his level.  All bird watchers have experienced “warbler neck”,  that stiff feeling that you get from looking up all day at tree top birds.  For a child a bird feeder at your level will give them “warbler neck”  We have several platform bird feeders that are at his height.  These are the bird feeders that he notices.  The platform bird feeders are outside a sliding glass door at our house, and outside a low picture window at Great Grandma’s house.  The movement of the birds catches his eye and when he knows that he filled that feeder, he is excited.  It means that we have finger prints on the glass, but really, is that something that we should worry about?

Bird Watching at Great Grandma's House. The bird feeders are at a level that helps little ones enjoy the birds

I need to remember that my grandson will not be excited about the first Green-tailed Towhee each fall, but is excited about the House Finches every time he sees them, after all red is his favorite color.  He has helped his little sisters stand up to look out the windows more than once and explained to them that “That’s my bird!”

I try to remember that if  he has spotted a particularly colorful bird, like Blue Jays in South Dakota or a Cardinal in Arizona I need to stop what I am doing for just a few seconds and share in his excitement.

I also need to remember that his attention span is still very limited and he will be off to his next project before I am ready to move on.

I think you get the idea by now.  Make bird watching fun.  Don’t make it a chore.  Get down on your knees and see their world.  You will learn that the world through their eyes is a very different place than the world though our eyes.  Enjoy their wonderment.  As every Grandma knows, childhood does not last long enough.

These thistle bird feeders will attract all three species of goldfinches,  House Finches, Purple Finches, Pine Siskins, and I have had reports of juncos and titmice regularly visiting thistle feeders.

If you have been using a thistle sock and are tired of replacing it or have problems with squirrels, the acrylic thistle feeder might be the next step up for your backyard birding habitat.

The acrylic top will provide some protection from rain and the acrylic bottom does have drain holes so that rain may quickly drain away from the seed.  This feeder also has a center seed diverter so that Every seed can be consumed.  The screen is stainless steel and allows birds to cling to it.  There are no perches, but this will help with some problem birds such as the pigeons and morning doves. Now remember that finches are “cling and peck” feeders and do not need to have perches.

The top has a special lock pin so that it will not blow off in wind storms, but can be easily removed for filling.

To clean the acrylic finch feeder, we spray the screen with a mild bleach solution, use a stiff  brush to scrub it and then allow it to dry.  The bottom may be removed during the cleaning process, but it is held together with a nut on the bottom so you must use an appropriate tool.  For this reason, this feeder  is slightly more of a challenge to clean that some of the others that I will review.  However, at only $14.99 for a 1 quart feeder with a three year warranty this is one of our most popular thistle bird feeders.

This storm brought a new yard bird into our platform bird feeder. It was the Dark-eyed Junco, the Oregon subspecies. It is common in Paradise, but the elevation and the habitat are typical for the Oregon Junco in Paradise, not down here on the edge of the desert.

We also had a Gila Woodpecker coming in to help its self to the sunflower seed bird feeder, one seed at a time. He would then fly up to an agave stock to crack the seed, then back down to the bird feeder.

The weatherman has promised a warm up, but this morning the Oregon Junco was back in. Who do you think predicts the weather more accurately, the weatherman or the junco?

If you are not feeding thistle then let’s figure out what birds a new thistle bird feeder will bring into your yard.  We need to check distribution maps and compare your location to the maps.  You will get some birds into thistle anywhere in the country, and checking distribution and habitat will tell you what the most likely species are, such as Goldfinches, Siskins, Redpolls and House Finches.

If you are new to feeding thistle to the birds I like to suggest a thistle sock as a beginner bird feeder.  We have three different thistle socks.  Our basic thistle sock comes filled with thistle seed.  This will give you both the sock and a starting supply of seed.  This is for someone who is just not sure what will come in to the thistle sock.  These socks have a thinner weave to their material.

The other socks are woven from heavy material, and comes in two sizes.  The small thistle socks are approximately 4″ x 11″.  This sock will accommodate approximately 7-8 birds at a time.  The large thistle socks are woven from heavy material and are approximately 4″ x 22″.  This sock will accommodate approximately 12-15 birds at a time.  A draw string retainer protects from spillage of expensive nyjer seed on these thistle socks.

Any thistle sock is subject to damage from squirrels, so this should be taken in to account before choosing a thistle sock.

With any thistle sock, be sure to roll the sock between your hands after rain.  This will move the seed around and assure that the seed dries so there is not spoilage.

These thistle bird feeders provide an economical method for feeding small desirable birds that cling, and may be right for you.  In upcome blogs I will discuss our other thistle bird feeders pros and cons.  We will find the perfect thistle feeder for you!

A facinating fact about this little gem of a bird is his display.  This little guy will not only display for a female hummingbird, but will show off for humans frequently. He will let you know that you are about to be treated to this display by hovering 6-12 feet in front of you.  He will then fly about 130 feet straight up.  He will then plummet in a near vertical dive. This display dive ends when the lets off a loud tweet about a 1 1/2 feet in front of you.  He will then circle back to his starting point.  Now this little hummingbird knows how beautiful he is as he will orient himself to the sun so that his throat and crown are reflected in the sun during the dive.

So, next time you think that the Anna’s Hummingbird you were watching disappeared by flying straight up, stay put, he just may be giving you a special view, and celebrate by wearing your Anna’s Hummingbird cap.

I looked out the window this past week to see a Pinion Jay at our stainless steel sunflower bird feeder.  I did a double take.  We have had them in our yard before, but usually in December and January, and then only when we have snow at our elevation which only happen a few times a year.  Although Tom was sure I knew what a Pinion Jay looked like after helping band them for years, his eyebrow still went up just a little.

“How unusual,” was his only comment.

Just a few days ago Tom hollered in from the family room “Hey, we have a Scrub Jay eating at the suet bird feeder!”

“How unusual,” was my only comment.  Although I have to tell you that I did get a good look at him and will confirm his finding.

This morning while we were sipping from our coffee mugs we had a Dark-eyed Junco stop for a bite to eat at the triple tube bird feeder.  We looked at each other and said at the same time “How unusual!”  We can laugh and tease each other and this sort of teasing always makes the day start off right.

It does make us wonder-what kind of weather will we be having if the birds are already scouting out bird feeders at our lower elevation?

Are you people from up north feeling sorry for us?

But this morning we had one American Goldfinch stop in for a bite to eat and a quick bath in the bird bath. This species is uncommon for our area. A few are seen in the area each year, but we have never had the flocks we were familiar with when we lived in South Dakota, and they never stay in the area for very long.

We knew our day was off to a great start, and to add to the day a small flock of Pine Siskins stopped by. These were a first for this fall. They visited our thistle sock, as the stainless steel thistle feeder was pretty much covered with birds. The American Goldfinch was much larger than the Lesser Goldfinches, so he was not shy about making sure he got a hearty breakfast.

It’s great to have more than one kind of bird feeder in your yard. Yesterday the platform bird feeder had all of the excitement and today the thistle bird feeders. What will tomorrow bring?

The White-crowned Sparrow, with it’s striking black and white striped head, is one of the birds that indicate to us that fall is here. The first year birds will have a brown and white striped head when they arrive here, but by the time they head back north the crisp black and white pattern is apparent. He is one of the first sparrows that beginning bird watchers learn to identify when they come to their bird feeders.

Since the White-crowned Sparrow prefers to feed on the ground along tree and shrub lines their favorite feeder in our yard is the platform bird feeder. A mixed seed seems to attract then however they have been know to be drawn to grains such as oats, wheat, barley, and corn.

A young male White-crowned Sparrow learns the basics of the song it will sing as an adult during the first few months of its life. The song is developed from not only listening to it’s father, but he will pick up bits of song from its neighbors. The birds will return to the same area to nest as they were hatched so the songs of the White-crowned Sparrow have regional dialects. If a young bird develops his song on the edge of two different dialects, the young bird will not combine the songs, but may become bilingual learning two different dialects.

Another interesting fact about the White-crowned Sparrow is that it will share their territories with Fox Sparrows, but chase Chipping Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos until they leave. In our yard we have three platform bird feeders so that all the sparrows can find a safe place to eat.

Our defination of “snowbirds” may not be the one that most people have, but in the world of birders, I’m sure that the White-crowned Sparrow is one of the welcomed snowbirds to their bird feeders.

I have to confess, sometimes I get really aggravated at the Rufous Hummingbird. We have had Black-chinned Hummingbirds here all summer. They have nested in our yard and entertained us with their acrobatic flight. Now migration is on and that little tiny bully known as the Rufous has managed to intimidate our summer long visitors. We have put out more Best 1 hummingbird feeders out of sight of each other, but the Rufous has managed to find a vantage point on the roof of our house so that he can see both the west and south side of our house, and he feels he needs 10 feeders for himself.

Tom has reminded me that the Rufous has the longest migratory journeys of any bird in the world, as measured by body size. At just over 3 inches long, its roughly 3,900-mile movement (one-way) from Alaska to Mexico is equivalent to 78,470,000 body lengths and that they need their strength to make such a migration.

Tom also reminds me that the Rufous has been documented chasing chipmunks away from their nest, so that they have to have a fierce nature to protect their young. Also, that they beat their wings 52-62 times a second, so they have to have a great deal of energy.

Tom has valid points, but still, does the Rufous Hummingbird need to dominate all 10  bird feeders? I think I’m still a little aggravated with him.

Our hummingbird migration is still going on.  We still have Rufous Hummingbirds coming through and we still have most of the hummingbirds like the Magnificent, Blue-throated, and Violet-crowned coming into our Best 1 Hummingbird feeder.  We have also set up several saucer humming bird feeders around the yard and of course, Tom still has the window mount hummingbird feeder on the kitchen window.

In the past few days we have had warblers filtering through including the Townsend’s, MacGillivray’s, Common Yellowthroat, Wilson’s, Yellow, Yellow-rumped and the Black-throated Gray.  They have been at our birdbath and enjoying the bird mister especially.  The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher only came in for one day and seemed to enjoy the  bird dripper most.

Many of our winter migrants have started coming in.  The Clay-colored and  White-crowned Sparrows are back as well as the Green-tailed Towhees.

All of this going on and in our recycled platform bird feeder we have a Curve-billed Thrasher feeding young.

Have I convinced you?  It’s Great to Bird Watch in Portal!

Our yard has been fenced off from cattle grazing for about 10 years now.  We are fighting a battle with Russian Thistle and have noticed a definite decrease in this weed and several other noxious weeds.  The return of the Rufous-crowned Sparrow has given us hope that our yard will someday become a true desert scrubland haven for the birds.

Once paired the Rufous-crowned Sparrow remain on their territories year-round and stay bonded for life.  The are ground feeders and like to peck at the base of grass stems.  They are therefore most attracted to platform bird feeders in the winter, however prefer insects in the summer months.  The bird baths we have in our yard seem to be attracting them this year as we have not had much in the way of monsoonal rains. 

To help you find Rufous-crowned Sparrows download our Portal Birding Map and look along the Portal Road and the Foothills Roads in the scrub land before and throughout the big thicket.

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.

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.

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

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!

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?

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.

When the grosbeaks builds a nest they do their best to install air conditioning by making the bottom of the nest so thin that you will be able to see the eggs through the bottom of the nest and the best air circulation is available to the eggs and the parent bird. The thickness of the nest depends on the part of the country the nest is built in.

The female grosbeak is a true feminist. She expects the male to do about half of the work when it comes to incubating eggs and feeding young. If the male starts to spend too much time away from the nest, she will start singing. The male will then return thinking his territory has been invaded.

Attracting grosbeaks to your yard is as easy as providing food, water, and shelter. Grosbeaks will eat insects, seeds and fruits. The grosbeaks visiting our yard prefer sunflower seeds. They like our hopper / platform bird feeder. This feeder has a hopper in the middle of the platform. It is easy to keep full.

These birds seem to prefer our bird pond over our bird bath. They seem to prefer to be near the splash of the tiers, and are regular bathers.

Our yard does not have many of the large deciduous trees, but I have heard them singing from our 15-20 foot trees, although we have never found a nest.

In conclusion, you do not need the ideal habitat to attract Black-headed Grosbeaks to your yard.  Provide the right type of food and some water and they will come.

Because of this musical talent, they were nearly extirpated from parts of the east coast in the early 1900s.  People took fledglings and  trapped the adults to sell in cities like New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis.  In 1928 these talented singers could bring as much as $50.00.

The Northern Mockingbird is found in shrubby areas with open grassy spots.  Shrubs that form thickets and produce berries are their favorites.  You can find Northern Mockingbirds in parkland, cultivated land, suburban areas and in second growth habitat at low elevations.

Northern Mockingbirds eat mainly insects in summer but switch to eating mostly fruit in fall and winter.  What this means for you is that you must create a backyard bird habitat to attract them to your yard.

Start by planting shrubs and hedges that produce fruit and will become quite thick.  Try to pick native plants, although mockingbirds will eat ornamental berries.  The mockingbirds that clean off the pyracantha berries from our thickets are already establishing territories although the berries are still green.

We use our recycled oriole feeder to feed raisins to the mockingbirds and birds have taken mealworms from other cups in our recycled oriole feeder.  It is always a thrill to see the flash of white in their wings as they approach the feeder.

We also have a four tiered bird pond that recycles water throughout the system.  This is a magnet for the Northern Mockingbird.  They seem to enjoy the splash from one tier to the next.  The less dominate mockingbirds take turns at the bird bath, pretending they can’t see each other.

 The Northern Mockingbird population has rebounded from their low counts in the nineteen hundreds, and even though the mockingbirds in our yard have waken me on more than one morning, I for one know that I am going to have a good day when I hear that song.

Thistle seeds attract a limited number of bird species, but they include a number of the most popular backyard birds such as include the American Goldfinch (often called the wild canary), Lesser Goldfinch, Lawrence’s Goldfinch, Pine Siskin, Common Redpoll, Hoary Redpoll, House Finch, Cassin’s Finch, and Purple Finch. 

A tube feeder with black oil sunflower seeds will attract the goldfinches, chickadees, pine siskins, woodpeckers, nuthatches, titmice, and redpolls.  By adding a tray to the bottom of the tube feeder you can also attract House Finches, White-crowned Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, cardinals, crossbills and Purple Finches.  

These feeders and feeds will go a long way toward eliminating some of the problem birds in your backyard.

Speaking of baby quail we just had our first family of Gambel’s Quail in the day before yesterday.  Mom and Dad had 15 young ones in a downy mob at our four tiered bird pond.  The young ones had no trouble jumping up onto the platform feeders to eat with the parents.  Yesterday, our first family of Scaled Quail came in with 8 youngsters.  These little guys looked like a cotton balls on toothpick legs and were only a couple of days old.  They also drank from the bird pond, but were unable to jump up to the platform feeders yet.  Usually by this time we are feeding from 60-80 baby quail a day but this has been a slow year for them.  It has been our experience that the quail fail to nest normally during unusually dry years.  While this has not been as dry as some years, weather predictions are rather dire for this year when it comes to precipitation.  Maybe the quail are trying to tell us something.

Yesterday we noticed a car barely pulling down our road, backing up, then pulling barely in again. After watching this odd behavior for a while we wandered up our road to see what was going on. They were a bird watching couple and the wife was trying to get the car angled so her husband could see our feeders without crossing into the acreage we have fenced off. He had a problem with mobility and getting in and out of the car was difficult. We, of course asked them to pull down our road and park so most of the bird feeders could be observed.

They noticed that we have three recycled oriole feeders hung around our yard, and asked how many orioles we have at one time. Now we get the Scott’s, Bullocks, and Hooded Orioles visiting us for grape jelly, oranges and sugar water just about constantly during the day , but we use the feeders to feed more than just orioles.

These feeders have plastic cups that can be filled with just about anything your imagination can think of and that birds will eat. We currently have one oriole feeder with jelly in one cup and peanut butter in the other with orange halves on the pegs. This feeder is visited by not only the orioles, but can attract wrens, chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, warblers, tanagers, woodpeckers and in our yard towhees, thrashers and several species of sparrows.

In the second recycled oriole feeder we have mealworms and raisins with apple on the pegs. All the insect and fruit eating birds favor this feeder. Species this food attracts includes bluebird, cardinals, wrens, chickadees, nuthatches, robins, titmice, warblers, mockingbirds, tanagers, orioles and woodpeckers. We have also had flycatchers visit in our yard.

In the third oriole feeder we have crushed egg shell and fruit we let get a little soft without actually being spoiled. This feeder attracts just about every bird that passes through our yard.

We have had people who have more jays than us tell us about filling the cups with crumbled dog food and people who have grated their suet blocks and used the cups to hold it to make it easier for the kinglets.

The recycled oriole feeder is one of the most versatile feeders we have. Maybe we should rename this feeder. Any suggestions?

She had been to a street fair in Tucson and had found a beautiful “hummingbird feeder” made out of a liquor bottle with a cork and a glass straw.  I do have to say that the glass work used to twist the bottle had made this a piece of artwork.  But that was what it was- artwork, not a functional hummingbird feeder.

So this has given me a chance to stand on my soap box and preach again about how not to pick a hummingbird feeder:

1. Do NOT pick a feeder that has a straw  out of the bottom of the bottle for the birds to feed from.  As the temperature changes the straw will leak nectar and leave you with a sticky mess below the feeder.  This will most likely draw and ants and other insects.
2. Do NOT pick a feeder that you can not clean easily. My unnamed neighbor has had her feeder up for over two weeks and had not cleaned it once.  It was starting to grow black mold.  Not very attractive or healthy for the hummingbirds.  We tried to use a swab, but with the twists in the bottle we couldn’t clean it.
3. Do NOT pick a feeder that is hard to fill.  My poor neighbor filled her feeder, turned it over and then had to play with the cork until it stopped leaking.
4. Do NOT pick a feeder without considering where it will hang and what type of weather it will have to withstand.  We get 40-50 mile an hour winds at certain time of the year.  The liquor bottle was not made to hold up to this weather.  Our Best-1 feeders will not spill even in this type of weather.

Please don’t worry about our neighbor.  I have connections with the Easter Bunny and she just may find a hummingbird feeder in her Easter basket.  She can use the artwork to hang in  her kitchen.  After all it is a beautiful piece of artwork!

We have observed the courtship ritual.  The male circles the female bowing low, then raising up until the beak is straight up.  He sings a very soft (and romantic) song to the female while “dancing” for her.  She  will mimic this behavior if she is interested.

They lay 3-5 eggs and the incubation period is about 12-14 days.  Both the male and female feed the young.  I should note that the Bronzed Cowbird will parasitize the nest.  We have seen up to three broods brought off the nest in one summer.

In general there are three types of birds when it comes to the foods they need.  These ae seed eaters, insect eaters and fruit eaters.  There is a lot of overlap within these groups.  For instance meadowlarks eat insects all summer, but in the winter they eat seeds.  Chipping Sparrows come to seed feeders in the winter but eat insects all summer.  Cedar Waxwings eat primarily fruit but feed their youngsters insects and berries.  To get the most species possible to your yard you must provide food for all three groups.

Most people new to birding start out trying to attract the seed eaters.  This can be accomplished with a number of commercially available seed mixtures and several specialty seeds.  Among the seed eaters there are a number of feeding styles.  No one type of wild bird feeder is made to accommodate all three types.  In simple terms, we have the scratchers, the perchers and the clingers. 

The scratchers are birds like the towhees, quail, doves, White-crowned Sparrows, juncos, thrashers and others who normally feed by scratching in the leaves or on the ground to find their seeds.  These species are best fed with platform bird feeders.  These feeders accommodate the scratching instinct in these birds and present a much more comfortable feeding environment for these types of birds.

The perchers are birds like the Cardinals, buntings, House Finches, many native sparrows, English Sparrows, jays, grosbeaks and most blackbirds.  These birds are able to perch at a hopper bird feeder or tube bird feeder with perches.  These birds usually feed up off the ground, but perch (sit upright) while they feed.

The clingers comprise one of the most sought after groups of birds in the backyard environment.  These include the goldfinches, Pine Siskins, redpolls, Purple Finches, Cassin’s Finches, chickadees and nuthatches.  In nature these birds will cling to the top of a flower or grass blade and glean the seeds from the seed head.  This feeding type is best accommodated with a special feeder which allows the birds to cling directly to the side of the feeder instead of utilizing a perch.  These special feeders are available for dispensing thistle or Nyjer seed for the finches or sunflower seed or peanuts for the other small clingers.

Insect eating birds have been harder to attract in the past, but modern innovations have made it possible to attract them utilizing artificial food sources.  Many insect eating birds enjoy suet including the woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, wrens and more.  Suet bird feeders are now a staple in many backyard bird feeding stations.  Today, several companies make a suet cake with dehydrated or freeze dried insects embedded within the suet to further attract the insect eating birds.  Specialized feeders such as the bluebird feeder may be utilized to attract insect eating birds by feeding live meal worms or other live insects.  Recently peanut butter has been used to attract a number of insectivorous birds including wrens, thrashers, chickadees, woodpeckers, titmice, warblers, bluebirds, towhees, White-crowned Sparrows and juncos.

The fruit eaters like berries, orange halves and other fruits.  Feeding them is a little harder to do artificially, but we have found several ways to accommodate them.  We provide orange halves on the pegs of our recycled oriole feeder.  This attracts orioles, catbirds, mockingbirds and thrashers.  We have tried placing melon fruit in suet baskets and that has attracted these birds as well as tanagers.  Jays seem to like the melon fruit also.  Raisins spread out on a platform feeder have been known to attract robins, thrashers, catbirds, waxwings and several other species.  There are now several companies that make suet cakes with berries and other fruit added to attract the fruit eaters.  All of these work to various degrees, but the one item that we have found that is a real bird magnet for fruit eaters is grape jelly!  Grape jelly lovers include the wrens, catbirds, flickers, mockingbirds, orioles, tanagers and warblers. We also provide this in our recycled oriole feeder and there is a steady line of birds to this food.

Always make sure that your feeders have food in them.  While wild birds are not dependent on feeders for food, it is much more pleasing for you if birds are actually coming in to the feeders where you can enjoy them.  An empty feeder attracts no birds.

Also make sure your feeders are clean.  Diseases may be spread on dirty feeders.  To prevent these diseases your bird feeder should be cleaned periodically with a 10% bleach solution. When nighttime temperatures fall below 55 degrees, the bleach is not necessary but the cleaning is still a must.  A simple rule of thumb regarding cleanliness is to ask yourself, “Would I eat from this bird feeder if I were a bird?” 

As with providing water, always remember the three basic elements of providing food for birds and wildlife–cleanliness, comfort and consistency.  All three are important in maintaining a backyard bird or wildlife habitat.

These birds seem to be aware of how beautiful they are, and regularly posture with the wings and tail slightly spread.  They will also turn around on the branch so you can see all sides of the bird.

The Painted Redstart nests in a shady area on a steep slope.  In our area they like to use bank overhangs or a small crevasse between or under boulders.

To find the redstart here in Portal your first stop should be the bridge just before the picnic area in South Fork.  Good birding to you!

There are several ways to get around feeding large flocks of these birds.  Pigeons and doves tend to like certain seeds which include white millet, milo, cracked corn and oats.  Seed mixes with smaller amounts of these grains will help.  Pigeons and doves tend to like feeding on the ground or on platform or flat bird feeders.  Feeding in a tube bird feeder with short (under 2″) perches will deter the large numbers from eating all of your food.  Feeding specialty foods in specialty bird feeders will also help depending on which species you wish to attract.  Many of the finches (Goldfinches, Pine Siskins, Redpolls, House Finches, Purple Finches etc.) will be attracted to thistle or Nyjer seed bird feeders.  These, most often, do not have perches at all and the smaller birds simply cling to the side of the feeder to feed.  The feet of pigeons and doves are not made for this type of perching and many (but not all) of them have trouble holding on long enough to feed.  Specialty bird feeders for sunflower seed or peanuts are available and also cater to clinging birds instead of the doves and pigeons.  We use a recycled Oriole feeder to provide peanut butter, grape jelly and fruit for over 40 species of birds and have never observed a dove or pigeon at it.  Hanging suet bird feeders will also deter these birds as they have trouble getting a foothold.  Each of these foods draws its own group of more desirable backyard birds and limits the availability of food to the large flocks of doves and pigeons.

At our feeding station, we do love our quail and the quail have the same eating habits as the doves, so we end up feeding both in large number each day.  We don’t mind because we put out a lot of feed to attract as many species as possible.  The doves just seem to be a necessary evil with us.  If you do not want the large flocks of doves you can utilize the above ideas to enhance your backyard bird feeding experience.

I look at Tom and he gives me a pained look.  We had talked about it being time to clean all of the bird feeders.  With most of the feeders close to empty today is the day.

It really is not that big of job. The oriole feeder and one platform are made out of recycled material so we simply brush all loose material off, spray them down with a mild bleach solution, rinse with the hose and wait for them to dry before we refill them.

The tube bird feeder had a bottom that comes off. Again just take the feeder apart, spray with the bleach solution, rinse with the hose and let dry.

The cedar platform feeder takes a little more time,  The perforated bottom comes out so that gets the usual spray, but the cedar had to be brushed with a soft wire brush to remove the bird waste.

Our hummingbird feeders get changed about every three days, so we can skip them today.

Cleaning bird feeders may not be the most fun part of feeding birds, but it is a very important one. Cleaning all of these different bird feeders only took about a half an hour.  Cleanliness is important even to birds. After all would you rather eat at a nice clean restaurant or one that  might not have such high standards?

The lady I will remember said that she was a casual bird watcher and needed to know the difference between all of the tube feeders, why some had such big holes (whole peanut feeder), some had screens on them (thistle feeders) and some had “little cups” (the ports in a mixed seed tube seeder).

As I explained that different birds eat different things (see our feeding chart) I asked her why she had decided to start feeding birds.  She replied “guilt”.

Now I have to admit that guilt was a new reason for feeding birds.

It seems that at a spring craft show she had purchased a decorative bird house to hang in a tree next to her patio.  It was painted to look like a Spanish mission style house, but it didn’t even have a real hole for the door, only one painted on.  A bird spent days trying to figure out a way into the house.  This bird stopped in quite regularly all summer to sing and then check out the house to see if there was a way in.

She said that she and her family had come to look for the bird each day.  When she saw the local advertising for the birding festival she had brought the kids to enjoy the Kiskadee Korner and to learn a little more about bird watching.

She left our booth with the knowledge of having bought the right feeder and knowing where to hang the feeder to attract the most birds.  Next year she is going to bring photos of her birds in for me to see.

A bird watcher is born!

Over the last couple of years we have tried some variations on these items and we have found that creamy peanut butter mixed with dried bread or cereal crumbs and grape jelly work the best for attracting birds.  We have tried other forms of peanut butter, but this has worked the best for us, attracting more birds to our property.  We have also tried various other jellies, jams and preserves.  We have also tried various flavors of strained fruit flavored baby foods.  Some birds tried each of the variations, but, in the end grape jelly was the overwhelming favorite of the most species. 

Since prices for bird feed is going up with all of our other prices, we economize by buying our peanut butter and jelly at our local Dollar Store.  We pick up as many 32 ounce jars of grape jelly as we need for $1.00 each.  Peanut butter comes in 18 ounce jars for approximately $1.50 a jar.  At our feeders we go through a jar of jelly in about 10 days and a jar of peanut butter much faster, especially in the winter.  As we complain about the price of things in general, the beauty and wonder of the birds these items attract to our yard makes it all more than worth while and now our oriole feeder gets year around use.

It seems that peanut butter and jelly aren’t just for sandwiches anymore!!!