Backyard Birding

Late this winter, cardinals finally discovered our feeders. Or we finally discovered them. It is difficult to say how long they have actually been coming, because they were very shy and secretive. They came at dusk, and fed primarily under the ground feeder. This seemed odd to me because cardinals have never been particularly shy at feeders we’ve had in the past. But we do have a lot of free roaming cats in the neighborhood, and have already lost at least one cowbird to them.

The Northern Cardinal was on the list of birds my eight year old daughter was hoping to attract when we began this project. She did the research to discover what they ate and how they preferred to be fed. Her research led to the purchase of the platform feeder you see in this picture, stocked with black-oil sunflower seeds. Naturally, she was quite excited that a northern cardinal finally began using it.

The female now remains in the bushes at the back of our property. We see the male fly back and forth between her and the feeders as he feeds her. I hope they bring their little ones to our feeders once they leave the nest!

You can find out a little more about cardinals at WhatBird, an online bird guide. You can even listen to a recording of its song.

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To meet a number of birders in one place, how about visiting a carnival just for us? I and the Bird, a carnival for birds and those who love them, is set up and ready for visitors. The best part is that, like backyard birdwatching, you do not have to pack up all the child-related paraphernalia and load the mini-van to get there. Nor will you have to clean cotton candy out of anyone’s hair.

That is because I and the Bird is a blog carnival. What is that? Essentially, a collection of links organized around a common topic, in this case, birds. Stop by, enjoy the exhibits, and learn a bit more from some pretty serious birders!

All living things need water and providing this resource in your yard can attract a diverse number of birds, some of which may not be attracted to feeders. We’ve had Carolina wrens, blue birds and robins all frequent our bird bath, although none have ever displayed any interest in our feeders. Birds need to water to drink and to bathe. Clean feathers are important for flight.

Providing water can be as simple as filling an old trash can lid or as elaborate as a flowing water garden with shallow places for bathing. We have a simple concrete bird bath purchased at WalMart which serves our purposes and space well. No matter what form you choose, there are some things to consider:

Warm, shallow water quickly becomes stagnant. They can become a breeding ground for disease.

Mosquitoes also breed in these conditions, which will make your backyard unpleasant and possibly a source of disease.

To prevent this, clean your bird bath regularly. We empty ours daily, letting it dry completely before refilling. We also scrub it clean weekly with mild soap and rinse it thoroughly. Never put any chemicals or other additives in the water to keep it clean, for this could be detrimental to the health of your birds.

Duncraft also offers an interesting product I just read about yesterday. The Water Wiggler keeps the water in your bird bath moving so that mosquitoes won’t lay their eggs in the bath. I wasn’t so interested for the mosquito factor since we’ve never had that problem. I have read, however, that birds are attracted by the sound of water, especially where it is scarce. A steady dripping or the sound of running water, though almost silent to us, acts as a beacon to thirsty birds. I wonder how effective this wiggly water would be at this?

What water features have you used in your yard?

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I am fortunate to live outside of town, with a fair sized lawn to work with in attracting birds. Not everyone is so fortunate. Living in the city, however, does not mean that there is nothing you can do attract birds to your home or neighborhood. Here are some ideas, from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

1. Birds everywhere need water. If you have enough space for a simple bird bath, a diverse number of birds will be attracted.

2. Nesting sites are important. Get to know your local species, and choose a nesting box appropriately. Wrens and kestrels are two city dwelling birds which will readily accept nesting boxes.

3. Feeders can be hung just about everywhere. Select those with small perches so you do not attract large flocks of unwanted birds. A finch feeder will only accommodate small birds. I once saw a picture of a small tray placed inside a wire cage set on a balcony. This kept out the pigeons, but allowed the smaller birds to feed. Some types of feeders will also attach directly to a window.

4. Even small gardens can be beneficial to birds. This can be a community effort, a small planting in a yard or even a window box.

For more information about urban birds, check out the Urban Bird Studies website. There, you can find out more about urban birds, how to attract them and studies you can participate in.

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When you begin attracting birds to your back yard, you will likely notice a plethora of “little brown birds.” At first, they all seem to look alike until you become more familiar with bird identification and what to look for while watching your birds. The hardest thing to remember is not to reach for your field guide first. Study the bird, take some notes and then reach for your field guide. For some practice, I have here one of our “little brown birds” which only recently discovered our feeders.

I am no expert at identifying birds, but here is roughly what I look for when “sketching” a bird in my mind or in my notebook before looking it up.

Size
Try to compare the size of the birds to others with which you are familiar. This will help if you stumble across species such as the downy and hairy woodpeckers who are easiest to differentiate by size. Difficult to tell here, but this bird is larger than a sparrow, smaller than a cardinal.

Color
Look at the overall color and distinctive markings and patterns. Look specifically at the wings to note any bars, the head for any striping, the breast for spots and streaks and the tail for any distinctive markings. On this bird, the back is brown but lightly streaked with white. The breast is white and streaked with brown. There is a noticeable white stripe above the eye which runs to the back of the head. There is some white on the wings. The eyes and legs are also black.

Beak

Large and conical. Light in color. The beak looks like that of a grosbeak.

Behavior

It is surprising how much you can tell from observing how a bird feeds and what birds it seems to associate with. Many species have distinctive preferences for specific types of food and will feed primarily on the ground or at a particular kind of feeder. This bird was alert, but not overly timid. Remained at the feeder when a group of sparrows flew off. It arrived alone and left alone. It only ate from the hopper feeder which contains black oil sunflower seeds.

For this bird, the beak is the most distinctive feature. Looking through a field guide, I find a few species which look similar but differ on important aspects. The song sparrow looks a little like this bird, but is a bit smaller. The female rose-breasted grosbeak and the female black-headed grosbeak both look very similar to this bird. My first guess would be that this is a female rose-breasted grosbeak for the simple fact that we have several males which come so I know this species is in the area.

According to the field guide, we happen to be right outside the border of the black-headed grosbeak’s range so it would not be unheard of in the area, but it would not be as likely as the rose breasted grosbeak.

Looking more closely at the beak, I notice another clue. The picture I have of the female black-headed grosbeak shows a beak that is dark on top. This bird’s entire beak is the same color.

So I conclude that this is, indeed, a female rose-breasted grosbeak.

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Birding quote for Sunday:

Birds in their little nests agree:
And ’tis a shameful sight
When children of one family
Fall out, and chide, and fight.

–Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Divine Songs, song xvii

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I found a little birdwatching puzzle to help challenge the mind this weekend. Within a 16-letter grid, you are to find seven species of birds. Hmm…I’ve only found two. I think I need to print this one off and work on it some more. Maybe while my daughter is at Karate.

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There are, of course, hazards to attracting birds to your backyard, as President Bush found out yesterday morning in the Rose Garden. During his news conference, a bird deposited a dropping on the sleeve of his jacket. Interestingly, in some cultures it is considered good luck to be hit by bird poop. So I guess there is reason to rejoice as you clean the windshield of your car. Or the sleeve of your jacket in the Rose Garden.

You can watch the video here.

Hat Tip: Birds Etcetera

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Yesterday afternoon, two blue jays arrived in our yard. Normally, the jays are rather aggressive when they arrive, and swoop boldly onto one of the feeders calling loudly. One of the blue jays hopped over to the garden under the feeders, picked up a sunflower seed and returned to his mate, feeding her the seed. He repeated this three times before the red squirrel startled them and they left the yard.

These two jays have been chasing each other through the neighborhood for several days now. We have been wondering whether they were fighting over territory or courting. I guess we know the answer now!

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No matter where you choose to position your feeders, birds will eventually find them. They will also slowly become accustomed to your presence. A downy woodpecker once remained at the suet feeder, eying me cautiously as I filled the feeders. I was less than three feet from him! Still, there are a number of things to take into consideration before placing your feeders in your yard.

Proximity to windows

The whole point of adding a feeder to your yard is so that you and your family can enjoy watching the activity they bring about. Make sure to select a location easily visible from a comfortable spot within your home. Unfortunately, however, windows are also responsible for a large number of feeder birds each year. Startled birds take flight, see the reflection of open sky in your window and think they are flying to safety. There are two things you can do with regards to your feeders to limit this. First, you can try placing your feeders further from windows, giving startled birds a greater chance to fly away rather than into your window. Second, you can try placing the feeders closer to a window. This does not cut down on the number of birds hitting your window, but it does limit the speed at which they strike. We did this for awhile, and the birds did not even fall to the ground after hitting the windows; they simply flew on.

Proximity to safety

While you do not want trees and shrubs to obscure your view of your feeders, a nearby refuge is welcome to these backyard visitors. The feeders attract song birds, and the activity of the song birds eventually will attract predators, including cats and hawks. We have a pine tree and a bush each about 10 feet from where we have placed our feeders. This give the birds a welcome shelter to dive into when startled, and a safe place to wait when the feeders are full. Most of our birds fly first into the bush or tree, watch the feeders and check out the surroundings and then fly to the feeders. We have had flocks of up to 50 goldfinches flittering about our lilac bush, each waiting his turn to eat.

Low lying brush

As much as shrubbery and trees are appreciated near feeders, be careful of the height plants near your feeders can get. You want your birds to be able to have a good view of anything that can walk up to the feeders. Cats will use brush and thick plants to stalk the birds at your feeders. Before we took this into consideration, I would often find the neighbor’s cat lying in the garden, watching the bird bath.

Keep an eye on your birds, note how they use the feeders and be ready to make any necessary adjustments if you notice any problems.

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We were quite surprised this morning to look out our window and see a Baltimore oriole under the ground feeder. Unfortunately, we startled him when we peeked through the curtain, so he wasn’t there long, but it was very exciting for us! Orioles can be attracted to oriole feeders which contain an orange flavored nectar or to orange halves. They occasionally will be seen at hummingbird feeders, as well. Although I had heard that they will sometimes take sunflower hearts, I never imagined one would visit our feeder.

Our Baltimore orioles only recently returned from their wintering spots in Mexico and Central America and are likely very hungry. This is the second one I have spotted in our yard. They also enjoy many of the same types of nectar bearing plants that hummingbirds visit. They can be seen sipping the nectar from prairie fire crab apple trees, a new addition to our garden (but too young to flower).

(Image courtesy of Wikipedia and is used under a Creative Commons license.)

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There are four things any animal needs in a good habitat: food, water, shelter and a place to raise young. These are things you will want to consider while setting up your yard to attract birds. Something which seems obvious but no one told me when I first started is that the easiest birds to attract to your feeders are those which already frequent your yard. They have already selected your yard as a suitable part of their habitat, and will be quick to explore any additions. Birds can sometimes be wary of new food, and a new feeder can go unused for several days. By targeting specifically those birds which already visit you, this time should be shorter.

Then, you may notice a curious thing. Birds tend to be attracted by the activity of other birds. No one wants to miss out on a good feast! When my daughter and I first set up our ground feeder, I was hoping for cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves and other birds known to favor them. Instead, we got a mess of house sparrows, a non-native species many birders go out of their way to deter from partaking in the offerings. Just as I was about to give up on this feeder, I noticed a blue bird fly into a nearby bush, just to watch. Then a yellow-rumped warbler. Neither are attracted to feeders, but they were certainly curious about the activity. This drew them into our bird bath. Slowly, the diversity of what could be found at our feeders increased, usually right after a flock of sparrows left.

Next is to educate yourself on the feeder birds which may live in your area. Your library, local bird store and the internet can all be very helpful in this. This research is very good to do with children, and will help them learn about the varying needs of different species of birds. The top birds on my children’s list were chickadees, cardinals and, for my then three year old, ostriches. They will also be that much more excited if you are successful in attracting that species. My daughter, for example, has claimed the cardinals as her own because she selected them, researched what they ate and set up the feeder for them.

Devote a notebook to your feeders where you can take notes on species you want to attract and on the activity you see in your yard. Also invest in a good field guide. We use The National Audubon Society’s Guide to North American Birds, Eastern Region. I like how the photographs of the birds are grouped by species and color. This makes identification easier because birds which might be confused are placed together for quicker comparison. It is worth taking the time to look at several in the library and your local birding store to get an idea of what is available and what you prefer.

Next, we’ll look at where to place your feeders for your enjoyment and their safety.

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Tehachapi birder Clark Moore died May 19 of a heart attack. Known for starting the Tehachapi Mountains Birding Club in 1998, raising awareness of the diversity of local bird species, and an undying commitment to community service, Moore spent his life devoted to birds.

Where did this story begin? At home, in his own backyard. From the Tehachapi News:

Born on Oct. 20, 1929 in San Jose, Clark became interested in birds at an early age: he began learning all he could about them in the third grade and he even made his own field guide using photos he cut from his parents’ old National Geographic magazines. As a boy, the first bird he ever identified on his own was an Evening Grosbeak.

Sharing birding with our children can instill a lifelong commitment to our community and our environment.

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Welcome to Backyard Birding where we will be discussing everything related to the birds who visit your backyard. I developed a love for birds in high school while working on a project for my biology class and have been keeping tabs on our feathered friends ever since. This past fall, we participated in FeederWatch, a program by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to count birds visiting feeders in North America. The hobby has since taken over our backyard, part of a bookshelf and has been creeping into the front yard with the addition of a bird-friendly garden. Here, I plan to share what I have learned and continue to learn about the amazing feathered creatures which visit our backyards.

This Northern Flicker is a frequent visitor to our suet feeder my four year old son made with my husband. It also attracts downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers and nuthatches.

The feeder is made by drilling a hole 1″ in diameter through a log. The hole can then be filled with commercial suet or homemade suet. We purchased a large number of suet logs at the end of winter when they went on clearance at a local store. Spring is one of the most critical times for birds as they search for food. Summer’s bounty has not yet arrived, but many species are already nesting, courting and some may already have their first brood on the way.

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