information and quality products for those who enjoy bird watching and feeding wild birds
Jerry
We are expanding a 40 year passion for bird watching and bird feeding into a website offering useful information and quality products. We currently live in North Carolina, but have lived in many areas of the United States.
Home page: http://thebirdfeedingstation.com
Posts by Jerry
American Goldfinch: Small Birds of North America
013 days
The American Goldfinch is also known as the Wild Canary in some parts of its range because of the males bright yellow feathers in breeding season. In my back yard in the piedmont of North Carolina the come and go. They are here in summer and early fall, but in winter and early spring they may be here for a month and then gone for a month.
They are a small finch, 4-5 in. long, a 7-9 in. wingspan, and weighing .39-.71 oz. (11-20 grams). The beak is small and conical, and pink most of the year, but turns bright orange in both sexes when they molt in the spring.
The American Goldfinch is the only finch in North America to molt feathers twice a year. During the molt in winter it sheds all its feathers; in late spring it sheds all but the wing and tail feathers. After the spring molt the male is bright yellow, with a dark black cap and wings, and a white rump. The female is olive-yellow with brown highlights and a pale yellow bib. After the fall molt the male look very much like the female. They both have pinkish legs and a white wing bar.
Goldfinch at feeder
The song is a series of warbles and twitters. per-chic-o-ree, tit-tse-tew-tew, tsee-tsi-tsi-tsit, and sweeet, are some of the more recognized ones.
The summer breeding range goes from coast to coast, up into middle Canada and as far south as North Carolina. It may migrate short distances in summer because of cold weather or poor food supply. The winter range covers from southern Canada down to parts of Mexico.
Yellow: summer only. Green: year-round. Blue: winter only.
The American Goldfinch is mainly a seed eater, but will occasionally eat insects and feed them to their young. They also eat tree buds, maple sap, and berries. At bird feeders they prefer Niger seed and black oil sunflower seed. You can use upside down feeders to lessen the competition from other birds.
Goldfinch at Nyjer feeder
They begin their breeding season later in the year than any other finch. Because of this they may only have one brood per year. The nest is built by the female in the branches of a deciduous shrub or tree and may be as high as 30 feet off the ground. The male often flies with the female as she collects nesting material and may carry some materials back to the nest, but she does all of the building. They use bark, weeds, vines, grass, spider webs, caterpillar silk, and line it with plant down. The nest is so tightly woven that it can hold water.
American Goldfinch lay 4-6 bluish-white eggs. The chicks hatch in 12-14 days. The eggs are incubated only by the female, but the male brings her food as she nests. At 11-15 days after hatching they start short flight around the nest. The male still feeds them up to another 3 weeks after the leave the nest.
The American Goldfinch is a beautiful addition to any back yard. They come to my Niger seed feeders, sunflower feeders, tray feeders, window feeders, and garden bird baths. Look for them, they are in most of North America during some part of the year.
Goldfinch at garden bird bath
Range Map: Wikipedia
Choosing Bird Seed or Bird Food (Part 3): Corn, Suet
1148 days
by Jerry
in Feeding Wild Birds
Corn: cracked, shelled, whole
If you are a bird feeder on a budget or if you are feeding hoards of birds feeding corn is one way to keep your birds happy and your cost down.
Whole ears of corn offered on spike feeders or on hangers will make the woodpeckers and squirrels very happy. It’s great fun to watch a squirrel trying to figure out a revolving corn wheel. Place your squirrel feeders as far as possible from your other bird feeders.
fun squirrel feeder
Shelled corn in hopper bird feeder or hanging tray feeders will attract cardinals, jays, ravens, crows, and grosbeaks.
Cracked corn in ground feeder trays will attract quails, grouse, pheasants, ducks, dove, starlings blackbirds, house sparrows, jays, and cowbirds.
cracked corn
Corn has a couple of serious problems: First, it is the bird food that has the highest risk of becoming contaminated with aflatoxins, which is harmful to birds. Second, it is a favorite of bears, raccoons, and deer-none of which we need to be feeding.
To decrease the chance of contamination don’t buy corn in plastic bags, do not let it get wet (I keep mine in metal trash cans and only keep 50 pounds on hand), and in very humid or wet weather only put out what will be eaten in a day. Make sure you clean up the old corn and dispose of it, the compost pile is a good place.
It is best to have all of your corn feeders away from your other bird feeders so the less aggressive birds will not be scared off. If you can, separate them with a screen of shrubs or trees.
Never use any corn that has any type of die on it because it is probably a poison. Do not feed any popped corn it spoils too easily.
If you have a snow or an ice storm cracked corn is a good way to feed a lot of birds quickly. Feed smaller amounts several times during the day to reduce waste and spoilage
Suet
Suet is now considered to be most kinds of beef fat and is safe to feed to birds. Suet is very attractive to insect eating birds, including woodpeckers, jays, nuthatches, chickadees, and starlings. Occasionally cardinals, wrens, thrashers, kinglets, creepers, goldfinch, and even some warblers will visit suet feeders. Suet is a high calorie energy source, that is easy for many birds to digest and metabolize, and is very important to birds in cold weather.
double suet feeder
Raw suet goes bad quickly when the temperature is above freezing for any extended time. It is recommended that you use rendered suet, which has been melted and has had the impurities removed. Rendered suet can still get soft in the summer and coat the belly feathers of birds. If the bird is nesting the suet can clog the pores of the eggs preventing the embryo from getting enough oxygen.
Most of the suet cakes you can buy have a mixture of corn meal, cracked corn, peanuts, fruits or dried insects. Corn and peanuts can provide a medium for bacteria growth. Therefore, you may want to make your own suet cakes or make sure you are buying a high quality product. Always check the contents and the expiration date. I keep my suet cakes in the refrigerator until I use them.
If you are making your own suet cakes you can use used cooking oil. There is some evidence that this is easier for the birds to digest.
I use several types of suet feeders including upside down feeders and feeders with long tail props.
upside down suet feeder
I hope this article will help you in choosing bird food/seed and let you know what birds you; can expect to attract with different food.
Northern Cardinal: Small Birds of North America
1176 days
The Northern Cardinal is probably responsible for getting more people interested in bird watching and bird feeding than any other bird. Their bright red plumage against snow or green leaves is easily seen and attractive.
Male cardinal
Here in the Piedmont of North Carolina they are at my back yard feeders all year. This time of year they are much more willing to share than they are in spring and summer when they are protecting nesting territories.
The male is vibrant red with a black face mask extending to the upper chest. The red color is duller on the back and wings. The female is more fawn colored with grayish-brown tones, with a reddish tint to the wings and tail feathers. Her mask is gray to black and less defined. Both sexes have a distinctive crest, a bright coral colored beak, legs and feet that are dark pink-brown.
Cardinals are 8.5 to 8.75 inches in length, with a wingspan of 12 inches. They weigh 1 7/16 to 1 3/4 oz. (40-50g).
The cardinals range covers parts of southeastern Canada, the eastern US, parts of the Southwest, Mexico, and northern Guatemala and northern Belize. It has also been introduced into southern California and Hawaii. They are so popular that they are the state bird of seven states.
Northern Cardinal Range
During courtship you may see the male bringing food to the female and feeding her. If the mating is successful this may continue during incubation. The male may also bring nesting material to the female but she does most of the nest-building. She builds the nest in four layers from coarse twigs, leaves, bark, grasses, stems, rootlets, and pine needles. It is normally place 3-10 foot above ground level in a thicket or honeysuckle.
Three or four eggs are laid in each clutch, with the female doing most of the incubation. One to four broods may be raised in a year. The male feeds and takes care of the brood while the female incubates the next clutch. However, they seldom use the same nest twice.
Female cardinal on nest
Northern Cardinals are mainly seed eaters, I have them at my feeders all year but they are more evident in fall and winter when natural foods are harder to find. They will also eat insects and feed their young almost entirely on insects. I have seen them coming to my suet feeders and feeding the young the suet.
Cardinal at fly through feeder
They seem to prefer the ground tray feeders, but also use the fly through feeders, hanging tray feeders, tube feeders, and suet feeders. Their favorite food is black oil sunflower seed, safflower seed, fruit and stripped sunflower seed.
One thing you can do to help them is keep your garden bird baths clean and full. We have had several dry periods this year and they have been at the bird baths constantly.
Cardinal enjoying bird bath
Keep your feeders and bird baths full and enjoy your cardinals all year.
Carolina Wren :Small Birds of North America
0218 days
Carolina Wren singing
Tea-kettle, tea-kettle, tea-kettle, plus a variety of loud chirping or scolding sounds announce that the Carolina Wrens are in the back yard or garage or up on the deck. On occasion they will also vocalize with teacher, teacher, teacher. The Carolina wren has the loudest song per size of any bird . The males are the only ones that sing, and they will, any time and any place all year.
It is mainly a southern bird, the state bird of South Carolina, but has been expanding it’s range north and west. They are usually found in pairs and stay on their home territory all year-long and do not migrate. They cannot stand extreme cold so you will see a marked decrease in northern populations after a severe winter.
Carolina Wren Range Map
The Carolina Wren sexes look-alike and are normally 5-6 inches long, with a wing span of 7.5 inches. They weigh from 19 to 21 grams (less than an ounce). They have a striking white eyebrow bordered by black above, the upperparts are rufous, with white spots on the wings.They have bright buffy underparts, pinkish legs and toes, and a powerful looking bluish bill. The tail is rufous and has thin black barring.
Carolina Wren at suet feeder
Breeding pairs may stay together for life. They both work to build the nest which is constructed of leaves, twigs, grasses, pine needles, feathers, string, trash, and lined with soft fine material. The nest is cup-shaped with a dome and an entrance near the top. They may build several nest but will only use one. The nest will have 4-8 eggs and they may have 2-3 broods from April through July. The male brings the female food for the two-week incubation period. Both parents feed the chicks for two more weeks until they fly.
They will nest in nest boxes (place 5-10 feet above the ground close to good cover) or almost anywhere. I had a friend who had mowed his lawn and put his lawnmower back in the garage and hung his long sleeve shirt on it. When he came out the next day there was a wren nest down one of the sleeves. He did not get the use of his mower or shirt for over 4 weeks.
The Carolina Wren like brushy woodland habitats such as thickets, yards with dense low trees or bushes, parks with shrubs and gardens. They forage for insects in shrubs, on the ground, around windows, gutters, potted plants and lawn furniture. In winter they will also eat from suet feeders and peanut butter feeders. They also come to my tray feeders, probably for seed pieces and looking for insects.
Caroline Wren at feeder
This summer a pair built a nest in a fern we had on a bakers rack on our back deck. They finally got used to our coming and going as the nest was close to the door. They raised three chicks from this nest and the male was always close by singing.
Choosing Bird Seed/Bird Food(part 2)white proso millet, peanuts, milo: Feeding Wild Birds
0232 days
by Jerry
in Feeding Wild Birds
This the second in a series of post to help you select what to feed wild birds and to help you attract certain birds to your feeders.
White proso millet
White proso millet is a favorite of almost all ground feeding birds, including doves, cardinals, juncos, towhees, native sparrows, thrashers, and quail. However it is also a favorite of house sparrows, cowbirds and many types of blackbirds. When a large number of these species are present I would not use millet because they will scare off the more desirable birds. Sometimes feeding at a different time of day will reduce the number of these species at your feeders. The other ground feeding birds like black oil sunflower seed as well as they like millet so use that for a few days to reduce the number of unwanted species.
Many people scatter the millet on the ground which is okay as long as you don’t put out more than what the birds will eat in a day and move your feeding locations frequently. Low tray feeders with good drainage is a better choice for feeding white millet. If you use a hanging tray feeder you may also attract buntings, creepers, wren, finch, and mockingbirds.
white proso millet
Peanuts
Peanuts are well liked by woodpeckers, titmice, jays, crows, chickadees, and many other birds. They are also a favorite of raccoons, bears, squirrels, and other animals we should not feed. Peanuts need to be kept dry and used up quickly because if they become wet they have a strong chance of harboring aflatoxins. The aflatoxins are extremely toxic to birds at very low levels.
Peanuts in the shell work well in tray feeders, peanut feeders, or in window feeders. If you put peanuts or mixtures with peanuts in tube feeders make sure to change the seed frequently and empty the feeder and clean it each time.
raw peanuts
peanuts in shell
Milo or sorghum
For many of the Western ground feeding birds, like Gambel’s Quail, Steller’s Jay, some thrashers, and cowbirds milo is a favorite food. House sparrows don’t seem to like milo. In my area the birds won’t eat milo if there is other food for them to eat.
If you are going to feed milo use ground or low tray feeders, If you are overrun by cowbirds stop using it for a time.
milo or sorghum
I hope this article is useful to you in knowing what birds you can expect to attract with the different bird seed or bird food.