This episode of DIY's Bird Watching workshop focuses on the basics of feeding birds. With the right food and presentation, it's generally easy to attract and observe a wide variety of birds to your back yard. Through careful placement of your feeder and selection of foods, you'll have the opportunity of seeing birds up close. Included in this episode is information on types of bird food, which birds prefer which foods and styles of feeders, how to deter squirrels from your bird feeders and (if you wish) how to go about feeding squirrels.
Choices of Feed
- You can attract a wide variety of colorful and interesting songbirds to you yard by providing a safe habitat with lots of vegetation, and by selecting and offering the right kinds of food. To attract the greatest species of birds, diversity is the key. The common varieties of food offered in bird feeding are seeds, suet, nectar and fruit. Following are some bird-feed suggestions.
- Black-oil sunflower seed is one of the most common bird feeds as it's the favorite choice for the widest variety of species (figure A).
- Mixed seed contains a mixture of several types of seed that attract birds (figure B). The mixture may include millet, sunflower, safflower and peanuts. Some mixes may also contain milo, wheat, cracked corn and other grains. Different mixes are available with varying proportions of these seed ingredients. Less expensive brands may contain substantial amounts of "filler" and unwanted trash substances like dust and debris from harvesting. Higher quality brands have been prepared to remove most of the filler and waste materials.
- Thistle or nyjer seed is an imported seed that comes from India and Ethiopia. It is not the seed of North American wildflower species known as thistle. This is a tiny black seed (figure C), and is particularly good for attracting goldfinches, the striking yellow, canary-like songbird (figure D).
- A mixture of nyjer and sunflower hearts commonly available. This particular mixture (figure E) is good for attracting most members of the finch family and other small birds like chickadees.
- Another type of food commonly offered to birds is suet, a form of specialized fat found near the kidneys of beef. Suet commercially prepared for bird-feeding ( figure F) has been rendered -- i.e., melted down and re-solidified -- and formed into cakes. This process helps keep the suet from melting in warm climates. Suet provides a good source of energy-rich food, and is especially attractive to certain species of birds such as nuthatches, chickadees, titmice and woodpeckers.
- Suet is offered in cage-like containers (figure G) that can be hung from tree-limbs or with other feeders. Suet sometimes comes with other food substances like berries or nuts mixed in.
- Hummingbirds feed predominantly on the nectar of flowers. They can be attracted to specialized hummingbird feeders (figure H) that contain sugar-water or artificial nectar that mimics the natural substance produced by flower blossoms.
- You can purchase commercial hummingbird-nectar preparations, or you can create a workable recipe by mixing 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. Boil the mixture for about one minute, then cool the solution and use it to fill the hummingbird feeder. Change the solution about every three days, replacing it with freshly made solution.
- Fruit is food staple of many bird species, and makes a good addition for backyard bird feeding. Grapes (figure I) are attractive to mockingbirds, robins and others. Some birds such as orioles and catbirds can even be attracted to grape jelly.
- Oranges cut in half and offered on a tray feeder -- or attached with nailed to a tree (figure J) -- will attract a number of bird species including woodpeckers and orioles.
RESOURCES :
Don and Lillian Stokes' website
Stokes Birds at Home
Website: www.stokesbirdsathome.com
Droll Yankee bird feeders
Droll Yankees Inc.
Foster, RI 02825
Fax: 401-647-7620
Email: custserv@drollyankees.com
Website: www.drollyankees.com
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