So what's so sad about the Mourning Dove?

I woke up this morning to the woo hoo hoo of a Mourning Dove and sure enough when I looked out the window, there the dove was. This is a first for our yard. We used to get doves at our old house but don't normally get them here.

My son was saying -"Hey Mom, there is a gray big bird in our yard with a small head". Well that's one way to describe a Mourning Dove I guess. Then, he asked why they were called Mourning Doves. I speculated that it is because their song is kind of mournful.

Doves are ground feeders and like to forage on the ground. They like seeds including cereals like corn and millet but this mourning dove seems to be enjoying the sunflowers in our Mother Nature's Chickadee Mix.

Mourning doves are gentle birds and doves are symbols of love and peace. It makes me sad to report per the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that Mourning Doves are the most frequently hunted species in North America. My dove is safe though in our backyard - just has our noisy dog to cope with from time to time.

How to attract gold finches and other finches to your yard.

I am very pleased to find goldfinches in my yard again this spring. Spring and summer are great times of the year for feeding finches. Goldfinches become a beautiful yellow in these months and house finches, purple finches and pine siskins are plentiful. So how do you attract these little birds to your feeders?

Start with the right feeder: Purchase a tube thistle finch feeder. This will be a long cylindrical feeder with small perches and very small seed holes.

Put the feeder in the right location: Mount the feeder in a tree or bush where you have seen finches before. You can move the feeder closer to the house once you have regular visitors to your feeder.

Choose the right food: The variety of ingredients in Mother Nature's Finch Mix is designed to attract redpolls, pine siskins, goldfinches, housefinches and other finches. It is also a more economical choice than feeding pure nyjer seed. Our Mother Nature's finch mix contains ingredients that these small birds love including nyjer seed, finely chopped sunflower seed, canola seed, canarygrass seed, and gold proso millet.

Do you have tips on attracting finches to your yard? I'd like to hear about them. Drop an email to seed@chinridge.com or comment on this blog.

Who's coming to dinner in your backyard?

I was just reviewing the results of the Wild Bird Feeding Industry's Project Wildbird study. This research project was a landmark study of seed and feeder preferences of wild birds in the United States and Canada that began in 2005 and wrapped up on December 2008. What is interesting about the study is that scientists have identified the most bird preferred types of bird seed. They have also identified which birds are most plentiful at backyard feeders in North America.

The study showed that the most preferred types of bird seed were: black-oil sunflower, chopped sunflower meats (we call these fine and medium sunflower chips), nyjer seed, and white millet. Of these, black oil sunflower in shell attracted the most species of birds and the highest number of birds. So if your goal is to attract many different types of birds and a high number of them then black oil sunflower should be a main ingredient in your bird seed mixes.

The study also tracked the most common birds at backyard feeders. Those were in order of most common to less common: House Sparrow, House Finch, American Goldfinch, Brown-headed Cowbird, Northern Cardinal, Black-capped Chickadee, Mourning Dove, Pine Siskin, Common Grackle, and Purple Finch. Now my own experience is slightly different - as I said in a previous posting I rarely get cowbirds in my yard and Northern Cardinals are not usually found in Alberta. In my back yard the most common birds are probably robins but of course robins don't typically eat at feeders. From my bird feeder perspective I would say the most common bird is the House Finch, redpolls (depending on season), goldfinches, siskins, grackles and Northern Flickers (who eat my suet and some of the bird seed). I see the odd nuthatch but they are pretty rare, the occasional jay and crow, and I have yet to see a chickadee in my current backyard.

I am doing a poll of my facebook friends - what are the most common birds at your feeders this spring? Drop a comment on the facebook wall or email me at seed@chinridge.com