A bird feeder or sculpture in your backyard?

I've always looked at decorative bird feeders with some skepticism. I had a couple of beautiful feeders given to me a few years back, only to find that while they were a piece of art for the backyard, they were not feeders that the birds wanted to eat from.

This is the risk with artsy-type feeders. Some of these feeders have been designed for form and not function, so be careful when buying a feeder to look beyond the surface. Are the feeding holes large enough to properly feed the seed, is it easy to fill, is it easy to keep clean, are there proper perching spots for the birds to perch on, etc?

However, every now and then you run into a feeder that does combine form and function, and I ran into one last weekend when I visited some friends, friends that we recently had introduced to bird feeding with a few bags of seed and some basic instructions. I was surprised to discover, upon this visit that not only were they feeding the birds, but that they had jumped into the whole bird feeding hobby with both feet, having bought storage containers for seed and a number of feeders.

One of these feeders was this beautiful piece of sculpture that I must say really suits their yard and provides a real focal point.  But more than that, the feeder is a very busy spot, with birds coming and going, obviously enjoying the seed they are finding in this lovely feeder.

Now the feeder was pretty pricey, as feeders go, and I won't say where they got it because I am not trying to sell feeders here, but when you see the impact the feeder makes in their little backyard, you become pretty enthused.

So use caution, but consider your bird feeder's aesthetic appearance as well as it's functional performance when you purchase your next feeder.

Grosbeak at the feeder.

I was quite excited to see this beautiful male Rose-breasted Grosbeak at the farm bird feeder yesterday. I have seen pictures of them before but never have seen one in person. It seemed quite happy to be eating the fine sunflower chips that were well stocked in the feeder. So my quest was started to learn more about grosbeaks and share some of that knowledge with you.

Fact 1: Not all "grosbeaks" are closely related. I was surprised to learn that Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Black-headed Grosbeaks and Blue Grosbeaks are members of the cardinal family but Evening Grosbeaks and Pine Grosbeaks are classified as members of the finch family. However all of these birds have a few things in common, namely their medium stocky size and more importantly their strong large conical shaped bills, which are excellent for cracking large seeds. These large beaks are the source of the name "grosbeak" from the French word grosbec.

Fact 2: Different types of grosbeaks have different ranges. We are not likely to see a Blue Grosbeak here in Canada, as it is an uncommon bird who's range is primarily the southern part of the States and South America. However, Myrna Pearman, in her book "Winter Bird Feeding - An Alberta Guide" describes Pine Grosbeaks as "common feeder visitors to northern and central Alberta feeders in areas with coniferous trees". In fact the Pine Grosbeak's range covers much of Canada.

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is more likely to be spotted in Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, the very south part of Manitoba and Ontario and is not commonly found in the lower mainland of BC. While the Evening Grosbeak is supposed to be found commonly across Canada (although I have never seen one) and finally the Black-headed Grosbeak is only in Canada in the summer months and only found in southern BC, southern Alberta and the SW corner of Manitoba.

Fact 3: Grosbeaks are insect eaters but will also eat seed. With their large beaks, grosbeaks can eat large insects as well as small, consuming in some cases even whole grasshoppers and crickets and some butterflies and moths. However, grosbeaks do enjoy eating seed and fruit. On the seed front, sunflower is a favorite and they are not challenged by the tough shell of a striped sunflower, so striped sunflower offered from a tray feeder or a feeder with a large perch is a good choice for these types of birds.

Fact 4: For more information on a specific type of grosbeak see the online bird guide at www.allaboutbirds.org. This guide offers excellent information on how to identify birds, their travel ranges, and other unique details about them.