Nuthatches at my feeder

Nuthatches are one of my favorite birds. They have the wonderful ability to walk up or down tree trunks as they search for insects to eat.

There are two types of nuthatches commonly found at backyard feeders. The first is the White-breasted Nuthatch which prefers mature deciduous woods and the second is the Red-breasted Nuthatch which prefers coniferous woods. Both will come to feeders laden with chopped nuts and sunflower seeds. Nuthatches also enjoy suet, particularly in the winter time when insects are less readily available.

The nuthatches in my yard will come zooming into the feeder, usually one or two at a time, pick up a seed and then zoom away, probably stashing the food somewhere else for later consumption. They do not seem to mind the flock of redpolls that are permanent fixtures at my feeders these days. They eat mainly from my caged feeder (caged to prevent large birds from accessing the seed) and seem to really enjoy the ingredients in our Mother Nature's Chickadee & Nuthatch mix. They also enjoy eating skinless peanuts from my peanut feeder.

I like how colorful my nuthatches are, and they are one of the birds that I watch for at the feeders. I am feeling quite blessed this year because I have had a number of these little birds coming and going from my feeders all fall.

Winter strikes in southern Alberta

Here is a pic of my feeders this afternoon.  So glad that I filled them on the weekend!

Had a real storm go through southern Alberta last night.  I swear we had a foot of snow on the ground this morning.  This was a shock to me, because, despite the forecast for snow, I didn't really believe that we would get a cold and wintery blast like this so early in the season.

The birds are busy at my feeders today.  No doubt they need the food to keep up their energy levels in the face of these new colder days. 

Backyard visitors - Do you have a Downy Woodpecker in your future?

According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Downy woodpeckers are the "most likely woodpecker species to visit a backyard bird feeder". In addition, their range map shows that they are are common year round across most of Canada.

I have one of these cute little guys in my yard and I find him foraging about for insects on the tree bark of some of our older trees. Downy Woodpeckers, though, will eat more than just insects. They like suet but will also eat black oil sunflower seeds, peanuts, fruit and may even sample some of the other seeds at your feeders.

A little acrobat, the Downy Woodpecker can hang from a suet cage very easily. They will travel up and down trees with ease and have similar agility to a nuthatch. They are often found among other types of birds and seem to get along with everyone.

If you want to attract Downy Woodpeckers to your backyard, have a good supply of suet available and offer pure black oil sunflower and skinless peanuts in their respective feeders.

The more feeders, the more fun!

OK so you love finches but find that the house sparrows are chasing them off and dominating your bird feeder?  

We have all experienced the challenge of having different birds compete for food at bird feeders and are often disappointed to find that the ones who win the battle are not the ones that you set about to attract anyways.

Well many years ago at Chin Ridge, my Mom and our staff developed our "Mother Nature's Feeding System" which is really a system of feeding birds that maximizes the variety of birds in your yard while minimizing the competition among birds at your feeders.

The system is based on setting up multiple feeding stations with different types of feeders and food at each station in order to isolate different types of birds in your backyard.

The key to this being successful, I have found, is really your feeder. I say this because some birds, i.e. house sparrows and grackles are going to eat any kind of food you put in your feeder with the exception of perhaps safflower seed (which I have found not many other birds like either). So, select your feeders carefully as they will make the difference.

In our Mother Nature's Feeding System, we advocate having 4 different feeders and zones in your yard: One for sparrows and other ground feeders, one for finches and pine siskins etc, one for chickadees and nuthatches, and one for jays and woodpeckers.

In your Sparrow zone, you want to have a lower priced bird seed mix with a high content of millet, a small amount of sunflower, some cracked corn, even a bit of wheat, for example our Mother Nature's Mountain Multi-bird Mix or our Mother Nature's Wild Bird Premium or and offer it in a platform type feeder near the ground or a hanging feeder with a large size perch. This will attract ground feeding birds like house sparrows, juncos, doves and grackles etc.

In your Finch zone, you want to have a tube feeder, ideally with very small perches and very small seed hole openings. Fill this feeder with our Mother Nature's Wild Finch Mix or with finely chopped sunflower chips or nyjer seed.

In your Chickadee and Nuthatch zone, you want to have a hopper style feeder with very small perches and maybe even a wire surround to prevent the larger birds from getting at it. The feeder needs to have large enough seed holes to feed larger sized seeds through it and you will fill it with Mother Nature's Chickadee Nuthatch Mix or Mother Nature's Songbird Mix or alternatively with pure black oil sunflower or medium sunflower chips for example.

Finally in your Jay and Woodpecker zone, you will want to have an open platform feeder - perhaps one with a roof to keep the seed as fresh as possible, but essentially you have to be able to picture a large bird like a blue jay or a flicker landing at the feeder and being easily accomodated. In that feeder, you are going to put our Mother Nature's Jay & Woodpecker Mix or a combination of medium striped sunflower and in-shell peanuts.  

Now I would be remiss if I didn't say that no matter what you do, you will have some cross feeding between feeding zones. However, having these types of feeding stations will reduce the competition and will hopefully encourage a broader variety of birds to visit your feeders.

Just like winning the lotto but better... goldfinches in my yard.

It is the highlight of my bird watching year, when the American Goldfinches arrive at my feeders. These bright little fellows really standout from the crowd!

Some years the goldfinches seem to only stay for a few days and then they are gone again.  This year, however, they have been at my feeders for at least 3 weeks!

I have a few pairs of finches in my yard.  Maybe I will be lucky this year and they will nest somewhere in the area. I understand that they delay nesting until June to ensure they are located somewhere with a dependable food source.   

As you can see from the pic on the left, male American Goldfinches have a black cap on their heads and a very bright yellow plumage.  Females have a more muted yellowish green colour. 


American goldfinches love nyjer seed and sunflower seed.  They enjoy our Mother Nature's Finch Mix immensely and I am having trouble keeping my feeders stocked right now.  Such a pity I have to work for a living, I should just be spending my days filling bird feeders and bird watching!

Planting for the Birds

Well it is snowing a bit outside, so we know it is still spring, but the May long weekend is just around the corner and, for many people, this weekend marks the "safe date" after which it is safe to plant your bedding plants and not be worried about frost.

So if you are one of these gardeners that are eagerly awaiting the May long weekend and doing some garden planning, then how about considering some plants that will attract birds.  I have made some suggestions among the plants that are commonly available in your local greenhouses:

Annuals
For hummingbirds: Hummingbirds have long thin bills that are ideal for probing into trumpet shaped flowers to find the nectar that they are seeking.  They seem to be attracted to flowers that are red in colour.  Look for plants that have high nectar production.  Annual plants to consider for attracting hummingbirds include fuchsias, nasturtiums, snapdragons, dianthus, foxglove, impatiens and petunias.

For seed eating birds:  It is the seed heads in flowers that are the attraction for seed eating birds. These seeds are not available to the birds until the seed head has dried out so don't dead head your flowers or if you do, save the seed heads and offer them once they have dried out in a tray feeder for the birds. In the fall, leave your flowers and their seedheads standing and you will have birds visiting these heads in cold weather condition.  Flowers to consider for attracting seed eating birds include cosmos, cornflower, marigolds, and zinnias, black eyed susans, daisies, impatiens and sunflower mixes

Perennials:
Now what about perennials?  If you are like me, you are getting lazy and prefer to not plant alot of bedding plants.  Here are some choices of commonly available perennial bedding plants for nectar generation (hummingbirds) or seed heads (seed-eating birds): consider bee balm, columbines, coral bells, bachelor buttons, delphiniums, lilies and lupines.

Finally what about shrubs, vines and trees:  consider plants that have berries like dogwood, mountain ash, chokecherry bushes or trees, russian olives, and crabapple trees. Also consider shrubs or climbing vines that have high nectar production for the hummingbirds like morning glory or honeysuckle vines.

It's amazing to find that attracting birds really isn't just about what feeders you have in the yard.  Bird's are looking for the right environment including plants (and don't forget water) when they decide whether to hang out in your backyard or your neighbor's.  So plant for success!

How to protect your lawn from bird seed.

OK, I should know better.  I should know that my lawn will be affected by my bird feeding habits but somehow every year in the spring it comes as a bit of surprise.

Right now I have this nice bump under my finch feeder. I have been feeding a mix of finely chopped sunflower seed and nyjer seed.  Now neither of these seeds will sprout as the nyjer seed has been sterilized and the chopped sunflower seed will not grow.  However, it appears that the shells from the nyjer seed (the birds hull the nyjer seed to eat it) have built up over the winter and now I have a this nice hill beneath my feeder which is now part of my bumpy lawn.

As a bird seed manufacturer, my testing ground is often my own backyard.  I test different types of nuts, different types of bird seed and try to confirm existing theories on bird seed preferences etc.  So I end up with problem areas in my lawn.  However, if you are a gardener first and a bird feeder second, and want to avoid these problems here are some tips:

1. Feed a no-mess mix like our Mother Nature's No Mess Gardener's Mix.  The seeds in this mix will not sprout under the feeder and do not have any seed hulls so you should not get built up waste under your feeder.  
2. Feed sunflower chips. We use the term "chips" for the sunflower seeds that have had the seed hulls removed (sunflower hearts or kernels is another term for these).  Our biggest seller is the medium sunflower chips (which are sunflower kernels that have been chopped into medium sized chunks).  These will not germinate under the feeder and will not cause any shell build up.  
3. Beware sunflower shells.  While birds love sunflower seed, the shells left over from the hulled seed is hard on the lawn and will prevent the lawn from growing below.  Also you may find some pretty sunflower germinating beneath the feeder.  You can prevent this by gathering up the shells as much as possible or by covering the ground with a piece of tarp to act as a hull catcher during the winter when feeding sunflower seed and gathering this up in the spring.  

I haven't quite given up on the gardening but I do recognize that my yard will not be Martha Stewart's.  That is OK with me though, because my garden is full of interesting feathered visitors that provide me with much enjoyment. 

How to avoid attracting "rodents" with Bird Seed

It is not a big problem here in Alberta because we do not have rats here but in other parts of Canada, in particular British Columbia, I hear about challenges with rats being attracted to bird seed.  Of course bird seed can attract really any wild animal including bears, squirrels, deer, raccoons etc. So how do you avoid attracting these wild animals and just feed the birds?

Racoon caught executing a night time raid on a bird feeder near our Chin Ridge Office.

Here are some tips from the Wild Bird Feeding Industry on rats in particular but they really apply to most unwanted critters:

1. Mount your feeders high off the ground in a way that makes it more difficult for critters to reach the feeders.  
2. Use a squirrel proof feeder to discourage larger animals from eating at it.  For example some feeders are weight activated so that if a heavy animal stands on the feeder the seed holes will close up.
3. Use a seed catcher to try to prevent seed from being spilled on the ground and clean up seed regularly under the feeder.
4. Use good quality bird seed so that the birds consume it all instead of dumping the undesirable seed on the ground.
5. Bring feeders in at night to avoid attracting wild life that is more active at night e.g rats and racoons.
6. Store excess seed in plastic or metal tubs that are rodent proof.
7. Try to keep your yard clean of other waste that may attract rodents, e.g. garbage bins, petfood, uncovered compost or food waste piles, dirty bbq's etc. 

Following these tips can help avoid attracting those unwanted rodents to your back yard.

Now what kind of bird is that?

I often struggle to identify the birds in my backyard.  I know the usual suspects of course - my normal backyard visitors but when someone new comes along ....  So today when these large robin sized bird that clearly were not robins and not cedar waxwings and not kingbirds arrived in my berry tree for lunch at lunch time I started another round of frustrating attempts at identifying these odd characters.  This time I turned to technology for help:

A website that I find quite helpful is www.whatbird.com but specifically I like the step by step identifier on the site, which allows you to narrow down the possible bird type by using your location, it's size, colour, beak shape etc.  This allows use to use as many clues as you have at your disposal to identify the bird and hopefully saves you from the embarrassment of mistakenly identifying the bird as an unusual, rare, unlikely bird that never frequents your area as the bird in your backyard -trust me I have done this.  So anyways today I used this tool and determined I had Pine Grosbeaks (immature male or female grosbeaks to match the colour of birds) in my tree.

Now I really don't know if these were truly Pine Grosbeaks and based on the range map it would be kind of unusual to have them in my area.  However it was the best thing I could come up with after an hour of research.  As I never got organized enough to capture these birds on film, I can not get a second opinion on my identification but isn't that half the fun of bird watching - just trying to figure out who is coming to dinner?

New Year's Resolution - Fill the feeder more often with different seeds.

You have heard about the shoemaker's kids that don't have any shoes, well how about the Bird Seed Manufacturer's birds that don't have any bird seed?  It just seems that my days and evenings are so full that I don't get out in the yard much to top up those feeders.  So my 2012 resolution is to actually fill the bird feeders more.

After coming home from visiting relatives over Christmas, I found the feeders in my backyard empty as usual and went out to put new food in the feeders.  Of course as a bird seed manufacturer, we end up with the odds & ends from the bird seed operations, seed samples from this vendor and of this product or another that I end up dragging home.  So for the fun of it, I filled my feeders with different products and spent the afternoon doing backyard feeder observation.

Of course with our Mother Nature's bird feeding system, we recommend this.  Ideally you want to separate the birds in the yard to avoid conflict between them and to encourage the maximum diversity of birds in your backyard.  I sometimes forget to do this myself though and watching the birds eat that afternoon just reinforced how important this is. 

I had put tree nuts in my peanut feeder.  Tree nuts included almonds, walnuts, brazil nuts, pistachio, hazelnuts, pecans etc.  In fact most nuts with the exception of peanuts are a "tree nut" and we use tree nuts in some of our more exotic mixes.  However, I do not typically feed pure nuts and if I do, I would usually use peanuts.  Well I was so impressed with the birds reaction to the tree nuts.  The nuthatches and downy woodpeckers in my yard were head over heals for the tree nuts.  Meanwhile the finches definitely preferred the sunflower or nyjer seed while the juncos and doves were hanging out underneath and around the millet feeders.

Lesson reinforced:  Different food for different birds.  Diversity is the spice of life so mix it up this year at your bird feeders - oh and try to keep them full too!