The benefits of a fly-through feeder.

I was so excited yesterday.  I have been looking for a really large good quality wooden feeder for a while now.  However, most of the stores I have been in i.e. Canadian Tire just have small feeders.  So yesterday I was visiting one of our customers and there on the shelf was the feeder I have been looking for! 

This feeder by Wild Bird Trading Company is what I call a "fly - through feeder" meaning that it is ideal for birds that just want to fly in, grab a seed and fly out quickly.  This particular one is very large making it suitable for blue jays and large woodpeckers like northern flickers.

Some people complain about the jays in the yard chasing off other birds but I love jays and while I have seen them pass through my yard they have rarely stuck around.  So when I hung this feeder up yesterday I was hopeful but didn't know what to expect.  Well within a couple of hours I had 3 blue jays coming and going.  It was like grand central station and the other birds could still eat at the other feeders without worrying about the jays.

This feeder was about $60 at Green Haven Garden Centre in Lethbridge and based on my experience with feeders I think it is very good quality and a good price for what you are getting.  So consider putting up a feeder just for the blue jays. They can provide hours of entertainment in the backyard and that flash of blue is beautiful especially against the snow in winter time.

No Mess Solutions for Backyard Bird Feeding

Love the birds but don’t love the mess that goes with them? Many backyard bird feeders stop feeding birds over the summer, choosing to focus instead on the perfect lawn and garden.  However, there is a way to have your perfect lawn and your backyard birds too, if you make the correct bird food choices.

It all starts with selecting the right bird food. It is important to select seeds and nuts that have no shells and that won’t sprout under your feeder. I give a "no mess" rating to ingredients like chopped sunflower kernels (also known as sunflower chips) and chopped nuts. Birds love sunflower seeds and when you remove the shells and chop up the seeds, you eliminate mess and sprouting under the feeder.
 

Skinless peanuts and chopped nuts are also bird favorites and have a low mess factor when fed through a peanut feeder. The chickadees, nuthatches and woodpeckers all really enjoy nuts.

 

Just a plug here for our Mother Nature's No Mess Gardener's blend (available at UFA, Buckerfields and other retailers):  This blend contains chopped sunflower kernels, peanuts and tree nuts.  The birds love these ingredients so there should be very little waste associated with this mix.  It also has no shells to make a mess under the feeder and no seeds that will germinate in your lawn.  

Finally, as an alternative or an addition to the above, you may want to consider feeding a "no melt" suet in the summer time. Suet is a beef kidney fat bird product and no melt suets are guaranteed not to melt when summer temperatures soar. Suet is popular with many birds and there are no shells or seeds that will fall to the ground from a suet feeder.

Birds can be messy it seems, choosing at times to toss the seed out of the feeder only to eat it on the ground later. You can avoid these issues by adding a seed catching tray under your feeder.

There is something peaceful about sitting in the garden and watching the birds at the feeder. Bird feeding brings tranquility to my backyard and makes backyard gardening that much more enjoyable.

Goldfinches don’t hit the dog’s radar.

We have a watchdog you know. She valiantly protects our yard from interlopers including cats and large birds such as grackles and crows (and unfortunately large woodpeckers, doves or jays).

It’s funny though that she seems to have a risk assessment based on the size of the interloper and apparently gold finches don’t cross the risk line. She is happy to let the finches munch away at the feeders.

I am very pleased to have the goldfinches back in my yard. These cheery little guys will eat at the feeder even while I’m sipping coffee on the deck and the dog on watch. I find that they add such nice flashes of color against the spring greenery of the yard.

 

As an aside, I am feeding the goldfinches finely chopped sunflower chips (kernels) – I also have a another feeder elsewhere in the yard where I alternate nyjer seed and our Mother Nature’s finch mix as well.   To find our Mother Nature's bird seed please see our website:  http://www.chinridge.com/index.php/where-to-buy-our-pet-and-wild-animal-food-products

 

 

Attracting Nuthatches to your Backyard

Nuthatches are one of my favorite backyard birds.  So small and yet fiesty, I enjoy seeing these colourful Red Breasted Nuthatches coming to and from my feeders.  It is easy to see which seeds they enjoy the most based on the feeders that they frequent.

In my backyard, the nut feeder is a favorite for the nuthatches.They enjoy the tree nuts (a mix of cashew, hazelnut, almonds and other nuts) and are often seen at that feeder.

Secondly, they really enjoy the finch feeder with the fine sunflower chips (sunflower seeds with the shell removed - chopped finely into little pieces).

They also seem to enjoy eating insects from an old decrepit tree trunk in my backyard and will visit my suet feeders.  I will also see them taking black oil sunflower (shell on) or a peanut from another mix in my hopper feeder.

Nuthatches are busy birds and are not likely to stay long at the feeder.  They zoom in, grab a seed and zoom out, off to wherever they are headed.

If you are having trouble attracting nuthatches, try to offer some of the bird foods I mentioned above.  Note though that you will have a greater chance of attracting them if you have some coniferous treas around your yard.  Red Breasted Nuthatches are considered a short distance migrant and may not migrate at all if you are in the southern part of the Canadian provinces.  So keep those feeders full because once you attract these cute little guys, you could have them there to stay.

Variations on Suet Bird Feeders

I think we are all pretty familiar with the standard suet cage feeder.  However, recently, one of our customers showed us an innovative modification to one of these feeders.

He attached a piece of wood to the bottom of this feeder and explained how this allows birds to have somewhere to rest their tail when they feed, which gives them better balance and allows them to feed more comfortably.   This explains the long tail on some of those suet feeders that you can purchase in stores, or if you already have a suet feeder, you can make it yourself by simply adding a piece of wood onto the bottom similar to the one shown in this photo. 
 

Another interesting suet feeder to consider is a bottom feeding suet feeder, which is entirely covered on the top and sides, and has a mesh underside.  This forces the bird to get to the suet by hanging underneath the feeder. This unique feeder will allow only birds that are comfortable clinging upside down to get to the suet (birds like woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees). If these are the types of birds you wish to attract to your yard, this is a great feeder to use.

 

Suet feeders attract the most interesting birds

I have about 3 different suet feeders in my backyard and they attract the most interesting birds. In particular, I notice that my northern flicker friends love suet.  Notice the acrobatics they use to balance on this suet feeder to eat at it.


You can buy suet in many shapes and sizes but the classic suet cake is like the one pictured here - a square block.  Suet is made from fat, usually beef kidney fat that has been heated to a high temperature to process it in such a way that it will stick together well.  Flavorings or seeds, peanuts etc are added to the fat.  My birds prefer the peanut versions of suet.

Suet provides a very high energy source to birds which is important in the cold winter.  In addition, many birds that are insect eaters will also eat suet, so you will attract birds to your suet feeders even if they will not visit your seed feeders.

So don't forget the suet in your backyard this winter.  I go through about three suet cakes per week during the cold winter months.