Birds DunRite

Southward migration time is here which makes it very important to have your hummingbird feeder ready and available for your current residents and also the many visitors that will stop by to refuel before continuing their journey south.  If you live in an area that stays warm year-round, the hummingbirds may not migrate at all.

Use the same area to hang your hummingbird feeder and make sure it has shade during the day to keep the solution from evaporating.  A reachable bottom branch of a backyard tree or under your patio is perfect.  A constant food source in the same location of your backyard will ensure many hummingbirds.

Hummingbird feeder maintenance is very important.  Any mixture of sugar and water will ferment and host the growth of mold spores.  To avoid these problems the mixture must be discarded at least every 3-4 days — more frequently in high temperatures.  Always clean a feeder thoroughly before refilling.  A wash of vinegar and water using a bottle brush will do this job.

Never use honey in attracting hummingbirds.  The use of honey can cause a fatal fungal infection on the hummingbirds’ tongues.  Do not use red coloring in the sugar water solution.  Some red on the hummingbird feeder will adequately attract the birds.

Sugar solution should be made in your own kitchen.  Simply bring 4 cups of tap water to a near boil and slowly dissolve 1 cup of pure granulated white sugar into the near boiling water,  keep stirring until the water is clear.  Remove from heat and let cool several hours or overnight.  Store any leftover in the refrigerator up to a week.

Attract these fast flying, acrobatic, fighting and on the constant hunt for sugar solution little hummers to enhance your backyard birding.

The mating habits of the chickadees is minimal.  There is no real major courtship display.  Pairs generally break away from the small winter flocks that have been feeding together through the cold months and begin selecting mates.  Being cavity nesters, the chickadees excavate their nest in the soft,  partially rotted wood of a tree trunk or broken limb.  These birds are excellent candidates for man-made bird houses.  The nesting season is from April through June.

Locate chickadee bird houses 4 to 15 feet high.  The orientation of the entrance hole should provide the most shelter and a clear flight path to the opening.  You can encourage them to nest by placing a few wood chips in the bird house or filling the box with sawdust up to the entrance hole which gives the birds something to excavate while nest building.  The female will build the nest using moss and soft materials, taking about 4-5 days to complete. She will then lay about six white with speckles eggs and she alone will incubate them for about 12 days.  During this period the male feeds her.

The male calls her from the nest, at which time she leaves the nest and he feeds her.  Sometimes she will leave the nest and call him, and he will bring food to her.  Occasionally the female will feed on her own.

After the young hatch,  the female will brood the newborns for the first few days.  During this time the male will continue to bring food.  After brooding, both will share equally in feeding the babies.  The young will leave the nest in about 16 days.  For the next 2-4 weeks the young birds will be fed by the parents.  Then the kids are on their own!!

Bird feeders are an important ingredient in creating a successful bird garden.  When properly selected and placed, they can greatly expand the number and types of birds that will visit your backyard.

The placement of bird feeders is critical in two respects.  First, they need to be located near cover in which the birds can  escape if they feel threatened.  The second consideration is to place the bird feeders close to windows where you can have a good view of them.
Goldfinches add remarkable color to your backyard as well as delightful activity.    Tube bird feeders are perfect for thistle (nyjer) seed and another favorite of the goldfinches  is black oil sunflower seeds.  Hang tube bird feeders just outside your bedroom, kitchen or den window.  The finches are not shy and timid and will come to the feeders as long as there is not a lot of noise to spook them.  These various tube bird feeders can be placed around the yard which will also attract other finches.  You want a birdfeeder that has plenty of perches for the birds to sit on while they are busy eating and playing with each other.

During the year, it is fun to watch the birds molt and change colors.  In springtime, the Goldfinches take on their remarkable colors.  You can also watch as they do their mating rituals to attract partners to start their families.

Backyard birding brings nature to your home for many hours of enjoyment and pleasure.

Backyard birding will bring nature to your home and give you many hours of enjoyment and pleasure.  Birdfeeders and birdbaths attract birds from all over and are very fun to watch.

When it comes to feeding backyard birds,  Goldfinches as well as other finches are crazy about thistle (nyjer) seed so hang a tube bird feeder designed for nyjer seed just outside your kitchen, den or bedroom window and enjoy the fun of watching them flock to the feeders.  The tube bird feeders can be placed around the yard–just make sure there are plenty of perches for the birds to sit on while they are busy eating and playing with one another.

It is fun to watch the birds molt and change colors in the spring time when they take on their remarkable colors.  Then they do their mating rituals to attract partners to start their families.

This is not the end of the pleasure.  It is a joy to watch mom and dad take care of the little nestlings and how those babies are demanding of the parents.  They squawk, flutter their wings and the mouth is wide open as they beg.  Those little ones are going to take their handouts as long as possible and sometimes the babies look larger than mom when she is still feeding them.  They’ll take it as long as they can get it!

If you have a balcony, it doesn’t matter if you live in a high rise apartment, you can attract hummingbirds. They will find you even in the middle of a city.

A hummingbird feeder that is easy to clean filled with sugar water is a good start for a balcony habitat. Hang it in a protected place, under the eaves and out of direct sunlight to discourage fermentation of the solution. To add to the setting, try adding a few potted plants — a large pot with a flowering tree or shrub in it, along with some smaller plants around the base. Your local nursery could help you with plants that grow well in your area and with careful thought you could have a single pot with flowers that bloom all year-round.

Hummers aren’t shy. They will feed from plants or feeders placed close to your house or windows. The one precaution you want to keep in mind is the danger of your hummingbirds flying into the glass if you have a sliding glass door onto your balcony. Until the hummers get used to the fact that there is a window there, draw the curtain behind the glass. Once they get familiar with the territory, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Like all birds, hummers need water too, but they use it mostly for bathing. They satisfy most of their drinking needs from the sugar water in your feeder, or from the nectar itself from flowers. You can provide water with bird baths having a rough surface for good footing and it should have areas that are no deeper than 1-1/2 inches. If it is deeper, just place some rocks in the bottom of it to make the water shallower.

Hope you can find the pleasure of these fascinating little flying jewels!!

Hummingbirds especially like the color red. If you have electric fences around your yard with red insulators, please paint them black or white, so hummers won’t think they are flowers and fly into the electrified fence.

Pesticides are another concern. Hummers eat tiny insects and spiders and feed on the tree sap that attracts them. Pesticides used on hummingbird plants is a very bad idea because the pesticides will kill the insects and spiders that form a large part of the protein portion of a hummer’s diet and they might ingest the pesticide directly sprayed onto the flowers which could make them sick of even kill them. Remember the tiny size of hummingbirds — even a small dose of pesticide can be deadly!

So in addition to maintaining your hummingbird feeder, be very diligent about the surrounding vegetation and area.

Hummingbird physical attributes make them unique among birds. Ounce for ounce hummingbirds have the largest brain, heart, energy output and breast muscles in proportion to body size of any bird. They are the only bird that can fly backward, forward, sideways and hover in midair. They can accomplish this because their wings rotate completely at the shoulder. Other birds have only limited rotation abilities in the shoulder joint. They are the only bird who gets flight power from the upstroke of their wing, as well as the down stroke.

Their hearts beat 1,000 tines a minute and their wings beat an incredible 20 to 200 strokes per second! They inhale 250 times a minute and their metabolic rate is so high it must be fed constantly.

Hummingbirds get the energy they need to maintain their metabolic rate almost entirely from flower nectar and the sugar water in your hummingbird feeder. For protein and other essential nutrients they also nibble on tiny insects and spiders. With their specially designed beaks and tongues which allows them to extract nectar from deep within a blossom they can draw up to 13 sips of nectar a second.

Most hummingbirds are not even as long as a bald eagle’s middle toe. In fact, the smallest of the species, the Cuban bee hummingbird, is the tiniest bird in the world, weighing in at about .07 ounces and is only about 2-1/4 inches long. Some of the larger species can grow up to a whole 3 to 4 inches long and can tip the scales at several ounces. Despite their small size, they are amazingly hardy. Many species migrate for a distance of 1,000 to 2,000 miles.

Robins are most often seen foraging in lawns for earthworms as well as eating many insects like caterpillars, termites, grasshoppers and beetle grubs. A brush or leaf pile will also invite worms and other delicacies for them. Over 60 percent of the robin’s diet is composed of fleshy fruits and berries like elderberry, bayberry, pyracantha, grape, crab-apples or hollies. Planting any such bush or tree will keep the birds coming back. Robins also love plumped raisins, grapes, apples, currants and suet offered in platform bird feeders.

Watching robins in bird baths is truly a delightful experience. They splash and play as well as stopping for a drink and then eventually fly to a nearby branch to preen themselves so a bird bath in your backyard is an absolute must! Another need is a mud puddle for the female during the mating season. She lines the nest with mud by smearing the inner bowl with her muddy breast–then she definitely needs a bath!