Archive | February 2020
CONSIDER PROVIDING A NEST SITE FOR CAROLINA CHICKADEES
More often than not, when people erect a bird-nesting box in their Georgia backyard they do so in hopes it will be used by eastern bluebirds. The truth of the matter is bluebirds do not nest in every backyard. For example, they typically refrain from nesting in cities. They also avoid wooded areas. They much prefer nesting in more open sites often found at the fringes of urban areas, and the wide-open spaces of the rural countryside.
However, if your yard is characterized by scattered trees or the presence of nearby woodland, erecting a box there might be just perfect for a pair of Carolina chickadees.
If you decide to construct a Carolina chickadee nesting box, you can build it to the specifications of a typical bluebird box with one exception—drill the entrance hole 1 1/8-inches in diameter.
If, on the other hand, you want to buy a Carolina chickadee nesting box, you will probably find it difficult to find one. This problem can be easily remedied by purchasing a standard bluebird box and installing an inexpensive 1 1/8’inch hole guard over the traditional 1 1/2-inch entrance hole cut in the box.
This will do a couple of things. First, it will prevent larger cavity nesting birds from nesting in the box. It will also prevent squirrels from destroying the box by trying gain access to it by enlarging the entrance hole.
AMAZING HUMMINGBIRD FACTS
In a few weeks, ruby-throated hummingbirds will be making the long trip from their winter home to Georgia. Those hummers that fly across the Gulf of Mexico have long are arduous flight without having the luxury of stopping to rest or refuel.
Depending on where they take off and land, this migratory flight spans anywhere from 500 to 600 miles of open water. In order to successfully make the flight, a rubythroat must beat its wings some 2.7 million times. To top it all off, a hummingbird may use only 3/40th of an ounce of fuel.
FEEDING DARK-EYED JUNCOS
Dark-eyed juncos are always our favorite whenever they show up at our feeders. However, from the reports I have received over the past few years, they do not seem to be visiting Peach State feeders as often as was the case in the not too distant past. When they do make it this far south; instead of showing up in small flocks, folks that feed birds feel fortunate if one or two make an appearance.
When they do appear, dark-eyed juncos will visit a variety of feeders and dine on a wide range of food. Although they will dine at elevated feeders, it has been my experience they prefer to feed on the ground. When they glean seeds from the ground, they seem to prefer feeding near shrubs.
They eat a variety of foods including canary seeds, sunflower seeds, white millet, as well as both suet and suet mixtures offered in traditional wire suet feeders. However, some bird feeding enthusiasts have successfully attracted the birds to suet chopped up into small chunks served in a shallow pan placed on the ground.
I have also seen them dine on bits and pieces of deer fat that had accumulated beside a deer weighing station located on a wildlife management area.
Dark-eyed juncos will also avail themselves of baked goods such as white bread, cornbread, crackers, and doughnuts.
If you have a small log covered bark with deep fissures, juncos will eat peanut butter smeared into the crevices.
BACKYARD SECRET—LAWNS DOMINATE OUR HOME LANDSCAPES
I recently stumbled across a sobering statistic. It seems that, if we are a typical homeowner living in the eastern United States, 90 percent of the landscape around our home is lawn.
Most wildlife enthusiasts would find this figure depressing. However, if you view this green carpet as a giant pallet, think of all of the ways you can transform this sea of grass into a wildlife haven, you cannot help but be excited about all of the possibilities it provides.
There is no better time to begin the transformation than right now!
UNWANTED NIGHTTIME VISITORS TO BIRD FEEDERS
My wife and I have noticed the last birds to our seed feeders are typically cardinals. Long after the chipping sparrows, tufted titmice, Carolina chickadees and house finches have gone to roost male northern cardinals seem to glow in the fading light of the day. Once the cardinals finally call it quits for the day, as much as we probably don’t like to think about it, a number of unwanted guests are apt to visit our feeders under the cloak of darkness.
To some extent, which animals will visit our feeders depends on where you live in the Peach State. For example, if you reside in North Georgia or a handful of other locations scattered around the rest of the state where black bears make their home, during the warmer months of the year you might have a visit from a black bear.
For the rest of us, our feeders are more likely to be visited by rodents, raccoons, opossums, and white-tailed deer. Believe it or not, coyotes and foxes are also known to frequent feeders at night. In most cases, these animals are attracted to seeds that have been flipped out of feeders or scattered on the ground. That being the case, one of the best ways to discourage nocturnal visits by these furry critters is to clean up any seed left on the ground. This task can be made less daunting by putting out only as much seed as your think the birds will eat during the day.
Deer can often be thwarted by not feeding inexpensive seed mixtures that often contain corn. Corn is a favorite deer food.
If marauding bears are a problem, you will have to take your feeders down before sunset. If you don’t, you stand the very real chance of having feeders destroyed our hauled off into the woods.
Should you want to get some idea what is actually visiting your bird feeding area at night, install a motion-activated trail camera aimed at your feeders. If you do, you may be amazed at what is going bump in the night just outside your backdoor.
BACKYARD SECRET–BIRDS USE MOST OF THEIR ENERGY JUST TO KEEP WARM
You might find it surprising to learn birds use most of their energy just to keep warm. Studies have demonstrated that roughly 90 percent of the energy birds derive from the foods they eat in the wild and at our feeders is used by their bodies to keep warm. This leaves them with precious little energy devoted to reproduction and growth. This is in stark contrast to the green anoles, toads and other reptiles and amphibians living in our backyards. It seems they are able to employ 90 percent of the energy obtained from their diets directly into growth and reproduction.
For this reason, it is always a good idea to offer our bird diners foods containing oils, fruits, and fats. With this in mind, the menu we provide our feathered guests should include such foods as suet, peanuts, and black oil sunflower seeds, as well as dried and fresh fruit.
BALTIMORE ORIOLE SIGHTINGS
Just when it appeared Baltimore orioles would not make an appearance at Georgia feeders this winter, within the past two weeks, two bird enthusiasts reported they are hosting orioles at their backyard feeders. Up until then the only Baltimore oriole report I had received this winter came from a woman the feeds birds in her backyard in Tennessee.
The first report originating from the Peach State came from a woman that describes herself as an amateur birdwatcher living in the Virginia Highlands area of Atlanta. She first saw a female Baltimore oriole January 21. The bird was seen inspecting Hot Meats sunflower seeds at one of her seed feeders.
As soon as the bird flew away, she immediately put out half of an orange. Much to her delight a couple of hours later, the bird returned. The oriole has revisited the orange several times a day since it first dined on the citrus.
On January 27, she sent me an update on the status of the bird. Accompanying the message was a fabulous picture of the oriole eating grape jelly. She wrote that the bird had been coming to feed in her backyard frequently since her initial sighting on the 21st. She went on to say the bird was eating grape jelly from an oriole feeder she bought a year ago. Although neither a hummingbird nor oriole ever used the feeder before, her new winter guest visits it regularly. She fills the feeder with grape jelly water instead of nectar.
The second report that I received was sent January 26. This message came from a wild bird enthusiast that resides in Warner Robins. She reported spotting two Baltimore orioles. The homeowner wrote, “Yesterday I saw a bright orange and black bird at my suet feeder.” The next morning she observed what appeared to be the same bird dining on suet. However, in the brief time it took her to grab her camera and return to the window, the bird disappeared. Much to her delight, in a few minutes, a second Baltimore oriole appeared. The plumage of this bird was much duller.
Wow! I wish a Baltimore oriole would show up at my home this winter. Although I have a small container of grape jelly waiting for them in the corner of one of my platform feeders, nothing resembling an oriole has visited it. However, the fact three orioles have recently shown up at two locales this late in the winter, gives those of us that have not seen an oriole in our backyards hope one may still make an appearance before spring arrives.