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SAPSUCKERS AID HUMMINGBIRDS

Mar9

       Since spring has arrived, any day now ruby-throated hummingbirds will begin showing up in our backyards.  When they return it is easy to believe that the sugar water we offer them in our feeders will address all of nutritional needs of these tireless migrants. Unfortunately, this is not the case.  While our hummingbird food supplies the birds with much-needed energy, it does not contain the vitamins, and minerals that are important to their diet. 

       The nectar that furnishes them typically comes from nectar gleaned from flowering plants.  The problem is many of the flowers that bloom at this time of the year are not excellent sources of nectar. Plants such as Daffodils, Bradford pears, even most ornamental azaleas produce little nectar. Fortunately, hummingbirds have another source of the sugar, minerals and vitamins they desperately need.  This food is tree sap.  A bird named the yellow-bellied sapsucker unwittingly supplies this “liquid gold.”

       This woodpecker drills shallow holes in the trunks of trees and other plants.  The sap wells become shallow reservoirs that collect tree sap.  The yellow-bellied sapsucker uses its brush-tipped tongue to mop up the sap.  To ensure that it has plenty of food, it chisels out lots of holes in concentric circles around a number of trees.

       Other critters such as butterflies, squirrels, and birds like hummingbirds also avail themselves of this unusual food.  In fact, the only Rivoli’s hummingbird I have ever seen was feeding at sapsucker holes in a tree growing in a backyard near Winder, Georgia.

       Ruby-throated hummingbirds often follow yellow-bellied sapsuckers to these holes.  However, whenever one of these special woodpeckers spots a hummingbird or other interloper feeding at its sapsucker holes, it promptly runs it off.

       I should note that this source of food is so important to rubythroats; their spring migration follows closely behind that of the yellow-bellied sapsucker. This helps ensure that rubythroats will have readily available sources of food as they proceed on their own journey north.

       I guess it would not be a stretch to call sapsucker holes Mother Nature’s Hummingbird Feeders.

BACKYARD SECRET – A WAY TO KEEP WATER OUT OF NEST BOXES

Mar1

         Here is a simple way to help keep rain out of nesting boxes.  If a nestbox is properly built (with an overhanging roof), in most cases, rain is kept from entering the box.  However, wind-blown rain is a different matter.  While it is impossible to always keep this type of rain out of boxes, you can reduce the chance of this happening by simply erecting a box so that the opening to the nestbox faces away from the prevailing wind.

 

BACKYARD SECRET: DEALING WITH SQUIRRELS EATING SUET AT FEEDERS

Feb22

          If you are having a problem with gray squirrels eating more than their share of suet, here is something you might want to try.  Typically, squirrels prefer eating suet laced with peanut butter and peanuts.  If this is the case in your backyard, simply replace the peanut butter suet with plain suet. While birds will eat it, it seems that bushytails are not particularly fond of plain suet.  While this solution might not work in all backyards, this simple, inexpensive approach to this problem just might work for you.

REASONS WHY GEORGIANS OFTEN SEE MORE DOWNY THAN HAIRY WOODPECKERS

Feb15

      If you are one of the Georgians that has wondered why you see far more downy than hairy woodpeckers in your yard, you are not alone. Let’s look at some of the reasons why this is the case.

       To begin with, downy woodpeckers are far more abundant than hairy woodpeckers.  Approximately 11 million downy woodpeckers live here.  In comparison, only 8.7 million hairy woodpeckers are flying about the Peach State.

       Which woodpecker that you see most often is also affected by the habitat in and around your home. 

`     Hairy woodpeckers prefer to live in forests composed of large, mature trees.  Here they spend most of their time hunting for the larvae of wood boring insects.  These insects comprise about one-third of their diet.  The next most important item on their menu is amts.

       In comparison, downy woodpeckers are most often found living in more open habitats where there is an abundance of smaller trees and weeds (e.g. goldenrod).  In addition, they also often feed on seeds extracted from pinecones. 

       On the other hand, Downy woodpeckers prefer hunting for food in more open habitats dominated by young trees and herbaceous plants like as goldenrod.

      

SUET AND BIRD PUDDINGS ARE NOT THE ONLY SOURCES OF FAT EATEN BY BIRDS

Feb11

       The use of animal fat by birds dates back at least to the 1890s. For example, historians tell us that in 1898 Florence Merriam Bailey and others were feeding animal fat to birds.  These bird early enthusiasts simply tacked raw suet to the trunks of trees. This practice continues to this day. 

       Several years ago, a good friend of mine conducted an experiment to try to determine whether birds prefer chunks of suet (fat found around the kidneys of cattle) to rendered suet.

       It is easy for us to believe that birds only obtain animal fat from raw suet, rendered suet and bird puddings.  Quite by accident several years ago, I found this is not the case.

       At the time, I made my discovery I was working at a checking station on the Rum Creek Wildlife Management Area. I was one of the folks that examined each deer harvested. These animals were examined under an open deer weighing shelter. After the deer were examined, chunks of deer fat were often left behind.

       One day during a deer hunt, I just happened to notice dark-eyed juncos were feeding on bits of deer fat had collected along the edge of the shelter along the edge of the shelter.

       I suspect that birds of been eating the fat found on dead animals of millions of years.  Dark-eyed juncos are not the only birds that have been known to eat the fat of dead animals.  The list of others that do the same are tufted titmice, wrens and woodpeckers. 

 

BACKYARD SECRET – BLUE JAYS HAVE A NEAT WAY TO CARRY LOTS OF ACORNS

Feb8

       The acorn is one of the most important foods in the blue jay’s diet.  Unwittingly blue jays store (cache) many of the acorns they gather in spots that are sometimes located a few miles away.  That being the case, more acorns can be stored in less time if jays could carry several acorns at a time.

       Well, as it turns out the blue jay has a simple but effective way to carry up to five or six acorns at a time. It accomplishes this fete by removing the caps of each acorn. If you carefully watch a blue jay collecting acorns, you will find that, in most cases, it removes the cap from each nut before stuffing it into its mouth.

       It is equally amazing to me that blue jays bury each acorn with its tip down.  It sounds similar to the way we plant bulbs with the bottom of each bulb facing downward. Since jays never find all of the acorns they bury, unbeknownst to them they are planting oaks.

       If you just take the time to watch a bird, there is no telling what you will learn.

NORTHERN FLICKERS RARELY VISIT FEEDERS

Feb1

       If you have never seen a northern flicker at your bird feeders, you are not alone. I personally have never spotted at one at mine either; however, they infrequently visit my birdbath.  In spite of my inability of entice a flicker to my feeders, the Cornell University’s FeedWatch survey reveals that in some states, more than half those participating in the survey report  their feeders are visited annually by flickers. Even then the birds are not regular visitors throughout the entire winter.  Those folks that host them say they see rarely see more than one or two of the birds at a time.

       It seems that when they visit feeders, they most often dine on bird puddings are suet.  The list of some of the other foods eaten by flickers includes the likes of baked goods, peanuts, sunflower seeds, and millet.

       I hope you have enjoyed seeing flickers at your feeders.  Northern flickers are truly fascinating birds.

BACKYARD SECRET – TWO SEEDS WILL ATTRACT ALL OF THE SEED-EATING BIRDS THAT VISIT YOUR FEEDERS

Jan21

         For all practical purposes, white millet and black oil sunflower seeds will attract all of the seed-eating birds that you are likely to see at your feeders.  Birds such as sparrows (chipping, white-throated, fox, field, white-crowned, and song) dark-eyed juncos, mourning doves and eastern towhees all relish white millet. Even cardinals devour their fair share of these seeds.

       The long list of birds that prefer to dine on black oil sunflower seeds includes cardinals, house and purple finches, Carolina chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, blue jays, red-headed and red-bellied, downy, and hairy woodpeckers, American goldfinches, and pine siskins.

       In order to attract these and other seedeaters offer seeds placed on or near the ground as well as elevated feeders.

CLEANING UP SUNFLOWER SEED HULLS IS A MUST

Jan18

       Sunflower seeds are favored by most of the birds that visit our backyard feeders.  The problem is that many birds such as cardinals and finches crack open the seeds at the feeder.  Consequently, in a short period of time the sunflower seed hulls build up below our feeders. These hulls need to be regularly removed.

      The hulls contain a chemical that will retard the growth of many plants. Consequently, if they are not removed you are left with a barren area directly beneath your feeder.

       In addition, they pose a health hazard to birds. The hulls become a breeding ground for bacteria and fungi. Feeder birds come in contact with bacteria and fungi when they feed on the seeds that fall from the feeder. Many of these dangerous organisms can cause birds to become sick or even die. With that in mind, make a point of regularly raking up the hulls and disposing them in the trash.  By so doing, your feeding area will remain attractive, and you will reduce the chance that the birds using your feeders will become infected with a life-threatening disease.

      

BACKYARD SECRET – CANADA GEESE EAT BRADFORD PEARS

Jan12

          Canada geese have demonstrated that they are extremely adaptable. For example, they are able to live in urban and suburban areas.  In fact, in some parts of the state and country, they are more common living close the humans than they are in the wild.  For example, in Columbia County, my daughter and granddaughter often see them walking around Kroger parking lots, yards and swimming in small neighborhood ponds.

           In order to survive just outside our backdoors, the geese often have to alter their feeding habits.  In the subdivision where they live, Canada geese annually nest around the edge of a small pond located near the entrance to their subdivision.  As such, they often see adult geese leading their goslings across roads and even feeding on the lush grass blanketing yards.      

          In typical “wild” habitats, the birds graze on such foods as lush grasses, aquatic plants, seeds, corn and other grains left on the ground after crops have been harvested.  Never once had I ever heard of Canada geese eating the small fruit produced in Bradford pear trees.  Several weeks ago, that changed when granddaughter and daughter found Canada geese feeding on fallen fruit beneath Bradford pear trees located in their subdivision.

          It seems that late in the day, a small flock of Canada geese leave the small lake and walk across the entrance road to their subdivision.  Typically, the birds begin feeding on the fallen fruit littering the ground beneath a Bradford pear growing in a side yard on one side of the road.  Once they have eaten all they want at that location, the slowly cross the road and dine on the Bradford pears found in the yard across the street.  This has been going for several weeks.  Interestingly, this is the first year they have witnessed the odd feeding behavior. That begs the question, “Why now?”

          I suspect that the birds’ traditional foods are in short supply this year.  Consequently, they needed to locate other sources of foods.  I doubt that the geese would have fed on the small fruit earlier.   The fruits are more palatable since they have gone through several freezes and frosts that softened the fruit. 

          It seems that other wildlife species such as American robins and cedar waxwings will also dine on the pears during the winter.  It is obvious that Bradford pear fruit is not a preferred food. Instead, it is an emergency food. This is a food that wild critters rarely eat unless they have little else to eat to ward off starvation.  Even so, I would not have thought they would have turned to Bradford pears.

          If you have witnessed Canada goose eating Bradford pears or other unusual foods, please let me know.