Category Archives: Bird Feeding Solutions

A snag, in the language of forest ecology, refers to a standing dead or dying tree.

Preserving or creating snags on our property provides habitats for birds, and can be interesting and rewarding.

Important wildlife habitat is provided when dead wood is available. Birds evolved in forests where dead wood was never removed as part of woodland management. Dead trees are virtually absent in many urban neighborhoods as we have a tendency to view dead wood as without value. On the contrary, dead and dying trees are used for shelter, foraging, nesting and other uses for many species of birds.

Think of a snag as an airport for birds. Flycatchers, Cedar Waxwings and numerous other birds use snags as launch sites as they sally out again and again after flying insects. If the snag is close to a field, it may be used by Hawks and Owls that sit and wait patiently for mice and voles. Near water, snags are used by Kingfishers, Eagles, Herons, and Osprey. At least 30 species of birds commonly use snags as foraging perches.

Snags are also used as singing perches. Perhaps the acoustics are better from a snag? Certainly acoustics are great from a tall dead branch that does not have foliage to absorb the sound. Think about when you see a crow sending out an alarm to his family members, head stretched forward and beak open wide, – that’s always from a prominent perch, isn’t it?

Nothing could be better than a snag for purposes of acoustics in the mind of a woodpecker. Think of a hollowed out drum, just right for hammering. That’s what woodpeckers are doing on those dead branches that resonate so well – letting the female know he has a great territory and is ready to help her out with breeding season.

Snags allow smaller birds to use them as a lookout post. It pays to peek out from a perch to get a complete view in either direction, making sure the coast is clear.

Small snags are invaluable to birds that have bathed in your bird bath and need a place to shake dry and preen. This became a real lesson to me when I placed a bird bath near cedar trees that had dying branches at their lower edge. Each time that a migrant warbler approached the bath, it approached from those branches. Needless to say, I began to look at those branches in a different way.

Creating a snag can be as simple as leaving a tree that has started to die. If you have concerns about the location of the tree in relation to your house, have a landscaper trim the height for safety. Girdling a tree involves removing a ring of bark around the circumference of the tree, which will eventually kill it. Choose an invasive tree or one that is crowded by fellow trees.

The snag in my yard was acquired when the neighbor was taking down a black walnut tree. The tree crew was very helpful in getting one of the large trunks of the tree over the back fence. A deep hole (1/3 of the height of the snag) was dug and the snag was “planted”.

If you have concerns about the appearance of your dead tree in the neighborhood, plant Virginia Creeper at the base. It is a beautiful showy green vine all summer and turns to crimson in fall, with berries the birds love to eat.

Remember- even dead branches within your larger shrubs will serve the purpose of a snag for many of our songbirds.

Have fun with this new aspect of Birdscaping in your yard.

Enjoy your birds!

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During the hot and sometimes dry conditions in the summer, birds can use a reliable source of water.

We know that water is essential to all living creatures. In the case of birds, it is vitally important when it is extremely hot and a bird’s ability to regulate its body temperature can be stressed. Birds do not sweat and must remove excess body heat through their respiratory system. When the temperature rises, a bird’s respiration rate increases, sometimes to the point where it can be seen panting like a dog. Panting in this way can dehydrate a bird and increase their need for a reliable source of water to replace lost fluids.

Birds that are familiar with your yard will know where the birdbath is and take advantage of your generosity. Those birds that migrate for purposes of nesting, such as orioles and catbirds, will locate water with their sense of hearing. A moving spring will bring in birds like a magnet. By using a mister or dripper, you can entice birds more readily as they will hear the water dripping into the bowl. Misters have been known to attract hummingbirds and small migrant birds, such as warblers and vireos. They will either fly through the mist or roll in the water that has collected on leaves. Small pumps that cause the water I the bath to move will also make the birdbath more attractive to the birds that are passing by!

Birds drink water by dipping their bill into the water, holding the water in their mouth, and then tipping their head up at a sharp angle, causing the water to flow down their throat. The exceptions to this rule are doves and pigeons, which have the ability to suck water into their mouths.

Bathing serves a different purpose for birds, keeping them “groomed”. The dust and dirt are removed as you would guess, but the preening that follows afterward is essential for feathers to function at their best. As birds preen, they grasp the feather at the base with their bill and move their beak along the feather, smoothing the feather barbs so that they lock together. Any dirt or oil that remains in the feathers after bathing is removed during preening.

Robins are vigorous bathers. They take up the entire bath, dipping down into the water and throwing it over their backs with their wings. Other birds are not quite so boisterous. Chickadees approach the bath with caution and will enter from the edge. The water needs to be shallow for them to feel safe enough to actually bathe. Adding a few small rocks to the edge of your birdbath can entice smaller birds to feel safe enough to bathe as well as drink.

Ideally, the water in the bath should be dumped out daily, and refilled with fresh water for the birds. When emptying the bowl, use a scrubber brush to clean the bowl and rinse thoroughly before refilling. This is necessary to prevent the build-up of algae and mineral deposits. Once a week, I recommend using Microbe-Lift Bath Cleaner, a soybean based liquid that you spray onto the birdbath bowl, scrub thoroughly and then let sit for a minute before rinsing with clear water. In addition, once a month your bird bath should be sterilized. After cleaning, use a solution of one part vinegar (or bleach) to nine parts water and let the solution sit in the bath for 15 minutes. Rinse very well and let sun-dry for a few hours if possible before refilling the bath.

There are liquid solutions that can be added to the birdbath water, designed to help prevent the buildup of stains and mineral deposits on the birdbath surface, such as white scale deposits, iron, copper and hard water stains. Microbe-Lift Bird Bath Clear is soybean based and works well for that purpose. It is not meant as a substitute for the aforementioned cleaning process (click here to order or read more about Microbe-Lift products).

Remember that there will be bird droppings in the water as birds defecate when they bathe, making the water unhealthy for them to drink. This is why it is important to make daily cleaning part of your responsibility to maintain a bird-friendly yard.

Fresh water not only benefits the birds, it prevents mosquito larvae from developing into mosquitoes. The process takes 7 to 10 days from the time a mosquito lays her eggs on the surface. Since the water needs to be stagnant for a mosquito to develop, changing the bird bath water prevents this from happening.

Offering a dependable source of water is probably the simplest thing you can do to increase the variety of birds in your yard. It can also significantly increase your enjoyment of birds as it allows you to watch their antics as they drink, bathe and preen.

Enjoy your birds!

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The American Goldfinch remains one of the most beloved birds at our feeders.  With their bright yellow color, their dainty behavior and uplifting song, their popularity is understandable.

Their flight pattern is distinctive as well; bouncy and undulating, often accompanied by their flight call which sounds as if they are saying “perchickaree” or “potato chip”.

Often referred to as Wild Canaries, these birds can be easily attracted to your yard with their favorite plants as well as bird feeders.  The Goldfinches’ natural habitats are weedy fields and floodplains.

Goldfinches are not an aggressive bird in their feeding areas, both natural and at your feeders.  Giving them a space where their feeder is not as close to others will decrease the chances of them being chased away.  Goldfinches will eat both nyjer (thistle) and sunflower seeds.  A combination of both sunflower and nyjer (thistle) seed is a great way to satisfy their need for fat and protein.

American Goldfinches are the only finch that molts their feathers twice per year.  March is the time to look for the males to appear with sporadic bright yellow feathers replacing their khaki camouflage feathers.  Goldfinches will also grow new tail and wing feathers, unlike many birds that molt feathers with the exception of those two areas.  Creating these additional feathers requires a great deal of food and energy, with the molt taking six weeks to complete.   This explains why they may use feeders so heavily in the Spring as a supplement to natural foods.

Nesting soon after the monumental physical change of molt would be additionally draining, and is the reason that Goldfinches nest in late June and July.  The female selects the nest site, builds the nest, lays the eggs, and incubates without the help of the male.

Constructed of small grasses and soft, downy material, the base of the nest is attached to the twigs with spider webs for strength.  The average clutch size is five eggs which are incubated for twelve days. The fledgling period that the chicks spend in the nest while being fed by their parents is also around twelve days.

Young goldfinches are one of the few birds that are fed a diet of seeds only, with no protein in the form of insects.  Young goldfinches are very vocal in their efforts to be fed.  Listen to the birds in your yard and you will hear the babies chiming out their “chippee, chippee” quite regularly.

If House Sparrows with their large flock numbers are becoming a challenge to your Goldfinches, try using the feeders designed for the Goldfinches to feed upside down.  A goldfinches’ body is built so that they can readily adapt to feeding upside down, something which is more challenging for House Sparrows.  You can further make your finch feeders more sparrow-resistant by trimming the perches down to one inch.

Having a total seed diet creates a real thirst in these birds.  A birdbath with a shallow area gives goldfinches the ability to bathe at a depth that they can handle.  Placing a few rocks inside your birdbath to copy a natural streamside setting is a perfect way to entice Goldfinches. Clean, fresh water is essential to the birds’ health; therefore, a daily brushing, rinse, and refill of the birdbath is your best strategy.

Creating a garden for Goldfinches is easy.  The seeds of plants in the Asteraceae  (Compositae) family  area a sure bet.  Try Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia Hirta), Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium), Cutleaf Coneflowers (Rudbeckia laciniata), and Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum).  A favorite in my yard is Woodland Sunflower (Helianthus divaricatus) – sometimes I can count a dozen of these golden beauties mixed in with the equally bright flowers.

Native thistle is very attractive to Goldfinches not only for a food source – the down of the plant is used as a lining for their nest.  Try Field Thistle (Cirsium discolor), Flogman’s thistle (Cirsium flodmanii) and Wavyleaf Thistle (Cirsium undulatum).

Enjoy the beauty that Goldfinches add to your yard.

Enjoy your birds!

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At Wild Birds Unlimited in Grosse Pointe Woods, some of the most prevalent questions we are asked in late summer are, “What kind of seeds can I use that sparrows DO NOT like?” or,  “What do I do about the house sparrows crowding out my other birds?”

House Sparrows can be found almost everywhere in this area, close to our homes and other buildings. They have a tendency to displace native birds from nest boxes, which causes some people to resent them. We must remember that because they have the ability to live so well among us, they are beneficiaries of our own success.

Identifying a House Sparrow should be easy. Look for the flock of birds that descend upon your feeders or gather in your shrubs and trees, chirping noisily in their sparrow language. I think they are letting others know where the latest feeders have been filled, so that the whole crowd may call others to the feast. Males change plumage this time of year, with their black bib becoming muted. Females and juveniles are perhaps the blandest bird in your yard with very little distinguishing characteristics other than being brown.

How do you attract House Sparrows? They will eat anything that you have to offer, from stale baked goods to the jelly that you put out for purposes of attracting Orioles. Any structure that has the ability for them to get inside will suit their purposes for breeding. In addition to using cavities or nest boxes for raising their young, they also use these spaces for shelter each day, adding materials that they gather for purposes of insulation. The House Sparrow is actually a Weaver Finch, not a true sparrow like our native White-throated Sparrows or Dark-eyed Juncos that visit our feeders.

So how do you limit the number of House Sparrows in your yard, if that is your goal? Make sure that your nest boxes have openings that are not larger than 1 ¼” or they will be able to get inside, precluding the House Wrens and Chickadees from using the nest box. If the opening is larger, place a metal protector over the entrance to deny them access. Look for places they gather and eliminate access to those places. Because they are not native to the United States, it is not illegal to disrupt their nesting. For example, it is perfectly acceptable to clean their nests out of your gutters before you add gutter guards. Observe them and you will be able to find their nesting spots and eliminate them by stopping their access to the area.  

Keeping them out of feeders is another story altogether. For finch feeders, the answer is to trim your perches so that they are short enough for a Goldfinch to use and too large for a House Sparrows’ wider body to fit on the perch. What size would that be? Start with an inch long perch and modify down from there as needed. There is also a finch feeder where seed can only be accessed when the bird is hanging upside down. Goldfinches can do this easily whereas House Sparrows have a much more difficult time accomplishing this feat.

Using formed seed cylinders and cakes is also helpful in attracting Chickadees, Woodpeckers and Cardinals, all of which use their strong beak or ability to peck or pry a seed apart from the cylinder in order to feed. House sparrows are not as well equipped in this regard so it is not as easy for them to use seed cylinders. However, once the cylinder is crumbling apart, House Sparrows will be there to take advantage of the opportunity.

Feeding with plain suet is another way to attract quality, native birds such as Downy Woodpeckers and Black-capped Chickadees without being very attractive to House Sparrows. The suet cakes that have added seeds and peanuts are especially attractive to House Sparrows and should be avoided during this time of year if you are trying not to attract the post-breeding crowd of House Sparrows. There are suet feeders that allow only woodpeckers to reach the suet inside of the sandwich of the feeder,  as well as suet feeders that can only be accessed from underneath, something more difficult for House Sparrows than it is for Woodpeckers and other clingers.  

If your yard is attracting a large flock of sparrows, it may be the scene of what some would consider entertainment. This is the time of year that young Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper’s Hawks are honing their hunting skills. House Sparrows will scatter like a bursting firework when one of these predatory birds decides they would make a good meal.

And on a different note, larger groups of birds are a great way to introduce small children to birds at a feeder. The commotion that is caused by a group of feasting House Sparrows is a good way for a toddler to be brought closer to Nature by watching the birds’ behavior. Perhaps birds that are flying over your yard will witness the flock of sparrows as well, and it will act as a welcome flag to those migrants.

Enjoy Your Birds !!

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