Blog by Wild Birds Unlimited of Grosse Pointe Woods

Category Archives: Nesting

Northern Cardinals – Courting and Nest Creation

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As the male Cardinal establishes his territory, he also courts the female by feeding her.  This is one of the most rewarding behaviors to observe as you watch your feeders.  Keep in mind that the Cardinal couple are the first at your feeders in the morning and the last at night.  I have observed them as daylight is just breaking, coming to breakfast as a pair.

Once the Cardinal pair have bonded, nest building can begin. Cardinal nests are not created inside of nest boxes so there is nothing that you can offer in that regard.   The pair search for potential sites together, carrying nest material in their beaks and calling back and forth to each other.  They will use many types of trees and shrubs, including hawthorn, cedar, spruce, pines, hemlock, elms and sugar maples to name a few. Nests can be as low as one foot off the ground and have been also seen at 15 feet high.

The female Cardinal does most of the nest building, although the male may supply her with materials.  The nest cup has four layers: coarse twigs covered inside with a leafy mat and then lined with grapevine bark and then grasses, stems, rootlets, and pine needles. The nest typically takes 3 to 9 days to build; the finished product is 2-3 inches tall and 4 inches across, with an inner diameter of about 3 inches. Cardinals usually don’t use their nests more than once.  The outer layer of twigs are bent by the female until they are pliable and she is able to form them around her body.

Think of these building materials as you look at your yard and consider keeping them available, perhaps even offering them in one area where you can watch the female come to get supplies.  I have a few areas in my yard that are designated stick pile places dedicated for this purpose.

For both reasons of shelter from inclement weather and for nest sites, consider planting a small group of evergreens to help Cardinals in the future years.  You can go to https://www.nwf.org/Garden-for-Wildlife/About/Native-Plants for help in choosing plants that will work best in your habitat. Offering a consistent supply of quality seed and a fresh water supply will help your Cardinal couple achieve success in their nesting efforts.  Enjoy your birds!

With thanks to Wayne Hoch, Christopher Goodhue and Judy Timmerberg for their photos.

Northern Cardinal Nesting – the Song

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Nesting for Northern Cardinals begins with the male claiming territory.

Each year, I anticipate him singing in my yard, with the soonest date I have recorded being January 19th.  That’s right, that early in the year.  Why is that?

Northern Cardinals do not migrate.  Being permanent residents, they can begin the nesting process early and choose the best nesting sites.  The song of the Northern Cardinal is extremely varied.  Sometimes, it starts with clear whistles that may have a few second in between them – “Cheer, cheer, cheer”.  Descriptions from field guides vary in how they describe the songs of Cardinals including “Birdie, birdie, birdie” and a much longer song “wooit, wooit, wooit, wooit, chew, chew, chew” where each “wooit” swings up and the “chew” swings down.  When he changes from high to low, the Cardinal starts with his right voice box and then the left, and you wouldn’t know it wasn’t a single whistle as opposed to coming from two voice boxes.  For rising sounds such as the “Wooit” the song starts left and then finishes right.

Lang Elliot is known for his study of bird song and aptly educates us when he says that most songs of the Cardinal are two-parted with one of the more well known songs being “what-cheer, what-cheer, what-cheer, whoit, whoit, whoit”.  Each male has several phrases that they draw on and may combine them in ten or more patterns.

I have witnessed the male in my yard song one song from the top of the crabapple, and then fly to the birch where he starts with a completely different song, finishing on the neighbors’ maple with yet a third song of his choice.  Excellent entertainment for our ears.

If you are out listening in your neighborhood, you may hear the males counter-singing.  This is the equivalent of drawing a boundary line between their two territories.  Watch for them perched high on the top of prominent trees in order for their song to carry far and wide.  The males will counter-sing the exact same songs, referred to as matched counter-singing.  Scientists surmise that counter-singing is the equivalent to throwing an insult at your rival, a sign of intense interaction.

Just to make Cardinal song more exciting, female Cardinals sing with their males, usually from the nest.  More about that nest to follow.

Goldfinches – Plant It, and They Will Come

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For as many summers as I can recall, I have had one pair of American Goldfinches nesting in my yard.

The male displays over the open space above my back yard, singing as he flies and then alighting in the birch trees at my neighbors. All of the activity to and from the grove of birches by both the male and female goldfinches would be a strong indication that they choose it for their nest site.

 

When the female goldfinch is on the nest it is obvious, as only her male will be coming to my feeder.  In fact, he comes more frequently as he brings food to her as she sits on the nest, incubating the eggs.  Once the eggs hatch, she comes to the feeder in a few weeks, while the male watches the young.  Both parents take seed to their young, one of the few birds that do not feed insects to their offspring.  Natural seeds from plants are a staple in the goldfinches’ diet.

Within a few more weeks, I am able to enjoy the fledged goldfinches as they follow Dad around, landing near him and fluttering their wings accompanied by incessant, sweet chirps.

This year it’s a completely different situation as I have had three male Goldfinches consistently all summer.  I can’t be sure if the groups of fledglings are with different males although I can say that one group is four fledglings and the other group is five.  Hmmm.

 

What changed that my feeding station is so different this year?  The answer became very apparent the more that I observed bird behavior in my yard.   I planted a native habitat that was successful beyond what I could have imagined.  The planting took place in June of 2020 and the mature plants have provided a bounty of seeds for the Goldfinches to eat.

I especially love to check out the flowers with my binoculars as I am amazed at how well the goldfinches blend in with the plants.  Perfect camouflage for a bird that is out in the open – they need to be invisible to raptors.

If you are looking to change your habitat to make it irresistible for Goldfinches, here are a few suggestions –

Agastache nepetoides- (giant yellow hyssop) has been a constant source of seeds for the Goldfinches since July.  A large stand of this native plant was placed in front of the established cedars, an appropriate place given their height of 3 to 8 feet.

From July to September they will be in bloom, an added benefit, as they suit our native pollinators.  This native plant is characterized as easily grown in average, medium, or well-drained soil in part shade to full sun.  I love this description from Missouri Botanical Garden – “A bold plant that masses well in the perennial border, native wildflower area, woodland or butterfly garden.” It is also planted in an area behind my garage that has been dedicated to pollinators. Of note, the bitterness of its leaves make Agastache nepetoides deer resistant.

Helenium atumnale – (sneezeweed) was added in a layer in front of the Agastache nepetoides.  The large and numerous daisy-like, yellow flowers of Helenium autumnale can provide welcome color in late summer and autumn when many other blossoms have disappeared. Sneezeweed prefers full to partial sun and wet to wet-medium soils that are average to rich. Despite its common name, it presents no problems for allergy sufferers, its’ pollen is distributed by insects, not wind. Sneezeweed is one of the host plants of the Dainty Sulphur butterfly.

The plants often become so tall they need staking or other support. Alternatively, they can be cut back in early summer to force shorter, more-branched flowering heads. I have experienced this exact situation as one group of this flower was cut back and has stayed shorter and a great compliment to a different group of cedars growing behind the sneezeweed.  The other group were not cut back and they have flopped, as predicted.  Either way, they attract large groups of goldfinch, many of which go from the plant seeds to the feeder and back.  Best to leave the plant standing all winter so that the Goldfinch can continue to feed on the seed heads.

 

Echinacea purpurea – (purple coneflower) – an absolute favorite and a consistently attractive seed plant for Goldfinches.  Extra bonus is that it is attractive to Hummingbirds as well !  Easily grown in average, dry to medium, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade.  An adaptable plant that is tolerant of drought, heat, humidity and poor soil.

The long bloom times from June through August are a plus and no fall clean-up is needed, as the seed heads provide food for finches all winter long.

 

Liatris spicata and Liatris aspera – Marsh blazing star and Rough blazing star – these flowers blend beautifully with the Echinacea purpurea, the Helenium autumnale and the Agastache nepetoides.  These liatris were planted in many places and its so fun to watch the goldfinches land on the seed stalks and tip upside down as they eat the seeds. These plants flower from July through August/September.  Easily grown in average, medium, soils in full sun.  Spicata  prefers a moist soil whereas aspera is drought tolerant.

Perhaps the most surprising observation was a Goldfinch eating the seeds of the cedars that are the basic foundation plants in my backyard.  Certainly an important evergreen for shelter and food.

Have fun adding native plants in your yard to improve the habitat

and welcome even more finches !

 

 

 

 

 

Mother Birds

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Mother Birds

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the Moms out there.  Let’s take a moment to celebrate some of our local Mother birds.

Sitting on eggs for over a month of incubation, the Bald Eagle shows what parental dedication is all about.  Our local pair at the Country Club of Detroit fly to the Lake to catch fish for the youngsters, and have been witnessed bringing their catches back to the nest to feed the fledglings.  This large raptor attends to her young for the entire summer as it will take this long for the young ones to learn to fly and develop hunting skills.  I was privileged to listen to the details of the nest building from a customer whose house faces the Country Club.  In a lot next to hers, the Bald Eagle would come down and take large branches off the ground to use as the base for this massive nest.  The inside is lined with smaller twigs, grasses and moss.

Many other Mother Birds, such as the familiar American Robin, sit on eggs for only two weeks, and it is the female alone who does the incubating. The young leave the nest after another two weeks, during which time the male helps with feeding.  However, Robins start breeding very early as many of you are already witnessing.  They may have two or three broods of young within the season, making for a summer full of parenting.

Oriole mothers create a master of a nest, a woven pendulous hanging “sock-like” nest.  The nest may take ten to fourteen days to create, placed close to the ends of branches so that it is unlikely that a predator is able to take the eggs or young.  Think about the fact that the first-year females have no blueprint to follow when weaving this nest.  As she builds, she tangles the nesting material with her beak and pushes it into shape much like felted wool. I once watched an oriole come to my yard and land on the ground at the base of the coneflowers that I had left standing all winter.  She clipped at the bottom of the plant and then pulled backward, creating a long strand of material with which to work into her nest.  That one moment changed the way I felt about “cleaning up” my yard in the fall.  Although I haven’t witnessed a similar moment again, I imagine that it is happening when I am not watching.

Hummingbird moms are solely responsible for creating their nest, incubating and feeding their young.  Many times, they will start creating a second nest while the first brood are still being fed.  That’s a lot of work, especially considering that they need to find spider webs to hold their woven nest together and onto the branch.  The web allows the nest to stretch as the young get older.  The spider webs are also used as the sticky substance that holds the moss and lichens into place on the outside of the nest, acting as camouflage.  Do you have all of these nesting materials in your yard for the hummingbirds to use?  Leave the webs and don’t spray for spiders or other insects.  In fact, insects comprise half of a hummingbirds’ diet and she feeds her young this half nectar/half insect diet.  If you don’t have mosses in your yard naturally, consider a small container of them to provide the nesting material so many birds can use.

Enjoy watching the hard working Mother Birds in your yard.