Tag Archives: Michigan

Reconnecting with the Common – A Celebration of Mallards

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Mallard Duck by Tim Lintz

Mallards, A Reintroduction

Although common in our state, the Mallard Duck male is anything but common in appearance. He is eye-catching with his bold green head, bright yellow bill and equally bright orange legs. He also has a splash of iridescent blue in the wings (on the speculum). By comparison, the female is plain in coloration. This helps her stay concealed for safety during nesting.

My granddaughter, Isabelle, has helped me see Mallards in a re-energized light. She’s so captivated, she’s drawn and written poetry about them. I am grateful these ducks are so common. This makes it easy for her to observe them in the fresh water ponds near her house.

A Poem & Drawing by Isabelle

The Mallard is a dabbling duck, meaning it does not typically dive for food. Instead, Mallards tip end-up and uses their beaks to grab plant food. They will also eat insects, mollusks and crustaceans. Mallards dive for food when needed, although their bodies are not built for this. Their legs are positioned in the middle of their body, which is not ideal for diving. Diving ducks, on the other hand, dive freely with legs near the back of their body.

Fun Facts About Mallards

Migrating Mallards can fly 55 miles per hour!

The “quack” you hear is from the female, as the male gives a quieter, raspy sound.

At the end of breeding season, Mallards lose their flight feathers and cannot fly for 3 to 4 weeks. During this time, they gather in groups in sheltered places as their feathers regenerate. Their body feathers molt during this time into a less striking plumage called “eclipse” plumage.

Many hunters target Mallards for sport. It was hunters who discovered the oldest known Mallard. The bird had been banded in Louisiana in 1981 and was shot in Arkansas in 2008, making it at least 27 years old.

A Place in the Ecosystem

Mallards play an important role in creating habitat. In a recent article published by Audubon, a scientist revealed his discovery of their eating habits after tracking their movements. As the article states, Mallards use the landscape as one big buffet. They will eat plants in one place and as they travel throughout the day, they excrete these seeds into areas sometimes as far away as five miles. This creates habitat, maintaining existing patches of healthy plant communities and creating new habitats. Read the full article here https://www.audubon.org/news/mallards-are-everywhere-and-thats-great-wetlands

Enjoy these ducks as much as Isabelle does, as they return to Michigan from their wintering grounds in the months to come.

 

Rosann Kovalcik, Owner

Wild Birds Unlimited, Grosse Pointe Woods

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Fascinating Blue Jays

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Blue Jay with Peanut by Emily Wolfe

Blue Jays – The Sights and Sounds

I find Blue Jays to be fascinating – I’m listening to them now as they sing out their “tootle-oot, tootle-oot” from the oak tree. They have such a rich complexity of vocal sounds. The same can be said about their plumage, a rich complexity of blues of every shade. Such a handsome bird with both males and females looking alike, their faces framed by a dark collar. Perhaps one of their finest features is their crest, raised and lowered at will depending upon their mental state – up when alert, feeling territorial, and down when there’s no reason, giving the back of the head a little “flair”.

The Brains

Blue Jay by Emily Wolfe

Jays play an important role among the birds in our yards. They will sound the “Jay! Jay!” alarm when a potential predator is nearby. This allows all of the birds to be on the lookout for the hawk, cat or human that caused the Jay to give the neighbors a warning. One of the most amazing vocalizations of the Blue Jay is their ability to vocally imitate hawks – they have turned my head with the calls of a Red-shouldered Hawk and a Broad-winged Hawk, only to spot them in my binoculars. And just a few short minutes after I wrote that, I heard a Cooper’s Hawk calling from the rooftop – except it was a Blue Jay. Perhaps he was using this as a scare tactic to keep the other birds away so he could swoop down and feed on the seed cylinder I had just put out. Smart move.

Blue Jays can be entertaining and unafraid in your yard. They will come quite close when any kind of a nut is involved as they naturally seek the mast of trees. Capable of storing a few acorns in their gular pouch, a holding area in the throat, they will transport the acorns to an area to stash away. Placing the acorns on the ground and covering them with leaves, or pushing them into the soil with their strong beaks, they hope to save them for future food. Many of those acorns will grow into trees and in this way, the Blue Jay plays forester for us.

Peanuts in the shell evoke the same mental response in Jays.  They simply cannot resist them when offered and will carry them away where they can hold them with their feet and use their beak to break away the shell and eat the protein-packed nut inside.

Blue Jay

Baby Blue Jay by Samantha Mason

The Babes

Both male and female Blue Jays take an active part in raising their brood of two to seven. They are quite secretive during nesting season as they find food for their young and deliver it to the nestlings. Jays are omnivorous and will eat a wide variety of plants and animals. Once the young fledge the nest, they will travel in family groups for feeding purposes. You can hear their contact calls to each other as they move about the trees.

Movement

Blue Jays take part in their spring and fall migration in very large numbers. They migrate in daytime flocks, unlike many of the small passerines that use the cover of night for migration. We have seen these flocks of hundreds of Blue Jays flying over us at the Ford House during our bird walks. The wing beats blink light and dark flashes as they travel along – a magnificent sight.

Enjoy this adaptable, gorgeous bird and all of the vocalizations that make Jays so unique.

Baby Blue Jay by Samantha Mason

Enjoy your birds!!

Rosann Kovalcik, Owner

Wild Birds Unlimited, Grosse Pointe Woods

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Bird Spotlight: Long-eared Owl

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Long-eared Owl (Photo by John Graffius)

An Owl Appears

I can still hear the excitement in my friend Debbie Graffius’ voice as she explained what she was seeing. She was looking in her yard at a large owl with ear tufts. She knew enough to know it was not a Great-horned Owl.

At this point, I grabbed my binoculars, as there was only one answer. I quickly headed to her house in the north part of Grosse Pointe Woods (not far from Lake Shore). Sure enough, perched on a limb open to the sun, yet protected by surrounding evergreens, was a Long-eared Owl. When Debbie’s husband John returned home, his photography skills came into play. Some excellent shots of this comfortably roosting owl resulted.

A Little Bit of Background…

We spotted this bird on March 29th of 2013. We don’t often see Long-eared Owls in our area. The only other time I am aware of was in April 2004, when Tufted Titmice in my yard began to scold. This led to an investigation on my part. Sure enough, a Long-eared Owl was in the evergreens in my 75 x 150 Grosse Pointe Woods yard. This is a great testimony to the need for evergreens as shelter. The bird did not budge during the daylight. Mike Florian, my good buddy and President of the Grosse Pointe Camera Club, was able to get some great photo opportunities that day.

This behavior is typical of Long-eared Owls do. They roost during the day in dense evergreens, typically near field edges. When trying to conceal themselves, Long-eared Owls sit erect, tightening their body feathers,“ear” tufts sticking straight up. One of the most interesting facts I have read about these owls is how they use the same distraction technique as that of Killdeer. When luring predators away from the nest, both the owl and the killdeer often feign a broken wing as they drag themselves along the ground.

Long-eared Owl (Photo by Mike Florian)

Bird Stats

The wingspan-to-body-length ratio of this bird is quite amazing; head to toe it is only 13 – 16 inches tall, with a wingspan tripling that at 39 inches! For a bird this size, it is amazing they weigh only 8 ounces to 1 pound.

To raise their young, Long-eared Owls use the abandoned nests of hawks and crows. These are usually 20 feet or more above ground. They lay between 2 – 10 eggs, with an incubation period of 35 – 40 days. The young are fed the same diet as the adults, torn into bite-sized pieces. This diet consists of mammals including: mice, shrews, voles, rats, rabbits and less commonly, birds. The adults kill the prey with a bite to the back of the neck of the mammal, and eat their prey whole.

Long-eared Owl (Photo by John Graffius)

Owl sounds are always magical to me, and the sounds of a Long-eared Owl are no exception. The male gives a low hoot call, similar to the sound of blowing across the top of an empty bottle. The owls repeat this call sometimes up to 200 times, between 2 -4 seconds apart. The sound carries more than a half mile away. When disturbed during nesting season, the owls clack their mandibles together and also give a call that sounds like the bark of a small dog.

As set forth on the Cornell web-site, Long-eared Owls are rated as a 13 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score and they are listed on the 2016 State of North America’s Birds Watch List. This list was compiled to bring attention to those species that are at risk of extinction unless conservation measures are taken to reverse the challenges that they face. For Long-eared Owls, this includes loss of habitat including wooded areas and grasslands. Continued protection of our small wetlands is a step in the right direction for this species’ survival, since many of these wetland areas are adjacent to wooded areas.

Final Reflections

Long-eared Owl (Photo by Kevin Karlson)

Some of my best memories of this bird is watching their moth-like flight as they lift from the trees at dusk at Whitefish Point, on their way to migrate further north. This is when their wingspan can truly be appreciated. Knowing this is their behavior, I advised Deb and John if we sat and patiently watched the Long-eared Owl in their yard, it would become active at dusk. And as if on cue, when the sun began to set, the bird sat more erect and stretched its wings. Looking about, it then flew to the top of the nearest phone pole and after another stretch, lifted itself and headed north.

Do you want to see this owl? Mark your calendar for the Michigan Audubon Spring Fling on April 28th and 29th at Whitefish Point in Paradise, Michigan. Stand on the hawk watch platform at dusk and wait for the magic to begin.

Enjoy your birds!

Rosann Kovalcik, Owner

Wild Birds Unlimited, Grosse Pointe Woods

 

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Red-headed or Red-bellied Woodpecker

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In the last few years, I’ve had an increase in the number of customers at Wild Birds Unlimited here in Grosse Pointe Woods who come in and report that they have a Red-headed Woodpecker at their feeders. Knowing the status of that bird is unusual in Michigan, I show them a picture of both Red-headed and Red-bellied woodpeckers.

Red-headed Woodpecker by Andrea Rose

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Red-bellied Woodpecker

After seeing both, most people realize they in fact saw a Red-bellied and not a Red-headed Woodpecker. It s far less common to have the latter bird in this area (though certainly not impossible!). In the case of the Red-bellied, it does in fact also have a red cap, which makes the nomenclature slightly confusing. Perhaps at the time of the Red-bellied’s discovery, the name “Red-headed Woodpecker” was already taken. This type of discovery would have been made after the bird was shot to be studied. Luckily, these days, binoculars have replaced guns in the study of birds, and through them we can see the red blush of the Red-bellied woodpeckers’ belly.

More facts …

Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) is 9.25 inches in length, has a wing span of 16 inches and weighs 2.2 oz. With a white belly, distinctive black and white stripes on the back and a bright red cap, this bird is a welcome addition to the sightings in your yard. The red on the male covers both the crown and the nape of the bird, whereas in the female it is restricted to the nape. In flight, the wings move in a deep undulating flight. One of the most interesting facts that I have read about this bird is that it has 36,000 to 37,000 feathers to insulate it. (Just how do they come up with those statistics?) The male Red-bellied Woodpecker has a longer bill and a longer, wider tongue tip than the female. These adaptations may allow the male to reach deeper into furrows to extract prey and may allow the sexes to divide up the resources in one area.

One of the best attributes of the Red-bellied Woodpecker is its voice. As Sibley describes it the “contact call is a loud, harsh, but rich quirrr slightly rising; in flight a single, low chug. Also a harsh chig-chig, a series of chig notes delivered slowly, or a rapid, chuckling series chig chigh-chchchchchchch descending.”
The Red-bellied is a nut eater, frequenting deciduous and mixed woodlands forests and usually ranging south of boreal forests. It eats three times more vegetable matter than insect matter and is known for its propensity to store food, using its long tongue to push food deeper than chickadees, titmice and blue jays can reach. It is known to eat arthropods, seeds, fruit, sap, and occasionally lizards, tree frogs, small fish, nestlings, birds, and eggs. The manner in which it feeds is to glean for insects from bark; probe and excavate into dead wood; hawk for flying insects; and hang upside down for berries.

Red-bellied Woodpecker by Andrea Rose

The Red-bellied Woodpecker is a primary cavity nesting bird, laying white eggs as most cavity nesters do. They don’t re-use cavities, which is important because the nest holes are then used by a large number of other birds, including flycatchers, wood ducks, screech owls, and bluebirds, to name a few. Nesting begins in late April and early May with the young fledging the cavity by June or July. European Starlings have an intense impact on the Red-bellied Woodpeckers’ nesting success, as the aggressive, non-native species runs the woodpeckers out of their cavities.

The range of the Red-bellied is widespread throughout the southeast. The Birds of Michigan by McPeek and Adams classifies the range of this bird as becoming considerably more common in Michigan in recent decades. In the early to mid-1900s, the range of the Red-bellied Woodpecker ended around the middle of the state, but now it occurs throughout the Lower Peninsula, though still uncommon in most of the northern counties. The increase of this bird’s range northward is due to a number of factors. As Red-bellied populations grow in the south, there is a greater need for ranges to expand in order for birds to establish sufficiently sized territories. Increases in people who feed the birds, as well as above average winter temperatures for several decades, and forest regeneration in parts of the Lower Peninsula all add to the increase of this species. The Christmas Bird Counts confirm a steady rise in the population. Sightings of this bird in the winter are more regular as birds wander in search of food. Red-bellieds will cache food in a cavity, stocking it with acorns, nuts or sunflower seeds, which adds to their survival rate.

Since Red-bellied Woodpeckers are not as numerous here as in the southern states, I asked my Wild Birds Unlimited fellow store owners for some advice on what to recommend at feeders in order to bring in these newcomers. The responses were diverse –

“They like everything other woodpeckers like and can drill through whole peanuts in a peanut feeder to get at the nut meat.”

“They eat Black Oil Sunflower out of the tray feeder on the ground all the time”. .

“They love pure sunflower chips best of all, with peanuts second, and suet also”.

“They prefer peanuts, suet and striped Sunflower”.

“Red-bellied woodpeckers like peanuts, striped sunflower, and suet”.

Judging by these responses, a well stocked feeding station should increase the odds that you will be host to the sight and sounds of this handsome woodpecker.

Enjoy your birds.

Rosann

Wild Birds Unlimited of Grosse Pointe Woods, MI

Feeding Techniques of our Wild Feeder Birds

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“Chickadees don’t stay very long at the feeder.”

This is a common observation of our customers that sit and watch the various feeding habits of the birds that visit their yards. Chickadees and Tufted Titmice do flit to the feeder, grab a seed and then disappear into the closest shrub or tree in order to eat. Sometimes, they may stay at the feeder for a few moments, picking up a seed and evaluating its’ weight in order to ensure that the energy they expend will be worth the prize inside. Once a seed is selected, these members of the Paridae family cannot open the seed while sitting on the small perch of a feeder. The seed needs to be held between their feet while the bird uses its’ small beak as a chisel, excavating the outer shell to reach the nut meat inside.

Tufted Titmouse by Andrea Rose

Blue Jays feed in the same manner, as their beak is not built for cracking a seed between the upper and lower mandible. Instead, they place the sunflower seed from your feeder under their feet and use only their lower bill to hit the seed. Blue Jays are equipped with a special flange on the lower jaw that braces it against the skull, creating a more effective chisel.

One of the most famous “chiselers” of the backyard is our Downy Woodpecker. Once he locates insects by hearing them inside of a tree, the Downy’s beak chisels the wood in order to reach the insects inside. At a suet feeder, these tame year-round residents have a more relaxed meal. Using their long tongue with its’ sticky saliva and barbs, the Downy Woodpecker can easily extract pieces of suet from the cake that you offer to them.

Downy Woodpecker by Andrea Rose

On the opposite end of the spectrum, doves and pigeons have a small bill that does not allow them to chisel or crack seeds. Their soft-based bills are more adept at picking seeds from the ground or eating small seeds that they find in your feeders. Once ingested, they store food in their crop where it is ground with the aid of the muscular part of the stomach called the gizzard. This accounts for their frenzied bouts of eating large quantities of food and then later roosting for long periods as the food is processed.

Cardinals, Goldfinches and House Finches have conical shaped beaks that allow them to shell seeds and eat them one after the other. To our benefit, these birds sit at your feeders for longer periods of time, without the need to take seeds away from the feeding station. The action of their bill is the same as a nutcracker in that the grooved upper mandible holds the seed while the lower mandible moves the seed forward and cracks it open, thereby removing the shell.

Some of the birds that frequent your feeding station will take a number of seeds away from the feeder and hide them for consumption at a later time. This technique is known as caching and is used by both the Black-capped Chickadee as well as the Blue Jay. The hippocampus in the brain of these birds is disproportionately larger than in other birds. In studies that have been done in these species, when the hippocampus is removed, the birds are still capable of caching food but can no longer relocate it from memory. Many times, the chickadees will cache food from the feeder into nearby crevices in trees in order to get a quick “full plate”, settling in at that spot to eat all of the cached food away from the feeding station. Blue Jays will cache acorns and other mast from trees into the ground, assuring the continuation of that tree species, as the seeds that are not retrieved become next year’s seedlings.

Watching the eating habits of the wild feeder birds at your feeding station can be an enjoyable and educational experience as you learn about each bird’s particular method of obtaining it’s “daily bread”.

Enjoy your birds!

Rosann

Wild Birds Unlimited of Grosse Pointe Woods, MI

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Tips for a Pest-free, Clean Bird Feeding Station

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When we get our first blast of cooler air and a cloudy sky, I’m reminded by the heavy influx of customers at our Wild Birds Unlimited in Grosse Pointe Woods that they are getting ready for their fall and winter bird feeding. With that fuel for thought, I’ve come up with some ideas to share with you for pest free and clean feeding stations.

Good, quality seeds are the staple of any feeding station in the colder months. Once natural seeds have been depleted, birds will look to supplement their diet with your offerings. The most favored seed is the black oil sunflower, favored by more birds than any other seed. Using sunflower as the main seed in a blend and adding other favored seeds such as safflower and white proso millet will bring in the local birds as well as the migrants. Birds that perch while they eat prefer the sunflower and safflower, whereas the ground feeding birds prefer the millet that falls to the ground from the feeder. Choosing a quality seed is the most important factor in your feeding station. Seeds that birds don’t prefer will be tossed aside by them, ending up on the ground where they are a great food source for rodents. Check the ingredients and make sure they are what the birds want.

Keeping a tidy feeding station is good for the birds and good for you. Utilize a tray that allows you to catch any seeds that are scattered by the doves and sparrows – we are convinced they are trying to give to their brethren below! Make sure that you provide a way to clean up the area underneath the feeders. Seeds and shells that sit for prolonged periods of time will mold and harbor germs that may affect your birds. The birds themselves will cause droppings to go into the shells and seed spillage. A hardware cloth or screen placed under the feeder will allow you to pull it away, roll up and toss the mess, and wash it off before placing it back under the feeder.

Store seeds in galvanized cans inside of the garage or a shed. Keeping seed in the house may cause cereal moths to hatch, the eggs having been laid in the seed shells while the sunflower was growing in the field. Temperature is what causes this to happen, so a cool out-building is a better choice. We recommend galvanized cans as rodents are able to chew through plastic. Whether it’s the little teeth of mice or the larger teeth of squirrels, plastic is ineffective at keeping them out.

Before you fill the feeder, make sure that it has been cleaned and sterilized. A good soak in some warm water will loosen all of the dirt that builds up in most tube feeders. The soft bristles of feeder brushes allow you to scrub without scratching the feeders. To sterilize, add one part of vinegar to ten parts water. Always rinse thoroughly before letting the feeder dry completely and filling. With a wooden feeder, follow the same steps without a prolonged soak. A good alternative to wood is the recycled plastic feeders that are now being made. The plastic does not allow organic material to grow as readily as wood does.

Feeder Fresh is an organic additive that is sprinkled into feeders that offer nyger or sunflower chips. Keeping the feeders free of mold is an obvious benefit to the birds you are feeding. It is added to the feeder when you fill it with seed.

A tidy and clean feeding station is better for the birds that visit your yard. Thanks for being responsible.

Enjoy your birds !
Rosann
Wild Birds Unlimited of Grosse Pointe Woods, MI

How to Feed the Birds but not the Squirrels

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On a daily basis at Wild Birds Unlimited in Grosse Pointe Woods, we hear about the abilities of squirrels to successfully turn bird feeders into squirrel feeders. Even though we advise customers as to the capabilities of squirrels, some insist that the squirrels won’t be able to climb the feeder pole they are purchasing. We smile knowingly when they are back within days to admit that the little rascals easily shimmied up the pole and are monopolizing the seed.

Squirrels are members of the rodent family. The Latin word rodere means “to gnaw”, as we can see in the damage these critters cause to our new feeders. Did you know that squirrels gnaw in order to keep their teeth sharp and short? If they didn’t, their teeth would be an unruly length since they grow six inches per year. While squirrels can cause frustrating damage to feeders, this does not have to be the case. There are many strategies that you can employ to keep squirrels away from feeders.

The acrobatic abilities of squirrels are legendary; at least here in Michigan. Pound for pound, Olympic gymnasts can’t compare. Since squirrels can jump up from the ground almost six feet and sideways a distance of eight feet, the location of a feeder within your yard is crucial to the success of feeding birds, not squirrels. A feeder hung from a branch would need to be placed eight feet from the trunk, forcing the squirrel to approach from above since the sideways approach would not work. The baffle that is placed above a feeder should be substantially wider than the feeder itself which is why it is difficult to keep squirrels out of wooden feeders hung from trees. At Wild Birds Unlimited in GPW, we find that the most successful baffle is one that was designed by an engineer who was fed up with the furry critters eating the seed he was offering the birds in his yard. The shape of the baffle forces the squirrel down and away from the feeder.

Both wooden feeders and tube shaped feeders can be mounted or hung from poles. Many people report that they have greased the pole with a variety of substances including cooking oil, WD40, or Vaseline. While it can be entertaining to watch the squirrels slip down the pole, there are two problems with this approach. The first is that the substance needs to be reapplied as it wears off onto the squirrel. The second problem is that the matted fur of the squirrel causes its belly to be exposed to the elements, which can lead to hypothermia.

On a pole-mounted system, the baffle needs to be placed five feet above the ground on the pole and preferably made of metal. Plastic baffles will end up becoming a way for squirrels to keep their teeth filed down, as previously mentioned. The pole system that the feeder is placed on should have eight feet of distance from any surface that the squirrel can leap from vertically, such as a deck rail, shrub, tree or another feeder system! If the pole system is under a tree or near a structure such as a garage, their jump from above will give them a further advantage. I’ve watched as a squirrel leveraged itself from the handle of a shovel that I had left upright in the ground, giving him the edge in making a successful leap.

One of the strategies is to use a seed that squirrels do not prefer, which is safflower. The seed has a bitter taste and is not preferred by mammals, while songbirds enjoy its flavor. Cardinals, chickadees, house finches, Carolina wrens, and mourning doves all come to safflower. When you have a feeder that can be accessed by squirrels, such as a window feeder, safflower would be the perfect solution. Safflower is grown primarily for human consumption, as we use the oil from the seed for cooking. Therefore, the cost can be prohibitive for some budgets. However, when you aren’t feeding the squirrels, your seed last much longer and can be more economical.

By far the best way to keep squirrels away from the bird seed is to use the feeder that has a counter weight, causing the seed ports to close off when a squirrel lands on the perch. The feeders of this type are made of metal so they are impervious to the gnawing efforts of squirrels. There are many excellently designed feeders that incorporate the counter weight system including the Eliminator, appropriately named.

Whether you decide to baffle against them, buy feeders that exclude them, use Safflower seed or feed them their own feast, you have to admit that squirrels can be entertaining and their persistence is to be admired! Good Luck with making your bird feeders squirrel proof!

Enjoy your birds !
Rosann
Wild Birds Unlimited of Grosse Pointe Woods, MI

How Birds Survive the Winter Cold

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Wild Birds that do not migrate have interesting strategies for survival in the cold winter, both natural and some that are provided by our caring customers at Wild Birds Unlimited in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan. Those customers often ask what they can do to help winter resident birds survive, such as Cardinals, Black-capped Chickadees, and White-breasted Nuthatches that they see in their yards.

Birds survive winter in part by using layers of feathers that they fluff out, trapping air which then insulates them. Fall molt is when birds increase the number of feathers that they have, growing as much as 30% more feathers than in warmer months, adding to their ability to keep out the cold. Smaller birds have more feathers per unit of body weight than larger birds.

The lower legs and feet of birds are tendinous as opposed to having fleshy parts exposed as in mammals. Therefore, there is no heat loss from that area. A birds’ bill is made of horn similar to our fingernails and does not suffer heat loss either.

Birds use their metabolism to produce heat and run a hotter engine in the winter than in the summer months. They produce this additional heat by consuming more food – up to twenty times more on a winter day than during warmer months. Their choice is energy rich foods, which results in a high concentration of glucose in the blood, creating a higher metabolism.

During the cold winter nights, cavity-nesting birds such as chickadees and nuthatches will pile into a tree hollow or a roost box that you provide, sometimes in groups to keep each other warm. In addition, some birds are able to lower their metabolism and body temperature at night, which saves energy. For example, a chickadees’ heart rate slows from 2,000 down to 500 beats per minute and body temperature goes from 108 degrees to twenty degrees lower during the night.

During the daytime, a bird may shiver, with this muscular energy producing heat. Another adaptation to cold is some birds’ ability to store seeds in a crop, an enlargement of the esophagus. This food is used during the night to maintain higher metabolism, especially in finches.

But how does any of this explain the ducks and geese on Michigan’s, Lake St. Clair ice? They have a special adaptation where the arteries and veins in their feet lie next to each other, with the cold returning blood of the veins being warmed by the arterial blood, resulting in no loss of heat.

Mother Nature does a great job of giving birds the tools they can use to survive winter as long as they can find sufficient food. Stock up those bird feeders and utilize your strategy for warmth – a hot drink and a fire!

Enjoy your birds!
Rosann

Wild Birds Unlimited of Grosse Pointe Woods, MI

Feed Birds Suet During Winter

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With the winter approaching, birds need a higher fat diet in order to endure the colder temperatures. Here in Michigan at Wild Birds Unlimited of GPW, we are ready with a stockpile of suet to help. This is the time of year to beef up your wild bird feeding station – literally!

Beef fat, or suet, has been a favorite winter-feeding strategy for those who love to watch the birds. Pure rendered beef fat is great to use when you can’t keep the squirrels out of the suet feeder. Without added nuts or seeds, the pure suet isn’t high on the list of a squirrel’s priorities for food.

If you can place a suet feeder out of the reach of squirrels, you can offer suet with peanuts or seed added to the formed cake of fat. Squirrel-proof can be obtained if the feeder is placed on a pole system with a baffle top at five feet above ground and the set-up eight feet away from any leaping opportunity. You’ll find that the woodpeckers. Chickadees and nuthatches in your yard will visit both pure and enhanced suet, with an emphasis on eating the high fat nuts when the weather is colder. Some suet will have fruit, which is attractive to red-bellied woodpeckers.

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There is also a hot pepper version of suet, meant as a squirrel deterrent, since mammals have more taste buds than birds and find the hot pepper distasteful. The birds don’t detect the hot flavoring, allowing you to place the suet feeder in any location for viewing.

If European Starlings become a persistent problem, try hanging your feeders so that they are oriented with access only from the bottom. There are a number of feeders that are made specifically for this purpose. The Starling Stumper, when added to your current suet cage feeder, accomplishes this goal as well.

When birds eat suet, they stay at the feeder for a longer period of time, allowing you to appreciate their crisp colors in the bright sun of winter. Gone are the old feathers that were worn from the rigors of rearing a family or two. The fall molt has provided them with a new set of feathers, including an extra amount for warmth.

Feeding suet in the fall and winter is one of the most enjoyable ways to watch birds in your yard.

Enjoy your birds!

Rosann
Wild Birds Unlimited of Grosse Pointe Woods, MI

Ten Things You Can Do to Save Song Birds

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For a bird lover like me, there is not finer time to be out watching wild birds than during Spring migration. The wood warblers have arrived as they settle in to breed or more likely, carry on further north to do so. Their fabulous colors and patterns, their diminutive size and their fascinating song all combine to keep me in awe of their journeys from Central and South America.

As joyful as it is to watch them, it is also heart breaking to know that millions of song birds are lost yearly as a result of the actions of humans. One of my mentors in the world of birding and environmental awareness was Fred Charbonneau. He loaned me a book, Silence of the Songbirds, by Bridget Stutchbury. For you fellow bird lovers’ out there, I heartily endorse this book. Not only did the author set forth a very interesting read as to the various topics, solutions were offered to the challenges faced by migrant birds. Here is her version of Ten things You Can Do to Save Songbirds.

1) Buy Shade Grown Coffee – Forest songbirds that lived in the tropics often live in traditional coffee farms where there are plenty of trees and food for birds. Most commercial coffee comes from sun coffee farms that have few trees and use lots of fertilizers and pesticides. Buy accordingly and make sure your coffee shop is aware of your preference.
2) Buy only organic produce from tropical countries – Tropical countries use large amounts of pesticides that are highly toxic to birds, including chemicals that are banned or restricted in North America. Non-organic banana plantations use one of the highest pesticide loads of any crop. Buy accordingly and make sure that your grocer is aware of our preference.
3) Buy organic for crops with heavy pesticide use – some crops in North America are relatively dangerous to birds because of the type of pesticide used. Crops such as potatoes, corn and cotton pose a chemical threat to birds.
4) Buy wood and paper products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) – Companies certified by the FSC use sustainable logging practices that help make sure the boreal forest will always be a home for the billions of songbirds that nest there. In my experience, few lumber sellers are aware of FSC and I spent a great deal of time educating them when I was attempting to make a purchase.
5) Buy paper products made from recycled paper – The boreal forest is being cut down to fuel the enormous demand for paper products (toilet paper, paper towel, mail-order catalogs, cards). Buy accordingly from the many choices that are available.
6) Turn city lights off at night during migration – Many songbirds migrate at night and are attracted to city lights, which they think are stars. Millions of songbirds die every year after getting trapped among our towering skyscrapers. Encourage your building owner to comply during migration – mid-March through June. Handouts regarding this issue available at Wild Birds Unlimited.
7) Reduce bird-window collisions – Birds cannot see glass and fly toward reflections of trees or toward what looks like an opening in the wall. Place bird feeders very close (less than two feet) or very far (more than seven feet) from windows to reduce fatal injuries to your visitors. Consider adding Window Alerts to your windows that are the source of strikes. The material that the Alerts are made of act to give birds a reference to the presence of glass.
8) Make your backyard bird-friendly by planting shrubs and trees – During migration, tired and starving songbirds will land almost anywhere in search of a safe place to rest and eat. Invite them to your backyard by offering cover and fruiting trees and shrubs, preferably native. Reference the growers of native plants at the Michigan native Plant Producer Association handout available at Wild Birds Unlimited or at www.mnppa.org.
9) Keep your cat indoors – An average outdoor cat kills about one songbird per week, so a typical community with a hundred cats that roam outdoors will kill over 1,000 songbirds during the breeding season. There are over 75 million cats in North America! If your neighbor has a cat, give them the brochure Cats Indoors, available at Wild Birds Unlimited or at www.abcbirds.org.
10) Go pesticide-free on your lawn – The ingredients in many lawn and garden pesticides are moderately or highly toxic to birds (e.g., acephate, malathion,dichlorvos) There are a number of landscape companies that are pesticide free. Contact local Motion at 313-881-2263 for company information.

Although it would be ideal if all readers could embrace and effectuate all of these changes as well as inspire others to do so, remember that every journey begins with a single step. Choose one, choose all, but I hope that you make a choice to make a difference.

Enjoy your birds!
Rosann
Wild Birds Unlimited of Grosse Pointe Woods, MI