Maximize backyard traffic with tried-and-true tips from the pros.
A bird feeder is like a window to the natural world. It gives you a chance to delight in the antics and beauty of birds for hours of joy and learning. Best of all, feeding backyard fliers is simple—anyone can do it. Follow these tips to make the experience even better for you and for the birds.
Keep Up with Cleaning
A clean feeder is essential, and it’s definitely something to keep in mind when you’re buying or building a new one. In addition to how attractive it looks, how sturdy it is, and how much seed it holds, consider how easy it will be to clean a particular feeder. And then it’s important to follow up by cleaning them thoroughly—once every few weeks for seed or suet feeders, once every few days for hummingbird feeders, and even more often in hot and humid weather.
Skip the Red Dye
Experts agree that red dye in hummingbird food is not only unnecessary, it could actually harm hummingbirds. The safest, most inexpensive way to provide hummingbird food (aside from adding native plants) is making your own: Stir four parts water with one part pure cane sugar. Bring to a boil, cool completely and fill your feeders.
Go Beyond Seed
Bird feeding is rewarding even if you offer only one or two kinds of food. But adding variety to the menu attracts more kinds of birds. Black oil sunflower, thistle (Nyjer) seed and white millet are three of the staples. Add oranges and apples to attract orioles and catbirds, suet to lure woodpeckers and peanuts to entice titmice, chickadees and nuthatches.
Say No to Grease
この記事は Birds & Blooms の April/May 2019 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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この記事は Birds & Blooms の April/May 2019 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Sense or Nonsense? - Why some birds can taste and smell - but others can't
Does a porcelain berry taste like a blueberry to a gray catbird? Does a block of lard smell like frying bacon to a northern flicker? The short answer is no. While some avian species do have a well-adapted sense of taste or smell, they can't distinguish between flavors and odors the way humans can. They're not picking up every ingredient in the suet you put out, says José Ramírez-Garofalo, an ornithology researcher at Rutgers University in New Jersey and the director of Freshkills Biological Station in Staten Island, New York.
Maple Mania - Amazing facts about this fall foliage mainstay
Amazing facts about this fall foliage mainstay
Food-Focused and Fierce - Meet Canada jays and learn why they eat almost anything they can find
Even if you haven't heard of Canada jays, you've heard of their relatives. Members of the corvid family, they belong to the same group as American crows, blackbilled magpies, and jays including blue, Steller's and scrub. "Unlike many of the other jays, a Canada jay doesn't have a crest of any kind; it just has a rounded head," says Dale Gentry, director of conservation for Audubon Upper Mississippi River.In 2018, the Canada jay's name was changed from gray jay, but Dale thinks the former adjective was fitting. "Most of its body is shades of gray with some white," he says. "There are different subspecies that have different physical traits, but most of them have some lighter coloring on their foreheads, upper breasts and throats, each with a darker streak that starts at each eye and goes back."
IN GOOD COMPANY
BIRDS OF A FEATHER MAY FLOCK TOGETHER, but what about other collectives of critters-and what do you call them when they do?
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