Bird Feeders

Jerry Mason asked:


Birds need a place to live, and also a place that provides food, water and shelter from predators.

When it gets cold and the winter winds blow, many “snow bunnies” move south to live in warmer weather. Many birds migrate south also, taking advantage of milder temperatures and southern cuisine with a greater variety of insects and seeds. However, you have many year-round residents who are joined by other birds that migrate only as far as your backyard so it is important to create a living area that is enticing to them.

Check over your back yard. Provide a pile of brush or bushes for birds and animals to hide in when predators approach. Small birds will look for shelter from sparrow hawks and other predators. Leave dead trees standing through the winter so woodpeckers can find food and build nests in cavities. Consider providing plants and trees with fruits and berries. The search for food starts at dawn and continues till dusk. If birds are able to eat enough, they will store enough energy to survive a very cold winter’s night. Then they start the process all over again for another day.

Meals for your winter birds must be served in appropriate bird feeders and not just thrown on the ground where it can be spoiled by dampness, mold and pesticides. Choose a location that has easy access for you, so the bird feeders can be refilled in cold weather. Select a place where discarded seed shells and bird droppings won’t be a cleanup problem. Place your feeders out of reach of the neighborhood cats and other predators. The most effective way to attract a large variety of birds to your yard is to put out separate feeders for each of your banquets for the birds.

Don’t forget that even in winter, birds need to drink. Eating snow (if there is any) just doesn’t get it. Sometimes the birds suffer more for lack of water than food. A heated birdbath with fresh unfrozen water will prove attractive to many of your winter visitors.



Collectable Kitchen Plates

Judie asked:


I have a very small front yard. I plant flowers each spring & keep bird feeders up all year. The deer come into my yard & eat my flower buds & any bird seed. They tip up the feeders to let the seed fall out. I have heard that using tobacco can stop them from coming in my yard. How do I do this? Will this harm my flowers or keep birds away from the feeders? Thank you, Judie

Vertical Vinyl Siding

Mom to Isobelle 2, & Gavyn 8mths asked:


I am wanting to make unique bird feeders. I have made the pinecone and peanut butter and the birds love it. What other creative ideas besides the usual box of wood. Im wanting something I can make myself and will attract birds.

Unfinished Kitchen Cabinets

Robert W. Benjamin asked:


Do you ever have a day when you have nothing to do ?, You know them times when your on the internet in some chat room, and you type ‘ I’m bored ! ‘, or your flipping through the TV channels, and you say to yourself or out loud ‘ 250 channels, and nothing good to watch ! ‘, yes, you know what I am talking about. Now you have something you can do on them so called boring days, go bird watching.

No matter where you live you probably have birds of some kind, even folks in New York have central park and other places where they can go bird watching. There are three things you should have when bird watching, these are a pair of binoculars, a notebook, and a bird guide.

Binoculars can be purchased for under $60 at most Kmart or Walmart stores. Binoculars with a magnification of 10 x 50 are perfect for bird watching. Don’t think that a more powerful pair of binoculars like 20 x 60 or 30 x 80 are better, this is not the case. Stronger binoculars are fine if you are into star gazing, but they are horrible for bird watching. The higher powered binoculars need a tripod to use them without shaking, and even without a tripod, the powerful binoculars are larger and can be very heavy to carry around, the 10 x 50 ones are perfect for every occasion.

A small tablet or notebook can be purchased at most stores, don’t get nothing expensive just a small spiral one will do fine. Now the last thing is the most important item when it comes to bird watching. If you are truly going to watch birds, you should know what type of birds you are looking at when you spot a new one, so visit your local book store or look in the birding section of an online bookstore, such as amazon, at the end of this article I have a website address that has some of Amazons best bird guides, videos, binoculars and more.

Ok, so you have your binoculars, notebook and pencil, and your bird guide, now let’s go outside and go bird watching. I am sure you won’t have to walk very far to spot a bird or two. I am lucky enough to currently live here in the country, all I have to do is open my door and I will hear the sounds of birds. If I step outside my front door, I can often see sparrows or finches, in the spring time the yard always has a couple robins hopping around, and crows flying around the nearby woods, high overhead I often see turkey buzzards soaring against the blue sky. One time I opened my front door and across the road in the top of a large tree a horned owl was sitting, it stayed there for about 10 minutes, turning it’s head often as it looked around.

If you have any grassy, wooded or open areas with trees or bushes, you can usually find birds. One of the best things about bird watching is anyone can do it, even if your in a wheelchair, you can sit and watch birds. It’s a great recreation for anyone that is alone, or for the whole family to do together.

When you go out, remember to take your bird watching items with you, your binoculars, notebook and pencil, and bird guide. When you spot a bird look in your binoculars too see all it’s beauty in close detail, if you do not recognize the species of bird your seeing, get out your bird guide and look it up. When you realize the type of bird you see, write down in your notebook the following information; ‘ the name of the bird, the area where it was spotted, the date, and time ‘. The information in your notebook, helps you understand what types of birds frequent your area, it also is pretty neet being able to read back and see when you spotted a new or rare bird.

If you have a yard, tree or even a window you can attract birds by installing a simple feeder. Bird feeders are very inexpensive and they have feeders that can hang on a tree branch, or fence, or even stick to the outside of a window.

Attracting different species of birds often requires different types of bird seed and other food. Hummingbirds are attracted to red, pink and orange flowers, they especially like trumpet vines or other tubular-flowered plants, they are also very attracted to hummingbird feeders filled with sugar water or red sweetened kool-aid. Robins like mowed lawns, so in the spring and summer if you want to see robins, mow your grass, the birds come looking for bugs and earthworms that are more easily accessible because you cut the grass length. Goldfinches love thistle seed, thistle is more expensive then most common bird seed, but you cannot beat it if you want to attract goldfinches. Blue Jays are large and sometimes noisy, but if you want to bring them, put out a feeder full of black oil sunflower seeds. Cardinals are very neat looking, there is nothing nicer than looking out the window in the winter, and seeing a bright red cardinal sitting on a nearby tree branch or feeder. Cardinals are like Blue Jays, in that they both love a diet of black oil sunflower seeds. If you want to attract sparrows, a bag of plain mixed bird seed will do just fine.

There is Computer Software that is made just for ‘ Bird Watching ‘. The software is called: ‘ Bird Watcher Professional ‘, you can read the details and download a trial version of it for free at this website address:

http://www.rb59.com/bwpro

Here is a website address that has some of the best Bird Guides (Books), Videos, Binoculars and other birding equipment that Amazon sells:

http://www.rb59.com/bwpro/bird-watching-information.html

By Robert W. Benjamin

Copyright © 2006

You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter or on your web site as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and without modification except for formatting needs or grammar corrections.



Metal Kitchen Cabinets

curious_john asked:


I enjoy watching wild birds….Just wondered if there is anything special i can do to attract larger numbers of them to my feeders.

Direct Vent Gas Fireplace