KARE 11 Showcase Minnesota Appearance

If you just caught my KARE 11 appearance and wanted to know more on economizing your bird feeding operation, here are some tips (you can also get my book City Birds/Country Birds) and have all of this advice at your fingertips:

The price of many popular bird feeding seeds has gone up due to companies like Frito Lay switching to sunflower oil and many farmers dedicating more land to corn than sunflower. There's just not as much sunflower available for bird feed, bringing the prices higher (not to mention the fuel costs to transport it). If you are only going to purchase one bag of seed, only use black oil, you'll get the most bang for your bird feeding buck.

And don't worry, even small birds like goldfinches will eat black oil sunflower seed!

Avoid mixes that look like this (at least in Minnesota in Wisconsin). Unless you live out west and plan on getting California Quail, this mix will be a waste of money. It may be cheaper than sunflower, but you will get fewer species of birds per dollar with a mix like this.

If you're going to get a mix, it should look like the above--mostly dark in color, a sign that it is chock full of sunflower. Other ways to offer seed and to save on money and birds just kicking it out, is to get a seed cake--seeds held together with gelatin, birds love it and it takes them awhile to eat it. Plus, it's harder for starlings to take over. One of my favorites to offer is the Mr. Bird line and my favorite to put out for the birds is the Pecan Feast.

Nutra-Saff aka Golden Safflower is growing in popularity with chickadees, nuthatches, cardinals and grosbeaks. It's not popular with starlings and house sparrows, which will make it last longer in your bird feeders. Talk to your local wild bird specialty store and ask if they carry golden safflower (this is different than the usual plain white safflower, it's got a thinner shell).

A lot of birds love peanuts and mixed nuts out of the shell, but starlings can take that over and finish it in the blink of an eye. If you're going to offer nuts, offer them in the shell. Starlings cannot crack it open, but woodpeckers, chickadees, titmice and woodpeckers will be able to eat them.

If you want to offer suet, but have crows and blackbird eating it before the woodpeckers get hold of it, offer the suet in an "upside down suet feeder." Woodpeckers, chickadees, and nuthatches can hang upside down to get access to the suet without any problems, but starlings and crows have a much tougher time (they'll try, but will not be as successful). Keep in mind, that if you switch to an upside down feeder, it may take awhile for the birds to figure out how to use it--maybe a month or two. But once they do, they will be loyal visitors.

Other things you can do include investing long term in your bird feeding. Shop around for clearance fruit bearing trees and plant them. This showy mountain ash is popular with cedar waxwings, robins, and grosbeaks. Also look into red osier dogwood, grey dogwood, chokecherry, and pincherry.

Never underestimate the value of a good brush pile. Maybe you can't keep a tree like this felled oak laying around your yard, but a small brush pile full of branches for birds to hide in makes a great roosting spot for juncoes and tree sparrows in the winter. You might even find a cardinal lurking in there. Don't forget a water source like a heated bird bath too.

All little tips for economizing on your bird feeding budget this winter.

The Hummer Heper: What Won't They Think Of Next

Last night's Birds and Beers was awesome! It was a huge crowd full of regulars and first timers. I think we're all ready to get out and do some spring birding--someone was even trying to start a pool of what the warbler seasons was going to be like. Thanks to everyone who came!

Right on schedule, our early spring snow storm has arrived--whoot! So, to let's ignore the snow and focus on what's ahead. One of my many jobs is working for a bird trade publication called Birding Business that is geared toward manufacturers of birding products and people who run bird specialty stores. One of my newer duties is doing a blog called Birding Business News where I plug in news stories pertinent to the industry (like sunflower prices) or cool new products coming down the pike. You're not gonna believe this one.

Hummingbird nesting material. Yep, that's what I said, hummingbird nesting material. It's called the Hummer Helper and was started with the folks at the Hummer House and is made up of natural fibers "to take the place of ever-harder to find spider webs." (Seriously, it's getting harder to find spider webs? Cause I feel like I see them everywhere.) Anyway, it was picked up by a company called Songbird Essentials and should be available at a bird store near you. On the off chance your local bird store isn't carrying it you can call 1-800-269-4450 to find out where you can get it.

It looks pretty cool and is made of natural fibers. Other birds will use it besides the hummingbirds, including finches, titmice, orioles, and waxwings. I think I might give it a go in Mr. Neil's yard. I think it'd be fun to set it up with the Wingscapes motion sensitive camera and see what all birds are coming to it. You can read more about The Hummer Helper here.

Fun Birds 10 Minutes From Uptown

First, Birds and Beers will continue, I just haven't scheduled January yet. I will get it squared away after the first of the year. I just needed to get the holidays out of the way.

Second, a BIG THANK YOU to Metro Magazine for including my blog in their list of "The Best Homegrown Blogs We Read Just About Every Day." It's nice to know a non bird related magazine is interested in birds...and bees...and disapproving bunnies.

Third, someone reminded me to mention The Great Backyard Bird Count is coming up in February. I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it. I'm tentatively booked at a bird festival that weekend. But if you're not doing anything that weekend, count the birds in your backyard.

I did have some time to do some birding today and headed over to the Minnesota Valley NWR Visitor's Center about ten minutes from my apartment.

I was hoping I could do some digiscoping from inside, but the visitor's center was closed. I wasn't wearing as many layers I should have for the outdoors, but I had some emergency hand warmers stashed in my coat and tucked those in my gloves and gave it a shot.

Light snow was falling and many birds were tucked in the bushes awaiting their turn at the bird feeders, like this female cardinal. When I arrived, I met a fellow digiscoper out in the parking lot, he was leaving as I was arriving. He showed me photos of a sharp-shinned hawk he had just photographed perched near the feeding station. I was bummed that I had missed that, but a cardinal is still a very cool sight in the snow.

The birds were still very wary about coming to the feeder. That hawk must have been fresh in their minds. The cardinals would come to the feeder, but the slightest chip note would send them flying back to the shrubs.

I found one downy woodpecker with a band on his foot (its male, they way the head is turned, you cannot see the red spot on the back of his head).

I've been trying to get better photos of tree sparrows. This little one cracked me up with its snow mustache over his bill. As I was following this bird around with my scope, I noticed a rusty brown bird about twice his size. I looked it up and it flew to the brush.

Holy crap! Is that what I think it is? Is this a fox sparrow? The upside about finding this bird at this point (besides that I wasn't expecting it) was that I got so focused on the bird, I no longer paid attention to how cold I was. Whoot. Even better, I am super-duper sore right now, I signed up for yoga again and am in severe pain after the first class. The last time I took yoga, I remember having such intense pain for three days after the first class. I thought it was just exaggerated in my memory. No, it wasn't an exaggeration...I'm in pain in places I didn't know could feel pain. At least this time I won't make the mistake of having Non Birding Bill rub Icy Hot all over my entire body to ease the sore muscles. That wasn't pretty. Icy and hot all over, I couldn't get comfortable for hours--take my advice: only use Icy Hot on one body part at a time.

Anyhoo, back to the fox sparrow. At first the fox sparrow started feeding kind of like a chickadee: it would fly out under the feeders, grab at a seed and then fly back into the brush. I usually only see this species during migration when there are all kinds of dry leaves and they do that characteristic kicking with their feet, but this bird wasn't doing that in the snow.

I love looking at sparrows head on (it doesn't have to be fox sparrows, it can be any sparrow). They have such great masks. It was interesting to see how the rusty browns on this bird just popped out of the brush, especially since it was surrounded by the more muted colors of juncos and tree sparrows. At times, this bird was about as bright as a cardinal. Right after I got this photo, my batteries died in my camera and I put in my spares. As I put the camera back up to my spotting scope, the sparrow was gone and I suddenly heard a loud flutter of wings, all the downy and hairy woodpeckers gave sharp "cheeps" and their wings flapped with such intensity, you could hear each distinctive flap. I looked over to the feeders, they were bare. I thought that the sharp-shinned hawk must have returned and I glanced around:

There it is in the top of the tree. Note where my scope is in relation to the hawk. I didn't move the scope from here for the photos--just keep that in mind for the next two photos. Let's look at it through the scope:

It was a haggard bird and I wondered if it was the same sharp-shinned hawk that hunted the feeders here last winter?

When I took the first photo and my camera focused, the hawk turned and looked right at it. There is not beeping sound on my camera, this was just the sound of the lens adjusting. I know harriers have a great sense of hearing...I wonder what the stats are on the sharp-shinned hawk sense of hearing? It was at about this point that the batteries on my camera totally died and I had to go back to the car, which was good because my fingers were numb. I don't know if the sharpie ended up getting any of the birds, it was still perched in the tree when I left.

UPDATE: Check out fellow MN Blogger EcoBirder, he has photos on Dec 13 and Dec 29 at the same spot of an adult sharpie--perhaps the same bird?

Back To Frozen Birds

A personal triumph for me:

Digiscoping an almost completely in focus ruby-crowned kinglet. How the heck did I manage that? Perhaps I am finally becoming one with my digiscoping equipment.

Holy cow! I think this is the most media that I have ever done in one day! I woke this morning just after 6am to a call from Darci, the producer of the Ian and Maregery show asking if I had a few minutes to go on air, after that at 6:45am, I got a call from the producer of Showcase MN, asking if I could fill in as guest host and this afternoon after 4:30pm, I have an interview on WLTE to promote the book--I'm all over the place.

I got a kick out of the crew at Showcase calling me the new diva because the show was just pretty much all about me. I was originally scheduled as a guest this morning and they decided to keep that segment, so I had to film teases for my segment and host--I didn't end up interviewing myself but I was all over--it was fun. They are so nice on that station and Corbin (one of the other hosts) was really sweet to tell me where to stand, making suggestions on what do--it's a real team effort which makes it fun. And what was the best part of my morning--my first interview was for Surdyk's--a local liquor store Non Birding Bill and I frequent! Their chef cracked open a bottle of champagne in the middle of the segment. Champagne at 10am! My goodness I have a glamorous lifestyle for a birder.

Okay, back to the original intent of this entry: frozen birds--and I don't mean frozen as in cold, I mean frozen as in just plain not moving.

This titmouse photo was taken a couple of weeks ago. The bird had been flitting around Mr. Neil's feeders and then just stopped here for several minutes and I got all sorts of fun photos of it. When birds stop moving, that is a pretty good sign that a predator is nearby. When bird's aren't moving, they know something is near that could eat them. I started to scan around the yard and noticed other birds not moving.

SIDE NOTE: I just looked out the window while typing this entry and noticed that it's snowing. Sigh.

You can almost hear this female downy woodpecker saying through pursed bill, "If I don't move, you can't see me at all." Now This strategy might work well if she were against a tree trunk, however, up against a finch feeder filled with Nyjer thistle and sunflower chips--she kind of sticks out like a sore thumb.

I mentioned earlier that the idea of a chickadee souped up on sugary donuts is a scary thought--a chickadee frozen in place is just as unnerving. Above this black-capped chickadee and white-breasted nuthatch doing their best statue impersonations. Some further scanning around the woods did reveal a small sharp-shinned hawk lurking in the trees. The hawk eventually moved on, but I'm sure if one of frozen songbirds had moved, it would have stimulated an attack from the hawk.

After the sharpie moved on, normal bird activity resumed and birds began flitting around like crazy. So keep an eye on those feeders. If you ever see a house finch stock still on a feeder, scan the trees, chances are that there is a hawk nearby.

The Joy Of A Messy Fallen Oak

I am so loving the dead oak in Mr. Neil's yard! This may look like a bunch of dead boring branches, but it is teeming with life. It was struck by lightening and had to be felled and when the tree was down, I asked if he would mind leaving it there to do its decomposition thing. He agreed and this fall it has been sparrow town! I've been scattering seeds for sparrows all along the edges to encourage them to pop out, mostly white millet, flax, canary seed, sunflower chips, cracked corn, canola, and Nyjer.

The juncos have just been lovin' it. They will even perch on some of the branches and chill out for a bit, allowing you to get cute photos of them doing their impersonation of a fluffy puffball.

Others juncos just give you the sass. It's a fun challenge getting photos of tiny birds not at a bird feeder.

This week, the migratory sparrows have shown up in earnest. Even around my neighborhood I've found some lurking white-crowned sparrows. So far in the fallen oak I have found white-throated sparrows like the one in the above photo. They seem a tad cagey compared to the juncos, preferring to stay within the tree branches. They must have just arrived, maybe after a few days of refueling they will stay out in the open more.

Speaking of cagey, there is at least one fox sparrow lurking in the oak. The above photo was the best that I could do for a photo. I swear, that is the back of a fox sparrow. Really, it is. It's different than the other brown birds featured in this post. Honest.

This bird popping out for the sparrow mix surprised me. I would have thought they would be outta the state by now. It looks a little different from we're used to. Can you guess it? If you said chipping sparrow, you'd be right. The tree sparrows should be here very soon after these guys go.

The song sparrow in this awkward position is hoping that if it sits still enough, I won't notice and will aim my scope else where and it can enjoy whatever morsel it just found in peace. It's not every day you see a bird with it's tail caught in a branch--how embarrassing. Someone call Mr. Blackwell.

Sparrows aren't the only birds enjoying the fallen oak. The titmice have been grabbing leaves and pecking the heck out of them, there must be some type of bug or larvae lurking in there.

And it's not just the fallen tree itself that has been fun. You may have noticed in previous that we've turned the stump into a tray feeder and everybody has been using it (well, maybe not the hummingbirds, hard to put nectar on a stump).

And it's not just the brown birds either. I put some mixed nuts on their for the chickadees, titmice and nuthatches, but it's never long before a blue jay wants in on some of that action. They love their nuts.

I love this photo. That chickadee looks like it's thinking, "Well, there goes the neighborhood." There's now attractive way to mammal proof a stump, but we have all the other feeder poles mammal proofed so I'm not too bothered if the squirrels and chipmunks want to hoover up the seeds. Since this stump doesn't have much in the way of drainage holes, it helps to have birds and critters move the seed faster.

Watch Out, Finches

I have been trying to do this entry all day and so many cool and blogable things keep happening. I will do this and begin working on my very exciting discovery in the woods entry.

Okay, now we are getting some proper fall temps--blustery wind with fifty degree temps--now that is what I call buckthorn removal weather! On my way out to Mr. Neil's this afternoon, I noticed several raptors bouncing and soaring in the wind. Mostly red-tails and eagles, but peregrine went bombing over the highway in hot pursuit of something over the fields.

I have noticed a significant increase in purple finches at the feeder in the last few days. A family group had shown up a few weeks ago, but on Sunday when I was photographing the cedar waxwings, I could hear dozens and dozens in the surrounding woods. In the fall, they have such a quiet little chatter as they flit from tree to tree and squabble over perches at the feeder in can be easy to miss among the din of blue jays, chickadees, nuthatches and titmice.

I love this photo--it looks like the goldfinch is trying to eavesdrop on the male purple finches. "Hmmm, what are they plotting?"

Ron Pittaway, of the Ontario Field Ornithologists has an annual Winter Finch Forecast with Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) and the observations of regional birders, Pittaway tries to make predictions about finch movement in southern Canada and the northern United States. Birds are always a tricky thing to predict, but this year I did notice an increase in purple finches, so I thought I would see what he had to say:

"Most Purple Finches will migrate out of Ontario this fall in response to the low seed crops. Currently, Purple Finches are migrating south through southern Ontario. Very few or none will stay behind at feeders in southern Ontario."

You should check the rest of the report, he describes conditions in the northern boreal forests and how that relates to individual species like redpolls, grosbeaks, finches and siskins. He does predict that white-winged and red crossbills and pine siskins will not be irrupting south out of Ontario as they do some years. However, other winter finches such as pine grosbeaks, evening grosbeaks and redpolls are supposed to get out of Ontario and down south into the United State.

It's been interesting to watch the purple finches interact with the other species. Here a male purple finch got into it with a black-capped chickadee--they are not very tolerant of other species feeding with them. When I worked at the bird store, customers would tell me that house finches drove other birds away, but I have never seen them be as aggressive as these thugs.

They're even hanging out on the tray feeder like this female purple finch and flushing away juncos. They're pretty, but man, don't mess with them.

Don't worry, goldfinch, you're still pretty too. Even in winter plumage. What's interesting is that the purple finches are seemingly preferring the sunflower feeders over the Nyjer thistle feeders, so the goldfinches do have a quiet place to feed at the moment.

Hey, Did You Hear Something?

A white-breasted nuthatch and downy woodpecker surprise each other on the bird feeder.

Look at the wide stance on that nuthatch...perhaps it should be renamed Craig's nuthatch?

New Bird Seed-- Golden Safflower

There's a new bird seed coming onto the bird feeding market called golden safflower. Note the color in the photo above that give the seed it's name, safflower is normally pure white. This new version claims to be higher in oil content, higher in protein and higher in fat, making it more desirable to feeder birds. It's also supposed to be non germinating and I'm not sure if that's because it's out hull-less or if it's been roasted.

The big advantage to safflower in the past has been that cardinals, chickadees, nuthatches (above), mourning doves, rose-breasted grosbeaks, and house finches really enjoy the seed but grackles and house sparrows do not care for the taste and usually leave it alone. That's not to say that house sparrows won't eat when desperate. Starlings are physically unable to eat it, since they do not have bills that are strong enough to open seeds in a hard shell.

But what about golden safflower--will it now be tastier to house sparrows and grackles? We'll have to wait and see. I first noticed the safflower at Carpenter Nature Center, on of their 20 some odd bird feeders was filled with it and a flock of chickadees preferred it over any other. And went on a search for it. I've found two bird stores in the Twin Cities that carry it (I didn't call all of them) and I'm sure other birds stores will follow suit soon (at the least the good ones will).

I've been testing it out at Mr. Neil's feeding stations and the birds took to it right away--especially the nuthatches and the chickadees. the birds still prefer nuts and sunflower but there is certainly more activity at the golden safflower than at the regular safflower. I tried it at home and the house sparrows just don't know what to do about it. The cardinals and flying squirrels are happy to eat it though. If you're having a house sparrow, grackle, or cardinal problem call your local wild bird specialty store and see if they have it in, if they don't recommend that they consider carrying it.

Remember that if you are going to try a new seed that sometimes the birds don't take to it right away. It's like going to Wendy's for a #1 hamburger special. One day you get there and Wendy's is now a Taco Bell and the #1 special is now three tacos. It's not that you don't like tacos, but when you go there, you were expecting a hamburger. In time, you get over it and start having the taco special.

Bald Cardinals and Other Bald Birds

All of a sudden in the last two weeks, I have been getting comments to an old post from July 25, 2005 (way back when I worked at the bird store). The post is about bald cardinals.

Every year about late July and early August there are questions from people asking about black headed birds, miniature vultures or bald headed feeder birds. Most of the time, people are describing cardinals without any feathers on their heads, but I've also had reports of bald blue jays and grackles.

While I was down in Indianapolis, my mom had a bald cardinal coming to her feeding station. So, what is the dealio? No one knows for sure, even Cornell Lab of the Big O admits that the case of the bald cardinal is not well studied. There are two possible explanations. Number one, this is the time of year when many songbirds (including cardinals and blue jays) are molting (shedding old feathers and growing in new feathers). For some reason, the birds drop all of their feathers on their heads at once. I've seen this with captive birds like great horned owls and even our education screech owl at The Raptor Center. The birds are healthy, they just molt everything at once (interesting to note that all of those species mentioned are tufted: cardinal, blue jay, great horned owl, eastern screech owl--hmmmmmmm).

Alas, my mom didn't have just a bald male cardinal, she also had a bald grackle (so much for the only tufted bird theory). This grackle was much more wary than the cardinal and this was the only shot I got of it. The bird seemed to sense the spotting scope and flush right as I was about to take a photo. I don't blame it, the bird kind of looks like a Skeksis, I wouldn't want my photo taken either. This bird leads me to the number two reason birds can go bald and that is that they can get feather mites. Generally, birds can use their bills to remove pests like mites when they are preening. However, they would be unable to get to mites on their heads and so the mites eat away the feathers. It's tough to say what really is going on, without trapping the bird and looking for the mites, you really can't tell for certain if it's molting or mites causing the lack of feathers.

There was another grackle coming to mom's feeders that was starting to lose its facial feathers. Interesting to note that the cardinals are dark skinned under the feathers and the grackles are light skinned. Since my mom had at least three birds that were either bald or starting to become bald, I wondered if this was a case of mites being passed around. The birds appeared in good health and were eating well, looking alert--all good signs. And mites don't usually kill a bird. Annoy it and make it look grotesque--yes, but kill birds--not so much. Check out the video I got of the male cardinal eating a berry off of mom's fuschia plant:

Did you note how he scratched the back of his head? That also makes me wonder if mites are the cause. Although, I would bet a bunch of pin feathers growing in at once would be rather itchy.

By the way, don't feel too bad for him, he's still gettin' some play. Not long after I took that video, this female flew in and he jauntily bounced over to her and fed her some of the fuschia berries--very clear mating behavior. She didn't seem to mind his bald pate one bit (perhaps she likes that Christine Lavin song). Although, if you look right behind her eye, there's a small bald patch--mites? Will she be bare headed soon as well?

As I was watching the cardinal, I noticed something new. Check out where his ear canal is. Do you see it? It's that large hole right under his eyeball (there's a small red feather over it). How cool--who knew that their ears were just below their eyes...and about the same size. I wonder if anyone has done any studies and the hearing capability of cardinals? So much we don't yet know...

And just for comparison and to not leave you with grotesque cardinals, here is a photo of a proper male cardinal. Whether the birds in the other photos have mites or an odd molt pattern, don't worry too much. In most cases, the feathers do grow back in plenty of time before the winter sets in and all will be right with the cardinal world once again.

Birdchick and Barn Owl

There was a request to see video of me giving a Raptor Center program. I don't have that, but Tuesday when I was feeding the education barn owl during my volunteer shift, I had fellow crew members, Maddy and Sue take some video with my camera and just ask me questions. This is not like one of my usual programs--I'm WAY more animated in front of a large audience, but I thought it would be fun to watch the barn owl eat. For those curious, I'm feeding her cut up pieces of mice.

The video cuts off before I can answer that last question. The barn owl is a captive bred bird and imprinted on humans. I think The Raptor Center got her from a facility in North Carolina, who breeds them for release in the wild.