Photos by Peter Bowden.
NOTHING LIVENS UP A COLD WINTER DAY like wild birds flitting and darting to and from your bird feeder. Winter is just around the corner and it’s time to get our bird feeding stations ready. If you’re going to give bird feeding a try for the first time, the first thing you’ll need is a bird feeder.
To get the most enjoyment out of wild bird feeding, make sure you invest in a good bird feeder. It is better to buy a good one that the squirrels can’t destroy than to keep replacing cheaper ones...in the long run a good feeder is less expensive and you also get the satisfaction of watching squirrels slide off the feeder without getting a snack.
For those of us that already own a bird feeder, now is the time to get it all cleaned up for the season. This is why you shoud get a feeder that disassembles easily. Mine comes apart with just four small screws.
We need to keep the feeders clean to keep the birds healthy. In the wild bird, diseases can’t spread easily from bird to bird since the food is spread all around and the birds have little common contact. The feeder attracts all the birds to only a few feeding ports so it is important to keep those ports clean. They are all eating from the same plate so to speak so is best to keep that plate clean.
After the feeder is apart, wash it in very hot soapy water. Pay close attention to the inside and outside of the feeding port since this is where diseases can be spread from bird to bird. An old toothbrush can come in handy. After it is clean, soak all the feeder’s parts in a mix of one part chlorine bleach to 10 parts water. This will kill any germs. Let it dry thoroughly and reassemble. Now you’re all set to fill it up.
To endure such unrelenting cold, winter birds need to stay active. Calories and protein fuel this activity. The trick to attracting birds is to provide calories and protein in forms that they prefer.
Black Oil Sunflower is higher in calories per pound than Grey Striped Sunflower. Black oil sunflower is grown almost exclusively for wild bird feeding. I’ve found that the smaller black oil sunflower kernels are more easily handled by chickadees and other small birds.
Birdseed is most often purchased in a blend. There are dozens of blends on the market. Usually the one with the cutest name or prettiest bag is the most popular. Be aware that many blends contain “filler” seeds that no birds eat. The most common “filler” seeds are red millet and milo. Their red color increases their “eye appeal” to the humans that buy it. Some “economical” blends can contain 50 percent or more filler seed. This means that you’ll spend less each time you buy a bag but end up buying more bags over the course of the winter.
I like to mix the premium seed blends with an equal amount of Black Oil Sunflower since birds will pick through the blend to get the extra sunflower seed (which is their favorite by far). Blended together, premium blends and Black Sunflower appeal to every bird with no wasteful red filler seeds. So clean up and fill up the feeders now to start enjoying the show.
THANKS FOR THE READ!
