Rice and bread aren't the favorites of songbirds

I have a friend asking, is uncooked rice bad for birds? And another friend wondering, is it okay to toss out bread for the birds? - Lansing, MI

Birds need a lot of protein and fat. Bread if full of carbohydrates but a little bit of bread occasionally is fine. Maybe smear a thin layer of natural peanut butter to make it more nutritious. Also make sure that it is not moldy, as some molds are toxic to birds.

Most breads are made of wheat which isn’t an attractive seed for a lot of backyard song birds. It might attract starlings, blackbirds, doves, or sparrows.

Rice also isn’t very attractive to backyard birds. But there are no documented cases of birds suffering from eating rice. Just make sure to clean it up if it is kicked to the ground and left for the mice or other rodents to pick up.

Studies done by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on birds’ food preference show that the 5 most popular seeds are:

1. Sunflower seed 

a) Black oil – Fresh oil sunflower seed is attractive to most seed eating bird species.

b) Striped – The larger shell is harder for some birds to crack but Tufted Titmice and Blue Jays prefer.

2. Peanut pieces – Are attractive to numerous species. Lots of bug or suet eating birds choose peanuts for their high protein and fat levels.

3. White Proso Millet – Is the preferred food for ground feeding birds like juncos, doves and sparrows.

4. Safflower seed – This was not included in USFWS studies but is a favorite of House Finches and is considered acceptable to most other bird species except blackbirds and starlings. (Squirrels don't seem to care for it either.)

5. Nyjer (Thistle) - Is not related to weed thistles. The high fat content and small seed shape makes it attractive to finches.

Question - is rice not food for the mice and chipmunks?

Little rodents can eat rice but most people don't try to attract them. They like them far away from the house. This is also why we don't recommended cheap supermarket bird food blends with filler seeds birds don't like.

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Photo Share: Images for your website

Some brown feeder birds are overlooked. Rodney has shared a couple photos of common feeder birds that a deserve a good look.

Female Northern Cardinal

Thank you Rodney Campbell for sharing your photos. If anyone would like to share a photograph of nature send it to bloubird@gmail.com and I'll put it on the Friday Photo posts.

No-mess Seed Cylinders: An easy way to get lots of birds to visit your backyard

Now you can entice a variety of birds with our new Wild Birds Unlimited No-Mess Seed Cylinder. A no-shells, no-mess way to offer sunflower chips, peanuts, tree nuts and fruit to all the seed, nut and fruit loving birds.

No-Mess Seed Cylinder is a tidy dining option that a lot of birds will enjoy. No shells means no mess and no wasted food, making this seed cylinder a great value. This 100% edible cylinder is great near flower beds patios and decks.

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The use of Jay as a slang for country bumpkin

Blue Jays, like other corvids, are highly curious and are considered intelligent birds. They tend to live socially in large family groups to allow long developmental periods for their young to mature. They also possess large forebrains which may be why they display greater cognitive abilities. That is why I find strange that in the late 1800’s, calling someone a Jay was slang in North America for a gullible, rustic, bumpkin, or provincial person.

There is a Jay in Europe that is just as noisy as our Blue Jay and may be the origin of jay becoming an insulting term for a foolish chattering person back in the 1500s. When slower paced country cousins came to the fast moving big city and gawked and got in the way of other pedestrians when they visited, insults were sometimes thrown.

The use of “jay-walking” as a term of ridicule against pedestrians crossing roads took off in the 1920s when cars increased in numbers. Car companies used campaigns to blame pedestrians for getting in the way of fast moving cars and redefined streets as places where pedestrians did not belong.

According to Wikipedia, the legal rule was originally that "all persons have an equal right in the highway, and that in exercising the right each shall take due care not to injure other users of the way." In time, however, streets became the province of motorized traffic, both practically and legally. Automobile industries in the USA took up the cause of labeling and scorning “jay-walkers” in the 1910s and early 1920s; a counter-campaign to name and disapprove of "jay drivers" failed.

Thank you Lynn for sending this wonderful photo of a clever looking Blue Jay.

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Birds picking the grit off roof

Since birds don’t have teeth, grit can have an important role in helping them digest their food. The grit is swallowed and remains in the part of the digestive system called the gizzard.

The food and grit are ground together by the muscles in the gizzard, resulting in the food being broken into smaller pieces. Whether a bird needs grit is determined by its diet.

The harder the food that a bird consumes, the more grit it needs. Seed-eating birds need more grit than those that feed on insects or fruit, and species that have a variable diet will change their grit intake accordingly.

American Goldfinches are seed eaters predominantly and need to take in more grit, perhaps explaining this photograph that Lynn sent me of a flock of finches picking the grit off the shingled roof.

Another reason could be that they were thirsty. A seed diet is also a dry diet and requires more water. Melting snow on a roof would help quench that thirst.

Thank you Lynn for sharing your interesting photograph!

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Resourceful chickadees triumph over winter

Is suet a natural food for birds? Where do they find rendered beef suet in the wild?- Lansing, MI

Chickadees feed on insects, caterpillars, spiders and other bugs in the summer. In the winter, however, they have to eat whatever high energy, high protein foods they can find. Suet is the hard fat found around the loins and kidneys of animals. In the wild chickadees and other bug eating birds can be found pecking the fat off a dead deer's body or investigating road kill.

Our Wild Birds Unlimited Suet is made with only the highest quality beef kidney fat. It is the most concentrated source of energy you can offer wild birds. In spring, it meets the increased energy demands of nesting birds. In the summer months, it provides a good substitute for insect-eating birds, especially in years when insects are not very plentiful. In fall, suet helps wild birds store fat to prepare for migration. And of course, in winter, suet replenishes depleted stores of energy and nutrients, to help birds survive the long, cold months.

Chickadees are good scavengers and are also very good at caching and relocating food. They hide hundreds of seeds all over their territory, in a behavior known as scatter-hoarding to keep their stash a secret from competitors and help them survive during bad weather and when food sources are low.

Each seed is placed in a different location and to remember where each one is, neurobiologists have discovered that the part of the brain that processes spatial information increases in the birds’ that hoard food. They can find each hiding spot accurately even a month later.

That is why icy weather the hardest time for chickadees because they can’t reach their horde. This is when a feeder can literally mean life of death for a bird.

Thank you Lynn for sharing your photo!

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Spring is Pileated Woodpecker drumming season

The Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) is the largest woodpecker in Michigan. Its Pterodactyl silhouette, distinctive plumage, and loud, unmistakable call make it a very unforgettable bird species.

Males begin to "drum" for females in the late winter and early spring. This loud, repetitive hammering on tree trunks and other solid objects that project sound, goes on often for hours at a rate of two drumming events per minute. These marathon displays for females highlight the vigor of the male and his strength and endurance.

Usually, Pileated Woodpeckers excavate cavities in dead trees to nest. Once the brood is raised, the woodpeckers abandon the hole. Ecologically, this makes the woodpecker family very important because abandoned holes provide good homes in future years for many other birds and animals.

Thank you Lynn for sharing your photos!

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How to keep starlings away from the bird feeders

How do I keep the starlings from devouring all the food when they descend? - Williamston, MI

 

The European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)are here in mid-Michigan year round but tend to flock and eat fruit and nuts in the winter just like American Robins and Cedar Waxwings instead of coming to feeders regularly.

At the end of February the birds begin to look for nesting territories. You may notice that the infrequent visits in the winter increase to overwhelming hoards in the spring. The European Starling is insectivorous when breeding and typically consumes insects including caterpillars, moths, and cicadas, as well as spiders.

Right now they’re all excited! Nesting season is near! Like at a start of a race, there is energy in the air and it feels like it’s going to burst! Unfortunately most of the bugs (their favorite summer food) haven’t appeared yet and in March there are still slim pickings for a lot of birds. So they turn to feasting at your feeders.

Unfortunately most of the bugs (their favorite summer food) haven’t appeared yet and March means slim pickings for a lot of birds. So they turn to feasting at your feeders.

While I love all the activity, I know most normal people don’t. So what can you do to deter the starlings and blackbirds, but still attract cardinals, chickadees, finches, and all the other less boisterous backyard birds?

Feeder Choices

• Squirrel Buster Plus- This feeder is guaranteed Squirrel and large bird proof. You can exclude large nuisance birds with this feeder by rolling in the perches to make them short. You can also adjust the tension on the spring mechanism to have the feeder ports shut when large birds land. Blackbirds weigh twice as much as cardinals.

• Upside Down Suet Feeder- a feeder that dispenses suet from the bottom doesn’t phase a woodpecker but will deter most blackbirds.
• Finch Feeders- I’ve never had a problem with the blackbirds on any finch feeders that are filled with straight nyger thistle seed.

Food Choices

• Use pure beef suet with no seeds

• Switch to straight safflower seed: Start by offering safflower gradually, mixing it with the seed you currently use. Over time increase the amount of safflower until you are feeding straight safflower. The seed looks and tastes different from other bird seed, so it may take your birds some time to adjust. Safflower is a small, white seed that is high in protein and fat. Many favorite backyard birds - including jays, cardinals, chickadees, finches, doves, woodpeckers, titmice and nuthatches- savor safflower. Blackbirds, starlings, and squirrels typically refuse to eat safflower seed.

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Photo Share: Tufted Titmouse thoughts

If anyone would like to share a photograph of nature send it to bloubird@gmail.com and I'll put it on the Friday Photo posts.

Poles to mount your Bluebird House

Where can I obtain a mounting post for my bluebird house? Can I put my house on a tree or a wooden fence post? – DeWitt, MI

Wild Birds Unlimited has an exclusive, patented Advanced Pole System® (APS) mounting hardware that is the perfect for your bird feeding or bird housing needs.

It is super easy to install. First twist the 3-foot base pole into the ground using the convenient corkscrew auger. Then slide the Stabilizer onto the base pole to keep the pole straight and push into the ground (Tests show the stabilizer holds the pole straight in up to 35 MPH wind gusts). Snap on the 3-foot extension pole. Then attach your chosen house to dual mounting flange (designed to mount birdfeeders or houses), and snap that to the top pole.

Once the pole is installed, it is the perfect height to make it easy to monitor your nest box. There’re also several attachments that can be added later. You can add a squirrel or raccoon baffle if predators are in the area. Or add a treat cup to give exhausted parents a mealworm snack and perching branch under the house to give babies a safe place to land their first day out of the nest. 

Bird houses on trees or fences are harder to protect from Red Squirrels or other predators.

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Birds Around the World: Superb Fairy-wren

I am a backyard birder. I love to watch all the activity outside my window at work and in the garden at home. I am very familiar with the nature in my community, but what about other communities. The 3rd weekend in February is the Great Backyard Birdcount (#GBBC), when we can take a look at backyards around the world.

Male and Female Superb Fairy-wrens. Photo from Wikimedia Commons

I thought it would be fun to take a peek at a bird in a warmer location. Australia’s summer is December to February, the opposite of Michigan. During the breeding season, the male Superb Fairy-wrens are among the most brightly colored birds on south-eastern corner of South Australia. They have rich blue and black plumage above and on the throat. The belly is grey-white and the bill is black. Females are brown with a dull red-orange eye mask and a pale greenish tinted brown tail. Non-breeding males, females and juveniles are predominantly grey-brown in color.

They are common in urban parks and gardens, and can be seen in small social groups. These groups normally consist of one dominant male and several females and young birds. Male Superb Fairy-wrens have been labelled as 'the least faithful birds in the world'. Females may be courted by up to 13 males in half an hour, and 76% of young are sired by males from outside the social group.

In the spring they build a dome-shaped nest of grasses and other fine material. It is usually placed in a low bush and is constructed by the female. The female incubates the eggs alone, but both sexes feed the young. Other members of the group will also help with the feeding of the young. The Superb Fairywren mainly eats insects and supplements its diet with seeds.

Sources:

- http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Malurus-cyaneus 

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superb_Fairywren