Mary Twitchell - Easy-to-Build Bird Feeders

Mary Twitchell

It is hard to think of a world without birds, but in 1962 Rachel Carson warned that our excessive use of chemical pesticides might lead to silent springs. Since then, not only have destructive agricultural habits had a devastating effect on bird populations, but we also continue to reconfigure our landscape woods to housing developments; marsh and swamp to freeways; and pastureland to shopping malls. Each of these signs of progress eradicates bird habitat, nesting locations, and natural food supplies.

Birds delight, amuse, and confound us with their antics, habits, and avian operas, and they are extremely beneficial as well. They eat weed seeds, wood-boring ants, gnats, flies, agricultural pests, and more.

There may be 15 to 20 bird species in your yard over the course of a year; some are summer residents that nest and raise a family, some stay all winter, and others pass through on semiannual migrations. To have a closer look at these feathered creatures, buy a pair of binoculars and start building feeders. Birds are riveting entertainment but more important, they teach us about the interrelationship between ourselves and the natural world.

Birds need water, food, and safe shelter where they can raise their young. Their need for food is especially acute in early fall, when they are searching for reliable sources of winter nourishment; during migration, when they are traveling great distances; in extremely cold weather, when they need an extra source of energy; and in early spring especially in early spring when their busy schedule of mating, nest building, and raising a ravenous brood goes on before their natural foods are plentiful.

Feeders do not make a birds entire diet. A feeding station is a quick pick-me-up for birds while they forage for wild food. By spring, natural foods are abundant and multiple bird feeders may be taken down (although they dont have to be). Leave up at least a suet feeder and a sunflower seed feeder for your summer enjoyment.

Birds that use feeders are either insect eaters (such as the woodpecker, brown creeper, white-throated sparrow, tree sparrow, blue jay, and nuthatch), which prefer animal foods; or seed eaters (such as the house sparrow and junco), which prefer vegetable foods. The insect eaters choose suet (beef fat), while the seed eaters flock to feeders with commercial seed mixtures. Some birds (such as the bluebird, chickadee, and titmouse) eat both kinds of foods.

Seeds are available either as a single variety or in commercial mixes called wild bird seed mixtures. Such mixtures may contain 8 to 10 different seed varieties (usually white and red millet, cracked corn, niger seeds, peanut hearts, wheat, oat groats, sunflower seeds, canary seeds, and milo). These mixes are convenient and half the cost of sunflower seeds (which explains their popularity). However, you may discover that if you dont know the species you are feeding, seeds go uneaten. Birds rifle through your offering, picking out the sunflower seeds and moving on. If this happens, much of your effort and money is wasted, and the filler seeds (oats, rape, wheat, rice, milo) may either rot or attract rodents.

To discover which bird species live in your area, set out test trays with different seeds in each. The trays can be as simple as multiple pie plates or a home-built test tray. If sunflower seeds are the heavy favorite, your population is high in chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, and cardinals; if the millet and cracked corn supplies are depleted, you have a preponderance of tree sparrows, white-throats, and juncos. Then make your own mix or buy only the seeds that are most popular (usually black oil sunflower, millet, and cracked corn).

Fill the chambers of a test tray with different types of seeds and set it out in the yard; noting which seeds are eaten most rapidly will let you know which birds are most populous in your backyard.

All-Purpose Mix

The best all-purpose home seed mixture is 45 percent white proso millet, 35 percent black oil sunflower seeds, and 20 percent safflower seeds.

Sunflower seeds are the most popular; grosbeaks will devour them. The seeds come in three types. The largest are gray-striped seeds. There are also medium-sized black-striped sunflower seeds, and a third type, the smallest, an all-black oil type (these seeds are made into sunflower oil).

Seed eaters prefer the black oil seeds, which have a high percentage of oil and a thin hull; for small birds, the thinner shell makes these seeds easier to open. The seeds are more nutritious, provide more calories for their weight, and of all the sunflower seeds are the least expensive.

Hull-less sunflower seeds are also available. These are much more expensive but easy for the birds, and for you there are no scattered hulls to clean up.

Cracked corn, popular with cardinals, sparrows, juncos, bluebirds, and game birds, is water resistant. It is ideal fed daily to birds from an open platform or scattered on the ground. Its inexpensive, but it will attract crows.

Niger seeds, once thought of as for canaries only, are now sold as food for wild birds (redpolls, goldfinches, purple finches, siskins). Theyre tiny black seeds, imported from India and Africa (Nigeria). Although expensive (twice the cost of sunflower seeds), there is no waste. Special feeders with tiny holes are necessary because the seeds are so small.

White or red proso millet is a major component of commercial bird mixes; it is inexpensive, easy to store, and a favorite of ground-feeding birds, especially goldfinches, juncos, and sparrows.

Peanut hearts, a by-product of peanut butter manufacture, appeal to starlings. Blue jays, titmice, chickadees, goldfinches, woodpeckers, and sparrows will eat whole-shelled peanuts, but so will squirrels. Blue jays and woodpeckers will even crack open the shells.

Safflower seeds attract cardinals but are disliked by crows, grackles, and squirrels. As they are more expensive than sunflower seeds, try mixing the two together to help stretch your supply.

Buying and Storing Seeds

When shopping for seeds, visit your local garden center or feed store they sell seeds in quantity (50-pound, or 23 k, bags). You can also purchase seeds through a mail-order catalog. Buy enough for 4 to 6 weeks, remembering that birds eat more in winter. Supermarkets carry commercial mixtures in 5- to 10-pound (25 k) bags but at greatly inflated prices.

Store the seeds in a clean, dry container. Galvanized metal, raccoon-proof trash cans fitted with metal lids are ideal, or you can secure lids with a rock or bungee cords. Dont trust plastic containers; squirrels eat through plastic.

Leave a scoop in the seed can for feeder refilling. A 2-pound coffee can, a 2-quart (liter) plastic soda bottle, or a widemouthed funnel can substitute. For easy pouring, squeeze the sides of the coffee can to create a V in its top edge. To adapt the soda bottle, cut off the top just below the shoulder if you are creating a scoop; to create a funnel, cut off only the bottom and remove the cap.

Birds will eat the following table scraps: