A rare look at a Bluebird feeding chicks in a nest
Next time weather turns cold (assuming you live where it does, in fact, turn cold), try this. Go outside in a warm coat, fluff up your hair and crouch down. Now stay like that … for hours. How long do you think it would take before your feet got cold? Or your knees started to complain? Amazingly, this is what birds do everyday. Now, I do realize we’re anatomically different, but birds do the miraculous on a daily basis – they survive. In fact, it’s this ability to survive difficult environmental conditions that Laura Hansen, of Wild Birds Unlimited in Monroeville and Wexford, Pa., says inspires her customers. “When [they] observe birds’ daily survival methods and in extreme situations, many customers realize that anything is possible in their own lives.” Bird watching and feeding as therapy – I’d not thought of that.
Speaking of Survival
I recently watched a momma dove feed her fledgling (out of the nest) baby. When I discovered that same baby bird on my driveway at 1 AM, I immediately scooped him up and put him in a safer place. A call to the wild bird sanctuary in my area the next morning revealed that doves will leave the nest once they can fly – but before they can fend for themselves. (Kind of like sending your kid off to college.) Even though the babies have left home, the parents continue to feed and teach their offspring how to survive. This process must work, because I’ve not heard of a dove shortage. In case you’re wondering, the momma bird found her little charge the next day and continued to care for him. He’s doing quite well.
Survival in the wilds of our backyards can be difficult for wild birds. This biggest danger to wild birds? Cats. According to the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), there are over 90 million pet cats in the U.S. They estimate that a good many of them are allowed outdoors, at least for part of the time. This number doesn’t include the large populations of stray or feral cats that exist on the fringes of our awareness. This has led scientists to estimate that these outdoor cats kills hundreds of millions of birds, small mammals reptiles and amphibians each year. The solution is keeping household pet cats indoors or training the cat to walk with a leash and harness. ABC offers other solutions, too, so check out their website for more information. Keeping cats indoors ensures they live longer as do the birds and other wildlife in your yard!
How to Care for Wild Birds
Robins warming at the heated birdbath.
Wild birds are very self-sufficient. They have to be. However, that doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy and thrive on hand, er, beak outs. Laura has a few suggestions to help entice more birds to your yard, enhancing your bird watching fun and helping out our feathered friends.
- Mix a variety of seed types together to attract a wider variety of birds. Instead of stocking up on large bags of food, you can purchase seed cylinders, mealworms and suet to give you birds their feeding “fix.” Birds that don’t eat see include bluebirds and woodpeckers.
- If you do buy seed, be sure to store it outside in a metal container. It keeps better that way.
- If you don’t have a branch to hang a feeder on, or simply don’t want to mess with the hassle of seed, try Jim’s Birdacious Bark Butter. This stuff is great because you can literally spread it on a tree. According to Laura, over 75 different bird species flock (pardon the pun) to any tree slathered in bark butter. (Note: Not all species may be in your area.)
- Love to feed birds but hate cleaning feeders? Try Wild Birds Unlimited’s Quick-Clean tube feeders. With just a push of two fingers on the tabs, you get a clean feeder. Remember, clean feeders make for happy birds. I mean, do you like eating off of a dirty plate?
- Feeding is important – but so is water, especially in the winter months. Heated birdbaths and heating elements for existing birdbaths are not prohibitively expensive. Once, after an unexpected snowstorm, I looked out my window to see my heated birdbath ringed with at least 10 bluebirds all taking turns drinking the water. It was an amazing sight and one I wish I could have captured on film.
I love visiting Wild Birds Unlimited because, while they’re a specialty store, they have reasonable prices, knowledgeable staff and really cool products. I could spend a whole day just ogling the merchandise and dreaming of all the birds I could attract to my yard.
Evening Grosbeaks on bird feeder
It’s no secret that feeding birds is fun, brings joy and enhances our lives. While the birds may not be able to say it, they are grateful for every morsel they don’t have to scrape up themselves – especially during the harsh winter months when food and water is scarce. As Laura says, “We want to help our customers have their own feeling of awe and wonder for nature and the birds.” My parents instilled the bird feeding love in me as a child. Why not let Wild Birds Unlimited help you bring the joy of bird feeding and watching into your household.
Other Bird Articles:
Five Steps to Attracting Birds to Your Garden
It’s Migration Season for House Wrens
The Indigo Bunting: The Smallest Sparrow Warbler
Top 10 Most Common Blue Birds in Your Garden
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Cats are not the biggest problem for birds/wildlife, humans are. Human caused habitat destruction is the major cause of bird/wildlife decline, followed by window strikes: “Muhlenberg College ornithologist Daniel Klem Jr. has been investigating the bird-window problem for decades, and he has found that highly reflective windows account for between 100 million and a billion bird deaths a year. That means that windows kill more birds in a year than windmills, cats, and cell phone towers. Combined.” The ABC has a real bias against cats. There’s a product out, the CatBib, that’s been shown to stop 81% of cats from killing any birds. The ABC will never mention it because it goes against their message to “keep cats indoors.”
Thanks for listening……..
Hi there – I don’t disagree with your comments about reflective glass and habitat loss. Global climate change has also impacted the migratory (and therefore lives) of songbirds, too. Perhaps my own bias is showing – I don’t believe cats should be allowed outside. I’ve seen way too many cats suffer because of being hit by cars, mauled by dogs and hurt by humans. Birds outside – cats inside. If we eliminate this predator from the bird mix, then we can assess more accurately the other dangers for our feathered friends. Thanks for writing!
I’ve fed and maintained a feral cat colony for years (trapped, neutered, and returned to their environment). Cats do not kill many birds. I can count the number of heads I’ve seen around my feed station on my two hands – and that’s ten years of feeding the colony. Cats get baby birds that have fallen out of their nests or are injured or on the ground too long (which is rare). I agree that the ABC has a cat bias. There is no scientific data to back up their extraordinarily exaggerated numbers.
On the other hand, proper care for any animal that keeps them safe and healthy is, of course, the responsibility of every owner. I wouldn’t be feeding wild cats if people properly neutered and cared for their pets!
But, to associate them with large numbers of bird deaths is ridiculous.