Tag Archives: Bird Feeders

Allelopathic Sunflower Seeds

Posted on by

As the weather turns chilly and bird feeders go up, here’s a new word for you…..ALLELOPATHY.

?

Allelopathy is where an organism releases natural chemicals that affect the growth of other organisms. How does this apply to your bird feeder? Sunflower seeds. It turns out that many sunflower species, including those used for bird seed, are allelopathic to many other plants, so much so, that they are used as natural weed control. The chemicals contained in most parts of the sunflower, including the roots, seeds, and seed hulls, naturally block the growth of other plants. Basically, the sunflower wages chemical warfare against competing plants. The main allelopathic chemicals that sunflowers produce are terpenes and phenolic compounds. So, bear this in mind when placing your bird feeder (and when growing sunflowers in your garden). Dropped sunflower seeds and hulls, if allowed to build up under your feeder, will kill off most other plants. Plus, it’s always good to keep the area under your feeder tidy to avoid enticing unwanted visitors like rodents, raccoons, skunks, and more.

Backyard Birds; Black-capped Chickadee

Posted on by

Black-capped Chickadees:   Black-capped chickadees are found in deciduous and mixed deciduous-evergreen forests, especially near forest edges. They are commonly found near willows and cottonwoods.  And, they prefer nesting in alder snags and birch trees. Their diet varies by season, in the summer they eat mostly caterpillars, insects, some spiders, snails, and other invertebrates. In the winter their diet consists of insect eggs and pupae, seeds, small fruits and berries. At feeders they take mostly sunflower seeds that they stuff into bark crevices, but they will also eat peanuts, peanut butter, mealworms and suet.

Photo by: No machine-readable author provided. Mdf assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Backyard Birds: Red-breasted Nuthatch

Posted on by

Red-breasted Nuthatch:  Red-breasted Nuthatches are tiny colorful song birds. At the bird feeder they like to eat peanuts, sunflower seeds, nyjar seeds and suet.  During the summer, they eat mainly insects, beetles, caterpillars, spiders, ants, and earwigs. Red-breasted Nuthatches breed and winter throughout Oregon. They live in conifer and mixed hardwood forest and in winter they can be found in woodland areas from the valley floors to the mountains.

Photo by Kathy Munsel, Oregon Dept. Fish and Wildlife

Backyard Birds: Brown Creeper

Posted on by

Brown Creeper:  This tiny woodland bird eats mostly insects, but in winter at a backyard feeder they will eat suet, peanut butter, and occasionally sunflower seeds and corn. During the breeding season, Brown Creepers eat a long list of insects and their larvae. This includes stinkbugs, fruit flies, gnats, beetles, weevils, bark beetle, butterflies, moths, lacewings, caddisflies, scale insects, leafhoppers, katydids, flat-bugs, plant lice, ants, and sawflies along with spiders, spider eggs. Brown creepers are found throughout Oregon in forested areas. They use large conifer forests for foraging and breeding, but they need dead trees for nesting, because they build a hammock-like nest behind a flap of dead bark.

 

Photo credit: Mdf, CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia

Attracting Pollinators: Part 3

Posted on by

Food:  A pollinator garden, with carefully chosen plants, will provide pollen and nectar for pollinators, but you can also supplement with special feeders for birds, hummingbirds, and even butterflies with Butterfly Feeders.

Water:  Birds, bees, butterflies, all living creatures need water!

 Make a Butterflies mud puddle!
For butterflies:  Butterflies are attracted to water along the edge of rivers and creeks, which provides them with salt and nutrients. You can create a “mud puddle” watering station for them. Use a shallow dish such as a plastic or terracotta plant saucer in a sunny area of your garden that is protected from the wind. Fill the bottom of the pan with sand, gravel, and a few small stones, add water to the dampen sand.

Bees: Bees drink water, but they also gather up to a gallon of water a day in hot weather to create “air conditioning” to cool the hive. Bees can drown while gathering water, so it’s important to provide them an escape; this can be done by adding pebbles, rocks, wood, or other types of “bee rafts” into a dish of water, birdbath or bucket of water. Bee rafts can be anything that floats like wine corks, small pieces of wood even packing peanuts.

Birds: provide a bird bath, a dish of water, install a water garden or a fountain.

Submitted by: Carlotta Lucas

Hummingbirds Winter Care

Posted on by

Keep hummingbird feeders clean to prevent mold and fungus, which can be fatal to hummingbirds. Refill feeders frequently so there is always an adequate supply of nectar for overwintering hummingbirds.   Do not prune shrubs or trees near feeding areas in fall so hummingbirds have plenty of sheltered places to perch and rest between feedings. Bring feeders indoors to warm/ defrost and rotate out with other feeders.

Below are some methods to keep the nectar from freezing:

Hummingbird_feeding_in_winter

Photo by: Dan David Cook

  • Use a dome to protect from snow, sleet and ice.
  • Position the feeder to protect from cold winds and exposure.
  • Attach hand warmers to the feeder.
  • Heat tape such as used for preventing pipes from freezing.
  • Place a clamp-on/ clip-on shop/ work light adjacent to the feeder—about 12-24″ away would be as plumbers do when defrosting frozen pipes. Test the distance before you walk away. Try a 125 Watt infra-red light bulb, but not the red-glass type. Get an I.R. bulb with clear envelope, it casts a more natural light. Connect it all to a timer.
  • Place holiday lights around, above or below the feeder.
  • Insulate with any fabric.
  • Some say to alter the water:nectar ratio, but don’t do this! Keep ratio the same for hummingbird’s health and nutritional needs
  • Do not obstruct access to feeding ports. Use common sense and your best judgment.
Information from: hummingbirdmarket.com. http://www.hummingbirdmarket.com/hummingbird_articles/feeding_hummingbirds_in_the_cold.html
And, Seattle Audubon –  http://www.seattleaudubon.org/sas/Learn/SeasonalFacts/Hummingbirds.aspx