THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 26, 1997 TAG: 9701240089
SECTION: HOME & GARDEN PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARY REID BARROW, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 173 lines
FEEDING THE BIRDS is second only to gardening as a hobby in the United States.
The two are so linked that it's a wonder anyone could garden without wanting to attract birds to their yard. Birds bring beauty, color and movement to the garden. What else gives you the brilliance of flowers in the dead of winter?
Bright red cardinals are dazzling on snowy days, and yellow goldfinches are like sun shining on the drabbest of late winter afternoons, to mention just two of the cold-weather possibilities.
According to a 1991 United States Department of Interior survey of fishing, hunting and wildlife-associated recreation, 65 million folks were feeding the birds. That figure is thought to have risen to 85 million today, second only to the gardening.
If Wild Birds Unlimited's mailing list is any indication, Hampton Roads citizens appear to appreciate the birds in great numbers too. The stores in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach, which sell bird seed and bird-watching accessories, have a mailing list of 8,000 names, updated on a regular basis. Wild Birds Unlimited has been at the beach for four years and in Chesapeake for two.
If you are one of those Hampton Roads folks who don't feed the birds, read on and you might get hooked. As the winter wears on and natural foods diminish, the birds appreciate your efforts. Come nesting season, you could see the results of your labor.
If you need a good excuse, February is National Bird Feeding Month. So celebrate.
It doesn't take much to start a hobby that will give you pleasure, day in and day out, year round, because one of the first secrets to feeding the birds is not food. It's water, said Donna Burnett, who owns the Wild Birds Unlimited stores with her husband, Chuck.
``Water is the best way to get birds in the yard,'' Burnett said. ``They all drink and they all bathe.''
The sight of thirsty, migrating cedar waxwings clustering around a bird bath to drink would be enough incentive for most to add a bird bath. These sleek, masked critters with yellow and waxy red wing tips suddenly appear out of nowhere to feast on berried shrubs and slake their thirst before moving on.
You can use an old-fashioned concrete pedestal-type bird bath or you can find a more modern one. Some of those hang from poles or trees, and others attach to your deck. In winter, many natural water sources freeze, so be sure to check the water daily, Burnett advised. Keeping the bird bath on a deck or near a door makes checking and refilling easier.
Virginia Beach Audubon Society member Betsy Nugent has a bird bath with a heater, sold at garden centers and bird stores. When the weather is bad, she has more birds in her yard than any of her neighbors, and she assumes it's because the water is drinkable all the time.
Although all birds drink water, not all like the same food, Burnett said.
Birds like robins and cedar waxlings would appreciate plants with tasty berries, such as yaupon holly. And if you plant for the birds, include shrubbery that would provide cover from the weather and safety from the neighborhood cats.
Most birds are drawn to seed. Some like black oil sunflower seed best; others, thistle. Some will eat only suet. Ground feeders go for millet. And in some cases the food you use dictates the kind of feeder.
There are any number of feeder types, some designed to keep the squirrels away, some for bigger birds like cardinals, and some that little ones like chickadees prefer. Other feeders have big roofs that provide some shelter.
If you are going to get only one feeder, Burnett believes you can attract the most birds with a traditional hopper feeder on a pole, one where you add seed from the top and birds feed on a small platform at the bottom. Burnett uses a mixture of black oil and striped sunflower seeds, safflower and millet.
``Black oil sunflower is a favorite of 90 percent of the birds, and they will swish out the millet with their bills. It goes onto the ground for ground-feeding birds like doves,'' she said.
When Burnett says ``blend,'' she doesn't mean the common blend you find in the shelves of the grocery or discount store. That has too much filler seed, like milo. Although more expensive than grocery brands, a blend of black oil and striped sunflower seeds, safflower and millet pays off, because no filler seed is wasted.
You won't go wrong, however, if you decide on using just black oil sunflower seed, which is considered more nutritious than the striped sunflower seed. Nugent uses only the black oil in her yard and she gets her share of birds.
If you want more than one feeder, get a tube feeder as a second, Burnett said. ``Small birds like small perches and the movement of a small feeder, while cardinals, especially, don't like movement. They like a stable feeder,'' she explained.
If you're interested in attracting goldfinches, you'll need a tube feeder with small seed holes especially designed for tiny thistle seed. Thistle, a specialty seed, only attracts a few species of birds, like finches, and your feeder can stand idle for much of the year.
A thistle feeder, however, may merit your attention for nothing other than the sheer beauty of the goldfinches it attracts. The late-winter sight of male goldfinches lining the feeder perches, their olive feathers having turned bright yellow to greet the breeding season, may well be worth the wait.
For for close-up viewing, Burnett keeps two small, acrylic window feeders that adhere to window glass with suction cups. Birds take a little longer to find a window feeder, she said, because they find it by sight, not scent. Sprinkling a little seed on the sill at the start may help.
``It's great entertainment for my indoor cat,'' she said, ``and also for kids and the elderly or others who can't get out.''
Safflower seed is the best seed to use in window feeders to keep squirrels, raccoons, grackles and starlings away. Perky wrens, chickadees and nuthatches are fond of window feeders, but even plump mourning doves will make their way up to feed.
Safflower also is good to use in any feeder when larger birds and animals become a nuisance. It really works. Only the smaller birds have an affinity for safflower and even with them, it takes some getting used to. Mixing a little sunflower seed in with the safflower at the start may help to acclimate the critters to a new food.
On other feeders, Burnett uses metal baffles to stump the squirrels, raccoons and opossums that can eat all your bird seed - and often your feeder too - overnight. Baffles are available in several sizes and shapes and can be mounted above or below the feeders, depending on whether the feeders are on a pole or hanging from a tree.
Suet is about the only food that will attract woodpeckers. They'll go for suet that is available from some grocery store butchers, hung in a mesh bag or wire suet cage and they will peck away at commercial suet cakes, often mixed with seed and other goodies birds like.
But if you plan to buy suet cakes, be sure to buy a suet cage that is the right size to hold the pre-formed square. (A cage with small holes helps to keep the always greedy squirrels and raccoons away.) Some feeders are too small for the cakes. Filling them is a messy job, because you have to gouge the suet out of its plastic container and mash it into the cage.
Many birds besides woodpeckers will dine on suet, especially when they are looking for a high-fat high energy supplement, Burnett said.
Look for little birds like nuthatches and brown creepers and you also may have the rare treat of seeing a huge pileated woodpecker with its red crest hammering that big bill into your suet feeder.
Despite the time you'll spend discouraging squirrels from marauding your feeders, don't leave them out altogether. Give them a break and yourself some entertainment by feeding them too.
There are squirrel feeders that hold ears of dried corn, some that even challenge the squirrels' agility. Others work like hopper feeders, holding corn kernels. Peanuts in the shell are fun because squirrels will come scampering down the trees like clockwork when they see you come out and wait for you to toss them a nut.
With the variety of feeders and feed, it's tough to make a choice. Jim Wakefield doesn't. The retired government employee who works at the Chesapeake Wild Birds Unlimited has 17 feeders in his yard, along with a variety of bird houses.
One late afternoon recently, Wakefield's yard in the Greenbrier section of Chesapeake began rustling with birds and squirrels. The yard was coming alive as though someone had started a movie projector.
Little chickadees and tufted titmice darted in and out, grabbing seeds from the feeders. Downy woodpeckers hung from the suet feeders, pecking away at dinner. A goldfinch sipped from the bird bath. Then a sharp-shinned hawk, the nemesis of feeding birds, began circling overhead. The birds darted for cover and all was quiet again, the movie over for the moment.
But even if you have one feeder, you can enjoy that kind of experience on a smaller scale. And you need not feel guilty if you must go away and can't feed the birds for awhile, Burnett said.
``They will find food. They are not dependent on us,'' she explained. ``The only reason we feed birds is we like it!'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by LAWRENCE JACKSON, The Virginian-Pilot
Jim Wakefield and one of 17 birdfeeders in his yard
A chickadee eats at a feeder...
Photo by LAWRENCE JACKSON, The Virginian-Pilot
Jim Wakefield fills a hopper feeder on a pole, which is ringed by
metal to keep squirrels out.
Graphic
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT BIRDFEEDING
Wild Birds Unlimited has a booth at The Virginia Flower & Garden
Show from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at the Virginia Beach Pavilion,
1000 19th St., Virginia Beach (Exit 8, off Interstate 44).
Show admission is $5 for adults; $4.50 for senior citizens; and
children 11 and under admitted free with an adult. Join the National
Bird-Feeding Society. For $15 annual dues you will receive a
bimonthly newsletter, membership certificate and color bird
identification chart. Send check to: National Bird-Feeding Society,
P.O. Box 23, Northbrook, Ill. 60065-0023.