Backyard Birds Still Need Your Feed

Year-in, year-out, one of my simplest pleasures is watching song birds at my feeders. It’s a pleasure that I know I share with many.

Regardless of the season, watching tiny bits of feathers and down flit about at the feeding stations I have set out for them is a source of joy and continual wonder. Is there anything more irrepressibly optimistic than a chickadee cracking open a sunflower seed on a sunny, sub-zero day?

Even on the darkest, dreariest days of January, tiny birds bounce around my feeders with  cheerful energy, all of them proving that the world is not stilled at 20-below.

And now that spring is here, song bird songs are in the air. It's a musical harbinger I wait for all winter.

Most springs, I have a constant and predictable parade of birds at my feeders. This year has certainly been no exception. Indeed, there has been more bird activity at my feeders recently than I can ever remember. Undoubtedly this is because the cold weather came early and lasted long, and the birds are as tired of winter as I am.

Along with the usual suspects—the pine siskins and chickadees, finches and jays, cardinals and juncos—this spring there is a spate of woodpeckers around my house.

We have the omnipresent downy and hairy woodpeckers, of course, but more than I've ever seen at one time. There is also a pair of red-breasted woodpeckers regularly hammering on the suet blocks. And several northern flickers are hanging around, too. It's a good thing suet is cheap.

But there has been an inexplicable lack of some species; both red-breasted and white-breasted nuthatches, for example. They like suet as much as the woodpeckers do and I enjoy watching them cling upside down to tree trunks utilizing their specially designed feet. They look ungainly standing on level surfaces, but the extra-long rear toes serve them well in their preferred inverted position. Usually, they frequent my feeders in large numbers, but this year only a few have been seen.  

There were also few finches, including redpolls, especially this past winter. The majority; the goldfinches, house finches, and purple finches are only now starting to show up.

Just this week robins and early bluebirds arrived in my yard, too. I even saw an American woodcock on Tuesday morning, proving that spring is indeed attempting a comeback.

I guess the point is, while spring is arriving, and the snow cover is finally melting away, this is not the time to stop feeding backyard birds. In fact, with the recent arrival of some migrants, this may be the most important time to attend to feeding stations and do some housekeeping that will benefit both the regulars and the new arrivals.

You are likely to see more birds, both in numbers and in variety, during the next month or two than you have seen in a long while. At least that’s what I’m expecting at my feeders.

As proof that bird numbers are rising quickly right now, where I had to fill my sunflower and finch feeders about twice a week during the winter months, now they need replenishing nearly every other day. Suet blocks that lasted two weeks or more, now disappear inside a week.

Simply put, this is prime time for song birds, and if you want to help them with either their long migrations or their local nesting efforts, you should make sure you have clean feeders and a variety of different foods available.

Sunflower seeds are utilized by a wide variety of song birds, but you should have some type of finch mix available, preferably something with millet, thistle, and sorghum. Cracked corn and sunflower hearts will also be welcomed by most birds.

It should go without saying that once you start feeding birds, you should keep at it, especially through the coldest months and as migrants pass through our area, as they are now.

It takes a great deal of energy for birds to search out a food source. It's what they spend most of their time doing. The more regularly available that source is, the less energy they have to expend. If you feed year round, as I do, you will see an amazing variety of birds from one season to the next—as long as you feed consistently.

The other point that is easily overlooked is that any time you attract a large number of wild animals to a small area through feeding them, you are creating a potential health risk for the animals you attract, as well as for people and pets. This is true regardless of the type of critter you feed.

In the case of song birds, it is important to routinely clean up areas under feeders where seed hulls, feces, and other detritus accumulate. It’s an unpleasant task, especially now as things thaw and re-freeze daily, but it is absolutely necessary. If you provide water, that source should also be regularly cleaned and disinfected.

Nearly every year in Wisconsin there are mass die-offs of song birds because of salmonella poisoning. Siskins, redpolls, and other finches are common victims of the bacteria, but it doesn’t need to happen with such regularity. The Wisconsin DNR has published the following guidelines regarding salmonella prevention at your feeders:

What you can do to reduce the risk of salmonellosis in your backyard:

• Clean feeders, feeding areas and birdbaths regularly using a 10 percent bleach solution as a disinfectant before a final rinse.
• Clean up seed hulls under bird feeders.
• Consider moving bird feeders periodically to prevent buildup of waste underneath the feeder.
• Consider adding additional bird feeders to reduce crowding.
• Keep seeds and food dry.
• Change water in bird bath regularly.
• Wear disposable gloves when cleaning a bird feeder or birdbath.
• If you observe dead or sick birds near a feeder, take it down, discard all seed, and thoroughly clean the feeder. Wait at least a week before setting up the feeder again.

You can also find a more in-depth online article about keeping a clean feeding area in the February 2007 issue of Wisconsin Natural resources magazine.

Since I don't profess to be an expert, just an enthusiast, my favorite resource for identifying birds of all kinds is the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds site.

And finally, some may think that the calendar is the ultimate arbiter of the seasons here in Wisconsin, but I always give the last word to the birds. When the first buntings and hummingbirds show up, then I will know that the long winter is truly a memory. Until then, I’ll just keep my fingers crossed, my feeders filled, and my snow shovel handy.