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It’s In Your Nature: Before snow flies, fill the feeders

Published November 04. 2023 09:00AM

o me, October in effect, brings a new birding season. Nearly all of our summer breeders have headed south, some short distances, and some to the tropics and beyond. But the onset of autumn also sends the northern birds “fleeing” south to areas like ours that are a bit more tolerable.

I begin filling my feeders about the first week of October. At first, the two dozen house finches that feasted on some of my apples and peaches over the summer months, dominate the feeders. Slowly, the local cardinals get the message and early in the morning and just before dark they devour the sunflower seeds. The song sparrows that nested in the spruce trees scratch away at the ground gleaning the seeds that the finches dislodged from the feeders. They and the downy and red-bellied woodpeckers, are all year-round residents.

What I like to look for to confirm that fall has arrived, is the return of the northern juncos. Sometimes they appear about Oct. 5 or so but this year I didn’t see the first one until Oct. 19. Sometimes arriving just before them are the white-throated sparrows. I saw a pair at my feeders a few days later. If you’re lucky, a few more rare northern visitors will visit or make your yard their winter home. I’m referring to pine siskins or even purple finches. I follow the daily hawk migration reports from Hawk Mountain and they have been reporting sightings of siskins almost daily now.

I’d like to offer you some photos of some expected winter birds and a few that you should be aware. I’ll also offer this suggestion to offer them some suet feeders (if not in black bear areas) because they offer vital protein and fats to so many of the birds that you would like to see outside your windows.

I keep at least 6 tube feeders stocked with black oil sunflowers and I purchase white millet and cracked corn at feed and hardware stores such as Marzen’s Feed & Hardware. I combine those two to make a great ground feeding bird seed mix for sparrows, mourning doves, and juncos. If it is possible to keep a bird bath ice free and close to some trees or shrubs, you’ll probably be feeding even more birds at your buffet. January may limit your treks outside, but hunkered in your living room or dining room on a comfortable chair, you can enjoy the bird show while avoiding the cold. Enjoy.

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: Bat excrement is called: A. scat; B. wash; C. guano; D. sepals.

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: A young bat is called a pup.

Email Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com

Left: Probably the bird that is the most familiar is the cardinal. Note that it is a crepuscular bird, very active at dawn and probably the last bird at your feeders in the evening. BARRY REED PHOTOS
Above: A yearlong resident, the black-capped chickadee will dart in to the feeder, grab a sunflower seed and dart off to “husk it” on a tree limb. I never see them linger at my feeders for more than a second or two.
Just the opposite of chickadees, house finches (a female pictured here) will sit at a tube feeder gobbling up seeds until another competing finch chases it from its perch.
Red-bellied woodpeckers are now permanent resident birds here in this region. They eat sunflower seeds, peanuts, and love suet.
Blue jays “rule the roost.” When the jays fly to the feeders, the other birds scatter knowing the pecking order. We offer them about 2 dozen whole peanuts each morning as well.
Two or three downy woodpeckers, our smallest woodpecker species locally, visit the suet feeders each winter.
White-throated sparrows have returned from their northern breeding areas. Look for them scratching beneath your feeders. I use a mix of white millet and cracked corn. They and the juncos feast on that. Some commercial wild bird seed mixes have seeds the birds don't eat.
White-breasted nuthatches are comical birds to watch. Look for them alighting on the tree trunks and working their way downward to their favorite foods. They love suet, but enjoy black oil sunflowers too.
Song sparrows also feed by scratching for seeds under the feeders. You get a bonus if they visit your feeders, some males will sing on a sunny winter morning.
A tufted titmouse will feast on sunflower seeds. They, like chickadees, grab a morsel, fly off, and husk the seed on a distant limb and then fly back to grab another.
A “bonus” winter feeder visitor is the pine siskin. A cousin of goldfinches, they like tube feeders with niger (thistle) seeds. A number have been recorded passing by hawk lookouts so maybe they'll be more common here this winter. They seldom feed alone. Look for them in small flocks.
Many don't recognize the goldfinch in its winter plumage. They'll eat sunflower seeds but like the siskins, enjoy the niger seeds too.
Tags:
Barry Reed, Spotlight