In My Backyard

Today I had another new yard bird - a Baltimore oriole. I tried to attract these last year, so I was thrilled when I saw one in my backyard tonight! I put out a fresh orange and some grape jelly in hopes of keeping him around. He may have been visiting my hummingbird feeder. When he first caught my eye he was flying from that direction, but I can't be sure. I saw him a couple times tonight, so hopefully he will decide to stay. (It was rainy and the picture was taken through the window, so it is less than stellar. )

I had a chipping sparrow in my yard a couple weeks ago. Since then I have had several more. They were quite interested in what I was doing when I was refilling my feeders today. They're cute little birds.

I also had my first hummingbird of the season last week.

Another New Yard Bird

I had another new bird in my backyard today - a brown thrasher. What makes this really great, though, is that it's a new lifer for me! It's always nice to get a new lifer, but it's even more special when it's in your own yard.

In My Backyard

I had a new bird at my feeder today! It's not a first-ever bird, but it's a first-ever-in-my-backyard bird! Here is a picture of my hairy woodpecker. Hopefully he'll be a return visitor.

As far as new-to-my-backyard birds go, I've had a couple others since the last time I posted - a red bellied woodpecker and some American tree sparrows.

In My Backyard

I have had a lot of success attracting a wider variety of birds now that my feeders aren't overrun by house sparrows. I still have a few that visit my platform feeder, but most of them have given up on even trying to visit the feeders with the wires. There is one house sparrow who has figured out how to fly under the wires. Otherwise, they all stay away. I am amazed it worked so well.

I've added a few things for my feathered visitors over the past month. I added a wreath style peanut feeder last week. I don't think my blue jays like it much because they have to work to get a peanut, but the other birds like it. The nuthatches visit it almost daily, and surprisingly the Carolina wren really likes it, too. So far our neighborhood squirrel has not made an attempt to raid it.

I received a window feeder for Christmas. I put it up as soon as I received it, but no one visited it for almost 3 weeks! Finally this week a couple house finches tried it out. They don't visit it frequently and are rather skittish when they do, but it's a start.

I also made my own suet a couple weeks ago. The cardinals seem to like it best. Store bought suet is inexpensive, but I made my own with stuff I already had on hand, so it didn't cost me anything. I'm sure I'll try it again when my current batch is gone, assuming it's still cold outside. I think it would melt if it was very warm out.

Since I started counting my backyard birds, I'm now up to 23 species! These are pictures of some of the other birds I've had visit my backyard feeders recently. Technically the hawk didn't visit my feeder, but he was looking for food in my backyard!

At the Park

In My Backyard

Battling House Sparrows

Lately my feeders have been overrun with house sparrows (HOSP). After I fill my feeders, the house sparrows converge upon them and have them cleaned out within a matter of hours. I have a platform feeder that typically holds blackoil sunflower seeds, safflower, and raw peanuts. I also have a tube feeder that holds thistle and a large hopper feeder that I fill with a mixed blend. My large hopper feeder is impossible to keep full. When I took down my hummingbird feeder for the winter, I replaced it with a smaller hopper feeder. I thought it might be nice to have a feeder on my patio, close enough I could watch the birds from inside when the weather gets too cold. I filled that feeder with black oil sunflower seeds and safflower. Within an hour or two of putting out the new feeder, my patio was covered with HOSPs. Although I've never really minded them, I didn't really want that many of them that close to the house. So, I started doing a little research on how to discourage them from visiting my feeders. I was amazed at the wealth of information about HOSPs! I had no idea just how hated they are by backyard bird enthusiasts. House sparrows were introduced to the US in the 1800s. They were originally brought here to help control the insect population, but someone didn't do enough research first. Apparently they primarily eat insects only when they are nesting. Oops. They were extremely successful and have become way too numerous. Now they compete with native birds for nesting spots. They have even been blamed for the decline of purple martins and eastern bluebirds. HOSPs are aggressive and will attack and kill these other birds or destroy their eggs. Vicious! Also, HOSPs prevent a wider variety of birds from visiting your feeders. Gold finches, for example, will avoid a feeder if it's surrounded by house sparrows. Because these birds are so controversial, there was a lot of information on getting rid of them. Some websites even went so far as to suggest trapping them or even euthanizing them. That's a little too hardcore for me. I just want to see less of them. Lots of the information suggested switching to black oil sunflower seeds, thistle, and safflower. Apparently HOSPs don't like these seeds, especially the bitter safflower. (And they love the mixed blends.) So I left the main hopper empty and just left out thistle, black oil sunflower seeds, and safflower. They hungrily ate all of that! I removed the thistle and the sunflower seeds, and they still happily chowed down on the safflower. Since changing my food didn't work, I needed other options. These are other things I tried, based on the information I found. Option 1 I cut the posts on my tube feeder to 5/8". Apparently this is too short a perch for the sparrows but still long enough for the gold finches. I was a little nervous, but within a few hours, I had a gold finch happily eating away. The next day, I had 3 on my feeder at once. Before cutting the posts, it had been quite awhile since I had seen more than 1 gold finch at a time. As you can see, the HOSP just can't fit both feet on the perch, but the finch doesn't have a problem. Option 2 I added a piece of plastic canvas to the bottom of my large hopper feeder. The plastic mesh prevents them from foraging on the bottom of the feeder for seed, which is their normal instinct. I'm not sure if this option has actually made a difference, though, because Option 3 seems to be so successful. Option 3 (I am amazed that this option works.) I made my own "magic halo". It's a wire frame that attaches to the roof of a feeder and juts out past the feeder. On the parts that jut out from the feeder, you attach monofilament line or thin wire to hang straight down. Apparently HOSPs won't fly underneath the line, although it doesn't bother native sparrows or other small birds. (Grackles, crows, blue jays, etc don't like it either.) There were mixed reviews on the Magic Halo, and it costs $15-$25, so I tried my own version. Using tape, I just attached very thin floral type wire to the roof of the hopper and extended it out about 10". (I figured I'd use something more permanent than tape if it worked.) After I added the wire to the big feeder, I sat outside to observe the birds and IT REALLY WORKED! The birds sat on the limb next to the feeder and moved their heads all around to check it out. Then they tried flying to the feeder but couldn't land on it, as you can see in the picture I took the following day. It was rather amazing. And, as you can see, it doesn't seem to bother the smaller birds. The next day, I had 4 chickadees visit at once! I've never had that many at a time. I've had 6 house finches visit, and yesterday I had my first dark eyed junco of the season. I filled my feeder on Sunday, and it still has plenty of food in it. Since the house sparrows aren't eating all the food or hogging the feeders, other birds are starting to show up. Hooray! I realize you can see the wire quite well in the close up pictures of the small feeder, but the wire is so thin, that you don't notice it unless you're really looking for it. It really isn't obvious. (All of these pictures were taken through a window.) Option 4 I switched to striped sunflower seeds in my platform feeder for the cardinals and bluejays. (I also kept the raw peanuts.) Striped sunflower seed shells are supposedly too hard for the HOSPs to open. Apparently they are not too hard for my HOSPs, as you can see from the picture! The bluejays don't seem to like sharing a feeder with them, and bluejays yell a lot, so that helps a little. Hopefully I can figure out something for my cardinals and jays, but the other steps I've taken have greatly reduced the amount of HOSPs I'm seeing in my yard already!