This is the time of year that I often hear the question, “When is the best time to stop feeding so the birds will learn to fend for themselves?” I always have a hard time answering the question, should you stop now when thousands of birds have just returned north, what is the natural food supply like this time of year? Should you wait until the birds are laying and incubating eggs to stop feeding? Then wouldn’t the adults have to leave the nest for longer periods of time to find food? What about when the young hatch and need huge amounts of food to grow enough to make the journey south or survive our winter?
The truth is, I don’t know when the best time is to stop feeding...so I don’t. In all honesty though, I feed year round for selfish reasons. I enjoy the birds that come to our yard in spring and summer, I love it when the adults bring the young around the feeders and make frantic trips from the feeder to a nearby branch to feed a begging fledgling. It’s OK to be selfish, it’s been proven that feeding birds in summer doesn’t hurt and is in fact beneficial, there are more eggs per clutch, more hatch and more fledge when there is the benefit of steady feeder supply. Sometimes it’s the seeds or suet that’s being fed to the nestlings and sometimes feeders are a fuel supply for the adults so they can spend more time hunting insects to feed the young. Since we started feeding birds year round we’ve noticed a steady decline in garden pests, and a steady decline in the work to maintain a healthy organic garden.
If we stopped feeding at the end of winter we’d miss out on so much, sure we’d still get the earliest wave of migration, as the black birds usually come to clean up the spilled seed from winter, but if I didn’t keep the seed out I’d miss the Goldfinch in their summer plumage and the Purple Finch wouldn’t be singing outside my window.
I’d also miss the several species of sparrows that stop by to fuel up on their trip farther north. You really should take a few minutes to check this group out, from a distance you may think they all look the same but put binoculars on them and you will be amazed. The large Fox Sparrow with it’s rusty red streaks, the White-crowned Sparrow with the bright white cap, the White-throated Sparrow with it’s yellow stripes and familiar song are all likely to stop by a millet feeder. You’ll also see Chipping Sparrow, Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow and may even see some of the more rare species of sparrows that occasionally visit our yards.
The thing I’d miss the most though, is the brilliant orange of the Baltimore Oriole and the crimson red of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak when they arrive in May, if you’re lucky enough to have either of these species nest nearby you’ll be treated to visits from the young birds throughout the summer.
About the same time as the oriole and grosbeak arrive you could be treated to visits from migrating warblers. On particularly cool days when there is little insect activity we get the odd warbler visit the suet feeders. Over the years we’ve had 14 species of warblers visit the suet in spring, the Cape May Warbler also went for the grape jelly we put out for orioles and an American Redstart also developed a taste for hummingbird nectar.
Another favourite of mine in the spring and summer woodpecker visits, because I feed (rendered) suet cakes all summer I’m first treated to the sight of the adults loading up great a beak full of suet and flying off to the nest to feed young, then the young birds coming to the feeders to be fed by the adults and then to get their own. Did you know that Downy and Hairy Woodpecker fledglings can have orange on the top of their heads? Not the familiar red we see on the back of the males. I have countless arguments with “avid birders” who think they have discovered a new species, it’s apparently a regional thing and isn’t very common in the US or central Canada. It usually goes a little something like, “I’m an avid birder and I’m telling you that’s not a Downey Woodpecker.” I have a little fun with the tourists before showing them the pictures in Sibley’s Guide, (it’s not shown in all guides). They’ll argue with me, but it’s hard to argue with David. If I really wanted to have fun I’d let my 4 year old son answer the question and then show them the pictures.
I’ve read that the worst time of year to stop feeding is in late April when the weather is still cold and we may even have snow storms, that the birds that arrive first may be most vulnerable, but I think that unless you live in a very isolated area with no other neighbours who feed birds you could stop feeding whenever you want. There are simply so many people that feed birds today that if your feeders go empty, birds will likely only have to jump the fence to find another food supply.
I do feel that you miss out on potentially the most active time of the year if you’ve already taken down your feeders though. So the only thing I do differently in the summer is put out the hummingbird nectar feeders, the oriole nectar feeders and the oriole jelly feeders. The only thing I take in is the raw suet hanger (after temperatures stay around 15 degrees).
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