Cleaning Feeders

Everybody has a different opinion when it comes to cleaning bird feeders. I’ve read that feeders should be cleaned every 3 weeks, every month, I have a customer who scrubs and disinfects the tube feeders every time they’re refilled. When people ask me when they should clean their feeders I tell them, “When they’re dirty.” I’m not trying to be funny, why clean your feeder if it isn’t dirty? Some feeders need to be cleaned more often, certain designs either catch bird droppings or allow the seed to get wet. So check the feeder for droppings, especially where the birds will be eating. It’s also a good idea to dump out the remaining seed before you refill, you can dump it on the ground for sparrows and doves or if you’re trying to keep your pigeons to a minimum, dump it into a bucket and make sure it is clean, dry and not clumping. Before refilling the feeder, inspect it for the dust and dirt, clumped seed and poop. You may be able to dump this out if you check at every refill and you’ll lengthen the time between major cleanings.

If things are looking and or smelling a little off, now is the time to break out the brushes and bleach. Remember though that bleach doesn’t disinfect in the presence of organic matter so you have to get all the junk out with soap and water first, then soak feeders in a 1 part bleach to 9 parts water solution.

The type of seed also makes a big difference in the length of time between major cleanings. Seed mixes, especially those containing cracked corn will have to be cleaned more often, cracked corn goes to mush in wet and humid weather and the uneaten portions of the mixes will eventually spoil.

All the way to the other end of the price list is hulled sunflower, but it too fouls up the feeders in a hurry, same reason as the cracked corn, the waterproofing is removed. I think feeding hulled sunflower in extra large or poorly designed feeders is a waste of money. My favourite feeder for hulled sunflower is the Aspects medium tube, it’s not too big, has a great seed deflector on the bottom to keep the seed flowing toward the holes, is very waterproof and has a quick release base for easy cleaning. (And a lifetime warranty.)

Feeders with the quick release base will go longer between major cleanings if you remove the base every time you refill and wipe out the dust before it turns to goo. You can do it with one hand, even when you’re wearing gloves.

There is lots of advice and information on cleaning bird feeders, less however on cleaning the ground under them. The feeders I use don’t get very dirty at all, but the ground sure does. Since I don’t use trays, the hulls and poop go to the ground under the feeders. For the most part the lawn mower bagger takes care of the mess in the summer and the snow blower does a great job in winter but there is still some mess left behind.

One of the reasons people tell me they feed mixed seed is to give the ground feeders something to eat when it gets tossed out. The problem with this is, unless you mix your own seed, there is likely to be junk filler in the mix that nothing eats. This waste lays under your feeder mixing with the bird poop, breeding all sorts of microorganisms. I think it’s more hygienic to feed the ground feeding birds in a separate area where they aren’t eating off the mess or being poop bombed from above. You can also control the amount of seed, making sure there isn’t too much or too little.

Be careful when cleaning under bird feeders, the danger isn’t from touching the stuff it comes from inhaling airborne spores. It’s very rare to get sick, but it could happen. It may be as simple as not raking when the droppings are very dry and be conscious of which way the wind is blowing, keep up wind from the dust. Even on the lawn mower, it comes second nature to me to blow the junk with the wind; growing up we cut 5 acres of lawn so I spent most of my teen years on a tractor lawn mower. We also had an almost 200 pound Newfoundland dog, when the you hit one of his old dried out bowel movements, it was like hitting a white ant hill. You soon learned to blow the grass with the wind when you were cutting over his favourite place.

Be careful too if you’re brushing out any of you feeders with a dry brush, don’t do it indoors and stay up wind.

More than a decade ago there was a huge invasion of Common Redpoll, a small percentage of these birds were being found sick around feeders stations. A warning went out to disinfect all bird feeders, I suggested to also move the feeders to a new area but was told by the experts, that wouldn’t make any difference. I still disagree, what would be a greater danger of transmitting disease, the inside of a nyjer tube that has never contacted a bird and it’s droppings or the ground beneath where hundreds of birds have been eating and pooping? What could be easier? When you hang it back out, put it on a different branch. I do it all the time and there is little mess and no dead grass under the feeders. On the iron hangers, I move them closer to the house for winter, but throughout the year I rotate around the yard, leaving one or two stations empty for a while, I have lots of feeders and it’s easier than moving the post.

When I feed on the ground, I change the location every time I scatter seed.

I often suggest feeding millet within a brush pile to keep pigeons away. A brush pile is a sparrow magnet by itself, but scatter millet inside it and they go wild. The problem with a brush pile though, you can’t always tell how funky things are getting inside and it’s not easy to move to a new location...or is it, I making one now that is portable. I started with a frame 2 feet by 4 feet for the bottom and nailed thicker twigs to make a pup tent like structure over it, then nail smaller branches from the bottom to the top cross piece. If none of the openings are over 2 ¾ inches, the pigeons won’t be able to get inside. With everything securely attached, you can drag it to a new location periodically. Since it has to be a little smaller than some brush piles you may want to feed on a ground tray to keep the seed in the middle, this way pigeons won’t be able to reach the seed from the outside. You may want to make one or two of the twigs removable so you can access the seed.

Last week’s quiz was the most fun I’ve had for a long time, I issued a challenge to New Brunswick naturalists and I proud to say that you readers are ahead of them by about 15%. As of Wednesday, there still hasn’t been anyone with a 100% score, (although one person did come close, the judges ruled that the answers to true and false questions shouldn’t be ambiguous.) If you haven’t done it yet you can find the quiz on line at timestranscript.com or there’s a direct link to the quiz (and my ribbing of the naturalist community) at twitter.com/thebirdgarden or e-mail me and I’ll send it to you.

I wish I knew how to do one of those “answer on line quizzes”, I don’t, but many of you showed me that you could paste it into an email, answer it then send it to me. If you didn’t get 100%, you may try again and I’ll enter each quiz in the draw, so the more times you try, the better odds at the draw. You’ll see that I’ve offered an additional $20 gift card to the first (clear) perfect score and you’ll likely be alone in that category so you could get $40 and believe me, bragging rights.

I’ll take entries up to midnight October 1, as the answers and explanations will be in the next days paper. I’ll announce the winners in the October 9 column. Who knows, maybe we can get a picture of the winners with those giant novelty cheques.

Quiz

Did I mention there was going to be a quiz?

100% - Grandmaster, I’d like to shake your hand.

85-99% - You should consider making this a career.

60-84% - You should send me your resume.

Under 25% - Maybe a career as a weather person where this would be considered a high score.

True or False:

1. If you want to attract small birds you should feed small seed. _____

2. It takes 36 hours in your birdbath for mosquito eggs can hatch into adults. _____

3. Great-crested Flycatchers, Blue Jays, and Hairy Woodpeckers all use the same size bird house. _____

4. 7x50 binoculars are 15 times more powerful than 7x35. _____

5. Chickadee, nuthatch, jays, woodpeckers and blackbirds are attracted to peanuts. ____

6. A Bald Eagle is bigger than a Golden Eagle. ____

7. It’s impossible to keep squirrels off your feeders. _____

8. A nesting colony of Chimney Swifts may have 20 nests or more per chimney. _____

9. To save money, mix white millet in with the nyjer seed, finch love it and it won’t attract pigeons. _____

10. Hummingbird nectar has to be dyed red. _____

11. When it’s time for hummingbirds to migrate south, they pick a day when conditions are right and fly nonstop to South America._____

12. Plastic owls will scare pigeons away from feeders but the more desirable birds are unaffected.

13. Mesh feeders work well for black oil sunflower and peanuts but aren’t a great choice for nyjer. ____

14. New Brunswick eagles migrate south before our rivers freeze over. _____

15. Pigeons aren’t able to eat nyjer from the proper feeder if you don’t use a tray. (so at least you can feed finch) ____

Multiple Choice:

1. Woodpeckers drum on your stove pipe at dawn because

a. they want you to fill the suet feeder.

b. they think you should be awake too.

c. they’re trying to attract a girlfriend.

2. The best thing you can do to attract waxwings is

a. feed nyjer seed.

b. feed sunflower seed.

c. feed suet.

d. plant native fruit trees.

3. Platform feeders attract

a. doves and jays.

b. goldfinch and chickadees.

c. cardinals and grosbeaks.

d. all the above.

4. In New Brunswick, American Goldfinch

a. hibernate.

b. migrate.

c. stay all winter in a duller winter plumage.

d. both b and c.

5. All the experts say hummingbird nectar should be

a. 1 part sugar: 2 parts water.

b. 1 part sugar: 1 part water.

c. 1 part sugar: 4 parts water.

6. Tree Swallows require houses

a. with at least 4 compartments.

b. placed 2 per pole.

c. placed about 100 feet apart.

7. A good way to attract more birds to your yard is to

a. use mixed seed.

b. use a variety of feeders with the proper seed in each feeder.

c. add a feature with moving water, like a fountain or dripper.

d. both b and c.

8. A Blue Jays all time favourite food is

a. sunflower seeds. (they’ll do anything to get them)

b. millet. (they’ll do anything to get it)

c. corn. (they’ll do anything to get it)

d. peanuts in the shell. (they’ll do anything to get them)

9. In the spring, birds repeatedly fly against your windows because

a. they want in your house.

b. they see their reflection and think it’s a competing bird.

c. Oprah’s on.

10. Suet can be fed year round if

a. the temperature stays below 10 degrees Celsius.

b. you don’t have any starlings at your feeders.

c. it’s double rendered.

d. both a and c.

11. Suet could attract

a. woodpeckers

b. chickadee and jays.

c. warblers and orioles.

d. a and b.

e. all the above.

12. Unless you are going to feed continuously throughout the winter you should

a. take your feeders in so the birds will migrate.

b. hire a service to come by daily to fill your feeders.

c. feed when you can, in nature, when a source (i.e. flower or weed seeds) runs out, birds move around and find another.

13. If you want to get started birding you should have

a. expensive binoculars, a spotting scope with tripod, digital camera, several field guides and bird songs recordings.

b. a reasonable pair of binoculars and a good field guide.

c. a spouse who is into birding or doesn’t care if you’re never home.

d. both b and c.

14. A good field guide should

a. fit in your pocket.

b. list similar species together.

c. have arrows to quickly point out the differences between species.

d. all the above.

15. To attract more hummingbirds you should

a. place several feeders that are not in sight of each other.

b. buy really big feeders with enough ports so everyone can feed together.

c. choose a variety of plants so you will have blooms throughout the season.

d. both a and c.

e. both b and c.

You can find me on Twitter, each Saturday I tweet the link to the Birdman column in the Times and Transcript online. Go to twitter.com/thebirdgarden for all things birdy.

Outdoor Cats

When you write a weekly bird column you eventually have to come around to the topic of outdoor cats. It’s a very touchy subject that pretty much divides the population. I admit the disappearance of a favourite cat was the initial reason we had for keeping our cats indoors, we searched for weeks, my wife would get up in the middle of the night to call and rattle the food container in an attempt to lure the cat home. Even years later when we saw a similar looking cat we would stop and check it out.

The fact is though when you let your cats outside they are going to be injured or killed, it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.

A few months after we lost Bob our new cat escaped from the house. I made posters and offered a $50 reward, people thought I was nuts, “50 bucks for a cat?” For me it was simple economics, if we didn’t get Marble back, I’d have to get my wife another cat. Then I’d be looking at 3 vaccinations at $50 bucks a shot, the neutering at $150 and the sleepless nights that my wife jumps out of bed every time a mouse scratches in the walls, oh yes, and I’d miss the cat.

Indoor cats live longer healthier lives and in my experience make better pets. Marble is 18 years old now, his house mate was also 18 when she died.

Outdoor cats face many dangers, cars, disease, poison, people, dogs, coyotes, fleas, ticks and mites. They say the number one disease in outdoor cats is abscesses caused by a bite from another cat. I can only guess what that costs today to be treated, anesthesia, surgery (although minor still costly), and drugs. Most of these problems are eliminated or at least greatly lessened by simply keeping your cat indoors.

An added bonus, if everyone was to keep cats in, the second biggest cause of the decline of bird populations (next to habitat loss) would be gone.

Cats will kill anything they can regardless of need; healthy well fed cats kill more than under nourished ones.

I’ve had people tell me that it’s “just nature”, it may be in a cats nature to kill, but they aren’t a native species so our birds haven’t evolved in ways to defend themselves.

I’ve also had countless people stop by to tell me they don’t feed birds because their cat goes outside and they aren’t going to feed birds only to watch their cat kill them. The old out of site, out of mind defense, just because you don’t see them, they’re still killing birds.

One of the reasons I chose to write about cats was, Sunday when my son came home from riding lessons he was toting a new kitten that was dumped off at the stable. This guy is extremely happy to stay inside, even shying away from outside doors. I can only imagine the terrors he faced in the couple weeks he was abandoned. We’ve also rescued adult cats that were formerly used to going outdoors, every one of them has been content to stay inside and watch the bird feeders from the comfort and safety of the window sills. So it can be done, of course the cat is going to cry at the door for a day or two, that’s what they did when they wanted out.

There are a few companies that specialize in outdoor cat enclosures, these are accessed from a window or pet door and cats can come and go as they wish. We chose to build a screened in sun room so we can enjoy it with them, when cats want out they meow at that door now, they spend 3 seasons in the sun room and 1 in front of the wood stove.

Enough of the lecture on cats.

Coming up on October 10 is the 16^th annual Big Sit, this “listing” event may be right up your alley. You create 17 foot diameter circle, sit inside and count all the birds you see and hear for 24 hours. Sounds good to me, choose a circle you don’t have to walk to, the mosquitoes should be scarce, maybe I could even work on some bird houses on the quiet times. The big downfall for me is the whole 24 hour thing, but the organizers have that covered too, you have teams, so all I need is someone who can stay awake past 9 p.m. to listen for owls.

The Big Sit makes a great fundraiser for clubs, you can get sponsors for a few cents per species. You don’t have to tally any rare species, counting the common birds on this day during fall migration will, over years, show trends and identify declining or increasing populations.

It could be argued that events like the Big Sit are more friendly to the environment than other bird-a-thon events like a Big Day or the World Series of Birding that have birders driving here, there and everywhere in search of another species. It’s likely easier on the birds too, that’s my reasoning, as a lazy birder, and I’m sticking to it.

In closing, I’d like to share with you how my week started--my son comes down stairs Sunday morning (the same day the new cat arrived, I should have stayed in bed and not answered the phone) while I’m reading up on Big Sits and I say, “Hey Buddy, you want to do a Big Sit?”

He says, “Just did one upstairs.”

“No, I said, ‘sit’ Son, a Big ‘Sit’.”

Bird Myths

I’ve been keeping a list of bird related myths for quite a while now, when I first opened the shop I’d hear some of these on an almost daily basis. With so much information and so many people observing birds, most of these myths have gone by the wayside, but some still persist.

For instance, less than 20 years ago it would be routine for me to hear someone state that hummingbirds didn’t perch. I’m not sure where that one came from, maybe it’s because you can’t see their feet all that well when they fly, or maybe it’s because they belong to the order Apodiformes: “A” meaning without, “pod” meaning feet. Of course hummingbirds do have feet, but they weren’t made for walking, the best they can do is shimmy along a perch if they land too far away from the feeder hole. However they can use their stubby little legs to reach over a wing to scratch their heads. I haven’t heard this for years, but at first I was laughed at when I tried to sell a hummingbird feeder with perches.

Then came the short lived myth that you had to remove the perches to keep the birds flying while they fed. The theory was when a hummer drank cold nectar in the morning it got something akin to a super brain freeze and could die. If hummers had to hover, they would generate heat and wouldn’t drink too, much too fast. The biggest problem for me was that the best hummingbird feeders on the market don’t have removable perches, so people thought they had to buy more expensive, harder to clean feeders, just so they could remove the perches during cold periods. I’m glad this myth has disappeared, I don’t miss it.

Did you hear the one about the hummingbirds migrating south on the backs of Canada Geese? Raise your hand if you’ve ever believed this to be true. This used to be a common myth, often I’d have to politely debunk it several times a day. I don’t think anyone still believes this but just in case, it’s now the first of September and most of our hummingbirds have left, the geese however, (except for our non-migratory imported Ontario geese), aren’t even here yet. I think hunting season starts sometime in October and runs almost until Christmas, when our migrating geese head out, so even if a hummer could hitch one up and ride it south they don’t leave at the same time of the year.

Which leads me to the next myth and the reason I’m writing about myths this week. This one is alive and well, I’m getting a couple calls a day asking when the feeders should be taken down so the hummingbirds will migrate. The answer is you don’t have to take them down, they will migrate on their own even if there is a great source of free nectar, they’ve been doing it for centuries, it’s in their genes. Hummingbirds migrate in response to the shortening day length, and sun light sure does dwindle in August, from the first to the last we loose 1 hour and 45 minutes of light. If that doesn’t send all migratory birds on there way it at least has them packing their bags. So if your neighbour leans over the fence and says, “Yep, you better get those feeders put away.” Volunteer to come over and mow down all his remaining flowers, you wouldn’t want them to keep the hummers from migrating.

We still have all our feeders out, and all but a handful have left. The next time we clean them we will only put out a few and later only one or two of our most conspicuous feeders so any late travelers coming through from further north can stop a while and refuel. This is also the time to be looking for any species other than the Ruby-throated, as it tends to be quite late in the season when they show up.

There are still some questions around red food colouring in hummingbird nectar. I think it’s agreed on that the new red colour isn’t harmful, but if you’re using a commercial hummingbird feeder and not the kid’s hamster bottle, it likely has quite a bit of red on it. If the hummers don’t see that it’s unlikely that red nectar is going to make that much difference. The strongest arguments I can come up with for not colouring are: if you spill it in the house or on your deck, instead of a sticky mess you have a sticky mess and a red stain; and if you leave the jug of red nectar in the fridge your kids will drink it.

Probably the most persistent myth ever is the old “birds choke on peanut butter”. Even though there is no evidence of this ever happening the myth won’t die. It likely lives on because at the end of every mention about peanut butter not being harmful to birds they say, “But if you’re still worried about choking birds, mix in some corn meal.” You don’t have to mix it, some birds love straight peanut butter, I’ve actually seen a nuthatch pick the cornmeal out of the mix and drop it to the ground. I wish birds did like corn meal it’s much cheaper than the other ingredients that go into suet cakes.

Last fall I had the bottom of a container break out and about 20 gallons of peanut butter plopped out on my driveway. For the next week a mixed flock of about 200 blackbirds, Blue Jays, (my dog, some raccoons and I think at least one skunk), feasted. Not even one blackbird required the Heimlich, in fact, the only things I noticed that were different were a very soft luxuriant coat and some interesting bowel movements on the part of the dog. The resident squirrel did have a mental break down trying to get all that peanut butter for himself, I don’t think he slept for a week. He still twitches when he walks by the spot.

I still get the “birds feet stick to metal perches” one quite regularly, fact is, they don’t. I’ve found a few reasons for this: birds don’t have sweat glands in their feet (if they did why would they be sweating on a day they’re feet would freeze down?), another reason has to do with birds having natural heat exchangers in their feet to conserve body heat, so the warm foot won’t stick to the cold metal.

Whatever the reason, it’s obvious that their feet won’t stick to metal, you see hundreds of birds perched on uninsulated hydro wires, wire fences, metal railings, etc. I had one otherwise intelligent customer refuse to buy a high quality feeders because they had metal perches but he bought a 4 arm iron hanger. I almost blew it when I asked how he kept the birds from landing on the hanger while awaiting a turn on the plastic feeders.

Here’s a few more quickies:

Birds explode if they eat rice. Not true, where rice grows, lot’s of birds eat it, if it were true it would be the end to pigeon problems, I’m sure it’s been tried. I still think you should throw bird seed at the bride and groom though...I don’t sell rice.

If you touch a baby bird it’s parents will abandon it. Not true, if a bird does fall from a nest you can return it. Researchers measure and weigh nestlings daily and return them to the nest where they are still tended to by parents.

Bird seed won’t spoil. Not true, just because there were viable seeds found in the pyramids doesn’t mean the 5 year old seed in your basement is still good. Seed dries out and looses nutritional value, most seed has at least some weevils or meal moth larvae and over time they will eat the seeds and reproduce and eat the seeds and… After a while there is nothing but empty shells and a basement full of moths. I’ve already been selling some feeders that are for Christmas presents. I warn off buying the seed early though, the seed that is available for sale now is close to a year old, there will soon be a new crop harvested and that will be better seed. Now is a bad time to buy a pallet load of seed, even if it seems like a good deal. To keep those insects dormant as long as possible keep your seed in an unheated space for the winter.