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.