January 9, 2010 – 11:20 am
Winter time is the best season for backyard birdwatching in the Lowcoutry.
The colder it gets the better your chances of good sightings. Cold fronts don’t just push Snowbirds down south. They also force migrating birds further than usual for food and keep wintering species from returning north too early. Increased populations mean more opportunities. Add to this low humidity and leafless tree canopies and you have all of the ingredients for perfect scoping and picture-taking. Still it helps to know where to look.
This bald eagle was hunting along a rural byway
For large birds of prey like hawks and eagles look on the edges of a clearing. I drive my friends crazy in the car going down the highway because nine times out of ten, I have at least 2-5 sighting of large birds of prey sitting on the tops of trees, electrical poles, cell towers and road signs. Highways mean road-kill and for a bird of prey this is as popular as our fast-food drive through restaurants.
In addition, the shoulders of the road (where you pull off to change your flat tire) are chock full of live prey like rabbits, raccoons, opossums, voles, mice, etc. Hawks and eagles love to hunt these open clearings as well as the low, grassy fields nearby.
A rare treat, these Tundra Swans migrate through in February
Roads along marshes are especially easy spots. Look up to see Ospreys, Harriers and Kingfishers. Look down to see large wading birds: Egrets, Herons, Ibis, Storks. Look to the grass and shrubs to see a myriad of tiny things flashing by. This time of year there will be yellow warblers, gold finches, blue birds, sparrows and wrens.
If you prefer to stay cozy and warm at home, you can still maximize your sightings by offering the right treats at your feeders. Chris Woods of Wild Birds Unlimited suggests the following:
Hummingbirds: 4 parts water, 1 part sugar boiled together - NO DYE!!!
New studies suggest that the red dye so popular in commercial hummingbird food mixes has been linked to Liver disease in hummingbirds. It was theorized that red attracted the birds but longterm studies indicate that it is better to use a red feeder than a red-dyed liquid food. Let’s hope the manufacturers start catching on.
Hummers are moving right now and the colder it gets, the less likely they are to find natural food sources. Your feeder could be the only source to keep the little birds nourished for their trip.
Gold Finches love to show up in large numbers for Thistle Seed
Gold finches, House Finches, Purple Finches, oh my! They too are on the move and hunting for food. To keep them happy add Thistle seed to your tube feeders in small quantities and keep it fresh! Chris says there is a mold that develops on the black seeds that we cannot see but the birds can taste. Once it’s there, they will not eat it. Keep it changed often and you’ll keep them coming. Sock feeders are great but they can really waste a lot of seed. Take the feed out of the sock and add it in small quantities for better results.
If you use a tube feeder, set the holes for smaller beak feeding so it doesn’t spill out. Most feeders will have a rotating seed dispenser that you can switch from large to small seed holes.
For other finches, sparrows, chickadees and titmice, offer millet, peanuts, black oil sunflower seeds and dried fruit.
Suet Cakes: When the weather gets really low, your best food offerings are full of fat. Suet blocks are cheap and attract everything from woodpeckers to chickadees. They can also draw the rare insect-eaters that need to “beef up.” If you cook a lot of meat, here’s an easy method to use up the trimmed fat:
Cook the fat in a frying pan until liquified without burning. Take off the stove and add equal parts of peanut butter to the fat and melt completely. Mix it together until smooth. Add equal parts of oatmeal, cornmeal or bread crumbs to the fat, along with any leftover bird-seeds, stale un-salted nuts, dried fruit that you have laying around. Spread into a empty aluminum pie pan until it cools. Break it into chunck and add it to your flat feeders. Do not leave it in the metal pie pan.
Of course, we haven’t talked about water and nesting but I’ll save that for another day.
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