Spring Brings Birds
Warmer temperatures, budding flowers, wearing flip-flops. They’re all signs of spring’s arrival, but hearing birds chirping is one of my favorite indications of a new season unfolding. To help mark spring’s arrival, here are a few birds to keep an eye or an ear out for!
The Eastern Bluebird will appear in gardens and orchards slightly before or at the arrival of spring. These creatures are about 6 and a half inches long and can be attracted using dried fruit, chopped peanuts, or live mealworms. They enjoy being in meadows or fields surrounded by trees for adequate nesting.
The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is also a good sign spring is present, especially if you live in the northern United States. Adult males sport emerald green plumage on their backs with ruby red on their throats. They begin arriving to their spring and summer destinations in late March until mid May, as they follow flowers blooming northward. Because they are quite curious and inquisitive birds, they are easily drawn to feeders.
Canada and Wilson Warblers make their appearance between Mother’s Day and Memorial Day, with Yellow-rumped Warblers completing their migration a bit earlier. The latter is a sizable bird with a large head and a long, narrow tail. Varieties of Warblers include colorful plumage consisting of yellow, red, blue, black, gray, brown or orange!
The medium-sized songbird known as the Baltimore Oriole lives and breeds in open woodland areas or heavily wooded urban areas. With a length of 6.5-7 inches, the Baltimore Oriole can be attracted to your backyard feeders using oranges, nectars, or peanut butter.
All of the birds mentioned above make their presence known in the spring, but to ensure that you have a great backyard bird watching experience hang a variety of feeders to attract all types. Hanging feeders to accommodate seed-eating birds, hummingbirds, and orioles will bring an assortment of feathered friends to your yard.
Squirrel Proofing Your Feeders!
If you’re like me, you find a ton of joy in watching birds gather at your feeders. In the summer, it’s the hummingbirds. I love watching their territorial nature and the dive-bombing. In the fall and winter, it’s the finches and the cardinals that are especially enjoyable for me to watch. Their beauty can bring life to a dull day and add a pop of color to my yard. Squirrels, in my opinion, have found a way to make enjoying this scene nearly impossible.
Squirrel proofing bird feeders is extremely important because not only does it help the birds enjoy the feeders, but it helps you enjoy the birds! One of the easiest ways to squirrel-proof your feeder is to check its location. I like hanging my feeders on branches, but found it helpful to keep them at least 10 feet from the tree trunk and large limbs. Keeping them at least 4 feet above ground level has helped keep squirrels from jumping up to them as well!
If you’re more a fan of pole mounting your feeder purchase one that is at least 5.5 feet high, so that after you put the pole a foot into the ground you still have the feeder sitting higher than 4 feet off the ground.
Squirrel baffles are an easy deterrent for squirrels as well. You may want to try the Perky-Pet® Squirrel Baffel and place it above or below the feeder to keep squirrels away. The baffles are domes that can be found in clear or a wide range of colors. There are also special feeders you can purchase that are known to be squirrel proof, meaning that they are specially manufactured to prevent squirrels from being able to get the seeds from the feeder. This doesn’t mean they won’t try though, and could result in your birds not visiting when a squirrel is around.
Havahart® Brand makes a great squirrel repellent called Critter Ridder®. This can also be used on the ground near your feeder or sprayed on the branches above your feeder to keep the squirrels away.
Personally, using a baffle and locating the feeder correctly have done wonders for my feathered friends and me! It is much more pleasant to look out the window and watch birds feeding rather than squirrel acrobatics.
Have you gone to great lengths to keep squirrels from your birdseed? Share with readers below by posting a comment!
Creating a Winter Habitat for Your Feathered Friends
I enjoy a nice fire, or a cozy blanket, or both during cold winter nights. In January, I also like putting my car heat the whole way up and pretending I’m in Florida on my drive to work. Could you imagine spending 24/7 outside during the winter? No thanks!
Birds were made for the winter, and they can survive it, but I personally like to help them out a bit!
Late November, early December is generally the time I begin to place a few birdhouses outside. I usually pick up one or two over the summer and save them until the winter to put up. This is a great time because it offers the birds a winter home and allows them to begin creating a nesting place for the spring. Placing the birdhouses facing the southwest has helped my little friends to heat their homes in the afternoon before the sun falls. I also place them away from feeding areas so that when nesting and mating begins the birds will have safe havens to keep their families.
Additionally, I supply my yard with a few basics to help the birds furnish their homes. Keeping some leaves on the lawn creates an element for birds to move to their shelter to help keep them warm. I like to hang a clump of cotton for birds to pick at and take to their new home. This cotton comes in handy for the birds year round and often needs to be replenished two or three times a year. Birds love to use it to create nests and to add to their birdhouses.
You too, can create shelter for your birds by taking a closer look at your shrubs. Do you hate pruning and thinning them at the start of winter? Do you really care if they look a little less polished? You don’t? PERFECT! By not pruning your shrubs you are able to keep a habitat that offers great protection from the elements and predators for birds. The closely packed greenery allows little nooks for birds to nestle in during windy days and snowy nights.
Whether you go hog wild buying birdhouses or do little to maintain your shrubs, the birds visiting your backyard will be grateful! Keeping your property prepped for a feathered friend’s stay in winter will keep your visitors coming back for more!