national bird feeding month

Wood Thrush Notes

Recent Bird News

The recent nearly 8” of snow we had certainly increased bird feeding activity to levels we are more familiar with. Many of you saw Purple Finch and Pine siskin, Red-winged Blackbirds, and lots of Juncos. Thanks to all of you who were patient with our freight difficulties and low level of seed inventory. It may interest you to know we sell in the neighborhood of 6,000 lbs of seed per week. So, when winter weather disrupts freight and the need for seed increases we can get into a bind. I’m happy to report we are well stocked and back to normal.

We have a customer in West Meade who has a “special visitor” coming to a suet feeder. This bird is not considered rare but more along the lines of uncommon. The bird is a female Baltimore Oriole and it is coming to suet. We always point out to people that suet is a great food source for wild birds and is the most likely food to appeal to a more unusual species, like this Oriole. It’s been visiting semi-regularly even before the winter storm. The Baltimore Oriole primarily passes through TN during its migration in the spring to areas more north of TN where they breed. March and April are the best months to see Orioles, the male with its bright orange plumage and black and white wings.

Every book I’ve picked up over the years about bird feeding strongly recommends putting out orange halves to attract Orioles but upon further research Orioles prefer ripe dark colored fruit. The darkest Mulberries, the reddest cherries, and the deepest purple grapes are on their preferred fruits list, and will ignore green grapes and yellow cherries. So, this spring I will be presenting some cherries and grapes rather than the oranges that have not worked for me. Orioles will visit hummingbird feeders, too, as they have a similar specialized tongue for extracting nectar and juices from fruit.

Another very interesting visitor to a feeding station in the Brentwood area, and more unusual than the Oriole, is a Black headed Grosbeak.

The BHG resides primarily west of the Mississippi River from Central America to as far north as southern Alberta and British Columbia during the breeding season. The lone bird was coming to a platform feeder for seed, sunflower and millet, I believe. Reported sightings of this species are few making it a rare bird.

The most unusual news to share, though, is a confirmed active House Finch nest with babies. The customer reported a nest and eggs in early January in a typical House Finch nest location, their front door on a wreath. I reached out to them to find out if the babies had developed and grown enough to fledge but have not heard yet. I will share that news in the coming weeks. I cannot remember ever hearing of an active songbird nest in January.

Wood Thrush Notes: Our Big Sale & Mockingbirds

Sale Begins Tomorrow

A reminder that tomorrow, Sat. 11th we are beginning a week long sale on all things bird feeding related. Prices on ALL birdfeeders, iron poles, hooks, and deck mount arms, baffles, weather guards, and seed and suet will be reduced. Get ready for the Great Backyard Bird Count which begins Feb. 17th. Visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website allaboutbirdes.org for more information.

Mockingbirds being Mockingbirds

Every early February we encounter several concerned customers that claim they do not have any birds coming to their feeders. “They’ve disappeared in the last week or so”. We usually ask some standard questions that may give us some clues as to the possible reason. Then it occurs to us that the month of February is typically when our state bird, the Northern Mockingbird, begins expressing its territorial nature with much more exuberance. Mockingbirds begin establishing boundaries relative to an intended nest sight much earlier than most songbirds and if any birdfeeders are in that territory they will swoop in and chase off all intruders. They have no interest in the seed in the feeder but will defend with vigor the area the feeder is in. Mockingbirds, nor any birds, possess the trait of being mean. They just have varying degrees of territorial defense and posturing. The Mockingbirds’ is high and with each day spring gets closer its amplified. The only solution to continue feeding your birds is to spread your feeders out enough that the Mockingbird cannot effectively patrol them. In time this heightened behavior will pass and there will be relative peace in your yard again. Once nesting responsibilities commence they generally do not have time for constant patrolling. You still may see an occasional act of aggression, though. Be patient and understand it’s just a Mockingbird doing what it knows to do.

Wood Thrush Notes

Yellow Cardinal in TN

A backyard feeding station in Harriman, TN, in Roane County has quite an unusual visitor.  They have a yellow Cardinal visiting on a regular basis.  Yellow Northern Cardinals have been seen in at least 4 different states the last ten years but remain a rarity.  What causes a bird that is normally red to be yellow?  Basically, the red, orange, and yellow colors in birds’ feathers are created with carotenoid pigments derived from the foods they eat. In the male Northern Cardinal, yellow pigments from the diet apparently are converted to red by a specific enzyme. In a very rare genetic mutation, probably affecting fewer than one in a million cardinals, that enzyme is lacking, so the conversion to red doesn’t occur and the feathers are bright yellow instead. 

Get Ready Now for Nesting Season

Just two weeks from now we will say hello to February, perhaps our coldest and potentially snowiest month.  But you can always count on a few days that warm to the 60’s and suddenly bird activity ramps up.  Some birds will begin singing and some, like the Carolina wren, may actually begin nest building. 

The Carolina wren, as you have probably seen, chooses some pretty odd locations to build a nest and often times in  places humans find annoying, like in a gas grill, or canoe, for example.  They often choose locations like covered porches, garages, and garden sheds.  Every spring we receive several calls from people who suddenly find themselves with a bird nest full of babies in a troublesome location.  If you have experienced this scenario get ahead of the game and block access to these locations as soon as possible. 

And now is a very good time to review the nest box successes and failures you had last year and make adjustments if necessary.  If a nest box has been in the same location a couple of years with no activity go ahead and try a new location.  Move it soon.

Clean out old nests now if you haven’t already before birds begin new nest building.  Of course, birds will build on top of old nests but that can be a problem as insects like ants will find the old decaying nest attractive.  I have saved baby birds from certain death as the ants were beginning to eat them alive.

If you’ve never offered a Bluebird box consider putting one up in the month of February.  Even though the majority of Bluebirds won’t begin nesting until April they will do a lot of surveying of potential places to nest Feb. thru March.

National Bird feeding Month and the GBBC

February is National Bird Feeding Month and the Great Backyard Bird Count.  Many of you look forward to the count and sharing your data to help bird experts better understand the distribution and relative numbers of the different species of feeder birds. More info on the GBBC next week

Visit www.birdcount.org for more info on the GBBC.