The Essentials-Birds Nearby

What are the backyard bird essentials?

Food

Water

Habitat…and responsibility-you have that.

Chipping Sparrows like black oil sunflowers too.

Let’s call these the “Birds Big Three.” What if these three things were in your backyard? You would have birds to watch. Even a small backyard with neighbors on all sides can become a place where birds congregate.

Why should you consider a “Bird’s Big Three” in your backyard? Do it for your children. You will benefit at the same time. A “Bird’s Big Three” in your backyard will provide you with real opportunities to train up your children in the way they should go. This is not my idea. It came from Solomon. In the book of Proverbs, the wisest man the world has ever known wrote these words… in Proverbs 22:6 we read,
“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”

It is my sincere belief that creating a “Bird’s Big Three” in your back yard will provide meaningful ways to provide your kids with responsibilities. A “Bird’s Big Three” will require weekly, sometimes daily easy to do work to keep the birds fed and watered. Refer to the blog “Backyard Birding-Hidden Treasure-For Children-For You” for specific benefits of having birds in your backyard.

For this blog focus with me on Feed and water for birds.

Since the “keep it simple” principle is one of my daily priorities, there is one bird food to feed year-around: black oil sunflowers. One feeder is good. Multiple feeders are better. Multiple feeders allow more than one bird to feed at the same time…more feeding places=more birds. Our of our goals should be, bring in the most birds possible. Expensive, complex feeders are not necessary. Birds are not more attracted to them…it’s about the black oil sunflower seeds. You can even make your own feeders. We used them in our backyard for years. Click on the button for a quick video on how to make them. A larger bottle requires less filling. Use a funnel to fill your feeders and hooks to hang them on for easy take down and rehanging.

First, the black oil sunflowers. If you become impatient waiting for birds and succumb to the idea of purchasing fancy birdseed, OK…but if English Sparrows begin to come to the feeder. Stop using that bird feed. Avoid attracting English (House) Sparrows in every way possible. They are aggressive birds. During nesting season Male House Sparrows will kill other song birds to claim the nest box.

I am serious, my goal is to guide you not frighten you. House Sparrows are not only aggressive, they rarely give up without succeeding. In my personal experience with House Sparrows, they win, not me. So-Black oil sunflowers are the best basic bird seed for a budget.

This is our backyard sunflower feeder complex. It is twelve feet from the nearest tree. (Squirrels will not jump that far. It has a 3 foot plastic squirrel guard on the post-squirrels cannot climb the post.) There are four different feeders. You can begin with one. Looks like someone needs to fill some bird feeders.!

Thistle Seed will draw Goldfinches and in winter Purple Finches and Red Polls. Everyone in your family will enjoy these birds. Thistle seed is approximately two times more expensive than black oil sunflower seed. If you are on a budget, Red Polls, Purple Finches and Gold finch will eat sunflower seed. But they love thistle seed.

Now consider with me the idea of feeding seasonal treats to birds- summer first. There are three other summertime treats to offer the birds in your backyard…and they will come to your backyard if you offer them. First, make or buy a grape jelly feeder (buy plain jelly, and the least expensive). I am surprised at the different birds who will stop for a few bites of grape jelly. Our first bird specie is the Baltimore Oriole. These orange and black beauties will thrill even the most skeptical member of your family. But grape jelly is not only an oriole treat. House finches, Catbirds, Chickadees and of course gray squirrels ( I know they are not a bird-but they will come to your backyard if you feed birds.) will eat the grape jelly you share. Just a tip…purchase one or two jars before spring. You and I are not the only people who know Orioles enjoy grape jelly. Orioles will also come to an orange sliced in half impaled on a nail fastened to a small flat board, located where you can easily see it.

These grape jelly feeders are old. They still work. The red device above the right feeder is an ant trap which holds water and acts like a moat to keep ants out of the jelly. The other feeder has no ant moat…and it has ants in it. Someone needs to add an ant moat the the second feeder….Both are made from the bottoms of plastic bottles. I used 4 light screws on which I fastened a light nylon para-cord for hanging them in the tree. They are very inexpensive. I clean them at the end of the season with a mixture of hilex-bleach and water, then rinse them, dry them and they are set for the next season!

There is one more summertime treat to prepare. This is for the Hummingbirds who will grace your backyard with their dashing flight and iridescent feathers. There is no other way to explain the presence of a hummingbird at your feeder than breathtaking. The most effective feeder is one you purchase. Any feeder which has a plastic bottle will be difficult to clean and it will rapidly deteriorate in the sunshine. This video shows how you my make one from a plastic water bottle. It will be a way to get started and could be a great little project your children do with you. A last word…do not purchase hummingbird nectar mix with red dye. A Hummingbird’s digestive system does not need artificial red dye. Use your own homemade nectar: ¼ cup of sugar to 1 cup of water. Mix well, put in a clean feeder. If your Hummingbird feeder has the color red on it-good ones do, it is not necessary to add red dye to the nectar.

Just water and sugar…1/4 cup to 1 cup of water…no dye, and Hummingbirds will come. This feeder hangs on the corner of our deck. It is the first thing I look at when I rise each morning in summer to see if a Hummingbird is having an early sip. Warm weather “spoils” the sugar water. Change yours once each week. That provides a chance to wash the feeder. My choice is warm water and a toothbrush. No detergent, I don’t want to make the Hummingbirds sick. The nectar jar is glass…glass is the best.

 Once you begin feeding sugar water to Hummingbirds, be patient. Watch your feeder often. They are quick-usually not staying long, so it will seem no birds are coming. Take time and watch, you’ll see…and be delighted.

With both jelly and sugar water, you will become aware of bird migration, so will your children. You’ll want to have jelly and sugar water available when the birds arrive and until they migrate for the season. Use a website which tracks bird migration. One of the best is Journeynorth.org. Then you will be prepared to welcome them…with jelly or sugar water.

There is one more treat to share with backyard feathered friends. It’s suet. It is best fed to our backyard friends in winter. Suet comes from mainly from beef animals. It is the fat of the animal found around the kidneys. Birds quickly find and eat suet. It is available from a local butcher or may be purchased ready made in your favorite store. Bird feeding is a major industry, and suet is one of the main products. Winter birds are regular suet feeders: woodpeckers (all species), chickadees, nuthatches, and Blue Jays eat suet.

Our oldest daughter gave me this bird bath for a Father’s Day present many years ago. It is made of cement. Yes…it’s heavy. During the warm summer months I find myself putting fresh water in almost daily. Bluebirds bath in it and drink from it, Robins, House Finches, Catbirds, Orioles, Chickadees, and Nuthatches do too. Water in your backyard is the top secret bird attractant. In winter, we mount a heated bird bath my mother gave us on our deck …what a delight to see winter birds come for a drink-even a winter bath! If you can be sure to make water available to them in your backyard.

If you have taken time to read this far, you are interested in bringing birds to your back yard. You will not be disappointed.

Neither will your children.

One other detail to share…you may carefully prepare feeders, and fill them with the best feed-but no birds come. Be patient…it takes time for birds to find your feeders, and more time for them to become comfortable to come regularly to your feeders…even months. Keep on, do not give up. In time they will come if you provide them with the backyard basics:  water, feed and habitat…and responsibility.