Just like people, birds need a place to
eat, drink, sleep, and, well, live!
General Info for Bird Watching
We can make some suggestions about watching and/or feeding wild birds on this page but this is no substitute for a more "official" publication as can be had from Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Audubon, or American Birding Association.
If you feed birds, or plan to, may we suggest that you get a copy of Birder's Digest Feeding Birds, in our opinion the best booklet for the money. If you like saving trees by avoiding paper, Cornell's bird feeding tips are groovy! Audubon's too! (The Web is great isn't it? Too bad every minute we're on it we're consuming precious energy.)
Please join Project Feeder Watch too!
Weather
Birds can sense oncoming bad weather. Some will fly for miles to avoid it. Others will hunker down in as secure a place as possible. In Winter, if you have provided some shelter for the night they can roost there, then quickly return to your feeders each day. Note that the further any shelter is from your feeders the longer it takes before you see them again. If you provide no habitat for birds but just feed them, they of course will take longer to get back to your feeders because they have to travel. Look how far YOU have to travel to get to your favorite restaurant! :-)
Winter Bird Feeding
As seasonal temperatures drop and food becomes scarce birds need our help to get through the tough Winter months. Their three essentials, as is year round, are nesting/shelter areas, water and food. Each has its importance in attracting birds. Not all species require the same amounts of each. Some drink less than others for example. Like we mentioned above for shelter/nesting places, the further a water source is from your feeder(s), the longer it will take your birds to return from getting a drink. So if there's a pond, a stream, or a neighbor's bird bath down the road that's where they'll be coming back from! So put out some water!
As for shelter, some birds, like woodpeckers, prefer a
cavity, or a nesting box. Others will settle for simply a branch,
situated out of the wind. Consider a roosting box for seasons when birds are not nesting.
Water
Some
things to remember about drinking water for birds ... birds need it, a
lot! They also like to bathe in it. Water is good for growing things
too, like algae! Dirty water is REALLY good for growing things! Birds
poop in their water, so frequent changing is necessary. Running water
is best ... it not only stays clean, but it takes longer to freeze in cold weather, if it does at all. In warmer seasons, a "wiggler" will keep standing water surfaces moving. This not only attracts birds, but kills mosquito larva. Wiggler are usually battery operated.
In Winter, if you have a bird bath only - heat it! It costs practically nothing ... and, it you think you see a lot of birds on your feeders from time to time, wait til you see them flock to your heated bird bath in Winter! Look out there!
Food
Many birds must eat their weight in food every day! Some even more! They need food almost as much as they need water. Birds have a varied diet. They don't always eat just one type of food.
There are lots of various style feeders on the market. Each is designed to attract a certain species. Several species of birds will prefer to eat the same way, such as cardinals and grosbeaks ... they like to eat standing up . Finches, chickadees and titmice, however, will cling to a feeder.
When's the last time you cleaned your feeder(s)?!! ;-)
Shelter
Generally, all birds that frequent NJ backyards need some type of shelter, both during daylight hours, and definitely overnight. During the day shelter is important when birds are either resting momentarily or just trying to get out of harm's way (predators). Most birds feel comfortable when brush piles or bushes are nearby your feeding area. Of course larger birds such as woodpeckers and doves head for the trees, if you have them.
At nighttime birds roost, or nestle, depending on species, and, they will fly quite far from feeding and drinking areas, if they have to, in order to find a place they are comfortable with. It doesn't accommodate ALL our birds but we provide many little "roosting pockets" around our yard. We put them near the trunk in our evergreens and place them deep in shrubs. The pockets are made of cocoa fibre. Hand some close together for families!Nesting
Guess where all cavity nesting birds nested, before people started putting out nesting boxes? They nested in abandoned woodpecker cavities!
Can you imagine how many woodpecker cavities there would have to be today to house all the birds we attract? We have definitely impacted bird behavior, haven't we?
Well, that's okay, as long as you put out a nesting box, they will all have a place for their "chicks"! Come in and we'll tell you all about the cavity nesters ... songbirds, woodies, AND some raptors too!
Plantings for Bluebirds* (see you local nursery for availability)
- Trees
- Cedar, Eastern Red
- Black Cherry
- Pin Cherry
- Chokecherry
- Dogwood, Alternate leaf or Flowering
- Hackberry
- Holly, American
- Mountain Ash
- Black Tupelo
- Red Mulberry
- Sassafras
- Serviceberry
- Shadbush
- Shrubs
- Bayberry
- Blackberry
- Black Currant
- Blueberry
- Chokeberry
- Cranberry
- Vines
- Ampelopsis, Heartleaf, Ampelopsis cordata
- American Bittersweet, Celastrus scandens
- Wild Grape
- Mistletoe
- Virginia Creeper
*From Enjoying Bluebirds More, Bird Watcher's Digest Press, publishers.
I've noted potentially invasive species.
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