Video portrait of the Pileated Woodpecker video set to music.
Posted on:
February 12, 2010
Monthly Archive: February 2010
Free Roaming Cats Kill Birds
Each year free-roaming and feral cats kill hundreds of millions of birds in the US. One controversial solution to deal with the feral cat problem is trap, neuter and release. However, evidence is growing that this method is not eliminating the cat colonies or the predation of birds and other wildlife. There are other problems created by feral cats as well including threats to human health, and public nuisance issues. For more information see American Bird Conservancy’s website
Permanent link to this article: http://blog.newenglandbirdhouse.com/backyard-birding/outside-cats-kill-birds/
Study Shows Which Feeders and Seed Birds Prefer
A three-year study of 1,500 North American citizen scientists shows that birds prefer tube and platform feeders, stocked with black oil sunflower, sunflower chips, nyjer, and white proso millet. The survey was led by ornithologist David Horn, as part of Millikin University’s Project Wildbird.
Some of the study’s conclusions include:
• Tube bird feeders and platform feeders have more visitors than hopper feeders. Tube feeders attract smaller birds while platform feeders are best for larger birds. Whether birds use hopper feeders depends on whether the perches are designed to accommodate birds easily.
• Different seed types attracted different kinds of birds. For example, white proso millet attracts native sparrows and mourning doves. Small finches, including gold finches, prefer nyjer or sunflower chips. Larger species, like cardinals, woodpeckers and house finches, like black oil sunflower seeds.
•Project Wildbird revealed the number of birds visiting feeders is about the same from season to season. What changes are the kinds of birds that appear at different times of the year.
•The 10 most common species visiting feeders were: American Goldfinch; Black-capped Chickadee; Brown-headed Cowbird; Common Grackle; House Finch; House Sparrow; Mourning Dove; Northern Cardinal; Pine Siskin; and Purple Finch.
From 2005-08, Project Wildbird recorded over 20,000 bird feeder observations from 174 individuals in 38 states and 3 Canadian provinces. They observed 106 species and nearly 1.3 million bird visits. Each participant created and monitored four bird feeding stations, with supplied feeders, poles, squirrel baffles and bird seed. Each feeding station was schedule to use a particular seed, with “scientists” making regular 45-minute observations.
Permanent link to this article: http://blog.newenglandbirdhouse.com/backyard-birding/study-finds-which-feeders-and-seed-birds-prefer/
American Robins visit New England Backyard
According to traditional wisdom, they shouldn’t have been there at all. So much for traditional wisdom. They were there in droves.
Dozens of American robins visited my yard over the weekend. Their visits, unfortunately, were short-lived. First they gathered in the trees in the backyard. Then they dispersed, some going to the birdbath and others hopping along the garden or driveway.
It was nice to see the robins again, especially so many of them at once. Even in the summer when robins are commonplace, I never see that many together. Like many types of birds, robins form large flocks in the winter.
I was happy to see the robins in February, however I was not shocked or even the least bit surprised. Robins may be thought of as signs of spring, but each year many of them stay with us here in New England throughout the winter. In fact, some remain as far north as southern Canada.
They are often hard to find in the winter, but they are around somewhere — and usually in large groups.
With their feathers and down, robins are able to withstand bitter cold temperatures and extreme weather conditions, just like our other “winter” birds such as chickadees and kinglets.
Permanent link to this article: http://blog.newenglandbirdhouse.com/new-england-living/american-robins-visit-new-england-backyard/
Falcon Fever – Tales of a Falconer
Author and editor-in-chief of Living Bird Magazine, Tim Gallagher talks about life, falconry, and the remarkable comeback of the Peregrine falcon.
Permanent link to this article: http://blog.newenglandbirdhouse.com/backyard-birding/falcon-fever-tales-of-a-falconer/
Todd McGrain’s “Lost Bird Project” is a six-foot-tall bronze sculpture commemorating five extinct bird species. McGrain, an associate professor of art at Cornell University got the idea for the Lost Bird Project after reading stories about extinct birds, and felt a need to tell their stories. He chose the Passenger Pigeon, Carolina Parakeet, Heath Hen, Great Auk, and Labrador Duck as his subjects.
McGrain worked five years studying stuffed specimens, written descriptions, and artwork and sculpting the artwork. The castings are the largest that McGrain has made, with each bird weighing between 400 to 700 pounds. The exhibit includes paintings of each species along with its story of extinction. One set of the bronze birds will be a traveling exhibit. Others will be placed as memorials in places where each species was last seen—from Iceland to Italy, and Ohio to New York.
Learn more about the Lost Bird Project and its artistic tribute to the Passenger Pigeon, Carolina Parakeet, Heath Hen, Great Auk, and Labrador Duck in the video below.
Posted on:
February 5, 2010
Cats Indoors! The Campaign for Safer Birds and Cats
There are more than 90 million pet cats in the U.S., the majority of which roam outside at least part of the time. In addition, millions of stray and feral cats roam our cities, suburbs, and rural areas. Scientists estimate that free-roaming cats kill hundreds of millions of birds, small mammals, reptiles and amphibians each year.
Cat predation is an added stress to wildlife populations already struggling to survive habitat loss, pollution, pesticides, and other human impacts (see: Domestic Cat Predation On Birds And Other Wildlife). Free-roaming cats are also exposed to injury, disease, parasites, getting hit by cars, or becoming lost, stolen, or poisoned. Millions of domestic cats are euthanized each year because there are not enough homes for them. Cats can also transmit diseases and parasites such as rabies, cat-scratch fever, and toxoplasmosis to other cats, wildlife or people (see: The Great Outdoors Is No Place For Cats).
Cats Indoors!
In 1997, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) launched the Cats Indoors! Campaign for Safer Birds and Cats to educate cat owners, decision makers, and the general public that cats, wildlife and people all benefit when cats are kept indoors, in an outdoor enclosure, or trained to go outside on a harness and leash. ABC developed many education materials, including the popular brochure (recently revised), Cats, Birds, and You, and a Educator’s Guide for Grades K-6 including a coloring sheet.
Permanent link to this article: http://blog.newenglandbirdhouse.com/backyard-birding/cats-indoors/
A New England Perspective of the Great Backyard Bird Count
This is going to be the lamest form they’ve ever received. That was my thought as I participated in my first Great Backyard Bird Count several years ago. More than half an hour into my count I had found only a few tufted titmice and a lone mockingbird. Sure I was headed toward the water where I was sure to pick up a duck species or two, but I had expected to see more than titmice and mockingbirds by this point. I was, after all, doing a count. Didn’t the birds know this? Didn’t they want to be counted? Why weren’t they lining up?
Oh well, I thought, the people who run the Count want to know what I see, and if a few birds is all I see, then that’s what I’ll submit. Then I heard something overhead. It sounded very busy, but also very subtle. I was a much less experienced birder at the time, so I struggled to find the source of the noise, despite it happening all around me.
When I found it, I was amazed. It was a mixed flock of American robins and cedar waxwings. The waxwings were the more exciting species, but it was the robins that I still remember. Strength in numbers, as the saying goes. There were dozens upon dozens of robins. I couldn’t even count them there were so many of them surrounding me, stripping berries off the trees, vines, and bushes. Since I was doing a count, I gave it my best shot. Forty robins? No more like fifty. I finally settled on sixty, even though even that may have been low.
Permanent link to this article: http://blog.newenglandbirdhouse.com/new-england-living/a-new-england-perspective-of-the-great-backyard-bird-count/
February is National Bird-Feeding Month
National Bird-Feeding Month was created to advance and publicize the wild bird feeding and watching hobby and each February, a new and unique theme is adopted. The theme for 2010 is “Hatching Out – An Introduction to the Wild Bird Feeding Hobby.”
National Bird-Feeding Month reveals the joy of wild bird feeding by surveying basic techniques to create a successful wild bird feeding and watching experience. To join millions of other wild bird feeding hobbyists, you just need a bird feeder, bird seed, and a place from which to watch your birds. “Whether you live in a rural, suburban, or urban environment there are always birds in your neighborhood you can attract to your yard” says Dr. David J. Horn, Associate Professor of Biology at Millikin University. To attract birds to your yard, having the right combination of food and feeders is key to your success.
Horn who recently completed Project Wildbird, the largest study on wild bird seed and feeder preferences in North America, suggests that a great way to get started is to put out a tubular feeder filled with black-oil sunflower seed. “Wild bird feeding is not only for the birds, but also for the people who feed them. Thus, you should place your feeder in a location where you can readily enjoy watching your birds” says Horn.
Horn recommends that you add to your experience with a variety of bird feeders, novel foods, and binoculars to view your feathered friends. “While black-oil sunflower is a popular choice for many birds, you can enhance the feeding experience by adding new combinations of feeders and seed” says Horn. For example, woodpeckers, nuthatches, and titmice are attracted especially to whole peanuts, and Nyjer is popular for attracting goldfinches. Tubular feeders are appropriate for small-bodied birds, but larger birds usually require larger feeders such as hoppers and platforms.
Permanent link to this article: http://blog.newenglandbirdhouse.com/backyard-birding/february-is-national-bird-feeding-month/
History of the Peterson Field Guide to Birds
This video chronicles how Roger Tory Peterson, at the age of 25, revolutionized birdwatching with the creation of the Peterson Field Guide to Birds.
Permanent link to this article: http://blog.newenglandbirdhouse.com/backyard-birding/history-of-the-peterson-field-guide-to-birds/
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