Give it to the birds: Move the tree-in its stand or leaning again a fence- outdoors for the winter, where it can provide food and shelter for wildbirds. Even better, put the tree near a bird feeder or hang bird treats from the tree. Bags of suet (animal fat you can get at most grocery stores) or a small piece of wood or thick cardboard smeared with a mix of bird seed and peanut butter will not only attract birds but will nourish them too.

Make sure your tree is free of tinsel, decorations and hooks. It can provide an extra perching area that offers protection from the wind and cold to birds waiting to eat from a nearby feeder or it can provide more long term shelter.

You can even use your tree to make bird feeders. Cut the branches back and then cut the trunk into 12” lengths. Leave some branches on the trunk that will allow smaller birds to perch, an inch or two in length is adequate. Woodpeckers will cling to the trunk and the length of the feeder will allow a tail brace. Drill holes in the trunk and fill the holes with suet or peanut butter. These foods provide protein, fat and the extra calories essential to birds in cold winter months.

You can use wood chips from your tree as mulch and add it to your garden or flowerbed. The insects that will eventfully inhabit the mulch provide food for ground feeding birds such as sparrows and towhees.

Before discarding your Christmas tree, consider its many uses for our backyard friends.

Happy Holidays!

Looking for a gift for that person who has everything? You have a limited budget? You can’t bear to buy another product that will lose its appeal after a few days??

How about introducing a new activity…backyard birding? Bird watching is a hobby that crosses all economic and age brackets and is one of the fastest growing outdoor activities in North America. It is the perfect solution for that hard-to-buy-for person on your list. With the purchase of a basic feeder that attracts a wide variety of birds, you can give a gift that will be enjoyable throughout the seasons. There are birdfeeders and accessories to suit all tastes, budgets and locations. If you make a small gift basket that also includes a quality bag of seed, a brush for cleaning and a book or CD that identifies birds by sight or sound, your novice “birder” will have all the necessary components to get started. You could even include a coupon for your time which can be redeemed to help set up the new feeder.

For experienced birding enthusiasts, adding a speciality feeder might increase traffic to their backyard. Consider a suet feeder, peanut feeder or one especially made to attract orioles, finch or hummingbirds. A heated bird bath and speciality plants and shrubs would also be a good gift choice to attract more birds. Gift certificates for a seed buying program or a donation made in the recipients’ name to a local Nature Center or Audubon Society are other options.

Shopping for birding products couldn’t be easier. Basic models and some accessories are available in big box stores. Speciality stores carry a wider variety of feeders and high quality items such as binoculars. Their staff are usually very knowledge and helpful and as a rule, service is their motto. If you want the convenience of shopping from home, there are lots of online dealers that carry birding products. It is also an easy way to have your birding gift shipped directly.

Whatever birding product you happen to choose, you can take pride in knowing that it is a gift that keeps on giving…

Happy Birding and Happy Holidays!

Peanuts attract a wide variety of birds, most notably, woodpeckers, jays, titmice, nuthatches and chickadees. Because they are a popular choice, chances are that peanuts will be quickly consumed. However, it is important to buy your peanuts from a reputable dealer and check your feeders regularly to ensure that the peanuts are fresh. Peanuts can become rancid if they become wet or for some reason remain in the feeder too long. Squirrels and some nuisance birds are also attracted to peanuts so make sure that measures are taken to keep them at bay.

Woodpeckers have four toes, the first and fourth face backwards and the second and third face forward. This allows the woodpeckers to comfortably climb vertically and grasp limbs. They have a long stiff tail that acts as a prop. Their skull protects the brain from potential damage from repeated hammering. The brain is located at the optimal place in the skull to protect it and it is small in size. The eyes are shielded from flying wood debris by a membrane that covers the eye.

Woodpeckers will feed from a backyard bird feeder providing they have a proper tail brace. As well as insects, woodpeckers eat suet, black oil sunflower and peanuts.

It is not certain why birds engage in anting. It is thought that secretions such as formic acid produced by ants may kill or repel parasites and bacteria. By rubbing the ants, this acid is removed from the ant and applied to the bird. The secretions released by the ants (and other insects) may also help to keep feathers in good condition and add essential oils.

The distasteful secretions of the ants may be eliminated by rubbing the insects, making them edible. If the ants are ingested, they may help rid birds of internal parasites. It is also a possibility that ants crawling over the body may simply provide a “feel good” factor, relieving skin irritated by external parasites.

Check out this video of anting behaviour:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuR3svaeZg4&feature=related

Collisions often occur in spring and early summer when birds are setting up and defending their territories. When their reflection is noticed, the bird attacks it, mistaking their own reflection for a rival bird.

To avoid bird strikes, check your windows. Whatever reflections you see, a bird also sees. Indentify those windows that are of particular danger to wildbirds. Closing the drapes or pulling a blind is a simple solution. Installing awnings to block reflections will also help as well as attaching decals and stickers on smaller windows and hanging wind chimes. Stretching netting across your windows will also deter window strikes. Birds may still see landscape reflections but the netting, if pulled tautly, will buffer the impact.

Locate your bird feeders close enough to a window that birds cannot build up enough speed to injure themselves or try a completely different location in your yard further away from the house. Even birds that appear to recover from a strike often die later due to internal bleeding. If you find a bird with a noticeable injury, call a wildlife rehabilitator.

Both grackles and starlings are aggressive birds that travel in flocks. Their arrival at your birdfeeders is disruptive to other bird species. Large nuisance birds scare away more desirable birds such as pine sickens, cardinals and chickadees. They will completely take over birdfeeders and bully smaller birds into taking cover. When competing for nesting space, starlings raid nesting cavities. During incubation periods, they kill both the female and the eggs, especially those of bluebirds and purple martins. Woodpeckers can also be threatened. Because of their dominance at birdfeeders and their sheer numbers, grackles and starlings can drain a feeder of seed or suet very quickly.

Avoid buying seed blends that contain cracked corn, milo and millet. These will not attract colourful songbirds but will most certainly attract nuisance birds. Install at least one nyjer feeder because large birds typically do not eat nyjer seed. Weight activated feeders that deny seed access to heavier birds and feeders that have removable or adjustable perches will make it less comfortable for larger birds to feed. Keep discarded seed and other waste below your feeders cleaned up.

Chickadees use up a huge amount of energy so it is especially important to keep feeders filled with high fat/protein food such as black oil sunflower, peanuts and suet. What food is not required immediately for activity will be stored as fat until needed. This is essential for their survival, especially in the winter months.

Birds travel thousands of kilometres, arriving from Mexico, Central America and South America. The springtime migration is usually quicker than the fall migration south. In the fall, birds do not face such an important deadline. However, in spring, it is imperative that they arrive at the optimal time for breeding. For each species there is a select arrival time. Often males arrive before the females, the strongest of the males arriving first. They quickly stake out their breeding territories, usually the same place as the previous year. Then the females select those males with the most favourable territory.  Together they proceed to build a nest, incubate the eggs and raise their young. All this must be accomplished early enough in the season so that the young are strong enough for the long flight south in the fall.

Due to global warming, many bird species are arriving earlier each year and move farther north to breed as the climate changes. Farther north, birds can find more food in their natural environment and less fragmented forests.

For information on the Migratory Bird Program, please visit:www.my.nature.org/birds/about/

Squirrels belong to the rodent family and like all rodents, their teeth grow continuously throughout their lives. In order to keep their teeth both sharp at an appropriate length, they must gnaw continuously. If they didn’t, their teeth would become so long they would no longer be able to eat. Often damage is done to feeders, to relieve this need to chew and not because squirrels are exploring a possible food source.

Squirrels don’t typically eat nyjer seed but are attracted by the smell of the oil in the nyjer seed. They will damage the feeder to find out what is inside. Finch feeders, which feature small feeding ports, are attractive safe havens for small song birds that are often pushed away from other feeders by larger birds. To attract a variety of songbirds, many blends also contain small sunflower chips, which will also attract squirrels.

Investing in a squirrel proof Finch feeder will definitely provide you with a pleasing, less frustrating birding experience.