Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News

Now what kind of bird is that?

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 02:33:00 +0000

I often struggle to identify the birds in my backyard. I know the usual suspects of course - my normal backyard visitors but when someone new comes along .... So today when these large robin sized bird that clearly were not robins and not cedar waxwings and not kingbirds arrived in my berry tree for lunch at lunch time I started another round of frustrating attempts at identifying these odd characters. This time I turned to technology for help:

A website that I find quite helpful is www.whatbird.com but specifically I like the step by step identifier on the site, which allows you to narrow down the possible bird type by using your location, it's size, colour, beak shape etc. This allows use to use as many clues as you have at your disposal to identify the bird and hopefully saves you from the embarrassment of mistakenly identifying the bird as an unusual, rare, unlikely bird that never frequents your area as the bird in your backyard -trust me I have done this. So anyways today I used this tool and determined I had Pine Grosbeaks (immature male or female grosbeaks to match the colour of birds) in my tree.

Now I really don't know if these were truly Pine Grosbeaks and based on the range map it would be kind of unusual to have them in my area. However it was the best thing I could come up with after an hour of research. As I never got organized enough to capture these birds on film, I can not get a second opinion on my identification but isn't that half the fun of bird watching - just trying to figure out who is coming to dinner?

New Year's Resolution - Fill the feeder more often with different seeds.

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:59:00 +0000

You have heard about the shoemaker's kids that don't have any shoes, well how about the Bird Seed Manufacturer's birds that don't have any bird seed? It just seems that my days and evenings are so full that I don't get out in the yard much to top up those feeders. So my 2012 resolution is to actually fill the bird feeders more.

After coming home from visiting relatives over Christmas, I found the feeders in my backyard empty as usual and went out to put new food in the feeders. Of course as a bird seed manufacturer, we end up with the odds & ends from the bird seed operations, seed samples from this vendor and of this product or another that I end up dragging home. So for the fun of it, I filled my feeders with different products and spent the afternoon doing backyard feeder observation.

Of course with our Mother Nature's bird feeding system, we recommend this. Ideally you want to separate the birds in the yard to avoid conflict between them and to encourage the maximum diversity of birds in your backyard. I sometimes forget to do this myself though and watching the birds eat that afternoon just reinforced how important this is.

I had put tree nuts in my peanut feeder. Tree nuts included almonds, walnuts, brazil nuts, pistachio, hazelnuts, pecans etc. In fact most nuts with the exception of peanuts are a "tree nut" and we use tree nuts in some of our more exotic mixes. However, I do not typically feed pure nuts and if I do, I would usually use peanuts. Well I was so impressed with the birds reaction to the tree nuts. The nuthatches and downy woodpeckers in my yard were head over heals for the tree nuts. Meanwhile the finches definitely preferred the sunflower or nyjer seed while the juncos and doves were hanging out underneath and around the millet feeders.

Lesson reinforced: Different food for different birds. Diversity is the spice of life so mix it up this year at your bird feeders - oh and try to keep them full too!

Feeding your pet bird

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 20:12:00 +0000

I have mainly been talking about feeding wild birds in my blog to this point but today's blog will focus on our pet bird food products and the philosophy behind them.

Yes we do manufacture bird food for companion birds, in fact this is how we got started in the bird seed business many years ago. Our customers, many of whom are bird breeders, have very exacting standards on bird seed and we have created our seed mixes to meet those requirements.

One of the most important requirements of any bird seed mix is it's cleanliness. Dust is very harmful to bird health and we triple clean our bird seed ingredients to ensure there is no dust in our mixes. Then secondly, good quality ingredients are important. We spend a great deal of time sourcing excellent quality ingredients for our mixes to ensure freshness, flavour and nutritional value. Finally, our mixes are formulated to provide interest, variety and nutrition. While our mixes are seed, fruit, vegetable and nut based, we do add a vitamin enriched pellet to some of our seed mixes where necessary to ensure that the seed mix can be used as a daily diet for your bird.

We do not add preservatives to our mixes or food coloring. This is because we know that some of these ingredients can actually be toxic to birds. We believe in offering good, honest, all natural ingredients and believe that if we can educate our customers on how to store and rotate their stock effectively, then we should not need to add preservatives to our mixes.

While some bird experts promote only feeding pet birds a pellet diet to ensure birds get properly formulated nutrition, it is our customers' experience that some bird's will thrive much better on a diet that has interesting and varied ingredients that provide this nutritional value.

If you are located in Canada and are interested in trying a sample of our our Mother Nature's companion bird seed for your pet, send us an email at seed@chinridge.com and we will send you a sample to try.

So excited to have my red breasted nuthatches back..

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 01:58:00 +0000

I love nuthatches. I love how they can walk down trees and hang upside down. I find them very entertaining to watch. Very rarely I will get a White-Breasted Nuthatch in my yard but they don't seem to stay around. However, when I do get some Red -Breasted Nuthatches in my yard they seem to stick around longer.

I think that the nuthatches sense that winter is coming as they are very busy and are back and forth to the feeder. In fact we had a bit of snow here today. The feeder they are most interested in has primarily black oil sunflower seeds and some split skinless peanuts in it. They also seem to be enjoying the suet.

In fact I can't believe how quickly all my suet feeders are being depleted by a variety of different birds. I just put out 4 cakes last week and they are almost gone.

Keep your feeders full folks, your birds are bulking up and getting ready for winter.

Back from the big city..

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 04:48:00 +0000

Had a business trip that took me to Toronto this week. My husband and I used to live in the GTA some years ago when we were both yuppies chasing the dream. It was nice to go back and visit the area. I realize that I miss the culture and excitement that goes with a larger center.. we even managed to catch the Korean Harvest Festival and the Ukrainian Festival while we were there. Yes I do enjoy the action and diversity of Toronto and I miss it.

However, I have to say that I think that I may have extended my life by moving back to a small town and working in the countryside. That traffic on the 401 and QEW gets old pretty quick and really - how many birds are going to show up at your condo on the 40th floor overlooking a construction site in North York? Yes getting back home did put the two lifestyles in perspective:

My road hazard today on the way to work out on the farm was sunshine in my eyes as the sun rose over the beautiful prairie .......

and my only traffic on the way home was this wonderful bird of prey who passed me by to land on a straw bale next to the road. Yes I miss Toronto but you know I am pretty happy to live where I live and work where I work. :)

Bird seed Q&A : what are sunflower chips?

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 00:34:00 +0000

Whole sunflower kernels or "coarse" sunflower chips.

Sunflower chips are one of our best moving bird seed ingredients but what are sunflower chips anyway? Well in the bird seed industry we often refer to hulled sunflower seeds as sunflower "chips" or sunflower "hearts". "Coarse" sunflower chips are whole kernels, "medium" chips are split kernels and "fine" sunflower chips are finely chopped kernels.

Sunflower chips are the perfect food for birds because their high oil content makes them a very nutritional food source. In fact sunflower is the most preferred food of most seed eating birds. Sunflower chips provide an immediate energy source (since they do not need to be hulled) thus allowing birds to conserve their energy which is especially important in the cold winter months.

Sunflower chips are the perfect food for people too because they are considered a "no mess solution" because there are no hulls to pick up behind the birds. They can also be a "no sprout" solution if you use finely chopped sunflower seeds because they will not germinate under the feeder.

Wow sounds good eh? What's the catch? Well sunflower chips are expensive in comparison to most millet based bird seed products and many of the common grocery or chain stores do not sell pure sunflower chips. You may need to find it at a more specialized wild bird store or a feed store with a large bird seed section.

This fall it looks like sunflower chips could be a bit tough to find. Last year's crop of sunflower has been just about consumed and the outlook for new crop supply is not looking as good as in past years. So farmers who do have old crop sunflower are holding tight to their inventory, hoping that the already record high sunflower prices will rise even further. Sunflower processors are having supply problems and are having trouble meeting contract commitments, leaving bird seed manufacturers like ourselves pulling our hair out and scrambling for supply. Just another interesting bird seed season in the making.

Despite my grumbling about supply, I still am a big fan of sunflower chips, if you haven't yet tried them in your feeder get a small package and try them out. I think you will be amazed at how many birds these nutritional little seeds will attract.

Cornfest starting today in Taber

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 20:46:00 +0000

One of the community events that Chin Ridge Seeds is proud to sponsor is Taber's Cornfest. In fact we have been a Gold Sponsor for Cornfest for many years now.

Cornfest is a two day free outdoor folk festival, midway and carnival, homecoming for southern Albertans and two wonderful fun days for kids and adults alike. We sponsor Cornfest because we believe in giving back to the community and Cornfest is a wonderful way of bringing our local southern Alberta community together and celebrating the contribution that agriculture makes to our community.

Some say that Taber is a town "that water built" and it is very true. The warm southern alberta climate provides the heat units and along with the irrigation canal system we have here, it provides a wonderful ecosystem and climate for growing many agricultural commodities from corn to potatoes to sugar beets to excellent quality bird seed ingredients.

So come out to cornfest and enjoy the very interesting entertainment and did I mention that most of the activities (except for the midway rides) are FREE. Be sure to sample some of Taber's locally grown wonderful sweet corn too. See this website for more information on 2011's Cornfest celebration: http://www.aroundtaber.com/Default.aspx?alias=www.aroundtaber.com/tabcf.

Summer bird feeding - things to watch

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 23:33:00 +0000

Oh summer! What a great time of year and I can not believe it is already half over. I love being in the backyard enjoying a nice summer day and watching the birds come to my feeders. I find that the small birds like the pine siskins and finches are pretty brave and will come to the feeders even with me sitting nearby or while I am working in the garden.

The downside of summer bird feeding is that you have to keep more focus on your feeders in terms of cleanliness. Summer temperatures provide the ideal climate for bacteria growth so it is important to ensure your feeders remain clean. You can do this by scrubbing out your feeders with hot soapy water about once a month and letting the feeder air dry. You could even periodically wipe down the perches and feeding portals with a cloth dipped in weak bleach solution to prevent the spread of salmonella.

Salmonella is a bacterial disease that can kill birds particularly birds like finches, redpolls and pine siskins and it can be easily spread at feeders through bird droppings. If you see a bird that appears sick or see a dead bird under your feeder, this could be a warning that salmonella is present and you should take your feeders down and really work on giving them a thorough cleaning.

In terms of filling feeders, my summer bird feeding strategy is to fill the feeders more often in the summer but with less seed. This ensures that seed that may have become wet due to rain can be removed quickly before it gets bad or spoils. Another thing that I keep an eye on is any bird droppings that might be on my feeder - or in the feeder in the case of my tray feeder.

These few feeder tips will help you to keep the birds at your feeders happy and healthy in these beautiful summer months.

A bird feeder or sculpture in your backyard?

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:12:00 +0000

I've always looked at decorative bird feeders with some skepticism. I had a couple of beautiful feeders given to me a few years back, only to find that while they were a piece of art for the backyard, they were not feeders that the birds wanted to eat from.

This is the risk with artsy-type feeders. Some of these feeders have been designed for form and not function, so be careful when buying a feeder to look beyond the surface. Are the feeding holes large enough to properly feed the seed, is it easy to fill, is it easy to keep clean, are there proper perching spots for the birds to perch on, etc?

However, every now and then you run into a feeder that does combine form and function, and I ran into one last weekend when I visited some friends, friends that we recently had introduced to bird feeding with a few bags of seed and some basic instructions. I was surprised to discover, upon this visit that not only were they feeding the birds, but that they had jumped into the whole bird feeding hobby with both feet, having bought storage containers for seed and a number of feeders.

One of these feeders was this beautiful piece of sculpture that I must say really suits their yard and provides a real focal point. But more than that, the feeder is a very busy spot, with birds coming and going, obviously enjoying the seed they are finding in this lovely feeder.

Now the feeder was pretty pricey, as feeders go, and I won't say where they got it because I am not trying to sell feeders here, but when you see the impact the feeder makes in their little backyard, you become pretty enthused.

So use caution, but consider your bird feeder's aesthetic appearance as well as it's functional performance when you purchase your next feeder.

Grosbeak at the feeder.

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 14:12:00 +0000

I was quite excited to see this beautiful male Rose-breasted Grosbeak at the farm bird feeder yesterday. I have seen pictures of them before but never have seen one in person. It seemed quite happy to be eating the fine sunflower chips that were well stocked in the feeder. So my quest was started to learn more about grosbeaks and share some of that knowledge with you.

Fact 1: Not all "grosbeaks" are closely related. I was surprised to learn that Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Black-headed Grosbeaks and Blue Grosbeaks are members of the cardinal family but Evening Grosbeaks and Pine Grosbeaks are classified as members of the finch family. However all of these birds have a few things in common, namely their medium stocky size and more importantly their strong large conical shaped bills, which are excellent for cracking large seeds. These large beaks are the source of the name "grosbeak" from the French word grosbec.

Fact 2: Different types of grosbeaks have different ranges. We are not likely to see a Blue Grosbeak here in Canada, as it is an uncommon bird who's range is primarily the southern part of the States and South America. However, Myrna Pearman, in her book "Winter Bird Feeding - An Alberta Guide" describes Pine Grosbeaks as "common feeder visitors to northern and central Alberta feeders in areas with coniferous trees". In fact the Pine Grosbeak's range covers much of Canada.

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is more likely to be spotted in Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, the very south part of Manitoba and Ontario and is not commonly found in the lower mainland of BC. While the Evening Grosbeak is supposed to be found commonly across Canada (although I have never seen one) and finally the Black-headed Grosbeak is only in Canada in the summer months and only found in southern BC, southern Alberta and the SW corner of Manitoba.

Fact 3: Grosbeaks are insect eaters but will also eat seed. With their large beaks, grosbeaks can eat large insects as well as small, consuming in some cases even whole grasshoppers and crickets and some butterflies and moths. However, grosbeaks do enjoy eating seed and fruit. On the seed front, sunflower is a favorite and they are not challenged by the tough shell of a striped sunflower, so striped sunflower offered from a tray feeder or a feeder with a large perch is a good choice for these types of birds.

Fact 4: For more information on a specific type of grosbeak see the online bird guide at www.allaboutbirds.org. This guide offers excellent information on how to identify birds, their travel ranges, and other unique details about them.

Why feed the birds in the summer time?

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Tue, 24 May 2011 19:57:00 +0000

It's nice out, the grass is green, there are tasty mosquitos and other insects about, plants are starting to bloom and trees are leafing out. It seems tempting when the weather is so nice to assume that birds can forage for food on their own and let the bird feeders run empty. However, there are some good reasons to continue to feed the birds even in ideal foraging conditions:

Loyalty: Just as like a company that worries about their customers not coming back after they start to buy a competitor's product, you need to know that if you lose your birds to a competitor's bird feeder (your neighbor's for example) or to another area where wild seed is in better supply, it means that they may not be back to your feeder in the future. To ensure you have birds in your yard year round, you need to feed your birds all year round.

Food timing and migration: In the spring many birds are recovering from their big spring migration. A readily available food supply makes this recovery easier and increases the likelihood of survival for those birds who have depleted much of their energy resources to make the exhausting journey to their summer homes. Similarly, in the fall, birds are preparing for their fall migration and the better their food supply, the better prepared they will be to make that big trip.

Nesting nutritional requirements: Birds that have returned to Canada for the summer are here to nest and raise their young. By feeding the birds, you are helping the bird parents more easily forage for bird seed and therefore do a better job of raising their young. It also means that you may see some of these youngsters at your feeder as soon as they are able.

Enjoy the variety of birds available in the summer time: Many birds migrate here for summer and you can see totally different birds at your feeder in the summer than in the winter. You don't want to miss out on these new birds that you can only see by feeding the birds in the summer.

For the pleasure of it: I enjoy sitting in my backyard, soaking up the warm sunshine and watching the birds come and go to the feeder. Call me a "fair weather birder" but I am quite unlikely to be cooling my jets on the deck in January or February. There is something about sharing nature with the birds that is good for the soul. So logically, then, feeding the birds in the summer must be good for the soul.

Attracting chickadees to your feeders.

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 23:18:00 +0000

OK - so sorry. Time has gone so quickly and I have not kept up with my blog. However, I am starting anew and will attempt to be more bloggy in the future.

My topic for today is attracting chickadees to your backyard.

One of the most popular backyard birds is the chickadee. Small and energetic, these friendly little birds can become quite tame and may even be coaxed to eat out of your hand eventually (with enough time and patience).

Chickadees usually are present in small flocks and spend their winter days looking for food. This includes hunting through tree bark crevices for dormant insects or visiting your feeder. They love suet and particularly sunflower seed. When you watch chickadees eating, you will notice there is a rigid social structure for feeding with the dominant birds eating first and the juvenile birds eating last.

The two most common types of chickadees found in the most populated areas of Canada are: the Black-capped Chickadee and the Mountain Chickadee. The Black-capped Chickadee is found across southern Canada while the Mountain Chickadee (which is grayer than the Black-capped Chickadee and has a distinct white eyebrow) is typically found in the rocky mountain areas of Alberta and BC. Less common than these two is the Boreal chickadee which looks quite different with a brown crown, grey neck and reddish brown body. It can be found mainly in the far-northern or high-altitude boreal spruce-fir forest areas of Canada. Interestingly, the boreal chickadee does not usually eat sunflower seed like their relatives but is especially fond of suet.

To attract chickadees, set up a suet feeder and a black oil sunflower feeder close to bushes or other trees. Chickadees will fly to a feeder, take one seed and fly off to eat it or hide the seed. When food is plentiful, chickadees will create little food stashes. Research has shown that they can remember where these hidden food stashes are for at least 28 days.

A welcome addition to your backyard, many chickadees will stay one location year round. So if you can attract chickadees to your backyard, they will often be there to stay.

Winter arrives with a vengence - thank goodness for suet.

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 19:46:00 +0000

It's been two weeks now of winter here in Southern Alberta. Not just a little bit of snow mind you - lots of snow and cold and blowing hurricane force wind. Finally this last weekend we had a reprieve and I finally headed out to the feeders to replenish them.

Thank goodness for suet! I had put about 6 suet cakes out at the end of last week and it looks like my poor little birds have been pretty much living on these since my seed was about wiped out. The picture you see is of my downy woodpecker enjoying suet in my backyard. That is what I love about suet. Not only do the little finches and other seed eating birds enjoy it, but the woodpeckers and insect lovers will also eat the suet. It is the perfect food to help birds make it through cold winter days.

It looks like we could be in for a tough winter here. Don't forget the birds....

Thoughts for the day - what does the future hold?

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:34:00 +0000

I've had a very busy couple of weeks travelling around Alberta talking to customers and visiting various stores. A couple of things have struck me as I have travelled about. One is how metropolitan the Calgary to Edmonton Hiway 2 corridor is. It is starting to remind me of my days in Toronto commuting back and forth between Mississauga and North York where one city just merged into the next.

Today is my birthday so you have to pardon me for being a bit reflective. I remember Calgary back when I was going to university and Calgary today is so much larger. I guess that shows my age. It struck me though... what will Alberta look like in 40 years. How much farm land will be left along this corridor? What will be the impact on wildlife and native birds? What will be the impact on the environment of this suburban car-based economy? What will our kids be doing? How will Alberta support this huge infrastructure and will the Alberta economy be able to support this commercial development forever? I guess you can see the environmentalist in me starting to come out. I am planning to be around 40 years from now to find out what Alberta looks like - but it scares me a little bit to ponder the changes that may be coming.

So for now, I go out in my backyard and refill my feeders and wonder what the future holds in store for us.

What the heck is suet?

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 21:56:00 +0000

Sometimes when I talk to people about suet, they give me a blank look and say "what the heck is suet?" Well let me tell you - the suet secret is out! Suet is the best way to up your yard's "attraction factor" for birds.

You should find suet in any well stocked wild bird food section of your local wild bird store. Suet is one of most concentrated energy food sources that you can feed birds. This is because it is based on animal fat which has a very high energy value for birds who need help maintaining their body temperature in the winter time. Suet is easily digested and metabolized by birds to give them that energy boost they need to make it through a cold winter day or night.

Many birds love suet including birds that perhaps will not eat out of your other feeders. Suet lovers include woodpeckers, chickadees, northern flickers, nuthatches, and starlings.

When choosing suet, look for a high quality suet. For example our Pine Tree Farm's Suet is made from rendered beef kidney fat. It has been refined to maintain a high melting point for year round feeding. Pine Tree Farms uses top quality seeds, grain, peanut butter and peanuts, to attract a wide variety of birds.

Suet comes in a few different shapes and sizes. The standard type of suet is a 4 X 4 inch cake. However, there are suet plugs (cylindrically shaped suet), and suet balls etc. Just remember when buying suet that you need to have a feeder that works with the type of suet you have selected. Personally I use the Pine Tree Farms suet cakes in a simple cheap wire feeder.

Hang your suet feeder from a tree ideally within good view of a window in you home. If you are feeding suet for the first time and you find you are not attracting birds to your feeder, try smearing some peanut butter on the outside of the feeder and press some seeds into the peanut butter. The birds will recognize the seed and this will attract their interest.

So that is your quick introduction to suet. Give it a try! You will be impressed with who you find at your suet feeder.

Fall Bird Feeding Tips.

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 16:59:00 +0000

Fall is an exciting time for backyard bird feeders. Here is what to think about when feeding birds this fall:

Different birds in your backyard: Fall migration is underway and this means that you may have some unusual birds visiting your feeders as they pass through on their way south. It also means that you may start to see a change over in your regular feeder visitors. For example, redpolls, chickadees, jays, certain sparrows and juncos may visit your feeder more in the winter than the summer, while goldfinches and grosbeaks are not likely to overwinter in your backyard. As your backyard visitors change you need to keep an eye on your feeders. Different birds have different tastes in bird seed. The best way to deal with this is to offer a variety of different feeders and seeds in your backyard so that you are prepared for whoever comes your way.

Don't wait til winter: Now is the time to start feeding the birds before the miserable weather arrives. Birds are looking for the best place to overwinter and if your yard appears to have the food, water and shelter they need, then they will stay. If you start feeding the birds after the snow flies, it may be too late to attract many birds.

Don't forget about shelter: As you are trimming your trees and bushes this fall, don't throw out the trimmings. Create a brush pile about 4 foot high by 4 foot wide. This is a great place for small songbirds to escape the weather and predators and will encourage them to stay in your yard this winter.

Water: The experts say that there is nothing like ice free water to attract birds to your backyard. Think about setting up your winter watering station now. You can buy plug-in water heaters for your bird baths. Shop around and see what is the most practical and best solution for you. I have to admit that I have not yet found the ideal solution for my backyard. I have promised myself that this winter will be different - I will keep you informed as to how successful I am with this one.

High energy food sources: Think about adding a suet feeder or peanut feeder to your bird feeders this winter. Both of these will attract birds that may not eat at your other feeders and can provide all your birds with a quick high energy boost on a cold winter day.

Trick or Treat? Save that pumpkin: Finally, have some fun this fall and think outside the box. When you clean out that pumpkin, save the pumpkin fibre and seeds and offer them to your backyard birds on a flat cookie sheet. Pumpkin seeds are actually a key ingredient in some of our parrot mixes so why not give your jays or other birds a chance at these fresh seeds.

How to recognize a good bird seed mix.

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 14:05:00 +0000

In this slow economy, I have noticed that the bird seed mixes being offered by many of our competitors are changing composition to increase the amount of cheaper, lower quality and less desirable ingredients. Has the consumer noticed? I don't know but I am sure their backyard birds have. How do you compare one bird seed mix against another? Here are the things to consider:

Ingredients: I recently looked at a grocery store competitor's mix. It was over 50% corn, and over 20% wheat, and over 15% milo seed, leaving about 15% of the mix comprised of white millet and a sprinkling of sunflower. Of this mix, the majority of birds will happily eat the sunflower and white millet seed, but less birds are interested in the corn, wheat and particularly the milo seeds and even for these birds, those seeds are not their favorite food source.

I compared this mix to our Mother Nature's Songbird mix with 55% sunflower seed, 20% canarygrass seed, 10% canola seed, 10% cracked corn and 5% red and white millet. Our seed mix is overflowing with desirable ingredients for backyard birds. The Mother Nature's Songbird mix may not be quite as low priced as the grocery store mixture but if you consider that much of the grocery store mixture will end up on the ground or wasted in the feeder, you would find that our mix is considerably cheaper on a $/lb of product consumed.

When you are looking at an all purpose bird seed mix, visually look at the mix and see how much sunflower is actually in the mix. Also take a look at the ingredient list on the package. Desirable premium ingredients include sunflower seed, millet (not milo), canary seed, flax and canola seed, nyjer seed, and peanuts or tree nuts.

Remember that all bird seed mixes are not the same and that price is not the only differentiating factor. Remember also that if you want to attract specific birds to your yard that it is better to buy a mix that is specifically designed to attract that type of bird. For example Mother Nature's Finch mix for wild finches, Mother Nature's Jay mix for jays or woodpeckers, Mother Nature's Chickadee mix for chickadees and nuthatches and so on.

Why do birds migrate?

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:19:00 +0000

Now that we have finally gotten into the fields to harvest here in Southern Alberta, we hope that fall will last a long time and that winter is a long way off. There is no doubt however that it certainly is fall, with the crisper nights and the already shortening days. Soon we will see large flocks of birds migrating south for the winter.

Migration is an amazing sight, particularly when you are driving across the prairies in the fall. Often times you can see many flocks of all sorts of different birds flying overhead. The flocks that seem most common to us here on the farm are the snow geese that travel in very large flocks through the area in the fall and spring. We are definitely on their migratory path.

When you see these flocks in the air, you can't help but wonder how do birds know when to migrate? The articles on this subject vary but many experts (source: Lincoln, Frederick C., Steven R. Peterson, and John L. Zimmerman. 1998. Migration of birds. U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington, D.C. Circular 16. 113pp.) believe that birds have a natural hormonal cycle. A change in the day length in the fall affects bird hormone levels causing birds to eat more and build up fat. These hormones also cause them to molt, thus ensuring that birds have fresh flight feathers for the migration journey. It also appears that the hormone level changes cause birds to become restless and ready to move on.

Some, but not all, birds will migrate at night. Many smaller birds do this and it is believed that this is to avoid enemies and secondly to allow the birds to feed during the day when more food is available to them.

So how do birds know where to go? It appears that this varies from bird species to bird species. However, in general, birds who only migrate short distances seem to learn the route from other more experienced birds, while birds that travel long distances seem to have an innate ability to determine where they need to migrate to. Studies show that some birds appear to navigate according to stars. However, some birds will travel even on a cloudy night so the earth's magnetic fields, the location of the setting sun, topographic features of the landscape (coastlines, rivers, mountain ranges, for example),and prevailing wind patterns are all possibly used as cues for migration.

So what does migration mean for backyard bird feeders? Well during the seasons of spring and fall you may see birds in your yard that you do not regularly see. These weary travellers will likely be looking for a well-stocked feeder or fresh water to help them make it through the next phase of their journey.

Weird weather - what's next?

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 14:49:00 +0000

OK we have suffered through a miserable August and September here in Southern Alberta. Hardly any of our crop is harvested and much of it is languishing out in the field wet and on the verge of sprouting. Now I hear it is going to be 25 degrees on Saturday and nice for the rest of the week. Now that is what we need on the farm to get crops off. This weird weather does make me wonder though what is coming next for fall.

October is usually a time of year when many birds start migrating. Will this weird weather throw them off? Have they started migrating already? I haven't seen our snow geese come through our fields yet. Every year we have a huge number of snow geese migrate through this area - we are definitely on their flight path. It is a wonderous sight to see.

More on bird migration - next time.

So Who Are You Feeding Anyway? Squaring off against the squirrels

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:28:00 +0000

They are cute alright, but these innocent looking bandits can make away with your bird seed and rob you of the pleasure of communing with your favorite birds. So how do you foil these furry critters? Here are a few tips on how to discourage the squirrels from camping out at your bird feeder.

Baffle 'em with a baffle: A baffle is a dome shaped cover that typically hangs over the top of your feeder and prevents squirrels from accessing the seed. Remember, though, that squirrels can jump quite a distance so unless your feeder is very isolated and high off the ground, this may not be an effective solution.

Beat them with technology: You can find feeders that are weight activated that will eliminate access to the seed if a heavy enough animal (aka squirrel) steps on the perch. You can also find feeders that are caged. This allows small birds to access the seed and protects them from cats and predatory birds, while protecting the seed from squirrels.

Make it hot: Mammals can taste the hot sensation in chili peppers but birds can not. Using the same principle that we use in our Pine Tree Farms Hot Pepper Suet, you could add a little cayenne pepper to your bird seed. It may convince the squirrels to find another food source.

If you can't beat them, join them: In the spirit of good will to all, you could just decide to feed the squirrels too. In that case, find yourself a nice squirrel feeder and place it somewhere in your yard that is a long ways away from your other feeders. Provide corn or nuts and you will have happy squirrels.

Harvest has started...finally.

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:47:00 +0000

Harvest has started and what a late harvest it is this year. Our sunflower is now blooming beautifully, well behind last year's blooms that were finished and dried down by this time of year. Everyone in southern Alberta is behind this year for harvest so what does that mean for the everyday bird feeder.....
Well, the crops are at risk of frost and if we do get an early frost then that will affect the quality and quantity of seed out there for bird seed. So we farmers are hoping and praying for warm fall days so we can get the crop in the bin in good shape.

How to keep your bird seed fresh.

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:23:00 +0000

We often get questions from people about storing bird seed. What is it's shelf life and how do you store bird seed to keep it fresh? First of all we recommend that you try to use up all your birdseed within 3 months to keep your seed fresh. However, if you are going to store your seed for longer then here are some important seed storage tips:

1. Storage container: For longer storage, a bag just won't suffice for storage of bird seed. Most bags have small pin prick holes in them to let air out or perhaps are loosely woven. This means that insects could potentially get inside the bag. Storing seed in a plastic or metal storage container with an airtight lid is an ideal solution.

2. Temperature: It is always a good idea to store seed in cold temperatures, in fact, most homes are too warm to store seed for a long period of time. It is better to store seed in your cool garage or a cool outdoor garden shed. In warm summer months it is best to move the seed to your freezer if you have room there. The cold will not hurt the seed's quality and it will ensure that the seed does not get overheated thereby leading to possible spoilage.

3. Quality check: If your seed has been stored for a while, ensure that there are no signs of insect cobwebs or insects in the seed, you should see no discoloration on the seeds related to spoilage and you should smell the seed to ensure it smells fresh and not "off".

4. Buy fresh looking seed: If the seed looks dusty or you see discolouration in the seed inside or any sort of cobwebs, do not buy the seed. If the bag looks weary and worn then perhaps that bag has been on the shelf too long. Look for a best before date on your seed or check for a manufacturing date code to help you determine the age of the seed.

Seed can be stored for a long time, but it must be stored properly to ensure excellent seed quality.

Black Oil Sunflower versus Striped Sunflower - what's the difference?

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 21:14:00 +0000

There are two types of sunflower available for wild bird feeding: black oil sunflower and striped (confection) sunflower. Here are the key differences between the two:

Striped sunflowers are generally larger than black oil sunflowers. In fact, striped sunflowers are the same type of sunflower you would buy yourself at a convenience store (roasted sunflower seeds - like Spitz for example). However, striped sunflowers for bird feeding have been screened to select smaller seeds that are more suitable for birds.

Oil sunflowers are smaller than striped sunflower and therefore are easier for small birds to handle and contain more oil per gram than striped sunflower. In addition, oil sunflowers have a thinner shell meaning that some birds find it easier to open black oil sunflowers than striped sunflowers. That said, larger birds like jays, woodpeckers and grosbeaks love striped sunflower. Also smaller birds like chickadees, titmice and nuthatches can easily open the shells of striped sunflower seeds. However, some birds like House Sparrows and blackbirds do have more difficulty cracking open striped sunflower seeds. So if you are suffering from an abundance of these types of birds, you could try feeding more striped sunflower seed. This may reduce the number of undesirable birds at your feeders and improve the diversity of birds in your backyard.

Bringing birding identification to your ipod.

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:46:00 +0000

Many people now own an iPhone or alternatively own an iPod Touch. I took the time recently to play with a couple of birding applications available for these devices and thought that you might be interested in hearing about these. The two applications I reviewed are "Chirp USA" and "Audobon Guides". These applications are available to purchase from the ITunes store.

Chirp USA ($2.99 to purchase): This app familiarizes you with the birds in your area and their songs. The first thing to note on this application is the "USA" in the title. This means that the birds are based on the states and regions of the US. So in order to use "location" as a selection criteria you will need to select a state that is similar or close to your province.

That aside, you can choose "all birds" as well which selects all the birds in the database. After you have selected a location or all birds then you can go the "Listen" or "Challenge" section of the application. In the listen section, you can sort birds by the most common types of birds, by bird song style or by alphabetical order. Then you can listen to the songs of the birds you are interested in. Also, you can link from the bird song to the Cornell website which provides you with more information on the selected bird.

The "challenge" section of the website is great. There you can select the birds that you are most interested in, and quiz yourself on their calls. A bird song is played and you have to pick the picture of the bird it belongs to.

I think this application would be good for a beginning birder. If you are out in the wilderness with your iPhone or iPod touch, you would be able to use this application to help you identify birds and their calls.

Audobon guides ($19.99 to purchase): This app is like the Audobon field guide but on your handheld device. The guide has multiple pictures and also multiple song examples for each type of bird. It also has textual descriptive information on each bird. It also allows you to do some data recording: for example documenting bird sitings and organizing your own birding photographs in albums.

The field guide provides the functionality for sorting birds by families and provides the option of finding similar birds - again this is great for trying to identify an unknown bird.

Audobon guides is not USA specific so it is a bit better from a Canadian perspective. However, it doesn't have nice features like sorting by common birds or sorting birds by location. It is a bit less user friendly and it doesn't have the fun aspect of the challenge exersises that you find in Chirp USA. However, I would say that for serious birders, this application is probably the better of the two.

Birding applications on handheld devices are neat tools for anyone who enjoys identifying birds while hiking or camping. These are two applications to choose from - you be the judge.

Nests are coming soon to a tree near you!

noreply@blogger.com (Mother Nature's Bird Feeding News) — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:48:00 +0000

I was looking out the coffee room window at work recently and noticed a bunch of House Sparrows hopping around on the ground. At first I thought that they were just looking for food but then I realized that they were actually foraging for nesting materials.

It was fascinating to watch these little birds busily pick away at the grass and twigs and evaluate the material they were gathering. One little bird picked up a fairly large twig and tried a number of times to fly off with it. However, it was either to unwieldly or too heavy to be managed in flight so finally the bird gave up and went off looking for something else. Each bird that was there flew off in different directions so I expect we will have a number of different nests around the seed plant this summer. However, all this activity got me thinking about bird nest building and how interesting it is.

Nests vary by bird species: When I got looking into nest building I found it quite interesting to discover that the nests vary greatly between bird species.

For example, an American Goldfinch nest can be found just above ground level to several meters above ground level in the shady dense canopy of a bush or tree. The nest itself starts out with twigs connected by spider silk. Then small roots and plant materials are added to the nest cup and finally the nest is lined with plant material that is "downy" in texture.

On the other hand, a Robin's nest is usually 3 - 7 meters from the ground in deciduous or conifer trees. It is an open cup of grass or twigs that are glued together with a thick layer of mud and lined with grass. So it appears that nests are as individual as the birds who build them.

A great resource site for information on different types of nest is NestWatch at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. There you can find information on the nests of many of the more common backyard birds and also join up and provide data on your own nest observations.