Into The Air

How to Keep Unwanted Birds Away from Hummingbird Feeders

Timothy Martinez Jr. — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:24:33 +0000

Photograph by Chris Selvig via Flickr

The past few weeks, we’ve been writing about keeping your hummingbird feeders free from pesky ants and flying insects. One of our readers brought up another threat to hummingbird feeders, other birds.

Orioles are known for raiding hummingbird feeders, but they’re not the only ones. Woodpeckers, House Finches and other species tend to invade hummingbird feeders for a chance to drink the sweet nectar. And when these bigger birds eat the nectar, they usually scare away the hummingbirds, which defeats the whole purpose.

So here’s what you can do to protect your hummers from unwanted birds.

Get an oriole feeder, suet feeder and/or seed feeder

One of the best solutions is to simply get more feeders. If you mind having orioles coming to your hummingbird feeders, you can buy feeders especially for them. Oriole feeders are essentially the same as hummingbird feeders, but they can accommodate fruits and jelly as well as nectar. For woodpeckers, you can also put up suet feeders for them to get nutrition. You can do the same thing with other feeders, depending on the species hanging around your hummingbird feeders. Remember to make sure they’re always full, so the birds don’t have to turn to your other feeders for food.

Opus Glass Hummingbird Feeder

Get a hummingbird feeder without a perch

Small, perchless feeders essentially keep out every bird except hummers because most birds need to perch while eating. A simple feeder like the Opus Glass Hummingbird Feeder requires the birds to be in flight while drinking the nectar. A larger bird like the woodpecker wouldn’t be able to mob the small feeder. You can also trim down the perches on your existing feeders.

Buy or make a bird baffle

Even if the feeder itself doesn’t have a perch, sometimes birds are able to perch on top of the feeder or grab onto the wire that holds it up. You can put a standard baffle or create your own makeshift one out of an old CD.

Separate the feeders

If you have separate feeders for orioles and woodpeckers, but they’re still going to the hummingbird feeders, try separating them. Putting them farther apart will make it less tempting for an oriole to move over and target the hummingbird feeder.

Please let us know any solutions you found.

10 Interesting Facts About Baltimore Orioles

Timothy Martinez Jr. — Sat, 18 May 2013 15:38:04 +0000

The striking black and bright orange colors of Baltimore Orioles make them highly desirable backyard birds, but did you know that they’re acrobatic foragers that look for insects and nectar in trees?

These birds, found mainly in the eastern and central portions of the United States, are very unique. We’ve assembled 10 interesting facts about Baltimore Orioles that will make you love them even more.

1. Baltimore and Bullock’s orioles are very similar and even hybridize where their ranges overlap. For many years, scientists believed they were one species (Northern Orioles) until genetic testing revealed they were in fact separate.

2. The oldest banded Baltimore Oriole in the wild lived for 11 years and 7 months, but they can live up to 14 years in captivity.

3. Baltimore Orioles got their name because of their bright orange and black colors, which were the same as the crest for the family of Lord Baltimore.

4. They’re also the state bird of Maryland, which is apt because Cecilius Calvert, Second Baron Baltimore, was one of Maryland’s founders.

5. According to Cornell’s All About Birds, orioles sometimes feed in an unusual, but clever, way. They stick their closed beak into a soft fruit and then open their mouths, which creates a cup of fruit juice that they drink with their tongues.

6. Baltimore Orioles are very sensitive to insecticides. Insecticides have the adverse effect of killing insects that orioles eat, and the poison can also directly kill orioles if they’re exposed to it.

Image by Henry McLin

7. The nest of a Baltimore Oriole looks like a stuffed sock that hangs at the very edge of a tree branch high in the air to keep predators away. It can take a female as long as 15 days to construct the nest, which is woven out of various fibers like animal fur, twine, wool, bark and other materials.

8. Baltimore Orioles are generally solitary birds, except during mating season. However, a group of orioles is called a “split” or “pitch,” according to WhatBird.

9. One of the Baltimore Orioles favorite things to eat is caterpillars. This is important because their appetite for caterpillars and other pests can help protect forests.

10. Baltimore Orioles are attracted to the color orange, which is why getting an orange oriole feeder will increase your chances of attracting these beautiful birds to your yard.

Do Birds Have a Sense of Smell?

Timothy Martinez Jr. — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:07:05 +0000

Turkey Vulture by Tim Sträter

When we try to understand the world around us, we see it through the lens of humans. It’s completely natural to do because it’s how we interact with the world, but it can be problematic when trying to get an accurate vision of the things around us. This could not be truer than figuring out how birds interact with the world.

For example, the sense of smell plays a pretty big part of our daily lives; we use smell to tell whether something is rotten, when there is danger (smoke or fire) and other useful things. But for many bird species, the sense of smell is fairly insignificant.

Yes, birds have a sense of smell and recent studies say that it’s more developed than we had previously thought, but it still doesn’t play as big of a part of their lives as humans or other animals.

All birds have some sort of olfactory system that gives them the sense of smell, but it’s very difficult to decipher when and what they use it for. Even John James Audubon conducted experiments to see whether vultures use smell to find their meals.

In his experiment, he put out a painting of a dead sheep and found that the vultures tugged at the canvas. The next time he hid dead meat next to the painting, but the vultures still tugged at the canvas instead of the nearby hidden meat. He felt this was enough to disprove the theory that birds don’t have a strong sense of smell.

Later experiments by scientists found that vultures do have a good sense of smell, so the verdict is still out on to what extent they use their smell. Audubon’s Carolyn Shea quoted ornithologist Kenn Kaufman giving a great reason for why figuring out the sense of smell in birds is so hard:

“How do you know whether the bird is actually smelling something? You can’t say, ‘Raise your right wing if you smell this.’ “

Small songbirds probably don’t have much use for smell, but some petrels use smell to detect relatives (and therefore avoid incest) and locate their burrows. Other seabirds use the smell of fish oils or krill to find food. Kiwis in New Zealand also reportedly have a strong sense of smell that they use to find earthworms.

So the next time someone asks you whether birds have a sense of smell, you can give them the simple answer of yes, but add a caveat that each bird species is different and it’s near impossible to find out to what extent they use it.

But you can still assure everyone that a mother bird will not reject a chick if it smells human on it.

How to Properly Store Your Birdseed

Timothy Martinez Jr. — Fri, 10 May 2013 14:05:56 +0000

Imagine going to a gourmet restaurant and having a delicious meal of salmon with mashed potatoes and asparagus on the side. But when you walk by the kitchen, you see the fish just sitting on the counter, the asparagus on the floor with critters running through it and the potatoes sprouting. You’d probably be more than outraged at the poor kitchen conditions.

Even though birds aren’t as aware as we are about cooking conditions, you should never give them birdseed that’s been improperly stored or has any bacteria on it. The consequences can be deadly if you do.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources wrote this week about how moldy birdseed could cause a fatal avian disease called aspergillosis. It’s not always easy to identify when your seeds are bad, but by properly storing them, you can significantly reduce the chance of contamination. Here’s how.

Buy in moderation

One way to really help with your birdseed storage is to buy birdseed in moderation. If you can, avoid buying huge quantities that will last for a long time because the longer you have it, the more chance it has at getting contaminated. Unfortunately, that’s not always possible.

Use airtight containers

Large airtight containers are by far the best way to store your birdseed because they can keep the moisture out. Make sure the container is made out of durable material to prevent cracks or spillage. Strong plastic bins with a lid are good options.

Store in a dry, cool location

Water is an enemy of birdseed. Any exposure for any amount of time could lead to mold, which can be fatal to the birds eating the seed. You should put in a place that’s convenient for refilling your feeders, but it should also be sheltered, like in a garage or a backroom that connects to your yard.

Thoroughly clean the container

Once you’ve used up all or most of the seed, you should give the container a good cleaning. Completely remove everything from the container and wash it out with warm water and soap. If mold or bad seed is in there, you don’t want it to contaminate new seed you might be putting in. Make sure to let the container completely dry before putting any seed back in it.

Check for bad seed

Finally, you should always check for bad seed when refilling feeders. You can tell bad seed by its smell (it will often give off an unpleasant musty smell if bad) or by the presence of moisture (this will manifest itself through clumping and dampness). Also, make sure no critters—insects or mice—have gotten into the seed.

Take Our Common Backyard Birds Song Quiz

Timothy Martinez Jr. — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:41:50 +0000

Few things are better than waking up in the morning to a flurry of joyful chirps in your backyard. But it’s even better if you can identify the birds by just hearing their song. We’ve created this 10 question quiz to see whether or not you can correctly identify the birds by its song or call. These are the most common birds you’ll likely hear in your backyard, so you won’t get thrown a bird like a Black Oystercatcher that you may have never heard or even seen.

Let us know how you did in the comments.

1. Bird Song #1 — Listen: BirdQuiz1