Attract even more birds with tips from the experts.  Here’s what customers are saying about:  What is your favorite wild bird food to serve and why? 

I love Safflower seeds because the Cardinals, Pine Siskins, House Finches and Mourning Doves love it and the squirrels do not

Black Oil Sunflower seeds….plenty of the birds here in Oregon love them. They are eating me out of house and home. Birdseed alone: they go through 3/4 bag of wild birdseed, a little under 1/2 bag of Black Oil Sunflower seeds as well. Lots of Yellowheaded Blackbirds and Evening Grosbeaks…plus many others

Thistle Seed feeders are our most popular. We often have a hundred or more finches in our yard at one time. We have pine siskin and gold finches.

I had often seen mealworms recommended for bluebirds, but was hesitant to try them.  They sounded messy and were rather pricey, but I finally decided to get my feet wet with Duncraft’s roasted mealworms. No muss, no fuss, and well worth the price. We had more bluebirds, longer than ever before, which means way more enjoyment.

This year I bought a window feeder and filled it with woodpecker seed. It’s a constant show….we have white and red breasted nut hatches, downy woodpeckers, red belly woodpeckers, tufted titmice, Carolina chickadees, and an occasional Carolina wren. The woodpecker mix has no shells so the area around the house is not littered. This was a great investment!

I would have to say the Suet food feeders. I’ve gotten more birds eating from these, and too, a wider assortment of birds eating from them that I’ve not seen at my feeders before. I will always have them, and will eventually get more. All because I hung 2 of the suet feeder baskets, and keep them filled.

There’s no perfect substitute for the natural nectar found in flowers that hummingbirds love so much. There is, however, a hummingbird feeder that clearly rises above the rest in approximating the experience of feeding at a flower – Dr. JB’s 16 oz. Clean Feeder. Widely hailed as the best hummingbird feeder on the market, this top seller has several key characteristics that ensure its status as “the best”. But what are they? Let’s find out.
The Clean Feeder is a feeder that you don’t have to worry about spills and messes with. The most notable and innovative these are curtailed is with the flow-control design. With a patent pending, this is a feature you won’t find in many other feeders, if any at all. This flow control ensures that spilling won’t occur, but it also makes the feeder extremely resistant to bees. Not only is the feeder not prone to spillage, but it has an additional no-drip design that will hold up even in heavy winds.  The last safeguard against spills is the wide mouth jar itself, which guarantees that you won’t make a mess of things when adding sugar and water to it.

Not only that, but the wide mouth jar also allows for easy cleaning of the feeder. The entire thing is able to come apart into three sections—the inner base, the outer base and the bottle—and is dishwasher-safe, so long as all parts are placed in the top rack. The feeder can also be washed by hand, but whichever way you choose to clean it, always make sure to rinse it after the fact with a mild solution of bleach and water.

Should the petals around the feeding ports break or fall off, replacement petals are available in either red or yellow. With an extremely durable construction on the whole, however, this feeder should last you a long time—saving you money in the long run from having to buy replacement feeders. In addition to its durability, this feeder also is able to attract a huge number of hummingbirds thanks to its bright red color—something hummingbirds are naturally drawn towards.

Whichever way you look at it, it’s indisputable that the Clear Feeder is a terrifically effective hummingbird feeder, and clearly “the best.”

- By Sean Peick (Guest Writer)

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The bird aficionados out there will know that birds do not simply fly around, eat, and sleep. What the casual birder may not know, however, is that the beautiful birds in your backyard are much busier, more aware of how to take care of themselves, and more sociable than many people realize. While this is by no means an exhaustive list, what follows are some of what we think are the neatest and most interesting things that birds do when they’re not flying around, eating or sleeping – in other words, what they do when they’re not doing stereotypical bird things.

Anting
More than 200 birds engage in this curious practice, which involves picking up ants and placing them in their feathers. The reason for this? It’s not that the birds wanted to give the ants a free ride somewhere – this process actually assists in getting rid of pesky external parasites. Not only that, but it can also help soothe irritated skin.

Bathing in Dust
You might be thrown for a loop when one of the birds in your backyard opts to roll around in dust rather than the bath you’ve provided for them. Don’t worry, however – this is not the bird indicating that it’s ungrateful for the inclusion of the bath in your backyard. In fact, they’ll probably soon be right back to bathing in their usual water. But why the dust? Incredibly, there’s a reason for birds to “bathe” in dust. The dust, after all, helps them to reduce moisture, align their feather barbs, and/or get rid of external parasites. So the next time you see a bird rolling in dust, don’t assume it’s mistaken dirt for water – know that the bird has a very good reason for what it’s doing.

Courtship
Come spring time, if you have a lot of beautiful birds that frequent your feeders and baths in your yard, you’ll probably a good deal of energetic activity by the birds. This is not simply because they are excited to feed from the seed or suet you’ve provided – in all likelihood, many of them are engaging in courtship. Whether it’s by seeing who can sing (or peck, in the case of woodpeckers) the loudest, dance the best (such as morning doves), share the most seed (such as cardinals), or build the best nest (such as house wrens), birds of all kinds court in different ways. It’s a joy to watch whichever way, especially when you know why they’re doing it.

Seed Analysis
That bird – likely a chickadee or red-breasted nuthatch – who’s staring at and inspecting your seeds as though trying to determine if they’re actually seeds? It’s not crazy. It’s simply weighing different seeds to determine which ones are the heaviest, and thus the ones most worth eating. In the birds’ minds, they expend so much energy in simply finding the feeder that they want to get the most bang for their buck, so to speak. So make sure you’ve always got your highest-quality seed out for these birds.
So the next time you see a bird doing something questionable, curious, or just seemingly silly, know that it likely has a very good and very healthy reason for doing so. Backyard birds are fascinating to watch, but even more so when you know what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.

- By Sean Peick (Guest Writer)

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Orioles are one of the most colorful of our summer songbirds.  It’s an absolute delight to hear and see these black and orange beauties flitting around the tree tops from early spring to late summer.   If you would like to learn more about these fascinating migrants, take a few moments to enjoy this informative video from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  We also have a few tips to help you encourage visits from these lovely birds.

Make sure you have the feeders out before the birds arrive in spring.   If you wait until you are seeing the orioles it may be too late!  Have you noticed that most oriole feeders are orange?  That’s  because we find that orioles are greatly attracted to this vibrant color.  You can increase the attraction to your feeders  by festooning them with orange ribbons or strips of orange cloth. 

Orioles like to forage for caterpillars and other bugs, but they are also drawn to feeders stocked with their favorite foods like nectar, jelly, suet, and fruit such as oranges, apples, grapes, berries, pears, and bananas.  Many feeders are made to serve up multiple foods at once, such as combination nectar/fruit , jelly/fruit , or jelly/fruit/nectar feeders.   Orioles can be shy, so start by placing the feeders a distance from your home or high traffic areas and then move them closer so you can more easily enjoy their activity.

There are a few inexpensive add-ons to oriole feeders that help keep them safer.  Weather guards shade the nectar from hot sun that can quicken spoilage and also prevent rain from getting in and diluting the nectar.   You can imagine how attracted ants would be to the sweet stuff we put out, so be sure to add an ant-moat and you’ll never have the problem of your feeders getting clogged with pesky ants.  If you nectar feeder doesn’t come with bee guards, rubbing a little vegetable oil around the opening will discourage bees and wasps from dining on your oriole nectar.  No matter what kind of feeders you buy or make, be sure to keep them clean!   An inexpensive set of nectar brushes can make keeping your feeders clean much easier.

Another way to encourage orioles to stay is to provide them with nesting materials.  Orioles build intricately woven pendulous nests from an array of grasses and other soft plant and animal fibers.  You can fill a suet feeder or small basket with pet hair, natural fiber yarns (cut to lengths of less than 6” for safety), or you can try one of our new bison hair nesting products.  Birds tend to prefer natural products over man-made, and bison hair is warm, soft, and water repellent.  You can also collect milkweed and cattail fluff during the summer and save it to put out at nesting time.   Avoid offering plastic or nylon fibers and dryer lint which can be hazardous to the birds.

We are lucky enough to have a pair of nesting orioles that return to our farm every year.  Their beautiful song and vibrant colors bring added joy to our summer days.   I hope you’ll try a few of our tips–it can increase your chances of attracting the orioles to your yard or better yet, help you to encourage a pair to stick around and raise their family where you and your family can enjoy them. 

Make every day a happy bird day,

Heidi Babb

Here we are, proudly modeling our new Duncraft hoodies.  We love talking to you and hearing your stories and bird adventures.  We thought you might enjoy learning a little bit about us, too!

Candas is a recent transplant from Tennessee.  She grew up raising exotic birds and is now learning to love their wild northern cousins.   Candas became intrigued when she learned that woodpeckers have “wicked long” tongues that they roll up and tuck into their nasal cavities.  This inspired her to learn more and she has now become the call center’s woodpecker expert.  Her favorite feeder is the Heavy Duty Suet and Seed Feeder.  She likes that you can feed 3 pounds of seed and 1 cake of suet at the same time which allows you to feed a wide variety of birds as well as multiple birds at a time.

Heidi has been an avid birder for 20 years.   She keeps busy with a small flock of Icelandic sheep, Joey the Goat and a pair of guard llamas, but she still finds time for a bit of bird watching here and there.  Her favorite feeder is currently the Eco-Strong Platform feeder because of its versatility.  It attracts a large variety of birds and you can offer so many different types of food on it, like fruit, seed, and mealworms.    The cardinals really love it.

Debbie joined us a little over two years ago.  She is an avid skier and runs home at her lunch hour to walk her dog, Hershey.  Debbie just returned from a trip to Utah where she enjoyed a daily morning wakeup call from a local magpie.   Other highlights from her trip included a zip line adventure and watching a moose drink from a mountain stream.   Debbie’s favorite feeder is the Duncraft Squirrel Proof Selective because it really does keep those squirrels out and lets the little birds feed in peace.

Carolyn has been with Duncraft for 35 years and recalls her first years at Duncraft building feeders with our founder, Gil Dunn.   Carolyn loves watching the Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers at her Tall Nugget Feeder.   She says she has tried all the different nugget flavors and her woodpeckers seem to find them all tasty.  Carolyn and her husband enjoy travelling and spend time each year in Gatlinburg, Virginia Beach, and Williamsburg.

Missy has been helping Duncraft customers with their orders and questions for 12 years.  Her favorite feeder is the Squirrel Buster Plus because of all the great feedback she has gotten on it from customers over the years.    Missy’s true love is dance, and she divides her time between Duncraft and a local dance studio where she teaches tap several afternoons and evenings each week.    She expects to be discovered by a Hollywood talent scout any day now.

Give us a call – we look forward to meeting you!

Heidi Babb

It’s March and already the chirps of winter birds have changed to songs that attract mates and define territories.  Soon the migratory birds will be arriving to join them and beginning their yearly nesting ritual. Back yard birders can help ensure the success of the next generation of wild birds by providing five nesting-specific needs.

Nesting boxes and shelves:  Putting up nesting boxes gives cavity dwellers, those birds who would otherwise nest in natural holes in trees or in old woodpecker holes, a place to nest where trees are scarce. Different birds are attracted to different types of housing.  Duncraft offers a complete guide to bird house types and placement on Duncraft’s Wild Bird Blog. Nesting shelves suit birds who don’t nest in cavities, but rather, build open cupped nests attached to branches of trees or in the crotches of limbs. Robins and doves are two birds that readily use nesting shelves.

Tree snags:  When taking down dead trees, it’s desirable to leave the majority of the trunk, as long as it doesn’t pose a danger.  Woodpeckers are a primary cavity excavator and will use these snags to hollow out nesting areas.  Although woodpeckers will not reuse a cavity the next year, these holes become prime nesting locations for smaller cavity nesting birds such as chickadees, nuthatches, wrens and others.

Nesting materials: Putting out nesting materials such as cotton, moss, string and animal hair eases the nest-building process and may also help keep inappropriate materials such as plastic out of the nest.

Suet: Suet supplies busy parents with the energy they need for nest building, raising young and foraging for them. Any type of fat is beneficial. It can be beef suet or even vegetable shortening. Peanut butter also supplies high calories. Baby birds can digest suet and parents will typically take chunks of it back to the nest.  Suet-based pellets are also a practical alternative.

Insects: Newly hatched baby birds can’t digest seeds, so parent birds spent a lot of time foraging for insects to feed them.  Offering birds insect foods such as live or dried mealworms, waxworms, or even fly larvae and the like, makes it easier for birds to supply their young with enough protein food for healthy growth.

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Spring is coming and I have irrefutable proof; today I heard my first Red-Winged Blackbird of the season.   That gets marked on the calendar, like the first spring peepers, the first lambs born on our farm and the first gin and tonic enjoyed on the deck.  Later on I’ll note the first fireflies and the first ripe tomato, but that’s for later.  Now I’m happy enough to be reminded that spring is just around the corner. 

Red-Winged Blackbirds are one of my favorite birds, even right now when they’re mobbing my feeders.  For one thing, the males’ loud “Konk-a-ree” is so distinctive that even I know to look for a blackbird when I hear it.  For another, I love the bright epaulettes on the males’ shoulders.  These epaulettes, or badges as they are also called, are the avian equivalent of Mr. Potato Head’s Angry Eyes.  The birds cover the badges when they are trying to appear submissive and display them to show aggression and territorial dominance.  Take a moment to enjoy Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s video on the blackbirds’ display.

 Right now I have a high number of Red-Winged Blackbirds at my feeders, but they won’t stay long.   The males are returning to stake out their territories — fields and lawns are happily not their favored breeding grounds.  Normally they prefer swamps and marshes where the blackbirds weave their little cup nests in low shrubs and cattails.  The streaky brown females winter a bit further south and arrive in their northern homes after the males.  They’ll raise several clutches of young over the summer, with the babies remaining dependent on the parents for over a month.     

I’ll enjoy my noisy visitors for a few days and then they’ll move on.  This summer I’ll hear them in the swamps where I love to kayak – calling to each other and flitting from cattail to snag as they hunt tasty bugs.  In the meantime, I’d better restock those feeders! 

Make every day a happy bird day!

Heidi Babb

March is here and already some of our winter birds are staking out territories and looking for mates.  Soon, our migrant birds will be returning from their wintering grounds and getting ready for the hectic nesting season.  Now is the perfect time to put up nesting boxes and be ready for them! But birds nest all summer long, and usually make a new nest for each brood.  So if you don’t get your houses up in March, you can still put them up later in the year.  A common question from people who have never put up bird houses before is “Do I need to put nesting material in the box?”  Nope,  the birds will take care of that part all by themselves.  However, offering nesting materials nearby will often encourage birds to use the boxes you’ve put out.

What kind of birds would you like to have nesting in your yard?  Birds have specific needs in regards to habitat and nesting boxes.  If you want bluebirds and put up a house more appropriate for chickadees, then you’re probably going to get chickadees.  Here are some basic rules to follow when putting up bird houses for several common backyard birds.

Chickadees, Nuthatches, Titmice, Wrens:  These small birds prefer smaller houses that aren’t too deep.  They’ll want a house with a floor about 4 x 4″ and a depth (from the entry hole down to the floor) of about 6 to 8 inches.  They prefer an entry hole anywhere from 1 1/8 to 1 1/2″  in diameter.  Hang the house 6 to 15 feet up on a tree or hanging from a tree limb.  These birds aren’t particularly fussy about the location of the house, but it’s best to place it in an area that doesn’t get a lot of traffic and is away from feeders that may draw more aggressive birds near the nest. Duncraft’s Eco-Friendly Wren House is perfect for all these birds.

Eastern Bluebirds: These bluebirds prefer a house that has a floor about 5 x 5″, a depth (from the entry hole down to the floor) of about 7″ and an entry hole that’s 1 1/2″ in diameter.  Placement of the house is important for bluebirds.  Since they are insect eaters, they prefer their house to be pole mounted at the edge of a field or clearing, anywhere from 4 – 10 feet above the ground.  They will scout for insects from the top of the house and need a clear view of the area around them and free fly space to catch insects in flight. Duncraft’s WSB bird house has been a customer favorite for years! And now we offer a new, Eco-friendly Bluebird House.

Western and Mountain Bluebirds: These bluebirds are slightly larger than the Eastern variety and need a slightly bigger house with a floor between 5 1/2 – 6″ square. They also prefer a slightly larger entry hole of about 1 9/16ths.  Other than that, everything else is the same as an Eastern Bluebird.  Keep in mind that if you can’t match these specifications exactly, that doesn’t mean you won’t get bluebirds!  These birds are cavity nesters and tree-cavities in nature certainly aren’t made to exact measurements. Try our Western Bluebird House.

Robins, Wrens and Phoebes: These birds (with the exception of the easy-going wren who will nest almost anywhere!) won’t nest inside an enclosed bird house. They prefer to build open, cup-shaped nests .  However they will appreciate a nesting shelf.  Try to locate your shelf under the eave of your house, barn or shed so there is some protection from above, and you may have more success attracting birds to it.  The size of the nesting shelf is not so important–you’re just offering a stable surface for the birds to build on. Duncraft’s Robin Nesting Shelf is suitable for these birds and also, depending upon location, may attract Barn Swallows or possibly Cardinals.

Hummingbirds: Yes, it is possible to offer a nesting spot in your yard for hummingbirds!  Hummers build tiny, open-cupped nests and they sometimes will nest in rose bushes or other shrubs around your yard.  Or you can try putting up a Hummingbird House. This is a metal frame that you hang under the eave of your house that a hummingbird can build on.  The most likely hummingbird to use this “house” is the Black-chinned of the southwest, but Anna’s and a few other hummers may also build on the frame.

For a comprehensive listing of the specification for nest boxes for different birds, be sure to review our article, “Specs for Bird House Nesting Boxes” right here on our blog!

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An onslaught of starlings and grackles can be very discouraging to the backyard bird feeding enthusiast.   They eat us out of house and home and then, to make matters worse, they bully the smaller songbirds to keep them away from our feeders.  This time of year we get lots of questions about starlings at Duncraft.  Here are a few products to help you discourage those pesky starlings.

Starlings and grackles love suet, but they don’t like to eat upside down.  A feeder like our durable Eco-Strong Upside Down Suet feeder (shown above) or our Underneath Eco-Suet Feeder will keep the starlings out of the suet but the woodpeckers and other small clinging birds will enjoy eating in a position that is very natural and comfortable for them. 

We have several seed feeders that discourage the starlings, too.   Our Super Cling-a-Wing  and the smaller Cling-a-Wing (pictured above left) attract goldfinches, chickadees, nuthatches, titmice and their friends but the starlings (and pigeons) aren’t able to eat from them comfortably.   The starlings will become downright despondent when you fill our Underneath Feeder (pictured above right) with black oil sunflower seeds or sunflower hearts.  The greedy big birds are too big to land on the tiny vertical perch below the feeder, but the little birds can land and extract one tasty seed at a time as the starlings watch on in despair.   

If you’re looking for a super safe birdhouse, check out our Eco-Bird Recycled House and the cozy Eco Chalet House (shown above).  They make a great home for bluebirds, chickadees, titmice, wrens and nuthatches, but the high entry hole, predator guard, and squirrel locks help discourage starlings and other predators from getting in.  You can also add on the Screw Mount Birdhouse Guardian to your existing birdhouses to keep precious nestlings safe from starlings and other predators.   

When you’re faced with a starling problem, try one or two of these products to see if that can resolve the issue.  If the starlings and grackles continue to be a problem, the best thing to do is just remove your feeders for a few weeks.  The greedy interlopers will give up and move on, but your friendly neighborhood birds will soon be flocking back to your feeders.

Remember – it’s better to discourage unwanted pests than to be discouraged by them!

Make every day a happy bird day!

Heidi Babb