Some people may believe that it isn't necessary to feed birds when there is more abundant "natural" food. However, bird specialists at the Cornell University Ornithology Department recommend otherwise. You see, during the Spring, birds travel a long way from their wintering grounds and still further before reaching their breeding grounds.
On this remarkable journey, your bird feeder might be a very welcome source of food----like a roadside restaurant!
Even in the summer, when there is a lot of food available for birds, they require supplemental feeding. This is because their energy requirements are much higher since they are feeding their young. With the return of Autumn, the migrations begin again and so, the folks at Cornel keep their feeders filled year-round. This benefits not only the birds, but other critters as well.
Squirrels and chipmunks will also visit your feeder. And if you are very lucky you may glimpse natural predators such as hawks and bobcats as they become attracted by an increase in bird activity!
Place your bird feeders near windows to allow for indoor bird watching. They give opportunities for close-up observation and identification of different species of birds, as well as for studying bird behavior. Along with lots of "classic" pecking order behaviors, you'll see birds teaching their young to fly and feed, and witness their many calls. You'll also start to see that species feed at different times, so over the course of one day, many different kinds of birds can be observed.
There are also many opportunities to laugh! We currently have four crows who take turns hanging upside down and swinging from our suet feeders--that is, when the woodpeckers give them a chance! There are so many comedies and dramas played out at the feeders, it makes them an exciting place to watch.
While we have eight feeding stations in our little yard, your yard can become a "song bird rest stop" by starting very simply. The resources listed below offer a good selection of well-tested feeders. It's also really fun to make some of your own. Check out the Family Fun-Spirited Kids area for fun, home-made feeder suggestions!
by Agnes Rysdyk
From the 1930's to the 1950's, I lived in a house my father built in Floral Park, New York.
Agnes when she was an eight-year-old girl, 1938.
Our village was a suburb very near the boundary of New York City. Our back door led to a landing with a railing, where my mother hung our clothes. Her clothesline ran from the landing to a tree.
During those years, my mother fed the squirrels. They would come a-running when she called "Here Jerry!" You see, back in those days, the milkman brought milk in glass bottles with cardboard caps that had been put on and twisted tight. Mom would take a cap (or sometimes a piece of bread) and fill it with peanut butter and leave it on the corner of the railing and call for the squirrel. The squirrel would travel the clothes line to the railing, take the cap of peanut butter and scamper off to the tree to sit, hold it in his front paws and eat.
My daughters even remember her feeding the squirrel into the 1960's. Since I read that gray squirrels only live a maximum of 10 years and more like only 3 years in the wild, it seems as though many generations of squirrels answered to the name "Jerry" to take advantage of the free peanut butter!
Today, with my granddaughter, I feed the squirrels or perhaps I should say that they take full advantage of our bird feed and suet. They're fun to watch as they cleverly hang upside down and eat--but as yet, we haven't named a single one!"
Agnes with her grand daughter, Emily.
Maine Audubon's Nature Store
20 Gilsland Farm Road
Falmouth, Maine 04105
Phone: (207) 781-2330
Fax: (207) 781-0974
http://www.maineaudubon.org
Skillins Greeenhouses
89 Foreside Road
Falmouth, ME 04105
Phone: 1 800 244-3860
207/781-3860
www.skillins.com/forthebirds.html
Wild Bird Centers
7370 MacArthur Boulevard
Glen Echo, Maryland 20812
Phone: (301) 229-9585
Fax: (301) 320-6154)
Find a store near you at:
www.wildbirdcenter.com/store-locator.html
In a Feb. 4, 2008 edition of their newsletter, WebMD reported a stunning fact. The story said that research reported that the typical American spends up to 25% less time in nature than in 1987, and time spent in nature dropped by about 1% annually since then.
WebMD writer, Miranda Hittl, said the researchers tracked visits to National Parks for the purpose of hiking and camping, and also the number of people getting a license to hunt or fish. Apparently, time spent in nature isn't just down in the U.S. It's also declining in Japan.
So why should we care that people are spending more time indoors with their computers and TVs? Well, Oliver Pergams, PhD, of the University of Illinois at Chicago states, "We don't see how future generations, with less exploration of nature, will be as interested in conservation as past generations."
The dream of a healthy sustainable future is possible and through P.L.A-Ying, we can transform the nature of our lives and the well being of "This Island Earth!" What's P.L.A-Y? It's Planetary Love in Action-YES! That is, taking creative actions that are healing for you and the Earth! It has been said by Baba Dioum of Senegal that "In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught." If we want to both save the ecosystem and our own sanity, perhaps we need to become reaquainted with and perhaps even fall in love again, with Nature. To do this we have to unplug ourselves, as well as our children, and go back outside.
Close to your home, right now is a "wild space" just aching for a new friend to visit. It doesn't have to be a National Park. Even an empty lot or meadow has lots to see. How about exploring the edge of the river? Whose paw prints are those in the muddy bank?
What's happening over by that enormous tree near the edge of town? Was that a hawk that swooped by? Better go outside and see!
Sources: WebMD Medical News, Feb 4, 2008
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