There has been a lot of activity at my feeding station this week.
The juncos continue their noisy aerial battles to impress the ladies. The golden-crowned sparrows have started working up long machine-gun-like chattering songs that they bellow loudly from high perches.
A female northern flicker has discovered she has a taste for the small piece of Safeway bakery’s cornbread I tossed into the nut trough. I couldn’t figure out what she was eating with such vigor until I got out my camera and zoomed in on her beak as it rose above the edge of the feeder between bites. She had crumbs all around her long beak.
The red-winged blackbirds have returned. They nest each season down by the ponds. The females fly in to feed as a group, the males straggle in one or two at a time.
One of the males has a decided penchant for cornbread also. I enjoyed watching his comical black head bobbing up and down while he alternately chowed down on the cornbread and then looked about for any competition that might be sneaking up on him.
The blackbirds are generally quite polite dinner guests. I’ve watched the females, as they crowd the feeding trough in a line, then skooch over to make room when they spot an awaiting sparrow in the rhododendron behind them.
I added a new tube feeder and brought home a new seed mix on Sunday. This mix has a bit of cracked corn in with the black oil sunflower seeds and the millet. I hadn’t tried corn in a while and I have friends whose birds enjoy it, why not give it another go, I thought.
So far I haven’t seen much of the corn go anywhere but to the ground. I’m hoping one of my birds will find it to their liking; I hate the very idea of wasted food.
I watched a red-winged blackbird female make multiple attempts to land at the base of the new tube feeder. She would hop from the branches of the rhodie, only about three feet away, and land at the base of the feeder. As it swung wide from the weight of her landing, she’d hop back off. I guess you could say she chickened out. I was charmed.
She made a dozen attempts before she seemed able to accustom herself to the gentle swinging motion.
Then she proceeded to pluck out all the cracked corn pieces and spit them out on the floor of the feeder. I didn’t find her as charming after watching her pluck and spit.
Finding the right food to attract new birds and keep them coming back for more takes a bit of research. What works for you may not work for me.
I tend to buy the more expensive mixes that include the “no waste” shelled sunflower seeds. Those birds with smaller, less strong beaks can’t easily break open the shells of the larger seeds, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to eat them.
Besides, I had been finding a lot of unopened sunflower seeds on the floor of my porch. The seed mixes with the shell seeds may be more expensive, but the smaller bag lasts a long time and you don’t have to worry about as much mess.
The homemade Nut Butter Treatballs continue to be a smash hit every morning and evening. It‘s the first thing the juncos attack as I set out their feed each morning.
I’ll continue to serve this high energy treat throughout nesting season and until the weather warms up. I’ve tried different nut butters including peanuts, almonds and sunflower seed butters. They seem to enjoy each one, although the almond butter mix seems to be the most popular.
To make your own Nut Butter Treatballs mix one part each peanut (or other nut) butter, whole wheat flour, vegetable shortening and three parts yellow cornmeal (do NOT use self-rising meal or flour). Keep in the refrigerator. Set out a large meatball-sized treatball each day or spread on the edge of a feeder or on the bark of a tree.
•••
Kimberly Mason is a freelance writer who enjoys watching and photographing the wildlife in her own backyard in Cinebar. Contact her via e-mail at kz@tds.net.
