backyard birding!

3/31/2020

Today’s blog post is all about backyard birds! Many of our favorite nature spaces are becoming restricted, which means a lot of our outside time is spent walking around neighborhoods or being in our yards. Just like anything, if we don’t find new ways to explore and appreciate these spaces, they can start to feel old. One way to explore a new space is to focus on a single part of it. Today I will talk about how you can focus on the bird activity that is going on around you and an easy craft to help attract birds to your yard!

Sound

A lot of times we will hear birds long before we see them. Hearing a call and being able to localize where it is coming from is a wonderful way to get a good look at a bird. Birds can produce a variety of sounds. Their various chirps and warnings can sound very similar, and it is difficult to tell what type of bird these sounds come from. Even though bird chips and warnings can be difficult to discern from species to species, they are exceptional tools for trying to locate a bird by sight. Once you are able to see the bird, it can become a little clearer as to what kind of bird you are looking at.

The more distinct vocalizations of birds are their songs. Each species has their own call or song that can be very telling when trying to identify a bird. Some species even look so similar that their calls/songs are the only true way to tell them apart. Once you know the songs of birds, you don’t even need to see them in order to identify them. Bird songs can be difficult to learn and oftentimes the fun of birdwatching comes from actually observing the birds and appreciating their movement and color.

Alder Flycatchers (pictured above) look almost identical to Least Flycatchers (below) and many times the only way to tell the two apart is by hearing their calls.

Birds and Blooms magazine put together a wonderful list of five applications you can download onto your phone to help identify different bird species by their calls:

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/birding-basics/5-birding-apps/

Habitat

Another great tool for helping us identify birds before we are able to get a clear visual of them is the habitat we are observing them in. Just like other animals, different species of birds prefer to feed and nest in different habitats. Sometimes this is a very broad difference, such as shore birds vs. woodland birds, but other times this can be the difference between a bird observed in a conifer vs. a neighboring deciduous tree.

The different plants that are in our backyards and neighborhoods will greatly influence the species that we find. As long as your yard has or is near good sources of food, water, and shelter, it can be a suitable home for local bird species! Another great resource from Birds and Blooms is this article outlining different habitats and cues from habitats that can help in bird identification:

http://www.birdsandblooms.com/birding/birding-basics/bird-watching-habitat/

Here is an article from New York Audubon highlighting different plants and the birds that are attracted to them:

https://ny.audubon.org/birds-0/bird-habitat-necessities

Common Backyard Birds

Northern Cardinal

Blue Jay

Tufted Titmouse

American Robin

Physical Characteristics

After you’ve used vocalizations to locate your bird and established the habitat it is in, it’s time to start looking at your bird! Just kidding, you can use any of these tips in any order during your bird watching journey. Thankfully, a lot of our backyard birds are pretty easy to distinguish from one another due to their bright colors and notable calls, but there are some that certainly spark confusion (think sparrows). Things get even more confusing during spring migration because there’s always a chance that your yard will be a stopover spot for a bird just passing through.

Some important characteristics to note when looking at a bird are their overall color. That is, is your bird mostly red, blue, or any other color? Once you’ve established the general color, it’s good to look for things like wing bars, or the stripes on the bird's wings, the color of its chest and belly, and any distinct markings. Distinct markings could be something like black-caps in the case of our black-capped chickadees, or the red spots on the back of many woodpecker heads.

Other things to notice when observing and identifying birds are the shape and length of the beak. Depending on what a bird eats, it will have a very distinct beak shape that allows them to successfully feed. Birds like Cardinals and Grosbeaks have very large, thick, triangular shaped beaks perfect for helping them crack open tree nuts and seeds. In contrast, hummingbirds have very slender, needle-like beaks that allow them to get nectar from slender, conical flowers.

Beak and feet color can also be very helpful when identifying different species. Birds' beaks come in all different colors and noting whether the top of the beak is black and the bottom is more pinkish white, or if the entire beak was black can be defining characteristics in the end. Similarly, a bird's feet can be very helpful in determining their species and leg color can range from black to bright yellow!

Some very helpful online resources for bird identification are:

Craft Time!

Pinecone Bird Feeders

Pinecone bird feeders are easy and fun for everyone in your family to attract birds to your yard. Spring is here and with that, comes many bird species who have been spending the Winter in warmer climates! Hanging a pinecone bird feeder will encourage birds to stop-over in your yard for a quick snack, and it could even result in them making a nest somewhere nearby! During migration, you might even see some fly throughs that aren’t usually common in the area.

The first step of making a great pinecone feeder is scoping out a great place to hang it. When thinking about the feeder location, you’ll want to consider if it’s an easy spot for squirrels to get to, the number one bird feeder robbers. To avoid squirrels, try to find somewhere high off the ground that doesn’t have anything that a squirrel can climb onto or around. It’s also really fun to hang the feeder outside a window; this way when you’re indoors, you can see who is snacking outside. Once you’ve found the perfect location, you are ready to make your feeder!

What you will need:

Pinecone
String or yarn
Peanut Butter (all natural, salt free if possible)
Seeds or Cheerios (any sugar-free natural cereal)
Scissors

First things first, measure how long you will need your string to be so you can easily hang it from the spot you chose. Once you’ve done this, cut your string and tie it to the top of your pinecone. You can go ahead and wrap it in the notches of the pinecone to keep it nice and secure. To avoid making a mess, you’ll want to put about half a cup of peanut butter in a bowl (you can also substitute a quarter cup of peanut butter with shortening to conserve resources). The peanut butter will act as the glue for our seeds and Cheerios. You’ll also want to have another bowl prepared with either seeds or Cheerios (any sugar-free cooked cereal will work, i.e. cornflakes).

Once your bowls are ready, the rest is easy! Slather on your peanut butter mixture all around your pinecone. You can roll the pinecone in the PB, or you can use a knife to spread it across the top. Make sure you get enough on there so that your seeds (or whatever you use) will stick to the sides with ease. After you’ve gotten your peanut butter caked onto your pinecone, you can begin to press the seeds onto the sides of the pinecone. They should easily stick to the peanut butter. The seeds will cover all sides of the pinecone and once they do, you will know you are done!

If your peanut butter seems a bit runny and you’re afraid of your seeds sliding off, you can always stick your feeder in the fridge for a little while to firm it up. Once you are happy with your final product, go ahead and hang it outside. Soon enough you will start to see happy birds exploring the new food source!

Please be sure to keep an eye on your pinecone feeder and properly dispose of the pinecone and string when all the seeds have been eaten (or reseed it)!

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