By Pat Dray
The Garden Spot
Pat Dray
Now that the black bears are hibernating (or should be), it’s time to put our bird feeders back out. According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, feeding wild birds (or any wild animals) is a double-edged sword. Although I just love to see our common winter birds at my feeders and berried shrubs, we need to be aware of “the big three” negatives related to feeders: disease, predation and collision.
Shared surfaces on the feeders may expose birds to bacteria such as E. coli or salmonella. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology suggests cleaning your feeder at least once every two weeks to reduce disease risk. Newer models that come apart easily can be cleaned in the dishwasher. Older ones can be cleaned by pouring a weak bleach solution of no more than one part bleach to nine parts water through them. Sweep up any old, moldy and discarded seeds under your feeders.
Keep an eye on the birds at your feeder. If any look sickly, remove your feeder until those birds no longer visit.
Predation, especially by cats, is the largest anthropogenic (human-related) cause of bird death. Cats kill more than 2.5 billion birds a year in the US and Canada. So if cats visit your yard, rethink having a feeder. You’ll want to have shrubs or grasses near the feeder for the birds to nestle in to, but it should be far enough and high enough from the ground that cats can’t reach the feeder from the sheltered area. Also remember to do that sweeping up of old seed, since the remnants will attract predators.
For birds, glass windows are worse than invisible. By reflecting foliage or sky, they look like places to fly into. Up to about 1 billion birds die from window strikes in the US each year.
There are two main types of window collisions: daytime and nighttime. In daylight, birds crash into windows because they see reflections of vegetation or see through the glass to potted plants or vegetation on the other side. At night, nocturnal migrants (including most songbirds) crash because they fly into lighted windows.
As counterintuitive as it seems, move your feeder to within three feet of reflective windows to reduce or eliminate reflection. Windows 15 to 30 feet from a feeder pose the greatest hazard to birds. Covering those windows with decals or screening does work, but you need to put down a grid no larger than two inches by four inches for it to be effective.
If you must leave floodlights on at night, point the bulbs downward. Leave blinds slanted open during the day so that they create a grid – and close them at night.
Remember that the birds will also need a readily available source of fresh water. You can purchase a heater for your birdbath so that the water doesn’t freeze. Or you can just replenish the water on a daily basis. Never, ever put antifreeze in the water to keep it from freezing.
If you follow these simple tips you should be enjoying birds all winter long.
Pat Dray is a past president of the Garden Club of Orange and a master gardener.