Tips to remember

As The Bird House prepares to close its doors this month for retirement, we leave you with a few tips to keep in mind for the caring for backyard birds.

Bird Houses
Now is the ideal time to clean out houses, make repairs or add homes to your backyard. Putting up a number of houses will give different species a selection for breeding and rearing their young in the spring. In March or April, put out nesting material such as 8-inch lengths of string, yarn or raffia. Pet hair works well too. Never use dryer lint for nesting material. When the lint becomes wet, it creates an unstable nest that takes long to dry.

Keep feeders thoroughly clean

Feeders
Clean out feeders monthly during winter, and more often during the summer. Wet, clumpy seed can get moldy. No bird will want to eat that! Use a long bottle or seed brush to get rid of solid material. If you have a tube feeder, wash it carefully using a solution of 10 parts water to 1 part bleach. Then rinse thoroughly. Let dry before refilling. Tube feeders used to feed Nyjer seed to goldfinches deserve special attention. If Nyjer seed gets wet in rainstorms, the seed will cake and the birds will find food elsewhere. Platform and hopper-style feeders are a bit easier to clean. Still make sure there is no caked-on grit. Wash the feeder thoroughly and let dry before refilling. The weather remains a good time for a good clean. The temperatures are still relatively warm and many days are sunny, so the feeder should dry quickly.

Seed

Seed-eaters will find something on the menu

If you use just one type of seed, use black oil sunflower. It is high in protein and fat, and the thinner shell is easier for most birds to crack. Almost all songbirds love shelled sunflower seed—there is no work involved in opening the hull. If you want to attract the widest number of species, try a seed mix. The best kinds of seed mixes have black oil sunflower seed (50%), white millet (20%) and some shelled peanuts. Almost every bird will find something they will like. You can mix up the proportions depending on which birds you want to attract. For example, cardinals and House Finches will enjoy a bit of safflower seed in the mix. Experiment to see what works best. One word of caution: Never buy seed mixes that contain red milo. These seeds look like tiny reddish globes. Backyard birds don't eat red milo. Many big-box stores and grocery stores sell seed mixes that include red milo. The seed mix may seem much cheaper but for all it's worth, you might as well throw your money on the ground.

Red Milo

Hummingbird Havens
Clean your feeder every three to four days—each time you fill it. The high sugar content of the nectar can get cloudy and moldy quickly. The general rule for seeing hummingbirds is mid-April through the end of September.

Perfect Plantings 
Include vines, shrubs and trees that produce nectar, berries or nuts, or that attract insects. If you use the right vegetation, there will be something available for birds as a backyard buffet. Consult your nursery for the plants most favorable to birds. This is the ideal time to buy and plant shrubbery. Vendors are offering great discounts to sell off their inventory so they won't have to deal with it through the winter. Plant you bargains immediately. The plants will become dormant over the winter if properly protected from sub-Arctic blasts. When warm moist weather arrives in the spring, they will flourish.

Birds love a heated bath in winter

Splish Splash
The best magnet you can include in your backyard to attract birds is water! Water is essential for birds to drink and bathe. One of the biggest favors you can do is include a heated bird bath so there is a supply of water in the winter. When warm months arrive, simply unplug the bath. An alternative is to buy a heating element that is placed in the bath and attached to a source of electricity. (Fortunately we still have a few heating elements in stock at reduced prices.) Another feature that will bring birds to your yard is a "Water Wiggler"—a bowl-shaped battery-powered device that creates tiny waves of water that catch the birds' eye—just like tiny streams do. Another option are misters or tricklers. Any motion that Most birds prefer the bath to be filled with only 1 to 3 inches of water. If the bath comes with a deeper bowl, add a few flat rocks. Be sure to change the water often. During mosquito-breeding season, "mosquito dunks" can be used to kill the larvae without harming the birds. Finally, don't count on solar bird baths functioning during cold winter days. We've tried solar baths. They don't work in our climate. When it's a frigid night, the water freezes solid. Because the sun is so low in the sky, It takes most of the day to thaw the ice in the bath. By then, the sun begins to set and the water begins to freeze again. Think, too, of the number of cloudy days in the winter. There simply isn't enough sun to keep a bath free of ice on a daily basis.