Questions and answers

DO BIRDS COME TO A FEEDER BECAUSE THEY SEE THE SEED OR BECAUSE THEY SMELL IT?

Most backyard birds have some sense of smell but it is poorly developed. They come to feeders because they see the seed or they see other birds feeding. Some birds are naturally inquisitive that they investigate something new, such as seed.

HOW DO I GET RID OF STARLINGS THAT OVERRUN SEED AND SUET FEEDERS?

Non-native European Starlings are a huge problem not just for us but ecologically. They take over nest cavities from woodpeckers and bluebirds, often killing nestlings and even parent birds. 

You can close the feeders down for a week or two in the hope that the starlings will move on. 

You can try using safflower seed—the white-color seed—which starlings and native grackles do not eat. 

You can use tube feeders that are protected by a cage. Smaller birds such as chickadees, titmice, wrens, finches and Downy Woodpeckers can easily get in to reach the seed but the larger starlings cannot. 

Starlings with their softer bills cannot crack striped sunflower seeds but cardinals, chickadees find the appealing.

WHEN DO GOLFINCHES CHANGE COLORS? HOW CAN YOU TELL FEMALES FROM OTHER SPECIES?

Male goldfinches already are in their bridge yellow color bodies and black and white wings. First-year males have a paler color without the black cap. Female goldfinches do not change color. They remain a general buff color with black wings and a noticeable stripe on them.

WHICH BIRDS USE BIRD HOUSES? WITHOUT A HOUSE, WHAT WILL THEY USE?

Not all backyard birds use bird houses, which are also known as nesting boxes. Chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, wrens, bluebirds, swallows, House Finches, Purple Martins, various woodpeckers and some owls use nesting boxes. In the absence of a house, woodpeckers will create their own cavities by pecking a hole in a tree to excavate a nesting area. Some birds will move into old woodpecker homes to build nests there.

CAN I PUT OUT DRYER LINT FOR THE BIRDS TO USE FOR NEST BUILDING?

Dryer lint used to be a recommendation but researchers have found it actually is a bid idea. Lint makes nests very unstable. Take a ball of lint and wet it. See how it shrinks? As it dries, it becomes crushed and loses its fluffy quality altogether. 

Instead you can put out dog or cat hair that has not been treated for fleas or ticks.

You can use string or yarn but make sure that the pieces are only 4 to 6 inches long so birds don't get tangled.

Summer is feeding time

Male American Goldfinch in summer plumage

Summer can be a rewarding season for backyard birding. Here are a few tips to entice a variety of birds.

First, it is a myth that feeding birds in the summer will make them dependent on feeders and cause them to ignore natural foods. Study show that wild birds eat no more than 25 percent of their daily intake from feeders once natural food is available. Birds that migrate fly south based on changes in the reduced summer sun.

Summer is a great time to observe feeders because …

Parents of nestlings do not need to forage far from the next to find food. The nestlings are not left alone for long periods of time and therefore they are safer from predators.

Birds being raised in the backyard give us an opportunity to watch the nestlings as they mature and learn to visit feeders.

Birds are in striking or colorful breeding plumage, making it easier to identify and enjoy.

There is a greater variety of birds in our area during the summer months; by offering food only in winter, you miss seeing many species.

Hummingbirds benefit from nectar to fuel their high metabolism. Late-breeding goldfinches benefit from Nyjer seed until natural thistle, coneflower and rudbeckia go to seed later in the summer.

American Goldfinches are turning color

Male Goldfinch molting for winter

You may have noticed that the yellow goldfinches in your yard aren't as vibrant as they were just a few weeks ago. That is nature's way of saying autumn has arrived and cold weather is not long off.

All birds molt but American Goldfinches do it in style. The brilliant lemon yellow that is so common in summer is now becoming a blotchy olive-yellow. In a few weeks, the birds will have completed their molting and the yellow of their feathers will be replaced by a drab olive-brown. Male goldfinches will become almost indistinguishable from the females, with the exception that the females will have a grayer cast to their olive-brown color.

Some goldfinches migrate south for the winter but most stay in our area. It's a good thing for the males to change color. With fewer leaves on the trees, the males become harder for predators to spot.

Goldfinches do not have the ability to change color in the same way a chameleon does to match its surroundings. For goldfinches, the change in color is triggered by hormonal changes affecting carotenoid pigments. Some researchers believe that the length of daylight or differences in the bird's diet may contribute to the hormonal changes.

The change in color isn't limited to their feathers. The bills of the both sexes also change color, from an orange yellow in summer to a dark bill in winter. The darker appearance is the result of melatonin deposition, possibly because of hormonal changes. The young have a dark bill even before they leave the nest.

After winter ends, male goldfinches replace their drab feathers with the lemon yellow that we enjoy seeing in summer. The brighter the male during breeding season in June, the greater he'll impress a female and mate.

Cold-weather goldfinches can be identified by their conical bill, pointed notched tails, wing bars and lack of streaking. They are acrobatic and active, often clinging to dried sunflowers, black-eyed susans or coneflowers well into the fall. 

Try this trick to attract goldfinches: Instead of cutting back your raggedy-looking coneflowers, let them stand so the seed cones can mature. Coneflowers are prized by goldfinches. It's not uncommon to see a goldfinch grasping onto a stem, often hanging upside down, to extract seeds from the cone. When the seeds disappear from the cone, then you can cut the coneflowers to the ground for winter.

Goldfinches are found mainly in weedy fields and floodplains or other overgrown areas where plants such as sunflower, aster and thistle are common. Of course, feeders will bring them to the backyards, where they shelter and nest in shrubs and trees.

The birds fly with a bouncy rollercoaster pattern, often calling while flying.

Goldfinches nest later in the summer than most other birds. They wait until mid- to late summer when milkweed, thistle and other plants have produced their fibrous seeds.

They choose to nest in maple, oak or other deciduous trees (or pine trees) about 30 feet above the ground. The nest is an open cut of rootlets woven so tightly that it can hold water. The female lashes the foundation to supporting branches and lines it with fluffy material taken from the same plants fro which the birds feed. It takes a female about six days to complete the nest. Clutch size is two to seven eggs; incubation lasts 12 to 14 days. The chicks hatch in another 11 to 17 days.

Goldfinches are strict vegetarians. Only inadvertently will they swallow an insect.

The best way to attract goldfinches to your backyard is to provide a nyjer seed feeder. These feeders are tube shaped with small ports sized to keep the seed from falling out. Fill the feeder with nyjer seed (which mistakenly is called "thistle seed") or with a "finch mix" that contains both nyjer and tiny fragments of sunflower seed. If you use the mix, don't be surprised to see an occasional Downy Woodpecker feeding from the feeder!

Goldfinches also will come to tube feeders filled with black oil sunflower seed.

The birds compete for food, and they put on a great show as they chase each other and vie for space on the feeder.

Goldfinch and Nyjer seed

Goldfinch perching seeking fluff from thistle plant

American Goldfinches start breeding in mid-July. Some customers have reported that goldfinches seem to be changing their diet from Nyjer to black-oil sunflower.

Rapidly growing young birds require a lot of protein to thrive. Black-oil sunflower and Nyjer have about the same protein content: black-oil sunflower consists of 14 to 20 percent protein and Nyjer 18 percent.

While black-oil sunflower and Nyjer have about the same percentage of protein, birds will have to eat more Nyjer to get the same amount of protein. We have seen goldfinches on one feeder with sunflower chips and the other feeder with Nyjer. Competition with other little birds on the Nyjer feeder is less, however. At The Bird House, the "Finch Favorite" mix has a combination of Nyjer and sunflower chips.

Goldfinches nest later in the season than other birds. They use soft natural material to line their nests. 

Thistle is a great source of this. After the thistle blooms, the seeds are attached to very fine, very soft material that helps carry the seeds away by means of the wind. Goldfinches will take this white fluff and line their nests.

Another plant is the milkweed. When the pods open in late July, there is a virtual explosion of seeds being carried on large tufts. Goldfinches also will use this material for their nests. This is another good reason to let a corner of your backyard go natural!

Should I continue to feed?

Male Goldfinches are most vivid in summer

Some people feed birds only during the winter. That's logical. In winter snow often covers the ground, preventing birds from reaching natural sources of food. Cold weather means birds need a ready source of seed and suet to maintain their metabolism through bitterly cold winter nights.

But many other people find feeding birds all year long to be an especially enjoying hobby. 

Warm weather is the time when you're most likely to be outdoors enjoying your patio or porch. Days are longer, giving you more leisure time outdoors. 

Use that opportunity. Continue feeding. You'll be able to observe the comings and goings of birds as they visit your feeders in search of food for their chicks. And think of it this way: By giving parents a ready source of food, they'll be raising chicks that are healthier and stronger.

Another reason to keep feeding is that we still are seeing different species of migrating birds passing through our region. If you offer seed, suet, mealworms or fruit, these migrants may use your backyard as a quick stopover.

Birdscaping: The coneflower

The purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is a must-have for gardeners who wish to attract American Goldfinches to their backyard. Coneflowers also a welcome source of seed for cardinals, blue jays and White-crowned Sparrows.

Coneflowers are native to North America. They are prairie plants that are easy to grow and require little care. They are perennials, so once they're established, you will have color every summer and food for the birds every autumn and winter.

The plant gets its name from the cone-shaped center of the flower. When the daisy-like petals fade, the center matures to a bristly conical seed head. You'll see goldfinches clinging to a stem as they chip away at the cone to pick out a seed.

The goldfinch is one of the last of the bird species to breed. It waits to nest until June or July when milkweed, thistle and other plants have produced their fibrous seeds, which the finches incorporate into their nest and feed to their young. By the time goldfinch chicks are ready to fledge, coneflowers have set seed and are ready for their dinner table.

Coneflowers produce large, conspicuous flowers that retain their showiness for about three weeks. They are starting to bloom right now. Garden centers should have plenty available for sale. Be careful in choosing your plants, though. The brilliant yellows, reds and oranges are dazzling, but most are hybrids created by crossing several different species of Echinacea. These cultivars are propagated by tissue culture, meaning they are sterile and produce no seeds for birds. Also, stay away from the double-flower varieties. They provide little food value for birds or butterflies.

Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

You are better off sticking with tried-and-true varieties, such as Echinacea purpurea, E. pallid, E. tennesseensis and E. paradox, according to wildlife gardening specialist Barbara Pintozzi. The flowers of these species are pinkish-purple, mauve-pink, white or (in the case of E. paradox) pale yellow.

If you want birds to feed from your coneflower seeds, don't prune off the spent flowers. Instead, let them stand throughout the winter when birds are eager for natural food sources.  As soon as spring arrives, simply cut your coneflowers to the ground. They will grow back to bloom again in the summer.

Coneflowers prefer full sun and well-drained soil. They will do well in almost any kind of soil—sandy soil, glacial till, fluvial silts, loam or clay, all of which are common in the Lehigh Valley. Your coneflowers will do best if you add compost to the soil.

Coneflowers tolerate dry conditions well. If you plant full-grown coneflowers from the garden center, be sure to water them thoroughly during the first summer so the roots can establish themselves. You also can grow coneflowers by sowing seed, either in a greenhouse in late winer or outdoors in early spring. Plant the seeds one-quarter of an inch deep. After germination, thin the seedlings so the plants are about 18 inches apart.

The plants are very hardy. They survive the coldest winters in the Lehigh Valley. They do not require mulching for winter. During the hottest and sunniest days of the summer, the leaves may seem to wilt. Don't worry. That's the coneflower's way of dealing with intense heat. As the sun passes its peak, the leaves will return to their normal appearance.

Coneflowers are resistant to insects and disease. If a problem does occur, treat early with insect repellants or a fungicide. Use organic treatments whenever possible.

Here are a few suggestions for gardening with coneflowers:

• Plant coneflowers toward the back of the garden bed. Coneflowers grow 24 to 42 inches tall, depending on the variety. Use them to set the stage for shorter plantings.
• Offset coneflowers' coarse texture with more finely textured neighbors such as thread-leaf coreopsis. Another option would be bluish-green or silvery foliage plants.
• Plant in clumps. Coneflowers look better together, rather than spread out individually.
• Naturalize coneflowers by intermixing them with other perennials, especially Rudbeckia (black-eyed susans). Combining those two species extends the flowering season from late June, when the coneflowers start blooming, until late August, when Rudbeckia wraps up its show.

Birds are not the only wildlife that enjoy coneflowers. The flowers attract all sorts of butterflies, including Fritillaries, Monarchs, Painted Ladies and Swallowtails. They feed on nectar. If you examine a flower up close, you will notice that the central cone actually has a collection of 200 to 300 disk florets. The disk florets in the center open first, then proceed outward in succession. Butterflies find nectar in each of the disk florets.

Coneflowers are an attractive way of bringing goldfinches to your backyard. Give them a try!

Why do male goldfinches change color?

Perhaps you've been noticing some odd-looking finches in your backyard lately. They're blotchy, not quite olive but not quite yellow. Those are male American Goldfinches, getting ready for this summer's mating season.

Male goldfinch in process of molting

All birds molt, but male American Goldfinches do it in style. In summer, they "change their clothes" to a bright lemon yellow, with a strikingly black cap, black tail feathers and bars of black and white on the wings. Male goldfinches are one of the brightest birds in the backyard, with some people mistakenly calling them "canaries."

In fall, the males start changing to wintertime olive. After six to eight weeks, they're almost indistinguishable from the drab-colored females, with the exception that the females look a bit grayer. Some goldfinches will migrate south but most remain through the winter. It's just that they're not so noticeable. This has the side benefit of keeping the birds safer from predators in the bleak winter foliage.

In the spring, when the males begin molting again, they gradually grow an entirely new set of feathers, one at a time. At the early stage of this process, the bird is part olive and part yellow. They may seem a bit ragged looking. Goldfinches do not have the ability to change colors, at least not in the same way as a chameleon changes its colors with its surroundings. The change in color is due to hormonal changes affecting carotenoid pigments. The hormones are triggered by the male's reproductive cycle. The brighter the male during breeding season in June, the greater they'll impress a female and mate.

Male goldfinch in summer

Some researchers also believe that the hormonal changes also contribute to the increase in daylight or changes in the bird's diet. 

By the way, the change in color isn't limited to the feathers. The bills of the both sexes also change color, from a dark bill in winter to a vivid yellow-orange in summer. After the dark-billed young fledge in late summer or early fall, the bills of adults again become darker from melatonin deposition, possibly because of hormonal changes.

American Goldfinches are among the last birds to nest in North America. Nesting occurs around early July when many of the birds' favorite plants have gone to seed. That enables the parents to find ample food for their youngster. The nests are built in maple, oak or other deciduous trees or in pines as far as 30 feet up. They prefer collecting plant down, such as thistle and milkweed, to provide the soft, downy fibers that the birds prefer.

Don't forget to feed goldfinches in August

There's nothing that represents August more than the American Goldfinch. Although they are visible through spring and early summer, goldfinches are now busy at tube feeders and flower gardens looking for seed to nourish their fledglings.

Goldfinches build nests, lay eggs and raise young in late summer. By waiting to begin the reproductive cycle after other birds, goldfinches are assured a plentiful supply of seeds on mature native plants. It is their preference for seeds that likely explains this behavior. An added benefit for them is that they avoid that period when female brown-headed cowbirds are looking for nests in which to deposit eggs.

Visit an overgrown field in late summer or early fall, and you will likely find the highly adaptable goldfinches foraging on the seed heads or clinging to the plant stems of wild field plants. The beautiful vocalization of the American Goldfinch makes it easy to understand why they are often referred to as our “wild canaries.”

Gregarious goldfinches travel in small flocks except during nesting season. Nests contain thick walls of tightly woven plant material forming a cup lined with thistle or milkweed down. They are so tightly constructed that goldfinch nests actually have been found filled with water after a heavy downpour.

The male is easily recognizable by its bright yellow coloration during spring and summer. By winter, the male's feathers change to a duller, brownish olive. The female is brownish olive all year long. 

American Goldfinches are 100 percent herbivores. You can attract them to your tube feeder by stocking it with hulled sunflower seed and millet, and especially Nyjer. (Nyjer is commonly called "thistle.") The goldfinch's conical bill is a sure sign of a seed-eater. The birds are so focused on seed for food that they even feed their nestlings regurgitated seeds.

Goldfinches love water and will often be the first to splash in puddles after a rainstorm. 

The orange centers coneflowers mature into seed 

When planting your garden for next spring, keep goldfinches’ food needs in mind. Common garden flowers whose seeds goldfinches enjoy include coneflower, aster, bachelor’s buttons, cosmos, flaxseed, grasses and zinnia. If you have plants in your garden, let the flowers develop to seed.

By the way, fall is an ideal time to buy and plant perennial flowers. Garden retailers are eager to reduce their stock before winter. In addition, plants are using their energy to develop strong root systems before cold weather sets in. The flowers and leaves might not look so attractive right now, but you'll be rewarded next spring.