It’s in your nature: Is it that time already? Bird feeding tips

It may not feel like autumn, but the calendar reminds me that our winter birds will be arriving or are arriving as you read this weekly column. My bird records over the past 40 years tell me that the first northern juncos “showed up” in my yard or at my feeder about the first week of October. White-throated sparrows followed closely behind. My feeders were generally left unfilled since late May, but this is the time I clean them up, do a repair or two, fill them and watch.

The activity at your feeders will probably be slow until regular freezes kill off most of the insects or an early snow covers much of the available seeds. Over the years you probably noted fewer birds at the feeders as soon as the snow melts.

I’ll recommend some feeder types and feeds you may want to consider. If you used only one seed type it would be black oil sunflower seeds. Larger feeder birds such as cardinals and blue jays will literally gobble these up. Meanwhile, the thinner seed covering is relatively easy for juncos, sparrows and black-capped chickadees to break and get to the nutritious kernel inside.

My second offering would be beef suet. I have found that a number of local food stores with butchers on site will gladly supply you with these scraps from cutting meats. They probably don’t have it on hand but you can order it.

I either make my own suet feeders from hardware cloth or purchase the wire suet block holders. I generally begin feeding suet as November approaches and the daytime temperatures begin to drop. Too many October days of late have been warm, and the fat gets rancid too quickly. I am amazed at the species that eat the suet, and they include: woodpeckers, yellow-bellied sapsuckers, tufted titmice, white-breasted nuthatches, chickadees, Carolina wrens and I have seen mockingbirds enjoying it as well. Remember, the “bully” starlings will sometimes keep the others away, but they won’t be there all day.

I do fill my one hopper feeder with wild bird seed often mixed with some cracked corn. Not all the wild bird seed mix is eaten, but when it scatters to the ground, juncos and mourning doves will eat it. You can try to make your own bird seed mix by buying white proso millet, sunflower hearts and cracked corn, mixing it in a metal container or even a small garbage can. Marzen’s Feed and Hardware is one location to buy your feeder mix items. Nyjer seeds are a nifty addition to attract finches and siskins, too.

One “heads up” is that in areas where black bears frequent, you may have to bring in your feeders each night to avoid them being destroyed. Most bears will den up by late December and often not end their slumber until early March.

Bird feeding can be rewarding, and it is becoming a very popular pastime for many outdoor oriented people. Enjoy and be practical.

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: A red-tailed hawk weighs about ___ pounds. A. 15, B. 8, C. 2.5, D. 1.

Last Week’s Trivia Answer Masked, smoky, long-tailed and short-tailed shrews are found in this region.

Contact Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com.