Montana Best Times: Feeding Do's, Don't's (February 2004)

Here are some tips on how to attract birds and properly set up a bird feeder.

EDITOR'S NOTE: In his columns, Terry McEneaney has been showing readers how to get started enjoying birds in Montana. Last month he dealt with choosing a bird field ID book. This month he covers winter bird feeding.

Watching wintering birds from the confines of your warm home is in vogue these days, especially in Montana. Many people show an interest in setting up bird feeders for wintering birds, but only a few really have it down to a science. Following are some tips for those wanting to get started attracting birds to their property:

First, the welfare of wildlife should be the mantra of all people interested in feeding birds. Having free-roaming pets pestering and in many cases killing birds defeats the purpose of feeding birds. House cats allowed outdoors are notorious for killing birds, particularly songbirds. The notion that a declawed cat or one with a bell on the collar or even a hunting dog on the loose will not kill birds is total heresy. Simply put, if you want wild birds around the house, the pets have to be restricted to the house or a fenced in area. This is a personal decision everyone interested in birds has to make.

A secondary benefit of bird feeding is personal enjoyment and the thrill of watching birds up close and in detail, whether it involves bird identification or behavior.

Feeding birds in the winter is totally different from feeding birds in the summer. In the interest of space, we will concentrate this discussion on winter bird feeding.

Gauge your commitment
Before you get started winter bird feeding, ask yourself: Am I willing to make a long-term commitment? After all, you are doing it for the birds, right? Ephemeral bouts or just dabbling with feeding won't do it. Leaving feeders empty or vacationing south for most of the winter is a sure sign of bird feeder failure. Once birds find the food source, they rely on the feed, particularly during bouts of harsh weather. So get in the habit of putting out fresh feed on a regular basis.

Feeding can also be costly. Do you have the financial resources to make this happen? The cost depends on how involved you become. By committing X amount of dollars per month, you virtually have established your degree of involvement in winter bird feeding.

Keep it clean
Please remember bird feeders need to be cleaned periodically. Wet or moldy seed can lead to serious lethal bird diseases, such as conjunctivitis and aspergillosis. As a rule of thumb, have extra feeders and alternate with a rest-rotation system. Cleaning a feeder is best accomplished by soaking it in bleach/water solution (1:10), and letting it dry at room temperature before placing it outdoors.

Location, location, location
Have you ever driven around town and noticed bird feeders without birds? Why is that? Besides the points mentioned above, what other factors affect success or failure of bird feeders?

If you put out a new bird feeder, it takes time for birds to find it. Positioning the feeder in the right place increases the timetable for success. Put the feeder close to vegetation or shrubbery. A feeder all by itself with no shrubs or plants around rarely has birds on it, because it offers no escape cover from aerial and mammalian predators. Birds have been genetically programmed to avoid predators for survival, so if you provide the cover, the birds should show up.

Choosing the right food, feeders
Choosing the right foods and the feeders in the optimum habitat are critical in attracting birds. Knowing what birds eat and the foraging methods of each species are key elements in bird feeding.

For example, a raven in open country rarely eats birdseed, but devours meat. Place this same meat 10 feet from your porch and in your shrub-filled yard and you rarely find ravens attracted to the site. Sunflower seeds as bird food are your best overall investment. For people new at bird feeding, more birds come to sunflower seeds than probably any other single food.

Hanging tubular bird feeders is generally an effective way of attracting birds to food. Once you start luring birds to your area, you might want to consider using more sophisticated feeders, like a hanging wire mesh suet feeder for nuthatches, chickadees, and woodpeckers, or a hanging thistle bag feeder for goldfinches and siskins.

Some birds, like sparrows, finches and juncos, prefer to feed on the ground, so just spreading food on the ground may suffice. If you decide to purchase mixed seed, be careful of what appears to be a good buy. Purchase small quantities at first to make sure the birds will even eat it. Notice what they don't eat, and make sure your next purchase doesn't include the inferior food. In bird food, as in many other things in life, you get what you pay for.

Birds, not bears
Lastly, bird feeders have drawbacks, such as a messy yard from the spent seed in the spring, which can become an instant attraction for wildlife such as bear, elk, deer, raccoons, squirrels, skunks, mice, magpies, ravens, and pigeons.

For best results, get in the habit of removing winter bird feeders by a certain date, and as for me that date is mid-March - before the bears emerge.

Also, be aware bird feeders are notorious for attracting ungulates (cloven-hoofed mammals) that can cause great damage to any home landscaping scheme. The only way to counteract this problem is primarily through fencing the yard or individually fencing trees and shrubs to keep away browsers - or quit feeding entirely.

Time to watch
Now that you are better informed about setting up a winter bird feeding system, it's time to watch birds on the bird feeder from the window of your home, or better yet, go out in the field and watch birds in the wild.

Spring bird migration will be the feature topic of the March issue of the Big Sky Birding column.

Enjoy! And the Best of Big Sky Birding to you!