Backyard Birding Do's & Don'ts

DON'T USE COMMERCIAL WILD BIRD SEED MIXES!

Commercial wild bird seed mixes contain up to 70% fillers. Most of that filler is in the form of millet, both red and white. Millet is the single most dangerous thing you can put in your yard. It is a favorite food of predatory birds that can seriously damage the population of our native songbirds. Millet is the favorite food of Brown-Headed Cowbirds and European House Sparrows.

Brown-Headed Cowbirds are nest parasites. They lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, like finches or cardinals, and then leave the egg to be raised by the unsuspecting songbird. . The Brown-Headed Cowbird baby will hatch and then push all other eggs or baby birds out of the nest to die. The songbirds raise the Cowbird as if it were their own, never suspecting that it is actually the murderer of their own children. Brown-Headed Cowbirds have been a major source of the decline of songbirds in North America.

European House Sparrows are murderers, plain and simple. They are very aggressive and seem to have a vendetta against Bluebirds in particular. They will take over a Bluebird nest, killing the babies and the mother sitting on them, and then will build their own nest right over the top of their corpses. This has actually happened in our own backyard. We are now at war with these stupid, non-native pests. The simplest way to keep them out of your yard to only use birdseed that does not contain millet.

DO PROVIDE BIRDSEED TO DISCOURAGE PEST BIRDS!

Black Oil Sunflower Seed it the single best seed you can provide to your backyard birds. It is a favorite of most all of our songbirds and pest birds either don't like it, or can't open the seeds so they don't eat it. When we switched to providing all Black Oil Sunflower seeds, the Cowbirds disappeared from our property and the European Sparrow's visits to our yard were greatly reduced. Other seeds that will attract songbirds and deter pest birds are; Black Thistle (Niger) Seed for finches and Safflower Seed for other birds..

DON'T USE THE WRONG BIRD HOUSE

Every bird has it's own style of nesting and specifications for a bird house. If you don't pay attention to the size of the entrance hole of the bird house, you could be putting your songbirds in danger. If the hole is too large, it will allow marauding birds like European Starlings and European House Sparrows access to the nest and babies of songbirds. Both of these birds will kill any birds nesting in a bird house and take over the nest.

DO USE BIRD HOUSES WITH THE RIGHT-SIZED ENTRANCE HOLES

Cavity nesting birds, like Bluebirds, Chickadees, Tree Swallows, Downy Woodpeckers and Wrens are the most vulnerable to aggressive pest birds. Make sure you either buy an approved bird house built especially to the specifications of one of these birds, or build one with the appropriately sized entrance hole. Entrance hole specifications for desired birds are as follows...

Bluebirds, Tree Swallows and Downy Woodpeckers - 1.5" to 1.75" diameter

Chickadees and Wrens - 1" to 1.5"

If you find that a pest bird is trying to enlarge the hole in order to gain entrance, glue or screw a metal washer, with the required diameter inner hole, over the entrance. That will stop the pest birds and keep them out of the nest. See "Sparrow Proofing Your Bird House" below for detailed instructions on other methods of keeping House Sparrows out of your bird houses.

DON'T provide only ONE birdhouse, even in a small yard. This creates unhealthy competition for the nest space.

DO provide two to four birdhouses per acre of property. Place birdhouses at about 20' apart. Birds will tolerate other birds nesting nearby, as long as they are either a different species or the birdhouses far enough apart. Our Bluebirds happily nest hear our Tree Sparrows, the Wrens near the Chickadees. We have four birdhouses and all the birds happily coexist.

DON'T mount birdhouses too low to the ground.

DO place birdhouses at least 6 feet high. Most songbirds like their nests at that height. Some birds prefer them a little higher.

DON'T mount birdhouses near low shrubs and bushes. This provides cover for predators that can pounce on the unsuspecting birds.

DO mount the birdhouse near trees or outbuildings. Birds like to have a high perch near their nests so they can survey the area for hunting and watching for predators.

DO use metal poles for mounting. They are the best protection against predators trying to get at the nest inside.

A common misconception is that once you place a birdhouse in your yard, all you have to do is leave it alone and the birds will come.

NOT TRUE!

A dirty birdhouse can become infested with mites, ants and other pests that can put the baby birds health at risk. Birdhouses need to be maintained in order to ensure a healthy environment for the birds. Here is a list of things that we do on a regular basis to keep our birdhouses clean and free of vermin.

BEFORE NESTING SEASON BEGINS

1 - Clean out anything that has accumulated over the winter. Birds and other animals often use birdhouses left up for the winter as winter shelter. I have found our birdhouses full of feathers and sometimes a mouse has completely filled the box with milkweed down, creating a warm wintertime apartment. Remove all of this and wipe the inside of the box with a diluted solution of 1 part bleach to 10 parts water.

2 - Inspect the condition of the birdhouse. Check joints to make sure they are tight. Make sure there are no cracks or rot forming in the wood. If there is, you may need to repair it or get a new birdhouse.

DURING THE NESTING SEASON
Inspect the birdhouse at least once a week. Regular visits to the birdhouse will not disturb the birds or their babies. In fact, your vigilance can save them from insect invasions, health issues or marauding pest birds.

1 - Make sure the babies look healthy and well-fed (full crops, fat tummies). If you find any dead birds (as happens sometimes, sadly) remove the body to keep the nesting environment clean. If the babies look under fed and sickly, there may not be enough food in the area. The parents may abandon the nest. Try offering meal worms to bluebirds or tree swallows. Provide plenty of food for seed eating birds. Don't let the feeder run dry.

2 - Count the babies each time you inspect the box. If any are missing, you may have a nest robber on your hands. If birdhouses are too shallow, crows raccoons, and squirrels (yes squirrels) can get at the babies. You may need to watch the birdhouse for a while to see who is accessing the box. Take measures to protect the babies. If the problem is a pest bird, like a crow, you may need to either modify the entrance so that only a small bird can get near it or adjust the floor of the birdhouse (if adjustable) so that the nest sits deeper in the box. If you don't have a birdhouse with an adjustable bottom, you may need to buy a deeper designed birdhouse, like the Peterson's, or Audubon. If the problem is racoons or squirrels, install a squirrel baffle on the pole, and or move the pole so that the birdhouse cannot be reached from the trees. Squirrels can jump up to 15 feet, so a good distance is 20 feet from the nearest tree..

BEFORE WINTER
There is a debate about whether or not to leave the birdhouses up over the winter. Some people (like my husband) feel that the birds don't need them anymore, and the winter will age them faster, so he likes to take them down. I, on the other hand, like to leave them up. I know for a fact that birds in our area use them sometimes for shelter on cold nights during the winter. I've seen bluebirds hopping in and out of them in the dead of winter with snow all around. Even if the birds don't use them, other critters will. I don't begrudge a field mouse a warm place to hole up for the winter.I have won this debate, so now we leave the birdhouses up all winter. Just give it a good cleaning and let it sit from fall until before the first Robins return in spring.

Myth #1 Don't touch the baby birds or the parents will abandon them.

This is a complete falsehood. Birds do not have a strong sense of smell. They can't "smell" your scent of their babies. If a baby falls out of the nest, go ahead and put it back.

Myth #2 Throw away seeds that get bugs in them.

No, no, no! Birds LIKE bug snacks. Let them have buggy seeds. They will love you for it.