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Bird Bio: Mockingbirds harassing feeder birds.

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With each day that passes the breeding season for birds’ draws ever closer.  As of the last week of January some songbirds were already singing, like Cardinals and Chickadees.  Spring really is right around the corner and soon the habits and behaviors of birds will begin to change noticeably.

Many of you will experience our state bird, the Northern Mockingbird, ramp up its territorial defense of its chosen breeding- ground.  The typically feisty Mockingbird can be seen harassing predators that encroach on its territory, like hawks and cats.  Maybe you’ve had a Mockingbird take a swipe at you when to close to their nest. 

But it also means “Mockers” may present a problem for your feeder birds.  If your feeding stations are anywhere near the intended nesting area of a Mockingbird one or both of the mating pair may fly in aggressively and make all the feeding birds scatter, over and over again.  This tends to be a very frustrating experience, more so, for the person trying to feed birds than for the birds being chased. This behavior usually persists well into the Mockingbirds first nesting in April.  When the babies hatch and the “Mockers” are feeding young they are usually too busy to chase the feeder birds away.  It will still happen but not with the frequency of earlier in the breeding season.

Suggestions:

  • Temporarily move, or spread out, your feeders. One Mockingbird cannot be in two or three places at once.  Move feeders further away or out of sight of the location they appear to be guarding.  Mockingbirds often use evergreen trees or shrubs, or dense hedges to nest in.

  • Try offering the Mockingbirds a few live mealworms a couple of times a day.  This may or may not alleviate the tension but you may gain an appreciation for the “personality” this intelligent bird displays. Be sure to offer the mealworms near the Mockingbirds’ supposed nest-site and not near the birds feeding station.  

  • When we have fed Mockingbirds on our loading dock at the store it’s been an enjoyable experience.   They nearly come to our feet and are quite tolerant of our presence. 

February is national birdfeeding month so stay tuned for more blogs througout the month. Also stop by and take advantage of our big bird feeding sale running through February.

Click Here to read more about the sale.

Bird Bio: Orange Crowned Warbler

In the recent wintery weather did you see anything “different” at your feeders?  Just yesterday, Jan. 17, I noticed something different at a tube feeder with a variety of Wood Thrush Shop blends.  What caught my eye was a bird smaller than a Goldfinch that moved differently than the other birds.  It was quicker as it moved among the branches to the feeder, and it was by itself.  I then keyed in on the color which was more greenish-yellow than Goldfinches.  Looking through my binoculars that I keep by the window where I watch birds it became clear I had an Orange-crowned Warbler.  And it was the first recorded in my yard.  I got a little video to share with you although the quality isn’t great. 

The Orange-crowned warbler measures about 4 ½” in length and has no wing bars or distinctive marks.  It’s olive-green to gray above, and yellow-green below.  Looking through binoculars you may notice faint streaks on the breast.  The orange on the crown is barely visible and seldom seen.  They are primarily insect eaters but in this kind of weather they can adapt to small bits of seed and fruit. 

Other birds of note during the snowy weather are the Yellow-bellied sapsucker, Fox sparrow, Hermit Thrush, Eastern Bluebird (eating suet and mealworms), and Red-winged blackbirds.

Always be extra vigilante during winter weather for the more unusual birds.  They notice the additional bird traffic at feeders and follow in to investigate.

Fall Bluebird Activity

We are often asked “when is a good time to put up a bluebird box”?  Every day is a good day to put up a bluebird box.  After all, the sooner they have a chance to see it the better.  Fall is a particularly good time to put out a nest box because bluebirds often show great interest in boxes at this time.  Many people that had successful nesting bluebirds will see them return to nest boxes in the fall and actually go through some of the motions of courting and nesting.  Sometimes they will even put nest material in a box.  What you are seeing is probably just a bonding behavior, not nesting.  Perhaps a successful male and female pair from the previous breeding season is back to stake an early claim on the box, or maybe a male showing a potential new mate a good nesting spot.  So, if you want to get a head start on attracting bluebirds now is a great time to put up a bluebird box.  Now is also a good time to do a little maintenance on existing bluebird boxes.  It’s a good idea to clean out the old nest material now so it doesn’t attract insects that can be a real danger to developing chicks next spring. 

And don’t forget the mealworms.  We stock mealworms all winter long and as harsh winter weather descends upon us Bluebirds will be very appreciative of the protein rich larvae.  Bluebirds will accept a variety of foods around the feeding stations during the winter months.  Suet and shelled sunflower are the two most notable.  I have seen them at tube feeders as well as platform and hopper feeders for shelled sunflower, and for peanut butter suet at a hanging suet feeder.

Join the Tennessee Bluebird Society

All you Bluebird enthusiasts listen up!  The Tennessee Bluebird Society is looking for new members.  If you have a strong interest in and would like to help protect the Eastern Bluebird, and other native cavity nesting birds in Tennessee, the TN Bluebird Society would love your help.   Please visit their website, tnbluebirdsociety.org.  The Wood Thrush Shop is a proud member and supporter.

Finches with Eye Disease

We’ve been seeing some reports on TN birding sites of House Finches and Goldfinches with an eye disease known as Mycoplasmal conjunctivitis, or House Finch eye disease.  And just yesterday a customer inquired about a bird that seemed sick.  It did not move away as she approached, as if it was not really aware of her presence.  The bird turned out to be a sick House Finch.  We hear reports and see evidence of this every year that range from sparse to wide-spread. 

Birds infected with House Finch eye disease have red, swollen, runny, or crusty eyes. In extreme cases the eyes become swollen shut and the bird becomes blind. House Finch eye disease is caused by the bacterium Mycoplasma gallisepticum. This bacterium has long been known as a pathogen of domestic turkeys and chickens, but it has been observed in House Finches since 1994. The disease has affected several other species, including American Goldfinch, Evening Grosbeak, and Purple Finch

You might observe an infected bird sitting quietly in your yard, clumsily scratching an eye against its foot or a perch. While some infected birds recover, many die from starvation, exposure, or predation.

The House Finch eye disease has affected mainly the eastern House Finch population, which is largely separated from the western House Finch population by the Rocky Mountains. Until the 1940s, House Finches were found only in western North America. They were released to the wild in the East after pet stores stopped illegal sales of “Hollywood Finches,” as they were commonly known to the pet bird trade. The released birds successfully bred and spread rapidly throughout eastern North America. In 2006, however, the disease was found west of the Rocky Mountains, and researchers are using FeederWatch data to monitor the spread west.

Whenever birds are concentrated in a small area, the risk of a disease spreading within that population increases. Research suggests that House Finches that spend large amounts of time at feeders spread the disease more effectively.

According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, House Finch Disease Survey data tell us that the disease has decreased from epidemic proportions and is now restricted to a smaller percentage of the population. It’s estimated that 5% to 10% of the eastern House Finch population has this disease and that the dramatic spread that occurred a few years ago has subsided. This means that it is still an important and harmful disease, but that House Finch populations are not currently at extreme risk of wide-spread population declines.

What To Do

If you detect a sick finch at your feeders the standard procedure is to take down your feeders for a few days to a week and give them a very thorough cleaning.  Cleaning your feeders is always a good idea and is recommended it be done on a regular basis.  Clorox wipes are very handy to give your feeder a quick clean particularly around the feeding ports.

Bird Bio: Red-Headed Woodpecker

I had a very pleasant surprise at my feeder full of Woodland Blend yesterday.  It’s a common bird to TN, but uncommon to birdfeeders; the Red-headed Woodpecker.  Sometimes people will mistakenly identify the Red-bellied Woodpecker as a Red-headed, but they really are extremely different.  The video I took and posted shows both species visiting the same feeder.  In over 25 years at my home in Pegram I’ve only seen Red-headed woodpeckers one other time.  The habitat around my home is heavily wooded, hard-wood forest.  Obviously not the habitat Red-headed woodpeckers prefer.  However, one can easily see Red-headeds at Montgomery Bell State Park and Bowie Nature Park where there are a lot of pine trees.  They seem to prefer more open habitat with evergreens.

The Red-headed woodpecker is easily identified by its entirely red head, neck and throat.  The back and wings are black with a patch of white visible on the wings.  The chest and belly are snowy white.  This insect, seed, and nut eater can be seen at feeders but not likely with regularity.  Numbers of this stunning bird seem to be on the decline in large part due to habitat loss and competition from Starlings for nest-sites.

AND…

The first Rose-breasted Grosbeaks of the season were reported this week being seen at feeders.  I saw one briefly yesterday but was unable to get my video camera in time.  Have your feeders ready because the Grosbeaks feed heavily as they migrate through the area.  They like sunflower, safflower, and shelled peanuts, and will use a variety of feeders including tube and platform.  Occasionally, they may be seen at suet feeders.