The Birds That Visit Your Bird Feeder May Have A Terrific Memory

Your Bird Feeder

This is a fabulous article about the memories of birds. Click the link at the bottom to read the full article-it's well worth it. 

If someone calls you a “bird brain,” they don’t mean to compliment you. It turns out, however, that birds you see every day can accomplish astonishing feats of memory.

What’s truly amazing isn’t the sheer number of seeds chickadees can store, but that they remember most of them! Black-capped Chickadees have been observed storing close to 1,000 seeds in one day. That means thousands of seeds each winter. They've been tested to remember these locations for at least a month if not longer.

Bird brains: Feathered friends that boast incredible memories

Bird Feeders Are Ready For Winter

Bird Feeder

According to a report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, more people feed birds than hunt or fish combined. In fact, 60 million people in the United States alone feed wild birds. The type of feed offered and the location of feeders will determine the species of birds that come to your back yard.

Winter is a season for watching, waiting and anticipation

Downy Woodpecker At The Bird Feeder

Bird Feeder

Seed and suet feeders are visited many times a day by chickadees, titmice, nuthatches and the woodpecker that is the smallest American member of its family, the downy woodpecker.

Downies are part of action at bird feeder

Tips For Feeding The Birds

Bird Feeder

The bird feeders out my kitchen window are bustling with activity. Our most frequent visitors include nuthatches, chickadees, woodpeckers and sparrows. If you would like to attract and feed birds this season, here are a few bird feeding tips.

Winter bird feeding

Some Reasons Birds Aren't Visiting Your Bird Feeder

Bird Feeder

I don’t think a passing bald eagle or even an infrequently soaring hawk would cause birds to shy away from feeding areas for any length of time. A sudden local shortage of birds can result from a frequent, unwelcome visit from a resident hawk. When a sharp-shinned or Cooper’s hawk appears on the scene, birds appear to “freeze” without any movement and can remain motionless for as long as a half-hour. 

Several factors could account for ‘shortage’ of birds

Birds At The Bird Feeder And Bird Bath

Your Bird Feeder

Black-Capped Chickadees, Chestnut-Backed Chickadees, and Nuthatches come to my bird-feeder and birdbath

Feeder Birds

Bird Feeder Owner vs Squirrels

Bird Feeder

Like many homeowners, I enjoy watching birds at my bird feeder in the winter months. All season long, we have an abundance of feathered visitors – chickadees, nuthatches, finches; ground feeders like cardinals and juncos; and many sparrows and starlings.

Rocketing Rodents

Nest Boxes Are Great Additions For Your Bird Feeder Habitat

Bird Feeder

More and more people are putting up bird nesting boxes and bird feeders around their own places and also in wild places. Some bluebird nest box routes have boxes numbering in the hundreds. Many more people are giving attention to building boxes to suit the needs of particular bird species and placing them in the corresponding habitat. Seventy species of birds are known to nest in or on manmade nest structures.

Out There: 'Bringing' wildlife home

Setting Up a Garden Habitat To Help The Wild Birds

Bird Feeder

Whether you live in a busy town, a suburb, or a rural area, there is much that you can do in your garden to help our feathered friends by planting trees, shrubs and perennials that provide them with food and nesting habitat.

Gardening for the birds and wildlife

Tips For Feeding Birds At A Bird Feeder

Bird Feeder

The feeder has four legs and is about 6 feet high. It’s equipped with an expansive tray, a plastic roof to keep the seeds dry and a shield to ward off squirrels.

Feathered friends | Area residents offer tips on attracting birds

The Northern Shrike-A Bird You Don't Want To See At Your Bird Feeder

Bird Feeder

Take a look at this article:

This time of year, some of you may getting a bird visiting your bird feeder that really isn't interested in any of the food you have put out.

Instead, it is interested in the other small birds coming to your feeder. The northern shrike, though barely larger than a sparrow itself, is a terror to the chickadees, sparrows and nuthatches. It considers them lunch.  Click below to read more.

Northern shrike: Half-pint terror

Feed The Birds Using Home-Made Suet Cakes And Suet Feeders

Bird Feeder

Here are some good ideas for making your own suet cakes and feeders.

The chickadees and nuthatches have been hanging out at the bird feeder, enjoying the sunflower seeds. A blue jay swoops down, crashes into the feeder, then balances itself on the perch designed for much smaller birds, ducks its head and starts eating sunflower seeds.

For the birds

Ground Bird Feeder Tips

Your Bird Feeder

This article examines the benefits of a ground bird feeder, the types of birds it will attract and the best food to place on the feeder.

Although you can toss seed directly onto the ground, it's easier for you to see the birds and easier for them to see the seed from a ground feeder.

For the birds: Ground feeders good for birds, birdwatchers alike