Well, now that the bustle of the winter holidays is over, had you thought about gifts for your birds?
It seems that getting presents for animals is popular these days. We buy holiday gifts for our dogs or cats. So why not buy gifts for the birds?
What to get them? Bird food, of course.
But what is bird food? It depends on what kind of bird you have in mind. After all, eagles, ostriches, woodpeckers and penguins are all birds, but their foods are rather different.
Well, small, seed-eating backyard birds, you say. Let's buy them seeds.
But even for the small seed-eaters on your list, like white- throated sparrows, cardinals, towhees, juncos, goldfinches, tufted titmice, chickadees and others, you still need to buy the right seed.
Mixes of bird seeds are often primarily the less desirable, cheaper seeds, such as sorghum, wheat or cracked corn. Premium bird seeds, from the point-of-view of these birds, will include sunflower seeds, niger thistle and white and red proso millet.
How about making specialty mixes of seeds, or adding suet to seeds to make a casserole for cardinals or a concoction for chickadees?
It's a cute thought. But a recipe for bird food is not at all necessary. The plain seeds are as good or better.
An interesting 4-H or school wildlife project is to let the birds teach you what they like. Buy various kinds of birdseed and put them out on the ground. Under dense bushes is a good place, where the birds can feed safely.
Put the various kinds of food in separate places, and then count the numbers of each kind of bird you find feeding on the seeds.
Do you need feeders for this experiment? No. A feeder isn't necessary for most small seed-eaters. They're adapted to feeding on the ground, although some, like the goldfinches, often prefer to feed up in the branches.
This is the last in this series of articles on backyard wildlife. Did you like it? If you'd like the series to continue, or if you'd like your questions answered on other wildlife topics, please call Dan Rahn at (912) 681-5189. Or fax (912) 871- 1657, e-mail drahn@uga.cc.uga.edu or write at P.O. Box 8112, Statesboro, Ga. 30460.
