The most important consideration for Martins is a proper habitat. The ideal spot for a Martin house would be in the center of a large open area, approximately 100 feet or less from your own dwelling and in fairly close proximity to a water source. Martins are strictly insect eaters and need open spaces to spot and dive for prey. Tall trees will harbor predators like hawks and owls, so Martins won't nest near wooded areas.

The next consideration in attracting and maintaining martins is housing. Make Duncraft your housing resource! Duncraft offers an excellent selection of martin houses and pole options. We have taken care to offer housing that has been time tested to be attractive to Martins, is easy to clean and maintain, and offer pole options that make accessing houses a breeze. And now Duncraft offers pre-assembled aluminum Martin houses. So, if you’re not handy, and dread figuring out all the pieces and screws, nuts and bolts it takes to assemble most aluminum martin houses, this could be the perfect option for you.

  

New martin houses must be put up very early in the spring.  Most are equipped with door plugs to keep out invasive house sparrows and starlings that arrive earlier in spring than martins do. You'll have to be very dilligent in keeping these birds out of your houses and also be on the watch for other predators such as rodents. You can track the martin's journey north on the Purple Martin Society's website. But don't be discouraged if martins don’t occupy your house at first. Often it takes a few years for the right colony to find your house and settle in. Purple Martin decoys placed on the house help create the appearance of a nesting colony and may help attract new martins. And once martins begin to nest in your house, they will be back year after year.

To view the web version or post a comment, go to http://duncraft.atom5.com/attracting-purple-ma-4077.html

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All summer long on my commute home from work, I had been seeing a group of Great Blue Herons in a marshy, beaver pond right off the highway. I was surprised that there were so many together, usually three to six at a time, feeding in the water.

One day, I noticed other birds with them that looked just like the herons, but were pure white. A little research proved the birds were Great Egrets—similar in size and appearance to the Great Blue Heron, but with snow-white plumage. Each day I'd see anywhere from three to five birds standing and feeding right alongside the herons. Unfortunately, the highway was too busy to pull over and really observe the birds, but I felt lucky to see them as I whizzed past.

The Great Egret is now a common bird in the U.S. and can be seen in a variety of wetland habitats, including marshes, coastal tide flats, rivers, streams and flooded fields. They feed mostly on fish, but will also eat frogs, crayfish, small mammals and reptiles. They stalk their prey slowly and methodically, then strike out quickly to stab with their long bill. Their nests are built of sticks and greens and can be found in trees or shrubs with other herons and egrets. Great Egrets are migratory in their northern ranges, but are very influenced by temperature. During mild winters, they may stay in their summer breeding grounds as long as the waters stay open. If the waters freeze, Great Egrets will migrate southward, either alone or in loose v-shaped flocks.

 

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Birds are always eating to satisfy their constant demand for energy--and fat provides the most concentrated source of calories in a bird’s diet. That translates into energy for flying, keeping warm, nesting, raising young and foraging. No wonder birds crave suet! In fact, you can attract many more birds with suet than you can with bird seed. Suet attracts insect and fruit eaters that won’t come to eat at a seed feeder. 

Suet is available in many flavors and varieties.  Suet cakes are the most common, but birds will also love suet balls, fed from a suet ball feeder, suet plugs to fill a suet log feeder and suet nuggets. Nuts'n Bugs is a mix of suet and dried insects, perfect for insect eaters! And you can offer other types of high fat foods that will attract these birds too, such as peanut butter, vegetable shortening, and vegetable based suet pellets.

 

Duncraft, Inc.  102 Fisherville Road, Concord NH  03303 

  800-593-5656

http://duncraft.atom5.com/attract-more-birds-w-4005.html

To create your own Blog at Atom5, go to http://www.atom5.com]]> http://duncraft.atom5.com/attract-more-birds-w-4005.html http://duncraft.atom5.com/attract-more-birds-w-4005.html#c http://duncraft.atom5.com/attract-enjoy-bluebi-3877.html Mon, 19 Apr 2010 08:04:06 -0500
Bluebirds are one of the most beautiful and desired of backyard birds. They can be found all across the country–and their names correspond to the region in which they are found; Eastern, Mountain and Western. Each differ somewhat in appearance and song, but they are all equally breathtaking and also prefer similar habitats. Because they are insect eaters, mainly feeding on ground dwelling insects, they prefer open areas such as parks, orchards, pastures and cemetaries where it is easier to spot their prey.

Although bluebirds are now making a comeback, there was a time when their numbers had seriously declined. The Eastern bluebird nearly became extinct. Now this bird is no longer on the endangered birds list thanks to conservationists and organizations dedicated to preserving this bird.

What can you do to attract bluebirds and also participate in their conservation? Putting up nesting boxes is the first step in attracting these beautiful birds. The house should be mounted anywhere from 5 to 15 feet from the ground, preferably on a pole, with the opening facing away from prevailing winds. A canister type pole baffle to deter predators from below is strongly recommended. Ideally the house should be situated at the edge of a meadow or field or other open terrain.

Entrance holes should be 1 1/2″ for Eastern bluebirds and 1 9/16″ for Mountain and Western bluebirds. This size opening discourages starlings from entering or building nests. Good ventilation and drainage are important, and most houses have a raised wire platform inside to prevent parasites, particularly the blowfly, from infesting the young.

If you choose to put up more than one house, make sure they are at least 300 feet apart. Monitor the box on a regular basis. Watch for house sparrows that readily take up residence before the bluebirds do, and remove their nests as they are built.

Most bluebird houses are equipped with some means to open the box without disturbing the nestlings. Check frequently for signs of parasites or predator activity. Contrary to belief, checking on the nest will not cause the parent birds to abandon it. For more information on housing and many other topics concerning bluebirds, visit the website of the North American Bluebird Society (NABS).

Feeding bluebirds is an excellent way to observe young fledglings and their parents and also eases their stress of continuously searching for food. Bluebirds love mealworms, either live or roasted. Offer them in a platform feeder or one designed especially for mealworms.Bluebird “Nuggets” are also welcomed and contain beef suet, grain, peanuts and raisins. And be sure to add a birdbath or some other source of fresh water. Bluebirds are especially fond of water and will use a birdbath frequently.

With a properly maintained nest box or two, a morning feeding of mealworms and suet Nuggets offered during the day, it’s likely you will treated to the sights and sounds of bluebirds year after year.

–Roxanne Brune

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Times like these and the simple pleasures of feeding the birds are too good to keep to yourself!  Why not let your friends and family in on the fun? A simple, inexpensive gift of bird seed and a bird feeder will get them started instantly. Make sure you recommend hanging the feeder outside a window where the birds are easily seen. Children especially love birds and it’s a great activity for them to share with parents and grandparents. Once they see birds coming to the feeder and you help them learn what the birds are, they’ll be hooked for life—it’s addictive! And when birthdays and holidays come along, birders are so easy to buy for--birding books, binoculars, bird prints, bird seed, feeders and more feeders!

       

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Choosing the right bird foods does make a difference in the kinds of birds you attract—and how much you spend on your hobby.  Some people ask, "Why pay more for seed from a specialty catalog or a specialty store when you can get the same thing cheaper at the grocery store?"  Well, it's not the same thing!—cheap bird seed is often full of sticks and other harvesting debris. And it usually contains a lot of “filler” seeds that most birds won’t eat, such as milo, wheat, and millet. These seeds are okay, but you don’t want them to predominate in the mix because they only appeal to a few types of birds. Since you’re paying by the pound, it makes sense not to pay for sticks and seeds that most birds don’t like. Premium seed will actually give you more edible seed per pound.

Suet, either plain, flavored, or mixed with seeds is a food that attracts even more birds than just seed eaters. If you can only feed one other food besides black oil seed, make it suet.  Wrens, catbirds, bluebirds and mockingbirds are a few of the insect eaters that will come to a suet feeder, along with chickadees, woodpeckers, nuthatches and titmice to name a few. Suet is a high fat food that provides birds with lots of energy for winter survival, spring nesting, and also helps them load up on the extra fat needed for migration. Suet is a year round food, not just for winter feeding! Suet is technically beef fat, but any foods that supply fat in quantity can also be used, such as vegetable shortening and peanut butter. Suet cakes are a convenient way to offer suet, needing only an inexpensive suet basket to place them in--get one labeled No-Melt for hot climates. And sometimes grocery stores will sell beef fat for bird feeding. It’s all good !

Nyjer (thistle) seed draws finches—goldfinches can’t resist it—and indigo buntings like it too. Feed it alone, or mixed with other seeds to attract these birds. Nyjer is very small seed. If offered alone, be sure to purchase a feeder specially made for Nyjer, so it won’t fall out of the feeder ports. Feeding Nyjer, sunflower seeds and suet will have you attracting just about every backyard bird.

To give your birds variety, there are other foods you can offer as well. Safflower seed is a high oil seed and is enjoyed by cardinals, grosbeaks, finches, chickadees, titmice and nuthatches. One reason people feed safflower seed is that squirrels usually avoid it!

 

Peanuts are a special treat for large birds. Jays and woodpeckers love them shelled and split or even with the shell on. Unfortunately, so do squirrels. If that’s going to be a problem, but you'd still like to offer peanuts, you can use peanut bits instead, mixed in with sunflower chips or other blends and put them in a caged, squirrel-resistant feeder.

 

White proso millet has a hard shell that makes it less prone to spoiling or rotting, so you can use this seed for ground or platform feeding as well as tube feeding. It's wonderful if you have a lot of buntings at your feeders. It also appeals to  sparrows, juncos, blackbirds, finches, doves and pigeons. It's a key ingredient in many seed mixes, but as stated before, you may not want a mix consisting primarily of millet, especially if you don't have buntings in your area, or would rather not attract some of these birds.

Corn attracts many of the same birds that millet attracts, with the exception of buntings. It’s a good food, and those cute  juncoes and sparrows love it, but you may want to limit it if you’re not particularly fond of blackbirds, pigeons and doves. However, if you love all the birds, as many do, by all means, choose blends with corn in them.

And finally, there are fruit and insect foods. Almost all birds eat insects.  And nestlings have to be fed insects or suet because they can't digest seeds until they have fledged.  Insect foods will attract bluebirds, catbirds, veerys, wrens, robins...and so many more!  You can offer live or roasted mealworms, dried or canned waxworms and even fly larvae. Fruit will appeal to cardinals, orioles, mockingbirds, robins, waxwings and others.  Try putting out orange halves, apple halves, raisins, and grapes.  Very Berry mix contains bits of dried cherries and blueberries which these birds will also enjoy.

There is a virtually endless variety of seeds you can feed your wild birds. Buy single varieties in bulk and mix them yourself, or buy blends already made for you. The important thing is to read the ingredients. The best blends will consist mostly of sunflower seeds or hearts, peanuts or tree nuts, Nyjer, and lesser amounts of  the “filler” seeds mentioned above. It may seem more expensive initially, but in the long run you will attract a larger variety of birds and have less wasted seed.

(go back to duncraft.com)

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All creatures need water, and birds are no exception. Birds bathe in water to keep their feathers in top flight condition and to help keep parasites at a minimum.  Songbirds extract enough water from the fruits, berries and insects they eat in spring and summer, but these foods aren't available in winter. That's why providing drinking water in winter is especially important. Even an early fall frost can create an impenetrable layer of ice over a bird's normal water sources. Many times you will see birds gleaning water from leaves where melting frost provides a few small droplets, pecking at snow or drinking from a dripping icicle. But this is energy better spent in keeping warm. A bird bath supplied with fresh water will make winter much easier on the birds.  (Waxwings and Robins photo by Joyce Gibson).

A heated bird bath or bird bath heater can keep an area of water open enough for birds to get a drink. Birds won't normally bathe in temperatures lower than 32 degrees because the water may freeze on their feathers. For this reason, make the bath shallow enough that birds won't be tempted to bathe. This can be done by adding sand, pebbles, aquarium gravel or clay bird bath fillers to the bath to create different levels of water and also ice-free places for the birds to land. If there is suddenly a warm, sunny spell, go ahead and add more water to your bath on that day so the birds can bathe if they want to, but remember to empty some when the weather turns cold again. 

It's alright if the heated bath or water heater leaves some ice around the edges of the bath. This is a visual cue for birds to refrain from bathing when the weather is too cold.

Heated baths offer the convenience of having the heater as an integral part of the bath. All that's required is to plug it in. Some are designed to hide the cord in winter, while others offer a socket in the base of the bowl so your extension cord can be removed completely.

If you have an existing bath and plan to use a separate heater, be sure that the bath is rated to be safe with a heater. Then, make sure that the heater is completely submerged. This enables the thermostat in the heater to work properly, turning on when the water temperature approaches freezing and shutting off when the water reaches about 40 or 45 degrees. If the heater is exposed to the air, it will detect air temperature rather than water temperature and may not turn off properly. You can anchor the heater in place with a rock or other landing place for the birds.

The wattage of a heater will tell you how effective the heater will be. Most heaters are in the 75 to 200 watt range which is more than enough for most situations. Compare it to the heat radiated from a 100 watt light bulb. All heated baths and bath heaters come with a relatively short cord so the connection with an extension cord will be above snow level. Make sure your extension cord is rated for outdoor use and waterproof the connection by wrapping with electrical tape. A last precaution is to plug your extension cord into a GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) outlet. 

Another consideration for the winter bath is its location. Keep the bath away from bushes and shrubs where predators can hide. Having your bath near a tree is better so the birds will have a high place to retreat if they are disturbed when drinking or bathing. Having the bath in a sunny, southern location will also cut down on the amount of time the heater needs to stay on. And keep the bath clean.  A change of water and a scrubbing at least once a week is best; more frequently if bird seed or droppings are seen in the bath. Bird diseases are frequently spread through droppings and contaminated seed, so it's very important to keep your baths and feeders clean all year round.

 Duncraft, Inc.  102 Fisherville Road  Concord  NH  03303

800-593-5858

To go to duncraft.com--click here

http://duncraft.atom5.com/welcome-winter-birds-3658.html

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Wall-mount hangers take up very little wall space, but really add impact. Most swivel on their hangers so that you can move them to the most ideal position. These work extremely well on the outside of a kitchen window over the sink, or outside the window of a breakfast nook. Think of the places where you spend a lot of time in the house and think of how pleasurable it would be to watch birds while you're there! Washing dishes is certainly not drudgery when you are viewing beautiful birds chirping and fluttering outside your window—and close enough to see every detail!

 

Another great place to put a pole and feeder would be at the end of a walkway, or along the side of the driveway. These are areas that are frequently kept clear of snow and makes reaching and filling feeders much easier. Keep seed handy and close by.  If the seed is located in the garage, use a container that deters mice and other critters from getting into it.  Another great idea is to freeze your five pound seed bags and suet.  Frozen seeds and suets are fine for the birds and freezing kills off any flour moths that might be present.  With a few new feeders and a couple of versatile, movable poles, you can be enjoying your winter birds like never before!

--R. Brune

Duncraft, Inc.  102 Fisherville Road   Concord NH  03303

800-593-5656

To go to duncraft.com--click here

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At Duncraft, we’re constantly looking for new products for our customers—the latest and greatest!  And we’ve just added a wonderful line of bird feeders in six themes from Woodstream’s Lifestyle Collection—Southwest, Asian, Beach, Heritage, Nautical and Whimsical!

Each feeder is fully functional, and easy to clean and fill. They have all-metal parts with beautiful, rust-resistant finishes and durable, plastic tubes and hoppers.  Such a fun way to feed the birds! Below you’ll find one example of each collection.  See them all online–click on “Just in”!  Have fun designing your backyard with a whole new look!

      The Fathom Feeder            The Pagoda Feeder                The Gecko Feeder

     The Solstice Feeder           The Patriot Feeder                The Sea Shore Feeder

       

 

Duncraft, Inc.  102 Fisherville Road  Concord NH  03303

800-763-7878

 

To go to duncraft.com--click here

 

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We recently awarded the Wingscapes BirdCam to our essay contest winner Mark Hudson.  We hope he's enjoying it!  And here is a letter from David Lindquist, telling of his experiences with this fantastic product!  Just look at the action captured by the BirdCam!

A whole new way to enjoy your birds! The BirdCam is a weatherproof, motion activated digital camera that takes videos and still pictures—outdoors where the birds are! (read more...)

Yesterday I celebrated my first “BirdCam birthday”, having operated the product for one year. In that time, the camera was operating all but 20 days, in almost all of the weather North Carolina can dish out, from a pretty cold January morning to torrid June, to the passing of tropical storm Hannah. The unit cheerfully endured a range of 17 degrees F to 101 degrees F, wind gusts up to 52 mph, freezing rain, and a rainfall of 4.72” in one day. It snapped pictures as early as 6:21 AM and as late as 7:51 PM. 

I’ve logged 25,742 photos (1,084 of which were added to my “best of” folder) and 1,892 10 second films, at 22 different feeder/habitat “looks”. I recorded 31 different species, including four that reached the BirdCam life list, and I made six short movies that I posted on Youtube. All of this, save one day, took place just in my own back yard.  I also snapped, not exactly with a great deal of happiness, 6,877 photos of squirrels. I believe I have used all the features of the camera at least once, save the time lapse mode (we’ll give that a try one day!).

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