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[This column is very much related to the recent e-mails from various people with different things happening at their feeders.] [The Sunday Daily News has four or more columns in the central section that I look for every week; three of the columns are also available on the www.hfxnews.ca Web-site (Clarence Stevens on birds, Janet Barlow on Nova Scotia's outdoors and sustainable uses of it, and Joe Fitzgerald on fish and fishing.] ----------------- Halifax Daily News (www.hfxnews.ca), Sunday, Aug. 13, 2006 COLUMNS Sunday, August 13, 2006 Keep feeders stocked in summer - the babies need it By Clarence Stevens The Daily News It's hard to believe it is mid-August already. Time is fast running out for bird lovers who wish to see certain species of birds and certain birding events. August is chock-full of exciting birding phenomena, including chances to observe bird behaviour and interact with wild birds in a way just not available at other times of the year. One place to watch for these unfolding events is at feeders. Those who do not feed birds in the summer months miss out on so much wonder - and on the chance to help local breeding birds. Studies show that more birds starve to death during the summer months than any other time of the year. It's the time of greatest food availability, but it is also the time of greatest competition for food. Most of the birds that do not make it are the babies. Summer feeders often play a significant role in the survival of baby birds. As a side benefit, we humans get the chance to share a bit of our lives with them. I love it when the parents bring babies to the feeders. At first you see the parents carry food from the feeder to the young perched nearby, a peek into the more secret aspects of a bird's life. Soon the young are exploring feeders on their own. Often they do not notice the perches at first, so they awkwardly cling to the feeder, pecking at the various spots on the feeder before they actually find the port holes where the seed comes out. One of my fondest feeder/bath memories is of a baby Blue Jay who came one year. He loved his daily baths, but could not figure out the bird bath. Each day he would come and sit on the ground, under and slightly to the side of the bird bath. A very patient individual, he would squat there for 20 to 60 minutes at a time, waiting. Sooner or later a bird would visit the bird bath and take a bath. If it was a larger bird, it would splash water over the side, and the baby Blue Jay would position himself on the ground to capture the droplets, to take a bath of his own. Baby birds are quite friendly, which means you can go about your yard and garden work and still have birds nearby, or sit outside and enjoy the birds up close. Baby woodpeckers are among my favourites; they are so friendly they will readily eat suet from your hand. Another species I have had good success with hand-feeding in August is the Ruby Throated Hummingbird. It generally takes about two weeks to get a hummer to land on my finger, but it has happened in a day! Next week I will share my secret process for getting hummingbirds to land on your finger. ------------------- Clarence Stevens operates Natural Wonders, a nature interpretation company, and is the author of Birding Metro Halifax. To pass along your bird reports contact Clarence at 864-0802 or dnbirder@yahoo.ca
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