The Backyard Bird Feeder's Bible: The A-To-Z Guide to Feeders, Seed Mixes, Projects, and Treats (Rodale Organic Gardening Book) - Softcover

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

A lifelong naturalist and gardener, Sally Roth was born and raised in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. After living for a brief time on the Oregon coast, she settled in New Harmony, Indiana, in 1992. Her previous books include Attracting Birds to Your Backyard, Natural Landscaping, and Taylor's Guide to Ornamental Grasses, and her articles have appeared in Organic Gardening and Fine Gardening as well as other gardening magazines. Sally also writes a weekly newspaper column about nature that appears in several Indiana newspapers. She frequently lectures and leads workshops on bird watching, natural history, gardening, and native plants.

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The Backyard Bird Feeder's Bible

Become the best bird host in your neighborhood. Let The Backyard Bird Feeder's Bible be your guide to the foods and feeders, plants and projects that will guarantee you a yard that's absolutely brimming with birds!

"I was amazed by the wealth of information in The Backyard Bird Feeder's Bible by Sally Roth! The book goes far beyond the traditional books on backyard bird feeding, offering information on flowers to plant, edible wreaths to make, clever ideas for birdbaths, and recipes using leftover food to supplement normal birdseed and suet. You will certainly attract more birds using the suggestions in The Backyard Bird Feeder's Bible. If you can only buy one backyard bird book, this is THE book to run out and get!"
--Christine Tarski, Guide to Birding at About.com (birding.about.com)

"Few people can match Sally Roth's knowledge or enthusiasm!"
--Ruth Mullen, home and garden writer, The Indianapolis Star

"Sally Roth's new book is a treasury for anyone eager to know more about bird behavior, equipment, gardening, and so much more. Roth's love for birds and her hands-on practical experience are inspiring."
--Sharon Dunn and Michael Dunn, owners of Duncraft

"A masterwork! Sally Roth has written an essential reference for wild bird lovers. As they enjoy its marvelous content, readers will be amazed to discover their own transformation from mere 'bird watchers' to avid and qualified ornithologists."
--Samuel F. LaBudde, executive director, Endangered Species Project

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Accessories

Manufacturers of bird feeders are making it easy for consumers to jump on the bird-feeding bandwagon. Of course, all you need to make the birds happy is a supply of seed and a tray to put it in. But if you feed birds on a regular basis and have a feeding station that includes several types and sizes of feeders, you'll appreciate the new labor-saving devices. You can buy gizmos that clean or hang your feeders, contraptions to keep out squirrels, and technological marvels to bring the bird world closer to you inside. Here are some of the accessories I've found most useful. Look for them in well-stocked bird-supply stores, home improvement stores, or discount stores, or order from catalogs such as those listed in "Resources" on page 348.

Scrub-brush hose attachment. This short-handled brush attaches directly to your garden hose. A stream of water travels through a narrow tube in the handle and loosens grime and stuck-on seed from your birdbath or feeder.

Brush for plastic tube feeders. Slide this long brush into your tube feeder and rotate to clean out old seed in a jiffy. Soft bristles won't scratch plastic.

Niger seed bags. Add extra feeding places for finches in a snap by hanging seed-stuffed pouches brimming with niger. Birds cling to the mesh and extract the seeds through the small openings.

Add-on trays for tube feeders. Cut down on spilled seed by attaching a plastic tray to the bottom of your tube feeder to catch niger or other seeds that fall from openings. Bonus: The tray adds perching room for cardinals and other customers.

Bell-shaped ant guard. Hook this plastic bell above your nectar feeder, coat the inside with petroleum jelly, and prevent ants from raiding your sugar water supplies. Longer lasting, more effective, and much less messy than smearing petroleum jelly on the feeder hanger itself.

Shepherd's crooks. Easy to push into any soil, these low-cost metal posts let you install feeders quickly and easily by stepping onto the anchoring support. Some feature more than one curved hook, for multiple-feeder capacity.

Accessories make your feeders more versatile: Suction cups with screws or hooks let you put a feeder right on your window. Use large nails to skewer citrus fruit or apples; chicken wire is handy for shaping a temporary cover or squirrel guard around a feeder.

Extra arms for feeder poles. A simple clamp lets you add extra hooked arms-- and that means extra feeders--to poles up to 11â?"4 inches in diameter.

Steel feeder stand. Heavy, tip-proof, flat base accepts a metal post, such as a shepherd's crook, so you can enjoy feeders on your deck or patio.

Tree-mount feeder bracket. Never have to £d a nail into living wood again. This stretchy cord wraps snugly around a tree to hold the included feeder-supporting hook. To avoid inadvertently girdling your tree, use this type of support for a winter-time feeder that you remove--along with the stretchy cord--when spring arrives.

Bird monitor system. Bring the sounds of the feeder area indoors with this wireless monitor system. It works like a waterproof baby monitor. The sensitive microphone picks up chirps, songs, and even the sounds of cracking seeds and rustling wings.

Accidents

BIRDS REPRODUCE IN BROODS to compensate for the many individuals lost to predators, disease, and accidents. Sad to say, human activity causes most bird accidents. The leading causes of bird fatalities include collisions with vehicles, fatal encounters with glass windows, knockouts at tall radio, television, or cell phone towers during migration flights, and bashes with big city buildings. Lighthouses, ocean oil slicks, and chemicals also take their toll on birds. Add the predations of our feline friends to the list, and you can see what a danger our human habits are to wild birds.

Apart from the widespread dangers birds face, there is a long list of other accidents that may befall them. Songbirds may become trapped in garages and other outbuildings. Quail, pheasants, and other game birds have had unfortunate entanglements with barbed wire. Lawn mowers and farm equipment endanger ground-nesting field birds.

Even water can pose a problem to swallows, which skim low across the surface to collect insects. One wing beat too low, and the bird may be unable to regain the air. In the feeder area, most accidents happen when birds fly into windows. Use fruit-tree netting, stretched tightly so it's barely visible to human eyes, to break up reflections and keep the birds in your yard safe.

Tribulations of Being Tiny

Hummingbirds are particularly prone to accidents due to their small size. They may become fish food or frog dinner at ponds. A friend of mine found a hummer hanging by its beak from her screen door. Bird watchers have found the little birds trapped in the sticky threads of orb weaver spiders.

Even spider webs may prove to be hazardous for hummingbirds and other tiny birds.

Acorns

Attract chickadees, jays, nuthatches, quail, titmice, wild turkeys, woodpeckers

Packed with protein, acorns are a huge hit with all nut-eating birds, including chickadees, jays, nuthatches, titmice, and woodpeckers. They're also tops with game birds like wild turkeys and quail. Lacking the necessary whacking power to get at acorn nutmeats themselves, smaller birds such as buntings, finches, juncos, and sparrows will clean up crumbs dropped by larger birds or acorns smashed by the bird-feeder filler (that's you).

Oak (Quercus spp.) trees of any kind are magnets for birds when the acorns are ripe for picking, which may be late summer to fall, depending on the oak species. Beating the birds to the harvest may sound a little mean, but you're really just stockpiling acorns for winter feeding when acorns can be hard to find.

Meaty acorns taste bitter to us, but they are beloved by birds, from chickadees to wild turkeys. Stockpile a few in the fall to offer as winter feeder treats.

Plant for the Future

MATURE OAKS add majesty to a landscape, but even young oak trees are of great value to birds. Many oaks begin producing acorns when they're 5 to 7 years old, and the crop only gets better as the trees mature. Even before they start to bear acorns, young oaks provide homes for tasty caterpillars and other bird- nourishing insects.

Before you plant, make sure you have room for an oak. Squint your eyes and picture a 100-foot-tall giant in your site, not that 4-foot nursery specimen you've been looking at. To keep maintenance to a minimum, choose an oak species that's native to your region rather than a nonnative species that may struggle in your local soil and climate.

Check your local nursery or refer to "Resources" on page 348 for nurseries that specialize in native plants. Or you can go the freebie route and simply plant a few of the acorns you've collected. Wrap the acorns loosely in a little cage of 1/2-inch-mesh hardware cloth to protect them from squirrels, then set them in the ground about 3 inches deep. Cover with a thin layer of fall leaves, and mark the spot with a plant label stake as a reminder to watch for sprouts in the spring.

Harvesting, Storing, and Serving Acorns

It doesn't take a lot of effort to gather a supply of acorns for winter bird feeding. Just fill your pockets whenever you notice the fallen nuts on your nature hikes or while strolling your yard. Although some acorns taste sweet to human palates and others are extremely bitter, birds seem to appreciate all of them.

Some acorns begin to germinate soon after hitting the ground, while others need a rest period over winter before they sprout. To keep your acorns fresh, store them outdoors or in an unheated garage in a moisture-proof metal container with a secure lid, so that squirrels don't help themselves to your hoard. When...