Cardinals

The temperatures are going to really drop this week here in northern Ohio and have already started to take the fall. I've noticed the cardinals are hanging around more.

As you can see this guy loves feeding from a sunflower lantern. It seems no matter what time of day I look out back there he is. There's about four other males that show up each day along with three females, but this guy has claimed the lantern as his.

One female sits in my fly through all day to avoid the elements. She will fly to a near by tree or my fence when I come out to put fresh food out but the minute I'm back inside she's back in the feeder.

As far as the Safflower experiment it's working great. The cardinals as well as some finches visit it but the starlings and sparrows leave it alone.

If your looking to attract cardinals to your back yard feeding is pretty simple. They prefer a large enough feeder where they can perch comfortably. Try either a hopper feeder, fly through or a lantern type like I'm using in this photo.

As far as food goes they prefer black oil sunflower seed, safflower seed, sunflower chips and even some cracked corn. I also often see them eating peanut halves from my fly though feeder.

You can always tell when they are breeding (which can happen up to four times a year) because the male picks up a seed, hops over to the female, and the two momentarily touch beaks as he feeds her and she takes the food. Mate feeding will continue through the egg laying and incubation phases of breeding. I love sitting out back and watching it.

As for their nest they use twigs, bark strips, vines, leafs and paper lined with fine grass and hair placed in dense shrubbery or among branches of small trees 1-15 feet above the ground. Around here I notice they use the neighbors pine tree allot.

As you can see they do not really require allot to attract and really add some nice color to your yard. If your not feeding them now, try some black oil and safflower and if their in the area it will only be a matter of time before they find it and become regulars in your yard.

Here come the Starlings

Well here it is early January and I have the flu, so the starlings felt this would be a great time to start invading the feeders.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I said once they started arriving I would try feeding safflower in a couple feeders and monitor the results.

So far the starlings refuse to touch it. I've had it out for a couple of weeks now and like the results. Everything avoided it for the first week then they started coming around. Now the sparrows have adjusted to it as have gold finches and house finches. Cardinals and chickadees are eating it as well but they always have. I exclusively feed them a blend of safflower, black oil sunflower and sunflower chips. I also mix in some raw peanut halves and some tree nuts.

So I'll continue to use safflower in the two feeders and monitor the results. Perhaps come summer I'll go exclusively to it. However during the winter months you need to offer foods with higher protein. Safflower is not as nutritional as some other seeds. So for winter feeding continue to offer black oil sunflower, unsalted peanut halves, suet and other seeds high in fat and protein.

If you would like a little information on our enemy the European starling here it is.

Behavior: In 1890, starlings were introduced into New York City from Europe. Since then they have spread all across North America. Starlings aggressively compete with native species of birds for nesting cavities.To reduce competition from starlings for birdhouses, make sure the entrance hole is 1 1/2 inches or less in diameter, since this is to small for starlings to enter.

Feeding: Forages on ground for insects, spiders, earthworms, garbage, salamanders, snails, weed seeds and berries. Will come to feeders for seed, suet or just about anything else you put in them.

Habitat: Urban and suburban areas.

So if you feed birds there's a good chance you'll deal with Starlings at some point in a year. Best thing to do is just stop feeding until they leave. Once the food dries up for a couple of days they usually move on. If your like me and do not want to make the other birds suffer because of them, be prepared to spend allot of money on food. Good luck and I'll update the safflower experiment from time to time.