House Finch Revisited

Hi Everyone,

As some of you know, we have a new house guest that I’m really excited about! I happened upon a nest and four eggs in the wreath on our front door on Sunday, April 4. On Monday, momma laid another egg bringing the total to five. Everyday I would go home and sit in my car with binoculars watching our front door hoping to see what type of bird had made our home their home. On Tuesday, I saw both the papa and momma. After looking through my bird books and talking with Sarah, Wild Birds Unlimited, I’m confident that we have a House Finch as our guest.

When Mark arrived home from Florida, I asked him if there was some way to setup a webcam so we could view the nest. I was becoming a little paranoid that one of our neighbors or someone passing by might call the police on the strange woman sitting in her car with binoculars watching the house! As you can see, my wonderful husband humored me by setting up a webcam. Actually, the one that we had was very blurry so he surprised me by purchasing an updated one. Now we can go home and watch her anytime we want from the comfort of our office!!

It truly is amazing to watch. Frequently, momma will move the eggs around with her beak and then she does this little wiggle to move them around just right. She sits there for hours! When she leaves the nest, it’s not for long (maybe a few minutes). When I was watching from the car, I saw the papa once. I’m pretty sure he was bringing her food. He kept dipping his head down. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen him since setting up the webcam but I’m hoping to capture him at some point.

I’m expecting babies around April 19th. Will keep you posted. Kim

Thank you so much for the update! For those of you who don’t know, the House Finch Carpodacus mexicanus is a 6″ talkative little bird that gets their name from their habit of hanging around houses. Originally from California, these birds were sent to New York illegally as "Hollywood Finches" in 1940. Afraid of prosecution, the pet dealers released the birds which have been expanding their territory successfully across the US ever since.

House Finches build their nests in the hanging baskets, wreaths, old nests of other birds or in tiny cavities. The female builds the little cup shaped nest made of twigs, grasses, and leaves and then lays 2 to 6 pale bluish green eggs with fine speckling. The female alone will incubate the eggs for two weeks and then the young will leave the nest about two weeks after hatching.

The male spends his time nearby hunting for seeds to feed the female and protecting the nest. He continues to feed the female who in turn feeds the babies for about a week after the babies have hatched. The female then joins the male in bringing food to the young.

Once the babies have fledged from the nest the male takes over in the young’s basic training while the female may start to raise another brood.

I can’t wait for the next chapter in your story.

Category › Bird of the week , Friday Photo

The Dinner Bell is Calling All Birds

One of the most popular feeders in my yard is the WBU Dinner Bell. You can invite a variety of birds to a delicious meal with this versatile feeder. It can be filled with seed, suet snacks, seed cylinders, fruit or mealworms.

The Dinner Bell's dome raises and lowers, allowing you to feed only the birds you want. The dome also provides protection from bad weather. It's made in the USA, easy to fill and clean and comes with a lifetime guarantee.

Wild Birds Unlimited Products
Birdfeeding is more than a hobby; it’s a way to connect with the outdoors and help the natural environment around you. Birds are essential to a healthy eco-system, and birds’ population growth, decline and migration are key indicators of nature’s balance.

Knowing this, Wild Birds Unlimited is dedicated to offering the best bird supplies including bird seed, bird feeders, and hobby accessories. Although the birds are the main attraction, we wanted our feeders to be pleasing to the eye and the highest quality.

Visit your local Wild Birds Unlimited Store to see and learn more about the best bird feeding products.

Category › Product Highlight

What's the Best Way to Attract Orioles

@birdsunlimited What's the best way to attract Orioles in SW Ontario? Any good links that you know of for education on them?

You probably won’t see any of the Baltimore Orioles in Canada until May. The Journey North website studies migration patterns of the Baltimore Oriole, Ruby-throated hummingbirds, Red-winged Blackbirds, and other birds and mammals. You can look at the past seasons to predict upcoming visits or watch the Spring 2010 maps as people report their sightings of birds on the way north.
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Most Baltimore orioles winter in Central and South America and begin the journey north to their breeding grounds in April. They prefer to nest in open forests such as those along rivers, small woodlots, fruit orchards, or even large yards with lots of flowering fruit and nut trees.

Orioles eat a variety of fruits, nectar, bugs, and nuts. The best way to attract orioles to your yard is with feeders that offer suet, nuts, mealworms, nectar, grape jelly, or fruit (oranges, grapes, apples).
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If you have an extra suet feeder, I thought Droll Yankees was clever to suggest it could be used as fruit holder.

I also recommend two other feeders made by Bird's Choice. My favorite oriole feeder and the one we sell the most of in our mid-Michigan Wild Birds Unlimited stores offers three ways in to attract orioles: nectar, oranges, and jelly. The sugar water is in the saucer (orioles like the same 4 parts water to one part sugar recipe as the hummingbirds), the jelly goes into little jelly troughs built into the cover and the orange goes down the middle hook of the feeder. It's easy to clean, easy to fill and attracts lots of orioles. The weather guard that is pictured with this feeder on the right is sold separately.

The second feeder I recommend is the Poly-lumber feeder made from recycled milk jugs. It has lifetime guarantee to never crack, split or fade, stainless steel screws, thick, heavy-duty acrylic roof to allow Orioles to see the food and protects it from rain, and two removable cups to dispense grape jelly (Orioles’ favorite jelly flavor) and two pegs for orange halves. Cups also may be used to feed mealworms, peanuts, chopped fruit, suet nuggets, and a variety of other foods.
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And don’t forget the water. Having water available is a good way to attract a variety of birds to your yard. If you combine water with the appropriate food and habitat your opportunity to attract wild birds will be enhanced greatly.
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Two websites I found with further information on orioles are: Journey North Oriole info and All About Birds. If anyone has any other suggestions, post them below on the comments. Wild Birds Unlimited also has a store in Guelph, Ontario. Their website shows a variety of fruit feeders. I hope that helps. You have to be patient and change the food or nectar frequently even if it hasn't been touched. Good luck.

Category › Bird of the week , Product Highlight

Does Wild Birds Unlimited Sell Mealworms?

Mealworms-Another treat to attract wild birds.

Wild Birds Unlimited in East Lansing, MI do sell live and dried mealworms. Feeding live mealworms (Tenebrio monitor) as a special treat has become a very popular way to attract a different variety of wild birds.

If you haven't used mealworms before, they are the larvae of a beetle with a high protein level. Many birders believe the mealworms are used solely for attracting Bluebirds. This is definitely not the case as many other species enjoy these little treats. Some birds attracted to mealworms include: wrens, robins, bluebirds, jays, sparrows, cardinals, woodpeckers, nuthatches, titmice, chickadees, and even Purple Martins.

Mealworms can be offered from just about any bowl, and there are some feeders at Wild Birds Unlimited especially for feeding mealworms. The WBU Dinner Bell feeder (in side picture) is one of our most popular feeders.

How to feed birds mealworms:

Most people “train” the birds to come at the same time, same place every day. Some people whistle or wear a bright hat to signal the birds you are about to feed. Our experience has shown that the early birds like to get the worms. Birds are hungry in the morning and it’s always nice to start the day with a good breakfast. You can also feed them in the evening before they roost.

Start out by placing a teaspoon of worms in a feeder near where you see the bird perching. Sometimes I like to put them out with an apple slice. The worms can have a yummy last meal and the birds enjoy the juicy worms and may even enjoy the apple as dessert. As you get more birds trained to come you can increase the amount of worms to about a teaspoon of worms per bird per day. Once the birds have figured out where you are feeding, you can move the feeder short distances every day or so until it's located where you can view them comfortably.

Care of mealworms:

Our Wild Birds Unlimited 500 count medium mealworms come in a mixture of bran and can be stored for several weeks in the refrigerator if they are fed. To feed your mealworms remove them from the refrigerator once every 2 weeks and feed them an apple for 24 hours at room temperature. This is how they get their drink of water and will stay fresh and plump. Then remove any uneaten apple, add about one inch of bran, or crushed Wheaties to the container and place back in the refrigerator.

REMEMBER: To maintain mealworms keep them dry and well ventilated.

NOT TOO DEEP! -Maximum depth of worms and bran no more than 1 inch deep.

KEEP COOL! Ideally mealworms should be stored at 45 degrees, so store them somewhere cool.

Category › Nature up close

Is it ok to use treated lumber to build a birdhouse?

We have some leftover Pressure Treated lumber still sitting in the garage from the deck we built last summer. Is it ok to use treated lumber to build a birdhouse? Can we paint or stain the house when it's complete? Thanks, DD ~Mason, MI

Treated lumber is not recommended to build bird houses. The toxic chemicals used to prevent wood rot or insect problems are harmful to baby birds. Wild Birds Unlimited sells bird house kits or you can purchase decay-resistant wood like cedar to build nest boxes. It's okay to use lead free paint or stain on the outside but leave the inside untouched.

Wild Birds Unlimited also has several birdhouse building books available too. They explain the possible wood choices and how the ideal thickness should be no less than ¾” to keep birds safe from heat build up.

I also discussed recommended requirements of a safe and secure bird house in an earlier post that you might find helpful at Bird House Basics.

Category › Question of the week

Are the birds “bathing” in the dust?

I recently saw a series of mysterious divots appearing in my garden evenly spaced, two inches deep, and in a row near the house. I couldn't figure out what was happening until I saw a House Sparrow dusting himself. Why are they doing this? DZ ~ East Lansing, MI

Dust bathing is not as common as water bathing but it can reduce moisture and oil, align feather barbs and remove external parasites. So the birds at the end of your driveway probably are taking a dust bath. Some common species that you’ll see dust bathing are sparrows, flickers and thrashers.

Category › Quick fun Facts

That’s Not a Mourning Dove!

I’m trying to find out the name of a bird that was eating on the ground like Mourning Dove but looked more speckled and looked like it was wearing a red handkerchief on its head. I can’t find it in any book. Robert~ East Lansing, MI

You need a new book! At our Wild Birds Unlimited stores we recommend the field guide Birds of Michigan by Ted Black.

What your describing sounds like a Northern Flicker which unlike other woodpeckers, spends about 75% of his time foraging on the ground in search of ants. Flickers in mid-Michigan are grayish brown with black polka dots on the belly and black bars on the wings. There is a black bib under their long bill and the males also have a black “mustache.” As you observed the birds have a gray crown with a red chevron on the back of the head (or red handkerchief) and have yellow underwings and undertail.

These big woodpeckers eat lots of bugs and are fun to watch. As the season progresses you might observe these birds taking dust baths to remove oil from their feathers or preening with crushed ants. Ants contain formic acid that the flickers can use on their skin and feathers to kill small parasites.

April is a busy time for flickers. They are looking actively for nesting sites. Both the male and female look for dead or dying deciduous trees to excavate a cavity. If you want to provide good habitat for woodpeckers, consider leaving dead tree snags in and around your yard. You can also simulate a dead tree by placing man made nesting boxes that you can purchase at our stores in trees and stuffing it with woodchips for them to excavate.

Category › Bird of the week