Are Cardinals Yoopers?: Michigan Upper Peninsula Residents

We are opening up our house in Northern Michigan and I was wondering why I don’t see as many cardinals up there. Our house in Lansing has lots of cardinals.

Even though the Northern Cardinal has northern attached to its name, it’s really a southern bird. However scientists have noted that their breeding range has been expanding up and out west gradually from the 1800s. This could be due to the milder winters or greater food availability (bird feeding stations). The increase of distribution range of the cardinal is also associated with man changing the landscape. Cardinals prefer the edges of forests and suburban areas, both types of habitat associated with increasing land development.

First recorded in south east Michigan in 1884, the cardinal was more frequently spotted in the early 1900’s across the lower and middle parts of the state. By 1960s they were colonizing further north and in the early 1990’s they were making their way to the Upper Peninsula. They’re still not as common up north as they are further south but just give them time.

Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis

Northern cardinals are medium-sized songbirds (8-9 in). The adult male is bright red with a black face and red bill. The adult female is buff-brown with a red tinge to the crest, wings and tail. Like the male, the face is black and the bill orange.

General

Backyard bird enthusiasts almost always want to attract the bright red Northern Cardinal. To landscape for cardinals plant evergreens, berry bushes, and fruit trees as part of the habitat. Cardinals nest from 4 to 8 feet off the ground in evergreens and dense shrubs and use fruit trees to provide food and shelter.

Behavior

Cardinals will eat beetles, cicadas, grasshoppers, and snails, but prefer wild fruit and berries, sunflower seeds, safflower, and nuts. They will feed on the ground or perch at hopper feeders, platform or tray feeders, and some tube feeders. Cardinals are often the first to visit a feeder in the morning and the last to stop by and grab a bite at night.

In winter cardinals generally flock together but by spring they pair up for nesting season. They are famous for their display of courtship feeding. The male picks up a bit of food and takes it over and places it on the female’s bill. Also as spring approaches you may hear the male sing several different songs to attract a mate and establish and defend his territory.

Category › Bird of the week

How many broods does the average backyard bird have?

The number of times a bird nests in one season varies from one bird species to another, and sometimes from one locale to another.

Downy woodpeckers in the north have only one brood, but in the south they may have two. Cardinals can have as many as four broods between March and August, with the male helping to care for the first one while the female incubates the eggs of the next one.

Other members of the finch family, such as the goldfinch, house finch and grosbeaks may only have one brood. Bluebirds and robins usually have two broods.

Click the charts to enlarge the view.

Category › Bird Basics

You Lookin' at Me?: Cooper's Hawk in the Yard

Here's a photo of a Cooper's Hawk, taken January 16, 2007 after an ice storm. The hawk was about 30-35 feet from our living room window, and 10-12 feet up in the tree. My kids were very excited when they called to me. Luckily I was able to get the camera out before it flew away. Unfortunately I was shooting into the sun, so the colors aren't so great.
Mike Grimm Fowlerville, MII think it's a great shot. Thank you for sharing with us. If anyone else would like to share a photograph of nature send it to bloubird@gmail.com and I'll post it on the Friday Photo post.

Category › Friday Photo

I Have a Mad Cardinal Attacking My Window.

I don't have a problem with birds accidentally hitting the window. I do have a Cardinal attacking my window on purpose. How do I make him stop?

This problem frequently occurs during the breeding season and can be quite distressing to people living inside the house.

If the attack on windows is a regular occurrence and not just an accidental window strike, the likely behavior is a reaction to the bird interpreting its reflection as an intruder on its territory. Cardinals are highly territorial and defend their nesting area vigorously from other male cardinals.

Both male Robins and Cardinals are well known for this type of behavior but it can occur with any bird. A simple solution to this problem is to cover the window with screens or rub the window with a bar of soap to decrease the reflection.

To increase success, interrupt the bird’s bad behavior by going outside when the bird first attacks. The objective here is to shock the bird out of its pattern of territoriality.
Good luck.

Some tips to deter bird window attacks:
• Cover the window with screens
• Shut the blinds on your windows when you are not at home and at night.
• Rub the window with a bar of soap to decrease the reflection.
• Hang balloons or Flutter Scare tape.* Anything that moves and repels the bird from that area will be effective.
• Post a hawk silhouette outside a window.* Hawks prey on birds, so their images will keep birds from flying towards your window.
• Install a window feeder.* This breaks the reflection and other birds interrupt the birds battles with himself.

*Available at Wild Birds Unlimited - East Lansing, MI

Category › Question of the week

Why are the birds hitting my windows?

Right now is the beginning of bird migration throughout the area and unfortunately the change in light and the unfamiliar surroundings cause birds to fall victim to window strikes. Birds also strike windows as they quickly try to escape predators, hitting glass in a moment of panic. Window strikes are hard to totally eliminate, but there are ways to reduce them and/or reduce their severity:

• Locate feeders and birdbaths about 20-30 feet from windows so birds have time to change direction or within 1-2 feet of them so they can't gather enough speed to cause significant injury.
• Window screens will reduce injury even if a bird flies into it. Use them where practical.
• Decals like Window Alert placed on the outside of windows have had the most positive feedback from customers. Each decal contains a component which brilliantly reflects ultraviolet sunlight. This ultraviolet light is invisible to humans, but glows like a stoplight for birds. It takes multiple decals on the window surface; one stuck in the middle won't make a difference.
• Mylar reflective strips hanging loose in front of the window will move in the breeze and alert birds flying too close to a window.
• Use a yellow highlighter to draw X's on the inside of a window. The fluorescent highlighter is visible to birds, because the fluorescent ink will simultaneously absorb UV and release visible light. However it works best in sunlight, and worst in low light or on overcast days. This last suggestion comes from an experiment conducted by David Sibley, author of the Sibley Guide to Birds. http://sibleyguides.blogspot.com/search/label/bird-window%20collisions

It is estimated that between 100 million and one billion birds are killed every year in the United States when they crash into glass windows. And even one billion deaths might be a conservative estimate, says ornithologist Daniel Klem Jr. of Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa.
Dr. Klem actually studied window collisions by conducting several experiments in which he hung clear panes of glass, mirrors, and picture windows adjacent to one another in a woody thicket facing an old field habitat. A strike was registered when a specimen was found beneath a window or a feather, body smudge or blood smear was found on the glass.

A copy of his study can be found on the following link: 2009. Preventing Bird–Window Collisions. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 121(2):314-321. Daniel Klem Jr.

If you do have a window strike and the bird is injured CALL FOR ADVICE! The best course may be no interference. For a list of licensed rehabilitators click HERE. Or visit the Michigan Department of Natural Resources at: http://www.michigandnr.com/dlr/

Category › Product Highlight

Birds Like New Songs

Just as our love songs have changed over the years, scientists have shown that birds also move with the times by updating their songs. Young birds don’t like the oldies.

Elizabeth Derryberry, from Duke University North Carolina, had been studying the process by which birds develop local "accents". Ecologists have suspected for some time that birds have regional dialects and pay more attention to birds that speak their own local dialect than an out-of-towner's. But when Derryberry compared samples of male white-crowned sparrows' songs recorded in 1979 and a more recent recording, she discovered the more contemporary songs had a lower pitch and were also slower.

To find out if the birds would notice, she played the samples to male and female birds. It was immediately obvious that they preferred the more recent songs. Upon hearing the contemporary material the females solicited more copulations, and the males strutted about exhibiting territorial aggression.

These results show that, within a relatively short time, meaningful differences in song styles can emerge. This could have the effect of creating a barrier between isolated populations. Derryberry, who has written up the research in the journal Evolution, suggests that this could be one of the ways in which new songbird species emerge.

Taken from: The Naked Scientists: Science Radio & Science Podcasts

Category › Quick fun Facts

Make March Less of a Stress for Birds

Simply put, March can be a very difficult month for your birds.

Early in the month, birds' natural food supply is at its lowest point of the year. Insect populations are still low, and the few remaining wild fruits, berries, seeds and nuts are either hidden or undesirable. Unpredictable weather doesn't make life any easier. Sunny, warm, spring-like days can turn into cold, damp conditions that challenge birds' survival skills. And to make matters worse, this is all happening as some birds prepare for nesting season.

However, these various challenges provide you with one of the best opportunities of the year to help your birds.

Providing Food Makes a Difference
Offer your birds lots of high-energy foods, such as peanuts and suet. Loaded with fat and protein, these are beneficial substitutes for the scarce insects many birds would eat if they could find them.

Counteract the lack of natural insects by offering protein-rich mealworms. They are eaten by numerous species of birds and can be a lifesaver during a sudden cold snap.

Nesting Birds Need Help, Too
Birds build open-cup shaped nests in trees or on the ground, or they nest in cavities (or holes) in trees. By placing nesting materials and installing bird houses around your backyard, you can entice birds, such as bluebirds, wrens, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, woodpeckers, Purple Martins, swallows, owls and Wood Ducks. Bird houses can make your birds' lives a little easier. After all, they have already expended a lot of energy establishing territories, courting and looking for scarce food.

If you are using a functional bird house to provide your birds a home, be sure it meets these six requirements:

• Designed for the species, according to bird’s size and nesting requirements
• Ventilation holes to provide release for heat build-up
• Easily cleaned
• Easily mounted or hung
• Durable to withstand several seasons of use
• Drainage holes in the bottom of the house

Category › Bird Basics