Safe & Sound For Winter

In the colder months birds find it more difficult to find food because plants go dormant and bugs stay deep underground, etc. If you live in a place where it snows I recommend setting up a couple feeders of any kind (except hummingbird feeders, hummingbirds fly south) for the winter. It's mostly cardinals and blue jays and other small birds like sparrows and chickadees that stay for winter. I suggest buying a feeder that holds seeds or scraps of meat. You can buy these at your local grocery or wild bird store (such as Meijer). I also recommend buying a feeder post. You can usually buy them wherever you buy bird food. A feeder post has several "branches" that allows you to hang up multiple feeders. You can leave all these feeders outside year-round but winter is the most important time of year to set up a feeder. Happy Feeding!

First Geese Flying South For The Winter

On September 15, 2012, I saw a flock of Canada Geese flying South. I figured they were beginning the long migration Southwards for the winter. Normally, Geese migrate down to Texas, parts of Louisiana, parts of Arizona and New Mexico, Southern parts of California, and some areas in Southern Oklahoma and Arkansas.

Last winter was a little warmer than usual so some of the Geese decided not to migrate but stay up North. Geese are common birds and can be found almost anywhere in North America. Usually they breed in the Springtime and lay about 4-8 white eggs in a large amount of grass usually on the ground near water. They'll sometimes breed in an abandoned Osprey or Bald Eagle nest.

To find out more about the Canada Goose visit http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/canada_goose/id

How I came to love birds

I'm a bird lover. Some one who loves and studies birds is called a birder. I started birding when I saw a robin out the window. This got me very excited even though robins (the most common bird in my neck of the woods) had never gotten me so happy before. My brothers and I went outside and threw breadcrumbs onto the ground. After about 30 minutes of watching, I realized that not a single breadcrumb was eaten! 

A little while later a squirrel came and stole some breadcrumbs... no robins. In the evening, a couple of Mallards came to have a whole bread feast - still no robins.

The next morning a few House Sparrows, the same squirrel, and more ducks came by and took the rest of the crumbs. I observed the robins for a little while and saw what they really liked to eat - insects. I ended up writing a poem about it, too:

The Adventure With Breadcrumbs

We threw some breadcrumbs on the ground,

And then a squirrel came running down.

He stole some breadcrumbs from the birds,

And ran away to tell his herds.

So far the birds won't touch the crumbs,

But still realized the many sums.

We named the birds that flew along by,

It started to flurry, which caused them to fly.

Soon they came back to eat some worms,

One bird got a worm that wriggled and squirmed.

I'll have to remember whatever the sum,

That some birds don't like to eat breadcrumbs.

I learned a lot that day. After that we did research, got binoculars, and bird books. Ever since then I've been looking out the window all the time, keeping an eye on all of the birds.