SPRING BIRDS BRING JOY TO OUR YARDS (6/08/01)

Ever since our catbird discovered the suet cake with its embedded berries, he’s made it his own. Woe be to any other bird who’d like a tasty snack! We’ve tried to entice him to a dish of grape jelly, but he has ignored it. Most folks seem to be successful in getting catbirds to come to their offerings of jelly and raisins.

The thistle feeder is dominated by goldfinches, although an occasional house finch or song sparrow sneaks a snack. A large oak tree shades our deck. We call it ours, but then the blue jays call it theirs, as do the grackles. We don’t enter the fray, but there’s apt to be one in progress most any time of the day.

Although we love our regular yard birds, every spring we are delighted with each migrant that returns to nest with us. In addition to “our” catbird, “our” northern yellowthroat and “our” yellow warbler lustily singing in the thickets beyond our lawn, we have a resident Baltimore oriole that we cannot attract to an orange half. I don’t understand how so many other people are able to feed their catbirds and orioles.

We also have an Eastern kingbird indicating he’d like to make his home here. If you don’t know this bird (blackish above, whitish below with a broad white band across the end of the tail), watch for one sitting on a telephone wire or top of a fence or bush. Kingbirds’ calls are an upward emphatic wheep!, but one morning I heard him give a near scream, followed by a lot of chatter. My back was to him, so I didn’t see what happened, but I suspect that he stuck his head in the screech owl box and got a nasty surprise when he found a whole family of owls in there. Anyway, I hope he finds a mate and chooses one of our empty boxes in which to nest.

Speaking of nesting, mated birds generally work together to ensure that their young will survive. Different species divide their responsibilities in different ways. Either parent may take on such tasks as nest building or incubating eggs, or both may be involved, but it is generally the female who do most of that work. The males protect their territories, watch out for predators and often feed the incubating female. However, except for hummingbirds whose dads “split” once they have fertilized the eggs, both parents share in providing food for their hatchlings. There has to be an exception to every rule, though, doesn’t there? Well, male Eastern bluebirds do the feeding of their young so that the females can have an additional brood!

I know that our crows have been working hard to feed their demanding young. At times they seem really particularly pressed to find food for their offspring, even though they have left the nest. They have been foraging in the narrow space they normally shun between a Norway spruce and our house for sunflower seeds that have been dropped by careless diners. As the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures!

Parents brood their young almost constantly until they develop feathers and the ability to regulate body temperature. If you see a young songbird begging, notice the bright coloring of its mouth lining. This coloring makes it possible for the parents to feed the young even in dim light.

Many seed-eating birds, such as cardinals and chickadees, feed insects (protein) to their young, although they readily turn to feeders to satisfy their own nutritional needs. As the chicks age, the parents may bring them to feeders; these family visits are wonderfully entertaining to watch.

If you saw a baby bird alone on your lawn, what would you do? Here are three scenarios, followed by four answers. Match your response(s) to the scenario. Description: 1. Uninjured fledgling (already has feathers); 2. Uninjured nestling (doesn’t have feathers yet); 3. Any injured bird; 4. Any of the above.

Response: a. Place bird back in nest or in nearby safe place; b. Call wildlife rehabilitator; c. Keep cats away; d. Place in tissue-lined box and feed infant formula with a medicine dropper.

Some people are surprised to find out that most birds do not need to be rescued, and the best thing to do for them is leave them alone! If you answered “d” for any of the situations, you are well-intentioned but misinformed. Sometimes when we try to help a baby bird, we actually decrease its chance of survival. When a bird is injured, it is best to let professionals care for it. On the Cape, call Wild Care at 508-896-5273.

Answers: 1c, 2a, 3b, 4c.

GRAPHIC: Catbird, photographed by Joyce Leary