SUMMER’S GRAND FINALE (9/18/03)

Our woodpeckers are enjoying a summer grand finale. Two pairs each of downy and hairy woodpeckers, a very timid red-bellied that has not learned any socializing skills, and an occasional flicker that obviously prefers to stick to his diet of ants are finding that old pear tree I’ve written about before to be a welcoming host. It presents them with the rewarding activity of digging insects out of the pears, as well as offering them many stout limbs whose bark covers numerous treats hiding beneath. For dessert, they cross the short distance to our suet.

In fact, many birds are enjoying several-course meals in our yard. Cardinals and catbirds enjoy whatever the pear tree has to tempt them. Then they work industriously at plucking the grapes from the vines that are climbing over shrubs adjacent to the pear tree. When they tire of that activity, they finish their meal with leisurely bites from our suet cakes.

The whole backyard gang composed of those mentioned above, plus house finches, chickadees, goldfinches, titmice, grackles, redwings, and blue jays start around 5 pm with their bedtime snacks. Occasionally, we’ve been surprised by a warbler or two joining the lineup. The most astonishing this year was a bright yellow chat (a large atypical warbler) that tried joining the group but never returned. I think the busy scene of the regulars was not to his liking.

Soon, of course, the pear tree’s and the grapes’ season, along with the seed heads of flowers and weeds, will be over, and birds will turn again to us for much of their sustenance. Even though our non-migratory birds could manage nicely here over the winter, I feel that our feeding of the locals has caused them to have more young than they would if they had to forage the old-fashioned way all year around.

Sometimes the number of squirrels that all of us are forced to tolerate discourages our efforts to feed the birds. Nonetheless, squirrels have a way of outwitting most of our carefully laid plans. Many of us have squirrel-proof feeders, the type that closes up when a heavy object lands by the seeds’ outflow, but we also like to use hanging tube feeders. Until recently, we could not keep squirrels off of ours. We strung large soda bottles along the rope that held the feeder. At first, that worked. The bottles would spin when a squirrel tried to cross them.

Soon, though, the brightest and best among them learned that if they ran fast enough, they could cross the bottle barrier without getting tossed to the ground. Well, so much for that idea! We tried a baffle above the hanging feeder. Forget it! Baffles are only one more challenge for squirrels to overcome, not a real impediment.

Finally, however, we’ve gotten ourselves the ultimate in a squirrel-proof sunflower seed feeder. It’s Droll Yankee's Yankee Flipper that defeats even the most determined of these bushy-tailed rodents. Its weight-activated feeding perch is calibrated to react to a squirrel’s weight. When a squirrel lands on the perch, it makes a connection with a motor that makes the perch spin, causing the squirrel to be flipped off the feeder — much to the squirrel’s surprise and puzzlement and to our intense enjoyment. It has four feeding orifices at the bottom of the long tube. To view a video of the feeder in action and to learn more about its technology, go to http://www.yankeeflipper.com/droll/index.cfm. I think you’ll like what you see. You can either order from the company or one of the local businesses that cater to the bird-feeding trade.

Of course, having a great squirrel-proof feeder is just part of the bird feeding scene. Actually, you should have more than one type of feeder in order to satisfy the preferences of your yard birds. Tube feeders come in many sizes and attract jays, cardinals, finches, chickadees, titmice and others. Tubes come with a number of openings down the sides, each with its own perch, allowing a number of birds to feed at one time. Tube feeders are designed to dispense either sunflower seeds or thistle. Some of the latter require birds to feed head down, deterring all but the goldfinches and chickadees that are willing to eat in this manner.

Platform feeders are just as they sound. You merely put your feed onto a flat tray that may sit atop a post or be sheltered within a framework. Many birds feed comfortably on a platform, especially the sparrows, juncos, towhees and doves that we often call ground feeders.

Hopper feeders come in a wide assortment of styles, all of which you fill by lifting off the top and pouring the seeds into a central area that dispenses food out the bottom. Some hoppers are built to be squirrel proof. You can attach a few models of hopper feeders to windows or fit them into a window opening so that you can see the bird visitors very well.

You will find that whatever methods you use to feed our wild birds will reward you many times over. Next time, I’ll discuss the various types of food to feed birds, and I'll present a list of “do’s” and “don'ts” for feeding birds, along with a few helpful tips.

Please send your comments and anecdotes about birds to me: emiller@seepub.com. I regret that because of an overwhelming amount of mail, I cannot respond to each of you personally. However, I have added a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section to the web page with my current and past bird columns, now found at http://home.comcast.net/~elliemiller/index.html. If you can’t find the answer to your question there, try Bird Watcher’s Digest at 1-800-879-2478 or check out their FAQ at www.birdwatchersdigest.com. GRAPHIC: THE YANKEE FLIPPER BIRD FEEDER