Attracting Birds in Winter
by: Brian Dalzell
Each winter a multitude of starlings, evening grosbeaks, sparrows and bluejays populate our backyards, looking for handouts. Once in a while, waxwings, purple finches, and small woodpeckers join the foray. Brian Dalzell, editor of the Maritime Breeding Bird Atlas Newsletter, offers a few suggestions for attracting these less common winter residents.
Attracting uncommon winter birds to one's property is perhaps a rather esoteric are, mostly governed by chance. There are, however, a few things you can do to improve the odds.
Planting for birds are the most obvious answer. I have taken part in numerous Christmas bird counts, and I always scout the area and make a concerted effort to look for multiflora rose bushes. It is here that one is most likely to find uncommon winter birds such as bohemian waxwings, pine grosbeaks and northern mockingbird. Despite the unruly appearance of this shrub, I highly recommend it as a hedge around one's property. In late spring it displays thousands of white flowers which develop into the multitude of scarlet "berries" (rose hips)each year. Some of the large greenhouses in Halifax and the Annapolis Valley may carry these plants, or could tell you where to get them. this is a hardy species that will grow anywhere (within reason) in Nova Scotia.
To attract snow buntings you have to live next to large, open areas such as farms or beaches. Scattering hay and weed seeds found in grain chaff onto the snow seems to suit them just fine. If there is a grain cleaning operation in your neighbourhood, this chaff probably is free in quantity for the asking.
If you want to attract the smaller finches such as pine siskins, goldfinches and redpolls, niger or thistle seeds and hulled sunflower pieces are the answer. Niger is rather expensive (at least $4.40/kg - $2 lb.) and hard to find except in larger centers. Hulled sunflower seeds are usually less than $2.20/kg - $1/lb.) and come in 22.7 kg (50 lb) bags. The latter is all the rage in the States now, and you can get a bag for about $30. Perhaps when free trade hits, the price may come down. Health food stores carry hulled sunflower pieces, but are reluctant to sell you these large bags because of low mark-up.
To discourage larger birds, niger and hulled sunflower should be placed in a tube feeder (also called a thistle feeder). If the larger birds (blue jays, evening grosbeaks, grackles) still monopolize the feeder, shorten the perches to 1.5 cm (= inch).
Purple finches seem to have a mind all their own: they like small, all-black sunflower seeds best. They don't winter in Nova Scotia in large numbers.
Woodpeckers, nuthatches and creepers like nothing better than a junk- or is that a chunk? - of suet. Some people even save huge slabs of fat when slaughtering hogs and hang it from a high tree limb. Sometimes it will last all winter.
The cardinal is a rare resident in Yarmouth, Shelburne, and Queens counties, and occasionally of the Annapolis valley. The limiting factor to its spread is lack of suitable habitat and a winter food supply. To attract this bird you must supply both. For nesting, a well-planted property with thick evergreen hedges or tangles of hawthorn bushes is a must. They also need a steady winter supply of sunflower seeds. These birds wander north in the fall looking for such combinations. Last winter a male and a female wintered within 10 miles of each other in the New Glasgow area, but unfortunately that's as close as they got.
If you want to know how to attract specific birds, write to the address below.
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