From Fall of 2004… The Kozy Bird Spa is made of tough impact plastic yet looks great. It comes with a deck mounting bracket or you can ad a pedestal. It has a 5-year warranty. I heard that this could be a severe winter. What can I do to help the birds? I know you probably get tired of hearing me say this, but unfrozen water is absolutely the most important thing you can provide for your birds. Good news here is that my favorite heated bird bath is available once again. After having a terrible material shortage last year, the Kozy Bird Spa is back and better than ever. Check out the article Feeder Station Stewardship for more ways to “protect” your birds. I love Snowy Owls but have never seen one. Do we ever get them here in Missouri? Yes. Though infrequent, we do have Snowy Owls show up here, especially in northern Missouri. A few years ago we had one spend most of the winter just off I-35 (exit 61, north of Cameron). A few years before that, one spent the entire winter just north of Liberty. I will make a point to send out an e-mail if one shows up this winter. My parents have been feeding birds for years and seem to have everything. Is there a “new” feeder you would recommend? Though not really new, peanut feeders seem to be the one “type” of feeder that many folks don’t have yet. The peanut feeders are awesome for several reasons. They really attract “good” birds like chickadees, titmice and nuthatches while discouraging “not-so-good” birds like house sparrows. The group of birds they seem to be most appealing to are the woodpeckers. I have several customers who call them their woodpecker insurance. They claim that since they put up their peanut feeder, woodpeckers have left their house alone. I saw the Shade Grown Coffee display in your store the other day. Do birds eat coffee? No. The display is about the importance of shade grown coffee plantations for many of our birds. Baltimore Orioles, many warbler species, Painted Buntings and a host of other birds who nest here find the food and shelter they need during the winter months in these shade grown coffee plantations. I know I have written about it before but it is worth repeating. Mass production coffee plantations clear cut the rainforest and plant acres of coffee trees. Shade grown plantations simple plant the coffee plants among the trees. It takes longer for the beans to ripen but they are very strong so your bag of coffee goes further. Give it a try and help the birds.
	From Summer of 2004… I get so frustrated by the grackles flinging all of the bird seed out of my feeders. Why do they do this and how can I stop it? I am a victim of this myself. The leading thought here is that they are sifting through to find what they really want. Given this, Cornell Lab of Ornithology is very big in recommending that you do not use seed mixes. Have one feeder for Sunflower, one feeder for Safflower, so forth and so on. Keep in mind that I have had customers say their attempts at this have failed as well, so…In my own little experiment this summer, I placed two different seed mixes in a divided Arundale Sky Café feeder. On the side that had Wild Delight Cardinal Food, the grackles didn’t give it a look. The side with Wild Delight Gourmet, the Grackles had it eaten or flung onto the ground in a day. The real difference is Millet. This reinforces my contention that, to avoid problems with House Sparrows and Common Grackles, stay away from mixes that contain a lot of Millet in your feeders. I have a lot of House Sparrows in my neighborhood so there is no avoiding them so I use Wild Delight Feast as a ground throw only. As for feeders that work against Grackles, the only ones I know that work for sure are the cage feeders. The bees are running off my orioles and hummingbirds, what can I do? Bees and wasps can pose a problem for nectar feeders, especially in late summer. Bee colonies grow in size all summer, so by August they can really be numerous around flowering plants and nectar feeders. I have many customers who say their landscaping keeps the bees busy enough that they just don’t bother their feeders, while others have major issues. Because bees are an extremely important part of our natural world, I would recommend the new Nectar-Guard technology in the new Droll Yankee and Aspect Ultra feeders. It works great against bees and most ants. The problem can still exist because some sugar water can drip onto the feeder as the bird pulls its bill out of the feeder. In extreme cases, especially for those who are extremely allergic to bee stings, you can create your own bee trap. There are commercial Yellow Jacket Traps available but an empty two liter bottle with a small amount of sugar water in the bottom and petroleum jelly smeared all around the inside of the neck works great. I did read about one family that put out a decoy feeder with a 1:3 sugar to water solution to draw the bees away from the normal 1:4 solution feeders. This feeder should be put well away from other feeders. It seemed to work for this family, and might be worth a try. Let us know how it works for you.
	From Spring of 2004… Last spring I had a cardinal repeatedly banging into one of my windows. What is that all about and will he return? Here is proof that robins and cardinals are not the only birds who try to chase away their reflection. This Northern Parula (warbler) was attacking the side mirror of our rental car in Maine several years ago. (Yes, you read this in last spring’s newsletter) Simply stated, he is in love. For as smart as birds are, there are two things they do not know – one is their own voice and the other is their own reflection. The bird is seeing his own reflection and is trying to chase the rival bird out of his territory. Both male and female birds do this with the more famous species being cardinals, robins and mockingbirds but it is a behavior documented in many others. I have pictures of a Northern Parula (warbler) on our car side mirror, determined to get rid of his rival. My favorite stories are those of roadrunners and quail banging away at people’s hubcaps. The good news is that it generally only lasts for a short while. The bad news is that, short of covering your windows from the outside with screen or even paper, there is little that can be done. The birds rarely hurt themselves. I found a baby bird in my yard. What should I do? The very best thing that you can do is let nature take its course. If you know where the nest is, gently pick the bird up and place it back in the nest. If the bird seems healthy and is hopping away from you, it is probably not going to stay in the nest anyway and should be left alone. A few more bugs from mom and it will be on its way. If it is helpless and you can’t find the nest, you can try to construct a nest out of a strawberry basket and place it up in the nearest tree or shrub. If these do not work, you can call Lakeside Nature Center in Swope Park. They have an answering machine that is checked every hour or so and someone will call you back with more helpful information. Where do Hummingbirds nest? I have found several hummingbird nests over the years and most have been associated with water. One reason the Ozarks have so many hummingbirds is the presence of so many creeks and streams. The nest is made from spider webs and lichens and is generally pretty low in a tree. The ones that I have found always have another limb just above the nest for added rain protection. It is possible to get hummingbirds to nest on an artificial structure. We started carrying Hummingbird Nest Structures last year. I never got orioles to come to my feeder last year. What can I do different? If you tried the oranges, grape jelly and nectar last year to no avail, you can try adding streamers of orange ribbon or yarn to the bottom of your feeder. Your goal is to catch the oriole’s eye. Once they start coming, you should be in good shape.
	From Winter of 2004… Where are all of the birds this winter? It has been a slow year for bird feeders for a lot of people (not everyone). The leading theory is that the combination of mild weather and over abundant food (just look at any cedar tree) has most of our birds eating their natural foods. The only time my feeders have been busy (except for house sparrows), has been during two stretches of really cold temperatures and snow. I have had several people say that their titmice are conspicuously missing. This is something that I want to follow up on with Cornell's feeder watch numbers. Photo courtesy of Suzanne King When is the best time to try feeding mealworms? I don't know that there is really a bad time, but most of my customers feed mealworms in the early spring and summer when the bluebirds are starting to nest. This is a time when all birds are being "stressed" by the rigors of nesting and can use a little help. We have several good feeders that work for mealworms. I prefer ones like Aspect's Vista Dome that can be used as a traditional feeder during times that you aren't feeding the mealworms. What was the flicker you had pictured in the last issue eating? The flicker was eating a mixture of peanut butter and cornmeal. Pictured at the right are a brown creeper and downy woodpecker at the same feeder. This is a great formula that you can customize yourself. I like to add a few raisins, others will add lard and bird seed. My Carolina wrens and mockingbirds love it as well. Photo courtesy of Steve Dillinger How can birds walk around or stand in the icy cold water? It is amazingly simple. The blood vessels in the legs and feet of birds are very close together. As the warm blood is being pumped from the heart to the legs and feet, it literally warms the cold blood that is coming back up to the heart. This keeps the birds from "dying of cold shock". As long as the bird is able to find food and convert that food to "heat" energy, it can survive in extremely cold conditions. For more about winter survival, see this issue's cover article.

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