Date: 11/6/24 6:57 am From: Robert Ross <plumisl...> Subject: [MASSBIRD] What I Learned from My Feeders
Like many nature enthusiasts, my bird feeders bring an opportunity to more closely interact with nature through observation and reflection. Here are some insights I have learned from watching my backyard birds feed.
If I fail to keep my feeders stocked, for perhaps a few weeks due to travel, the birds in my backyard move on to find other sources of food. I have neighbors who also feed them. This causes a lull in my backyard as bird activity drops off slowly at first then nearly in total. A few stick around including Carolina Wrens, Red-bellied and Downy Woodpeckers, American Robins, an occasional obnoxious Blue Jay, and the ever-present Crows. A Raven remains and perches occasionally in the tallest dead tree. But many songbirds leave.
When I put out new seed, the activity begins immediately. It takes less than an hour. The first to come back are Tufted Titmouse and White-breasted Nuthatches. A Chickadee, usually only one, accompanies them. Within the hour after arrival, a Goldfinch flies in. Recently, we watched a single Goldfinch come and go over a couple of days, after refilling all the feeders. We knew many more were in the wings.
By the second day, House Finches, Northern Cardinals, Bluebirds, more and more Titmouse, more Chickadees, and Mourning Doves fly in. All of this activity begs the question of how the word gets around quickly. The birds' excited chirps and calls clearly attract more of their own and other species. This cross-communication is fascinating to witness because it appears this has less to do with the sense of smell most animals, vultures, and birds of prey often reply on to find food. This behavior appears to rely mostly on sound.
Of course, we know birds communicate across species through warning calls. That proves to be fortuitous when the inevitable Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks follow the excitement. It typically takes these hunters 3-4 weeks to catch on to the newly active supply of prey in our yard, but it rarely takes much longer.
Another phenomenon has emerged. Bird activity around our feeders brings in birds who are less likely or unlikely to feed on the food we supply. Pileated Woodpeckers often show up before the first week of re-supply is up. Though we put out two suet feeders, we have never seen a Pileated eat from these, The Pileated in our neighborhood much prefer shredding our dead trees. But we rarely see these birds when the feeders quiet down.
Last spring, after filling the feeders, an American Pipit appeared in the yard. Warblers seem to be attracted as well. We see the activity in the oaks and other trees around our yard pick up when the feeders are full. A flock of European Starlings is not rare in the yard. All of this activity dies down dramatically when the feeders need filling.
This fall in the mid-afternoon, a Great Horned Owl appeared near the top of one of our pines. I have never seen one in the afternoon before, except in Florida and that one was sleeping. It simply flew in to watch. All the excited chirping likely raised its curiosity. A Pine Warbler appeared and we also picked up a Dickcissel on the Merlin app, which we did not see. Our backyard bird list, kept over the last six-plus years, now lists 80 species.
Watching birds at our feeders offers another lesson--timing feeder feeding patterns to time birding trips. I have discovered holding to these patterns when birding in a wild environment often pays off. We know birds feed very early in the morning, at or shortly after sunrise. We knew they also feed at the end of the day, becoming active in the hours before dusk. Our feeder birds have a very consistent third meal time—lunch.
Their lunchtime is consistently from 12:30-2:30 every day. There is sporadic activity earlier, but rarely before noon. Daily savings time does not change this pattern. As the lunch hour is from the stated time during daylight savings, it merely falls back to 11:30-1:30. They feed consistently every day at the same intervals.
Many times I have planned midday and afternoon birding trips around this consistent lunch time. As an example, I spent several hours observing and photographing shorebirds in mid-September. Arriving just after 10:30 AM, I found nearly all of them resting in and among the wrack line. These were flocks of Sanderlings, Semipalmated Plovers and Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, Dunlins, and a few loners, including an American Golden Plover. There was virtually no movement of activity when I first came to the beach.
As if on cue, by my watch, at 11:40, the birds started to stir. By 12:30 nearly all were foraging below the tide line. They began to fly in and out in bursts. Harriers became visible working over the tree line. A raft of Common Eiders suddenly appeared and swam by. It was all suspiciously related to an internal clock set to instigate feeding activity at approximately the same time our backyard birds become active in mid-day.
There are notable exceptions, of course. The gulls are certainly on their own schedule, as are the egrets and herons. But where no Greater Yellowlegs had been seen an hour before, now there were four along the waterline. Groups of Sanderlings formed up and challenged the waves. Flocks of Least Sandpipers suddenly took to the wind. Then by 2:30, all quieted down again.
I have no scientific data to prove my hypothesis. I am only in the observation stage and it is unlikely I would advance to research more. However, if I miss out on seeing a rare bird because it was seen very early in the morning, I know I have a very good chance to see it in the midday lunch window. This I can report, has consistently worked for me. I have also applied this timing to birding trips around the U.S. It has paid off nicely.
I would be glad to hear if mine matches other's observations of feeding patterns at their feeders applying to bird activity in more natural settings.
