Attracting Bluebirds

If you live near farmland or open space, you may have bluebirds nearby! There are 3 species of Bluebirds in North America and the names describe which regions they inhabit: Eastern, Western and Mountain Bluebirds. Here are a few simple things you can do to attract Bluebirds to your property:

• Provide proper housing specifically made for the Bluebirds in your region.
• Every time you mow your lawn you are creating ideal foraging grounds for breeding birds. Shorter vegetation will make the grasshoppers, crickets and other insects more visible to the Bluebirds.
• Put up foraging perches made from garden stakes or dead tree limbs throughout your property. Bluebirds generally forage along the edges of forests or shrubbery where they can perch and spot the insects on the ground. The foraging perches will provide the Bluebirds with new feeding areas throughout the open space in your yard.
• Providing water no more than 2 inches deep will give Bluebirds a place to bathe. Enhance the water's attractiveness by surrounding the bath with tree branches and placing flat rocks in the water. Adding a Dripper will make your water feature irresistible!
• Provide fruiting plants or trees including sumac, flowering dogwood, multiflora rose hips, Viburnum species, Japanese honeysuckle and greenbrier.
• Use a Bluebird Feeder. Try providing crumbled suet, mealworms, Dogwood berries and chopped, soaked raisins. Bluebird feeders are designed to keep mockingbirds and starlings out and only allow Bluebirds in to feed.

Find many more great tips and information in the Bird Watcher's Digest booklet Enjoying Bluebirds More or in the Stokes Bluebird Book. See our entire selection of Bluebird Products by clicking here!

Let us know what works for you by posting your tips in the Wild Class Blog. We would love to hear your stories!

Hummingbirds

What’s another name for “a sugar-powered insect eating machine”? If you answered a Hummingbird, you’re right!

Hummingbirds get the energy they need to maintain their astonishing metabolism primarily from the nectar in flowers and the sugar water they find in backyard feeders. Additionally, hummingbirds also consume large amounts of insects for protein, vitamins and minerals that are an essential part of their diet. The female spends most of her time catching small insects and spiders to provide the large amounts of protein, not sugar, needed for her chicks’ growth.

In addition to the 20-plus species of hummingbirds that occur in North America north of Mexico, there are 328 other species of hummingbirds in the Western Hemisphere. The only hummingbird to occur east of the Mississippi River is the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. When they begin migrating northward for the summer, they can be spotted in backyards as early as late February in the southern United States and April in the northern states. Fall departure for southward migration typically occurs between July and November. In coastal California, Oregon, Washington and Vancouver Island the Anna’s Hummingbird does not migrate at all and year round birds mean year round feeding!

Putting up a nectar feeder can help attract these tiny iridescent birds to your backyard. A new feeder may be found sooner if it is hung over or near a garden of plants popular with hummingbirds. Some common flowers that attract hummingbirds in all regions include: Bee balm, Bergamot, Canna lily, Columbine, Daylily, Coralbells, Pineapple sage, Red salvia and Zinnia. The use of pesticides around hummingbird plants should be avoided. Hummingbirds might directly ingest pesticides sprayed onto flowers, which could sicken or kill the birds.

If the sugar solution in your feeder ever becomes cloudy, it has spoiled and should be discarded. During the hot summer months sugar water can spoil in as little as two days. Nectar feeders should be cleaned every time the feeder is refilled. Discard any leftover sugar water and flush the feeder and all parts with hot water. Do not use soap, hummingbirds do not like the taste it leaves behind. If you have used soap in the past, that’s OK, you can easily remedy the situation by rinsing the feeder with bleach and thoroughly rinsing all parts with clean water. Bleach can also be used to remove black mold. A brush should be used to clean the feeder and nectar ports of any mold, dirt or debris.

Wild Class carries a variety of nectar feeders, cleaning accessories and informational books about hummingbirds. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email sales@wild-class.com or post your questions or comments on the Wild Class Blog. We’re here to help you be successful with all of your backyard birding endeavors.

All About Bats

One of the best indicators of a healthy environment in your own backyard is the presence of bats. 70% of all bat species are insectivores, including the majority of North American bats. Attracting bats to your backyard can help control the pests that plague you during the spring and summer months. A single small bat can capture 1200 mosquitoes an hour! They will also seek out beetles, moths and leafhoppers.

Erecting a bat house is one way to help attract bats to your yard. Bat houses can be placed on a tree, pole or building and should be mounted at least 15 – 20 feet high. Two bat houses placed back to back on a pole provide the greatest chance of attracting bats. You can put up a new bat house anytime of year, however, houses put up in early spring have the best chance of occupancy during their first summer. Inspecting your bat house can help determine if it is being occupied. This can be accomplished by shining a strong flashlight up into the house to look for bats. This should only be done once a week since frequent disturbances will cause the colony to abandon a roosting site. Another way to see if bats are present is to watch the house around sunset. Bats will begin leaving the house half an hour before sunset to forage for insects.

To encourage bats to visit your yard and occupy the new homes you have provided for them, try planting flowers that release scent at night, such as evening primrose, nicotiana and sweet rocket. These plants will attract night-flying insects, such as moths, that feed on nectar. Herbs such as lemon balm, chives, mint and borage also attract night-flying insects. One of the best attractants for bats is water. Having a body of water on your property, even a small man-made pond, is vital for most insects to reproduce. Bats naturally forage over ponds, streams and rivers and will eat the insects as they emerge from the water.

It is important to consider providing chemical free habitats for bats to occupy. Since bats consume mass quantities of insects, it’s best not to use pesticides, herbicides, or other toxic chemicals in your yard. These substances can cause bats (and insect-eating birds) to become ill or die after ingesting insects that have been sprayed by pollutants.

Wild Class offers a variety of quality Bat Homes and you can learn more by reading the Bird Watcher’s Digest booklet Understanding Bats.

Wild Class and 'American Forests'

In an effort to contribute to the protection of wildlife and our natural resources, Wild Class is proud to announce our partnership with the American Forests’ Global ReLeaf tree-planting campaign.

To show our appreciation for the wonderful gifts nature provides, Wild Class will plant one tree, through American Forests, with the purchase of every wildlife house, feeder, birdbath and other select items. We want to give back to the environment so future generations can enjoy and appreciate nature as much as we do.

American Forests is a non-profit conservation organization that plants trees in an effort to reforest areas destroyed by disease, wildfire, hurricanes, tornadoes, flood and man. Learn more about American Forests and their conservation efforts at http://www.americanforests.org/ .

Backyard Birding Survey

Take a moment and fill out our brief Backyard Birding Survey. All answers are anonymous and you will receive a coupon for 20% off an order placed in April when you complete the survey.

We will post the results when this fun survey is finished, so check back soon. Thanks for participating!

Click here to get started:

http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB226BRRCU3AZ

Feeding Suet to Wild Birds

Suet is a welcome addition to any feeding station and will attract a greater variety of birds to your backyard. Birds have a high metabolic rate and suet is the most concentrated source of energy you can offer. Suet has traditionally been presented during cold months when the insects birds are accustomed to eating are not very plentiful. However, suet can be offered year-round. The birds that visit your suet feeder will reward you by eating the insects in your garden during spring and summer!

Common birds that eat suet include:

Wrens
Woodpeckers
Chickadees
Mockingbirds
Titmice
Northern Flickers
Warblers
Nuthatches
Robins
Starlings
and even Bluebirds!

Suet is most commonly offered in wire cages but can also be offered crumbled on a platform feeder or smeared on the bark of a tree. Since most of the birds that eat suet cling to trees looking for insects, it is a good idea to hang your feeder close to a tree’s trunk about 5 or 6 feet from the ground. If you need to deter Starlings from eating an entire cake of suet in one setting, try our Upside Down Suet Feeder. Clinging birds are generally not bothered by having to feed upside down but the Starlings sure don’t like it!

Wild Class offers several types of suet feeders and suet cakes to delight your suet-seeking birds!

Please share your pictures and stories about wild bird feeding, we would love to hear about them!