December 16, 1962 - Winter Feeding0
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Winter Feeding
Exclusive Sunday Review Sketch by Dennis Puleston of Brookhaven.
focus . �i'1 , \alure by Paul Stoutenburgh, Cutchogue
Guest writer: Ruth L Porter
You will recall that last winter
Ruth L Porter wrote for our col-
umn on "Girding with Children."
Today she tells us how to keep
our birds healthy and well f e d
through the winter months. This
is Something we should all be
thinking about.ps.
For those who would like to
start feeding our bird "visitors"
or for those who might like to
make some changes in Oeir prey=
ent feeding plan, Ixshourld like to
tell you of two or three changes
we made during the winter of
1961 -1962. These proved successful
in attracting birds to our view
area and kept them there until
la to spring.
First is the open b*, ath all
winter. My husband built a heat-
er (from an old electric stove
burner) which was always in the
bird bath. Connected to it was a
control rod which. regulated wat-
er temperature. A long, a e a v y,
insulated cord lead from these
into the garage where it plugged
into an ordinary electric outlet.
Also in the garage was a small
electric timer (also -. connected
with the long cord; = .leading out
to the heater.) The t'imff was set
to shut off the heat at .5 pm and
turn it on again at 5 am. By
daylight there was always a small
melted _area in the }lath ready
for the "earliest bird" to get a
morning drink. All I had to do -
was be sure there was water in
the bath at all times.
I know many of our acquaint -
ances will immediately. say, "Oh,
but Clarence's work is electrical.
He always has materials on 'rand.
Xt was easy for him." To a de
gree, that is true. But, he did
have to buy the tiller. The heavy
electric cord was of a special,
expensive kind. When be. had fin-
ished I asked how mucl it had
cost in real money obtlay. He
arnswered, "About $7.75." I s e e
heaters advertised for as low
as $6.95. So we saved no money!
We did have the advantage of
thermostatic control during t he
'day. The water never got too
warm on the occasional m i 1 d
daY.'The timer did save on elec-
tricitY by not using any during
the night. So I feel happy that
MY husband could build mine
with all the "added convenien-
ces."
However, if you are not inven-
tively inclined, I should advise
buying any small heater adver-
tised in a reputable magazine.
- Plug it in yourself and be your
own night control by unplugging
it at dusk.
There were'several birds that
had not visited us regularly in
winter who became almost daily
visitors. Among these were the
mocking bird, a pair of cardi-
nals, a flock of cedar wax - wings,
two American goldfinch, a flia-
er, tree sparrows, white throat-
ed sparrows, field sparrows, jun-
cos, occasionally a winter robin,
nuthatch, chickadees, towhee and
a myrtle warbler on Jan 16. To
be sure a few of these would
have come anyway for. food but
all seemed to deeply appreciate
a warm drink after eating.
Another innovation in late win-
ter was feeding peanut hearts be-
sides the usual mixed bird feed,
sunflower seeds, cracked corn
and suet. Walter Terry introduc-
ed me to this bird delicacy by
leaving a sample bag in my front
door. My bird friends appreciat-
ed this addition to their fare so
much that I wrote Mr Terry and
asked if he could "Please get me
some more, at any reasonable
Price." He did and I have enough
to last for sometime. Surprisingly
the price was less than sunflower,
seeds. And there is no waste -
-:no shucks to find scattered every-
where (a bit messy) in spring.
Since I wanted the peanut
hearts for special bird friends, I
did not scatter them on t _h e
ground. I reserved them for two
places. On the large window feed-
er they attracted cardinals, chick-
adees, .-nuthatch, goldfinch, t h e
occasional housefinch and once a
towhee. All during the winter I
found the mocking bird like to
feast on any over -ripe orange or
grapefruit I put out. I cut them
in half and wedged them in a
crotch of the dogwood tree. The
mocking bird would -half eat and
half drink from this treat. After
I got the peanut hearts I scat-
tered a few each day on the
orange or grapefruit half. This
pleased many of the birds but
especially the mocking bird. She
stayed with us until late spring.
I do not know for sure but feel
this is the same lone mocking
bird that has visited us for sev-
eral winters but always leaves in
spring as nesting time ap•
proaches.
There is one more minor im-
provement for the winter of 1961-
1962 that might hear mentioning.
We have always h u n g small
chunks of suet on strings for the
downy woodpeckers and chicka-
dees. They would visit us quite
regularly .7 but so would t he
blue -jays, :starlings, squirrels and
sometimes the neighbor's cats.
Longer strings, shorter strings or
fresher suet seemed to make no
difference in the number of vis-
itors. Having a generous butcher,
I often find myself with extra
large chunks of suet.
This year I , have not cut them
into the usual small chunks. A
large piece five inches by four
inches by two inches c a n be
tied securely like a parcel. Then
I tie the string for hanging at
the end of the "parcel" so that
the suet hangs toe ] o n g way
down. This makes a large surface
for clinging as the bird eats. So
besides the regular downy and
many chickadees we have had a
beautiful hairy woodpecker who
comes every day, clings to the
big suet and -hammers a w a y.
Hairy woodpeckers have visited
us before but have been the un-
asual rather than a regular vis-
itor. This one has been a joy.
These may all seem s m a l l
things. But the more you observe
birds the more you will realize
that it is often the small thing
that brings the most bird visitors.
FIELD OBSERVATIONS
Lawrence Ernest reports:
Shinnecock -- Nov 25
Glaucous Gull
Montauk Polot — Nov 26
Fox Sparrows
Sharp- shinned Hawk
Pine Warbler
Complete Bird List of Trip to
Captree State Park, Jones Beach,
Tobay Sanctuary Babylon on Dec
1, by Gil Rayner, Henry Hatama,
Paul Stoutenburgh and Judd Ben-
net.
Balpate (6)
Golden -crowned Kinglet
Black-bellied Plover (20)
Sanderling (30)
Laughing Gull (20).
Bonaparte's Gull (20)
Red - backed Sandpiper (4)
Snow Bunting (15)
Song Sparrow (6)
Towhee (2)
Swamp Sparrow (5)
Goldfinch (18)
Red- winged Blackbird (50)
Northern Horned Lark (2)
Sparrow Hawk (3)
Tree Sparrow (8)
Downy Woodpecker (5)
Marsh Hawk (3)
Great Blue Heron (13)
Savannah Sparrow
Saw -whet Owl
Pintail (10)
Cbickadee (3)
Fox Sparrow (2)
Junco (3)
Shoveller (6)
Hooded Merganser (2)
Canada Goose (13)
American Coot (8)
Canvasback (10)
Hermit Thrush
White-breasted Nuthatch (2)
Red - breasted Nuthatch (3)
Flicker (2)
Red Bat
Paul Stoutenburgh reports:
Cutchogue — Der. 8
Baltimore oriole (female)