Creating a Wildlife Garden: Food

Creating a wildlife garden can be one of the easiest and most rewarding experiences a bird watcher could wish for. All that wildlife require, are four features in order to call a place home - food, water, cover and a place to nest - and we can provide all this, and more even in a small environment. If for any reason you can not, then doing something for wildlife is better than doing nothing.

There are two kinds of food that we can provide; putting out bird seed and installing natural plantings that include berries. The former can be as simple as throwing out seed on a patch of bare dirt or filling bird feeders. This offers the ability to provide a variety of food in pleasing to look at feeders. The latter allows you to landscape your yard with native plants that will benefit wildlife throughout the year, and which in turn will provide essential cover for the birds.

The placement of bird feeders is crucial to maximizing your enjoyment. You want to place them where you are going to see them. Locating them a short distance from the window that you spend the most time near, such as the living room or dinning room, is perfect.

The key is providing a variety of types of feeders and food. Examples of feeders include, platform, which has either an open top or open sides; hopper, where seed is dispensed from the lower sides, and tube, which have perches for birds to perch and feed. Offer food such as suet and peanuts, which woodpeckers, nuthatches and wrens adore; millet for ground feeders such as sparrows and doves; thistle for goldfinches and house finches; safflower, a favorite of cardinals, and black oil sunflower which many birds like especially titmouse and chickadees. The more types of feeders and greater variety of food you have to offer, the more birds you will attract.

Many birds including this Blue Jay, are fond of the high fat content they get from eating peanuts. Peanut halves (above), as these are called, are placed in a wire mesh tube feeder and the birds can cling to the outside to feed themselves.

all photos © adrian binns

Icteria, Icterus, Ikteros

It is not often that I get to see an oriole in the neighborhood so it was a pleasant surprise to see an immature male Baltimore Oriole (above), Icterus galbula, in the yard earlier this morning.

Orioles belong to the family Icteridae, that includes meadowlarks, cowbirds, grackles, blackbirds and bobolink, and are certainly the most brightly colored members of this family. Orioles get their name from the similarity in appearance to the Eurasian Golden Oriole, though I guess that is subject to personal interpretation. The word oriole coming from the Latin aureolus, meaning golden. The euro-asian orioles belong to a different family, Oriolidae, than our orioles.

The scientific name of our orioles is Icterus, from the Greek word ikteros for jaundice. This not only is a reference to the color (the Eurasian Golden Oriole is yellow) but also to the revelation that sighting this bird was suppose to cure a person with jaundice! Galbula, seems a peculiar word to describe the Baltimore Oriole, as it means ‘small yellow bird’. How many yellow(-ish) birds do we have that are bigger than a Baltimore? Not many, but there are certainly plenty that are smaller! Baltimore refers to the colors of the coat of arms of the founder of the state of Maryland, George Calvert, the Baron of Baltimore.

Another bird gets its name from ikteros, and that is the Yellow-breasted Chat (below), which belongs to a completely different family, Parulidae, the wood-warblers. There is even some debate as to whether it is even a wood-warbler, but that aside, it has the scientific name Icteria virens. Icteria comes from the same Greek word as for the oriole, and refers to the color of its 'jaundice' colored breast. Virens, comes from the Latin meaning green, for the greenish back.

all photos © adrian binns

Behavior: Mockingbird Wing-flashing

It is nice to see that the berries in the yard, planted for the birds, are just beginning to ripen. These include cherry, viburnum, blueberries and coral honeysuckle. I eagerly watched a Northern Mockingbird help itself to several honeysuckle berries (below). What interested me was that it ‘flashed’ its wings before picking a berry.

Moving along the hedgerow it entered on the far side of the honeysuckle before working its way towards the berries. As it approached the berry it paused for a few seconds, and then proceeded to open its wings in a series of staggered jerks, maybe 4 or 5, before the wings finished just above horizontal, revealing the large white wing patch on each wing (below). This is known as ‘wing-flashing’. It then cautiously picked a berry and ate it. This process was repeated less than a minute later.

I have seen this behavior in mockingbirds when they are on the ground foraging but never when it was in a shrub. This brings up an intriguing question, why is the mockingbird flashing its wings?

The white wing patches are mostly hidden when the wing is folded (see top photo), but they become very prominent when the wing is lifted. No one knows for sure why they do this. Is it used for sexual display? Is it a signal of wariness, or to ward off potential danger? Or used in territorial disputes? Is it related to foraging? Does the white color reflect light, to make it easier to see prey, or is the white flash intended to flush insects for the mockingbird to catch?

While studies have shown that birds foraging on the ground seem to have greater success hunting using this 'wing-flash' technique, its primary function is still unclear. The bird I witnessed in the vine tangle was certainly not worried about flushing a berry! Personally, I like the theory that by flashing its wings in this instance, it is showing that it feels uncomfortable and nervous. It does not want to be noticed and wants to keep others away from its find.

How important is the white color in the wing? All mockingbird species ‘wing-flash,’ yet most have no white in the wing. This is also true of thrashers. This behavior is similar to the wing-flickering that I noticed in Gray Catbirds and blogged about on June 9. All these birds belong to the same family, Mimidae, the Mimids, and even though the catbird has no white in the wings, this motion must be a characteristic behavior associated with this family.

all photos © adrian binns

A Robin Bathing

On this hot day birds were lining up to take a bath. Daily maintenance, bathing, dusting and preening, is an important part of keeping their feathers in top shape. This sequence of an American Robin that bathing shows how it goes about getting clean.

Once it decided it was safe to proceed it plunged in head first.

Then it sat down in the water and lifted its head up, shaking it vigorously to disperse the water. It happens so fast its head looks like a spinning top!

Next, it spread water over its body and wings. Here it has just snapped its right wing and releasing water. The image has captured the water droplets forming the shape of the wing. You can see the long primaries and the outline of the secondaries - really cool!

Once all the parts have had a good clean, three times in the case of this individual, it sat fluffed out in the water for a short time before flying to the safety of nearby shrubs to finish drying itself.

all photos © adrian binns

A Starling gets its Spots

This immature European Starling (above) is beginning to molt from its juvenile plumage, which would be an even drab grayish-brown, into a non-breeding adult. On the cropped photo below, we can see the iridescent feathers on the greater coverts (part of the wing) with cinnamon fringes, as well as the beginnings of its white spotted belly, which it only has in non-breeding plumage.


Though many would like to call the ubiquitous and much maligned Sturnus vulgaris (European Starling), the Vulgar Starling, the Latin Sturnus means 'a starling', and vulgaris, 'common'. The word starling could have come from the small white belly spots that may have reminded Linnaeus, who named this species, of small stars.

all photos © adrian binns

How do Cowbirds become Cowbirds?

A male and two immature (male?) Brown-headed Cowbirds

It been at least a month since I last heard Brown-headed Cowbirds begging for food from their hosts. In these four or so weeks, an immature cowbird is no longer dependent upon its host parent, and has now learnt to find its own food and fend for itself. Today I watched a mixed aged group of as many as 8 cowbirds associating together as they roamed the mowed lawn in search of food. The lone adult was a male, and were all those juveniles, males as well? Maybe.

There is some debate as to whether young cowbirds raised by a host parent can become familiar with an adult cowbird hanging about the same area as they are reared. Could it be that the adult cowbird is its parent and actually keeping an eye on the youngster? Maybe.

Immature male Brown-headed Cowbird, just beginning to attain dark head feathers

These immature cowbirds are now at the age where they, along with other cowbird offspring, band together along with adults to look for food - something most all 'blackbirds' do during the non breeding months. It is also at this time that they likely begin to learn how to become ‘a cowbird’ from an adult member of the same sex. This would include vocalizations, that we will hear next spring, and eventually courtship displays to attract a female.

all photos © adrian binns

Felines on the Prowl

I watched two cats stalking birds in the neighborhood this morning. One was after a Chipping Sparrow and another had its eyes set on a Gray Catbird. As the summer avian breeding season winds down, the bird population should now have doubled. This increase in numbers, especially of young, inexperienced birds, makes it far easier for cats to make a kill.

Approximately two-thirds of homeowners let their feline pets wander outside. Cats are natural predators, and every year millions of birds fall prey to domestic cats that roam free outdoors. Cats were domesticated by humans and as a result, the responsibility lies with the owner who should keep their feline friends indoors.

Birds face enough problems as a result of human interference. Wiping out top predators has led to over-browsing by deer, which leads to habitat loss and drastic declines in bird populations. Forest defragmentation results in increased nest predation from squirrels, raccoons and even Blue Jays. Birds that once felt safe, well away from the forest edge, now become vulnerable to Brown-headed Cowbirds and cats.

For more information on what you can do to keep your cat indoors, please visit the American Bird Conservancy website www.abcbirds.org and their Cats Indoors campaign.

photo © adrian binns

Immature Male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

For most of the day I have had an immature male Ruby-throated Hummingbird staked out around the Coral Honeysuckle vine. It would spend time preening and working its way around the multitude of flowers, and at times even perching to feed, a trait not normally associated with hummingbirds. A bumble bee also found the honeysuckle nectar to its liking, but not for long as it would be chased away by the larger hummer. House Sparrows flushed from the bird feeders would alight on the vines, but only briefly before being confronted by our four inch wonder. Then, in the blink of an eye, the hummer would zip up-and-away to an upper level perch in a distant tree, only to appear once again at the honeysuckle after a brief interlude. I then noticed that my hummer looked slighted different, and in fact there was more than one immature male using the coral honeysuckle, but never at the same time.

The markings on the gorget (throat) of this immature male Ruby-throated Hummingbird are beginning to fill in, and there is at least one iridescent ruby feather noticeable along the lower margin.

Is this the same individual as the one above? Though the gorget markings look very similar, there is something about the alignment of the dark feathers around the iridescent ruby feather that does not seem to match.

An overall darker green back and bare patch on the head separated this immature male from the one in the photo below. Having never seen a complete tract of feather loss on a hummingbird I am not sure what has caused this. Could it be head mites or some other parasite as I discussed in my June 21st blog? I believe that this individual is the same one as in the first (top) photo.

This individual immature male, perched to feed, seems to have an overall lighter green color, as well as a full head of hair! Though we can not see it in this photo, the gorget was more heavily marked especially around the lower margin of the gorget, but without any sign of an iridescent feather.

all photos © adrian binns

Montana Photo Safari!

Sunrise to sunset, the photo opportunities in Glacier National Park never stopped. From beautiful waterfalls to cooperative Bighorn Sheep and Mountain Goats we saw it all!

The drive from Kalispell (the nearest airport) to our lodging at the Rising Sun Motor Inn typically takes a little more than two hours. Somehow we were able to stretch that a bit with a stop for photos at Singleshot Falls and a mid-afternoon coffee/snack break in East Glacier.

Our first morning began with a cloudy sunrise over St. Mary's Lake and was eventually washed out while photographing Virginia Falls... a two mile hike from the road. Our hike into the falls had offered fleeting views of a Black Bear with cubs, so we were cautious throughout the trek. The rain would have been of little concern, however, the first clap of thunder created a scramble to put our gear away and head for the safe cover of our vehicles. Rain was off and on the rest of the day and into the next. But that didn't stop the fun! We enjoyed the many sights and sounds and smells as we explored the east side of the park.

They rain lessened and the photography turned up a notch the next morning as we visited the Two Medicine area of the park before continuing south and west to Goat Lick and Apgar. It was cool and breezy, but each area offered its own inspiration. We practiced exposure and composition techniques... getting back to basics.

On day four the sun rose bright as we drove north to the Many Glacier region. We arrived at our "reflection lake" in a heavy fog. Slowly the mist dissipated and all were shocked to see a mountain rising from the far shore... not so far away. We took advantage of the wonderful light and majestic scene, which included a visit from a female Common Goldeneye... difficult to ID in the fog, but our photos confirmed it. The nearby falls offered a great chance to enjoy the American Dippers during breeding season.

Day five offered a new habitat in the morning... the Trail of the Cedars. A piece of forest out of the Pacific northwest. Lush green moss, ferns and trees bathed us in a pine-scented freshness as we followed Avalanche Creek to its rushing, tumbling gorge. More dippers fed along the rocky shoreline. After lunch we drove up... and up to the crown jewel of the park: the Highline Trail. This trail becomes exhilarating as it meanders along a high mountain pass -- rising toward the peak on one side, dropping a thousand feet to the Going-to-the-Sun Road below. A cable held fast to the rock wall offered some comfort for the faint of heart. The trail and the meadows surrounding it, held Mountain Goats, Bighorn Sheep, marmots and ground squirrels... and thousands of colorful wildflowers.

Our final full day in the park was open for options. A local had mentioned a wonderful hike along a true wilderness path, away from the crowds. They had seen breeding loons on a pond two miles off a logging road. It was unanimous... we hiked to the pond in hopes of also seeing a moose that had been reported there. The hike was a bit more difficult than expected as we clambered over many fallen trees. A fire had swept through this area in 2003 leaving a skeleton forest. The understory of this fire ecology was springing back with young spruce and lodgepole pines, paintbrush and fireweed. The colors were inspiring! We watched quietly as the loons on the pond fed their young.

Click to view tour itinerary and photo gallery...

photos © Kevin Loughlin

Feather Maintenance: Sunning

We have had a wonderful string of sunny days (until today) and it was no surprise that during this gorgeous weather the birds were out in full force taking in the sun.

Feather maintenance is of major importance to birds, and anting, preening, oiling, bathing, dusting and sunning are all part of their feather care. On a daily basis birds will almost certainly do one of these activities in order to keep their feathers in tip-top shape.

Yesterday I found a Mourning Dove in this unnatural pose (above) - laying on its belly with one wing extended and the tail spread to meet the wing. I have seen Blue Jays and American Robins in almost the same pose, with both wings extended, head lifted and tilted, and mouth open; and Mourning Doves leaning to one side with a wing raised to catch the sun's rays.

While it seems obvious that these birds are sunning themselves no one seems to be 100% sure as to why they do this. Does spreading the feathers and exposing them to the sun help to dislodge feather parasites, such as mites and lice? As direct sunlight produces energy through heat absorption, does this behavior reduce a birds need for food? Birds require vitamin D and ultra violet light helps convert oil molecules in the preening gland into vitamins, but how effective is this? Maybe it is a combination of all of the above?

photo © adrian binns

PA Young Birders Cape May Field Trip

On Saturday July 18th, the PA Young Birders Club met for a full-day bird outing along the Delaware Bayshore and Cape May are. Five kids and three adults joined me in exploring several birding hotspots to find 56 species on this lovely day. After some heavy weekend traffic, we arrived at Cape May Bird Observatory in Goshen, where we enjoyed separate flocks of Snowy Egret and Glossy Ibis, along with Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, Indigo Bunting, Osprey, Merlin, and other local species. A few miles farther south, we explored Reeds Beach Road, where several Black-crowned Night-Herons perched in the trees were a major delight for the group. At the end of the road, we had clear looks of many Double-Crested Cormorants sitting on the pilons, and American Oystercatchers on the far banks across the channel. After our picnic lunch at Cape May Point State Park, we scanned Bunker Pond to find Mute Swans, Forster's Terns, Black Ducks, and Killdeer. We found our target Piping Plover in the next pond down from Bunker, along with several Least Terns and Black Vultures overhead. Colonies of Purple Martins were active near the State Park restrooms. Time flew quickly all day, but we squeezed in one last stop at Jake's Landing, where we enjoyed great looks at Marsh Wren, Seaside Sparrow and Northern Harrier. We heard Clapper Rails "kak-kak-kaking" in the reeds. A good time was enjoyed by all.

text and photo © debbie beer

Young Americans

The Big Day! Today is a momentous occasion in our families lives as my son Jamie marries his long time girlfriend Megan. Jane and I wish them much happiness and all the best. Congratulations and enjoy wonderful times together.

More young Americans (though Jamie is British!)........

Three baby American Robins, about a week old, waiting and begging to be feed.

Fresh out of the nest, a fledgling robin with its short tail, has managed to hop and make short weak flights to the safety of a shrub.

Young robins have black spots on their breast. This immature (or juvenile) is now old enough to feed and fend for itself.

A fledgling House Wren that had just left the nest was hopping on the ground and is still a day or two away from being able to fly.

A juvenile (dark bill) Northern Cardinal visits the platform feeder

This was probably the first time that this young Brown-headed Cowbird had visited a bird bath. Being unsure of testing the waters, it only lay down and soaked its breast feathers.

This juvenile Gray Catbird, with a yellow gape (base of the bill), faired better than the cowbird and enjoyed the water so much it would make frequent visits.

Though it looks a lot like an adult, this juvenile Downy Woodpecker still has a brownish tone to its plumage.

You can tell a young Mourning Dove by its scalloped wing feathering.

Baring a light colored head, this juvenile Blue Jay has found its favorite feeder food, a peanut.

all photos © adrian binns

Hummer in the Garden

A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird has been making regular visits to our Coral Honeysuckle. In the east we only have one breeding hummingbird whereas west of the Mississippi there about a dozen species. The reason for this is likely due to the reduced number of tubular flowering plants found in the eastern part of the country. Ruby-throated Hummingbird begin to arrive in our area in late April and almost all of them have headed south to Central America by the end of September.


Hummingbirds are the only birds able to fly forwards and backwards. Here she approaches a flower slowly and positions herself below the flower before entering.


The hummingbird's long bill is perfectly adapted to reach into a tubular flower to collect nectar. Once she taken enough nectar from that particular flower she will move onto another one, never returning to the same flower twice in one visit to that plant. Native vines such as Coral Honeysuckle and Trumpet Vine are wonderful because they have so many flowers.


Though the feisty hummingbird has few enemies it green back blends in well amongst amongst the plants its visits.

all photos © adrian binns

Juveniles at Tinicum

The boisterous begging calls of juveniles continue to be very evident along the impoundment path at Tinicum.


A family of House Wrens (above) are still in residence in an old Red-bellied Woodpecker hole, and are keeping their parents very busy. The young can just be seen reaching up in search of food. Before a parent approaches the nest tree with food, it would land close by and flutter its wings, before flying to the hole. On one occasion I watched both parents do this six inches from each other and then one of them reached over and passed food to the other.

An adult and two juvenile Eastern Kingbirds. While the left one is begging,

its sibling has been feed a mulberry berry.

Eastern Kingbirds were regularly sighted, with at least two pairs feeding young out of the nest. Both pairs had three juveniles each to look after. One set has just left the nest and with their small tails were half the size of the adults. One of the three even left its siblings and flew strongly across the path to another perch. Maybe it figured it would have less competition for food if it was on its own. The other brood where the same size as the adults and looked as they should have been fending for themselves!

A juvenile plumaged Yellow Warbler

For a change, it was nice to see a Yellow Warbler actually feeding one of its own species, as opposed to a Brown-headed Cowbird! Though the same size as the adult, the color of the plumage is very different. The juvenile feathers are grey with patches of yellow coming in, making it look like a different warbler species.

Of note, southbound shorebird has begun with Least and Spotted Sandpipers feeding along the mitigation mudflats.

all photos © adrian binns

July Photo Quiz - Tails Answers

Here are the answers to this month's photo quiz.

Image #1
To start, the photo is of a passerine (perching bird) with a short tail projection beyond the wing tip. If you look closely, you can see the chestnut coloration on the bird’s undertail. On junco, titmouse and chickadee, the buffy coloration is on the flanks and not on the undertail. There are only a handful of birds in the east that have this chestnut or a very similar color undertail, these being Bohemian Waxwing, Boreal Chickadee, Gray Catbird, Canyon Towhee, Crissal Thrasher, Red-breasted Nuthatch and White-breasted Nuthatch.

A catbird is overall very dark gray, and the chestnut is a far deeper color, neither of which this bird shows. Gray Catbird along with Crissal Thrasher and Canyon Towhee all have long tails. Bohemian Waxwing would be a good candidate, but it has a yellow terminal band on the the tail, and yellow in the primaries (wing), which this bird doesn’t show. On a Boreal Chickadee, the chestnut or brown covers most of the rear underside and it has a long tail. This leaves us with the nuthatches. The short tail certainly fits for Red-breasted Nuthatch, but the color and isolation of the undertail patch on this photo, does not match the overall red-orange of the underside of a Red-breasted. This leaves us with a White-breasted Nuthatch. In the image we can see the chestnut is isolated on the undertail with it being lighter in front and behind. Also note the white markings in the chestnut, which is a good field mark. Image #1 is a cropped shot of the tail of a White-breasted Nuthatch.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Image #2
I thought this was very interesting. On this bird hanging from a suet feeder, we see the underside of the tail, with extensive white outertail feathers, and a white wing bar.
Being at a feeding station we can narrow the choices to backyard birds commonly seen in the east.

What has white outer tail feathers? Western Kingbird, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, Northern Shrike, Loggerhead Shrike, Horned Lark, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Vesper Sparrow, Lark Sparrow, Lapland Longspur, and Eastern Meadowlark all do, but are highly unlikely to show up at a backyard feeding station. That leaves us with the resident Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Mockingbird and the wintering Dark-eyed Junco. The photo shows the fanned tail feathers make a uniform soft curve. Mourning Doves have long central tail feathers and the white is more restricted to the tips of the outer tail feathers. Woodpeckers feature two central tail feathers that are longer, stiffer and more pointed, used to balance themselves while climbing tree trunks. Hairy Woodpeckers have all white outer tail feathers, while the Downy shows two or three black spots on the white outer tail. Both birds would also show more white bars on the wing, than the bird in the image. The coloration and the amount of white looks good for the Slate-colored Junco, our common race of Dark-eyed Junco, but this bird has a conspicuous wing bar.

Amazingly, the final choice and correct answer to image #2 is the Northern Mockingbird. I have watched feeders for many years and never seen a mockingbird act like this. Hanging on the suet feeder it is using its spread tail to balance itself. In flight I think we all recognize that the mockingbird has white in the outer tail feathers, but we rarely if ever see it with its tail spread.

Northern Mockingbird

Image #3
I wonder how many of you looked at the stocky, hunched pose and long, rusty-colored, finely-barred tail and thought of pygmy owl, maybe even Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl? This bird is preening with his head forward and mantle feathers fluffed out. The grey spots are actually the feather tips in molt. Once the bird has molted, the back will be an even color. There are few birds with rusty-colored, finely-barred tails, and they are nearly all wrens! The pygmy-owl has broader barring than the the photo bird. While a Canyon Wren does have spots on its back, it is a rich rufous color, with fewer black bars on the tail. Winter Wren is ruled out with his short tail, and House Wrens are mostly grayer in color. And both of these species show fine barring across the mantle (back), not evident in this photo. Since the bird is perched on dead reeds, a good guess is Marsh Wren, but they have a rich, rufous rump and wing panel, and a strong black mantle with white streaks. Our image #3 is a Carolina Wren preening with its head down, showing an unusual amount of spots on the back (possibly due to molting?)

Carolina Wren

The common factor among these three quiz species is that they are all eastern backyard birds. Two of them, the wren and the mockingbird, were shown in very different poses to what we are accustomed to seeing. Thank you to all those that responded to this quiz. I hope you enjoyed the challenge.

all photos © adrian binns