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Winter Bird Feeding 101
72 Plays18 days ago
Joins us as we discuss/debate our chocolate preferences before focusing on practical advice on attracting and feeding birds, including feeder types, seed choices, and placement to avoid window collisions. We also address potential downsides like predation by cats and squirrels, and the spread of disease. Finally, we discuss the ecological benefits of creating bird-friendly habitats.
Taking Care of our Feathered Friends
Winter Bird Feeding: The Basics
Feeding Wild Birds: Should People Feed Birds and What's Best to Feed Birds?
Questions/Comments/Feedback/Suggestions for Topics: hortculturepodcast@l.uky.edu
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Transcript
Weather and Mood
00:00:16
Alexis
It's a rainy day here in the bluegrass. I got my little a cup of tea feeling all cozy today. How about you guys?
00:00:25
Plant People
Oh, got some decaf. And I don't know where I went wrong in my life. I'm drink drinking decaf.
00:00:29
Jessica
I need some caffeine and I was surprised that it like actually like thundered this morning.
00:00:31
Alexis
It's like lightning.
00:00:36
Jessica
Yeah.
00:00:37
Alexis
I was like, oh, OK, we're doing this.
00:00:38
Plant People
Yeah, it was a big flash. And um I mean, it's bad when your Christmas lights get turned off because of the extremely bright lightning.
00:00:40
Alexis
All right.
00:00:44
Jessica
Oh, that is.
00:00:45
Plant People
Yeah.
00:00:46
Alexis
Yeah, I know because it's so dark outside.
00:00:46
Plant People
I was like. Because it was very dark, even at at the you know the day that we're recording this on here in December.
00:00:50
Alexis
Mm hmm. It was like, set yeah, seven thirty. It was still dark.
00:00:53
Plant People
Yeah. Even at 930 at my office, it was like though the lights were still on, the outside lights were still on because it was so very dark and foreboding even.
00:01:02
Alexis
ah
00:01:04
Plant People
So, yeah.
00:01:05
Alexis
What about you, Brett?
00:01:07
Plant People
I should have had caffeine. I was over 400 milligrams of caffeine, and so I need to stop.
00:01:11
Alexis
not
00:01:13
Brett
I feel, I feel kind of grumpy today.
00:01:17
Plant People
Grumpy?
00:01:17
Jessica
Oh.
00:01:18
Alexis
So a grumpy gill, that's okay.
00:01:19
Plant People
If you were a Smurf or ah maybe a dwarf in the Disney classic, which would you be?
00:01:19
Brett
Yeah.
00:01:26
Brett
Well, I would be, I would definitely be blue, but that doesn't really narrow it down, I guess.
00:01:27
Plant People
Just answer that.
00:01:31
Plant People
Well played. Smurf Village.
00:01:34
Alexis
I ah feel like Brett butt would be Doc, that would be my, yeah.
00:01:38
Jessica
Oh yeah, that's kind of fitting.
00:01:38
Plant People
Oh, yeah. it was kind of He was kind of the leader.
00:01:42
Alexis
My grandma used to call me Snow White.
00:01:44
Plant People
Hmm.
00:01:44
Alexis
I don't know why. I think that she just had so many grandkids.
00:01:46
Brett
Nah.
00:01:46
Jessica
you
00:01:48
Alexis
I don't remember their names. And so she would just make up Disney characters.
00:01:53
Brett
After saying I would be docked now I'm feeling bashful.
00:01:56
Plant People
i
00:01:56
Jessica
Oh.
Chocolate Preferences
00:01:59
Plant People
I'm stuck on this word.
00:02:00
Brett
No, the weather, I don't know. Maybe it's the, I'm going to blame it on the weather, but you know, in Harry Potter and in real life, one of the things you can do to turn the frown upside down is to eat some, some chocolate.
00:02:03
Alexis
Yeah.
00:02:04
Jessica
Good, yeah, good excuse.
00:02:14
Brett
And I have a question for you all to take us off today.
00:02:15
Plant People
Hmm. Let's go.
00:02:18
Brett
Not related to that. That was just the fact that I, no, I'm just kidding.
00:02:20
Alexis
Oh, I was like, I'm chocolate.
00:02:20
Plant People
Oh, man, I was like getting excited.
00:02:21
Brett
Just kidding. Just kidding. Just kidding.
00:02:22
Alexis
I just ate a chocolate cookie.
00:02:23
Brett
If you had to rank dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate in order of your preference. One, two, three. What would the order be?
00:02:39
Plant People
oh
00:02:40
Jessica
Um, that order as,
00:02:40
Alexis
I guess if I was like, are we can't work out? I know that's exactly that order. Dark chocolate milk, chocolate white, because white chocolate, really chocolate, right?
00:02:44
Jessica
as dark chocolate is number one, dark chocolates, number one.
00:02:47
Alexis
I mean.
00:02:48
Plant People
Dark chocolate or white chocolate would be my last my least favor probably.
00:02:49
Alexis
It doesn't have any cocoa in it, right?
00:02:49
Brett
What's that?
00:02:53
Brett
Hmm.
00:02:53
Plant People
It would be lowest on my list.
00:02:56
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:02:57
Plant People
dark chocolate for me. And, you know, as I've gotten older, I like this. My favorite chocolate is actually like the semi-sweet baking chocolate.
00:03:02
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:03:03
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:03:04
Plant People
I don't know because it's not as sweet and the love it.
00:03:06
Brett
oh my god you all are this is this is a this is a i mean it's fine it's fine this this feels this feels very millennial foodie food preference to me if i'm just being honest
00:03:10
Plant People
We're disappointing.
00:03:11
Jessica
Tell us Brett, what are you going to tell us about white chocolate?
00:03:11
Plant People
doctor
00:03:14
Alexis
He's disappointed.
00:03:14
Plant People
He's got something in his pocket.
00:03:15
Alexis
I'm honestly a little surprised.
00:03:17
Jessica
Could it
00:03:18
Plant People
We're going to have to add video to this podcast to capture these facial expressions.
00:03:20
Jessica
be like a good debate?
00:03:26
Jessica
What?
00:03:27
Plant People
and Gen Z over here.
00:03:28
Brett
Yeah. It feels very like, you know, like as if, ah as if milk chocolate isn't the chocolate that built America.
00:03:29
Plant People
and So what do you got?
00:03:30
Alexis
Ray's like, offended.
00:03:38
Jessica
Built cities, her Hershey, Pennsylvania.
00:03:39
Brett
Uh, and it's, it's, yeah, i I, I just think, I think there's been some milk milk chocolate erasure.
00:03:40
Plant People
The built mediocrity.
00:03:49
Brett
Uh, and I'm not surprised.
00:03:50
Plant People
They're trying to clean them.
00:03:54
Brett
by the answer that I'm getting here today. I'm a little surprised that Ray did not rep milk chocolate more than the other ones.
00:03:59
Plant People
No, now you know, I used to be, Brett, all I used to be team milk chocolate, but I don't know. I like my wines a bit drier and my chocolate a little less sweet nowadays. I don't know what it is, Brett.
00:04:10
Jessica
I guess it depends on the kind of milk chocolate you're getting, right?
00:04:13
Brett
well
00:04:14
Jessica
You got to think about that because there's different kinds that I would prefer.
00:04:14
Plant People
The quality does vary quite a bit.
00:04:15
Alexis
yeah Milk chocolate has kind of it's kind of gotten a bad rap a little bit like it because it's like made and you know it's like like if you get really cheap candy or whatever that's just like not high quality.
00:04:17
Plant People
Yeah.
00:04:20
Jessica
Right.
00:04:27
Brett
Sure.
00:04:28
Jessica
yeah Waxy.
00:04:30
Alexis
w Yeah, it's waxy.
00:04:30
Plant People
Or if it's, yeah, if it's been marinating in their Halloween bucket.
00:04:31
Alexis
so like I feel like you get that less with dark chocolate. so but I don't know.
00:04:35
Plant People
Yeah.
00:04:35
Alexis
My mom always had dark chocolate at the house.
00:04:37
Plant People
I love dark chocolate.
00:04:38
Alexis
so like
00:04:38
Plant People
The heavy cocoa or whatever, you know, that's in there, the powder.
00:04:41
Brett
Okay. So, so within the, within the dark chocolate realm, how dark are you choosing to go? Like, is it?
00:04:49
Plant People
I don't know. It's kind of like my soul all the way dark.
00:04:50
Alexis
Uh, 60%, 60, about 60%, 60 to 70, but like 60 is usually.
00:04:51
Plant People
I mean, pretty dark.
00:04:53
Brett
So um I'm thinking, i think what's that?
00:04:55
Plant People
60, 65% is about as, I mean, anything more than that, the bitterness is real.
00:05:00
Jessica
Yeah, it gets too bitter.
00:05:01
Brett
Okay. Okay. So the you all are, you all are. Okay. All right.
Bird Enthusiasm among Millennials
00:05:06
Alexis
I feel so judged.
00:05:08
Jessica
Well, tell us, tell us Brett.
00:05:08
Plant People
We feel like, Alexis, it's like we're not committed enough on our percent.
00:05:12
Alexis
Well, I know I just, I expected the man who drinks like black coffee to be all about the dark chocolate.
00:05:15
Plant People
89%.
00:05:17
Alexis
So I'm just like a little surprised.
00:05:19
Brett
No, I enjoy, I enjoy dark chocolate.
00:05:19
Plant People
Yeah.
00:05:21
Brett
we We buy mostly dark chocolate in our house.
00:05:23
Plant People
elder
00:05:23
Brett
And so I'm, I'm as disappointed with myself as I am with any of you.
00:05:25
Jessica
Oh.
00:05:27
Brett
Um,
00:05:28
Plant People
but didn't didn't milk truck
00:05:28
Brett
I was just hoping, I was just hoping that it that it wasn't as homogenous as it is. Cause I think that it's, I don't know. I mean, I'm not an advocate here for white chocolate. Like I think it's actually should not even be considered chocolate.
00:05:41
Brett
It's its own standalone thing that has, has value.
00:05:42
Plant People
It's a waxy thing.
00:05:43
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:05:43
Jessica
Yeah.
00:05:44
Alexis
It's like candy. Yeah.
00:05:45
Brett
But, um, yeah, I've, I've just been re appreciating milk chocolate again over the last couple of years and wanted to open it up. But, um, yeah.
00:05:54
Jessica
I recently had some brought to me that was from Switzerland and it was amazing and it was milk chocolate, right?
00:05:57
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:06:01
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:06:02
Brett
Yeah.
00:06:02
Jessica
But it doesn't taste like as we've already discussed, like the normal milk chocolate that we think about.
00:06:03
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:06:08
Jessica
So I think it really depends on what brand, who's making it, all that kind of thing.
00:06:14
Alexis
one time when I was little I was at my grandparents for Easter and uh I was probably like one of the youngest kids there and my mom's from Pittsburgh right and so there's really good like candy places and there was like this little candy shop that made like homemade chocolate bunnies and they were like the solid ones not the you know hollow ones or whatever well I was probably maybe like six or seven
00:06:32
Plant People
Oh, yeah.
00:06:39
Alexis
And I ate my entire Easter basket, which included two like solid junket bunnies, and I threw up.
00:06:44
Plant People
Two four pound breaks of chocolate.
00:06:45
Jessica
Nice.
00:06:49
Plant People
What a waste.
00:06:49
Brett
Because you were so happy about your achievement and you were just so excited that you...
00:06:50
Alexis
i i yeah yeah I was so excited that I that i threw up. that's Yeah, that's the only time. But man, that was good chocolate because it was like made up the street, you know, and they poured their own chocolate bars and stuff.
00:07:03
Alexis
And I remember my mom being like, oh, well, this is a good chocolate. And then I proceeded to eat it all in one sitting.
00:07:08
Jessica
Then Alexa said it at all.
00:07:12
Brett
Well, so if I was, if I were, if I were trying to provide some sustenance and treats to hort culture hosts through the wintertime, I would offer them dark chocolate.
00:07:22
Brett
It sounds like maybe put it on a stick, put it in a small dispenser outside so that you could come up and access it at any point.
00:07:23
Alexis
Mm hmm.
00:07:23
Plant People
Yes, indeed.
00:07:30
Plant People
Yes.
00:07:31
Alexis
similar to that also liked feeders.
00:07:31
Jessica
Yes.
00:07:31
Brett
Let's just say hypothetically, I had some other friends across species friends like birds, for instance.
00:07:31
Plant People
ah Chocolate on a stick.
00:07:33
Jessica
Like.
00:07:38
Brett
that also like to eat things, but maybe didn't have such a preference for dark chocolate.
00:07:39
Jessica
Ah.
00:07:41
Brett
Maybe we can talk a little bit about, I don't want to get into litigation, Ray.
00:07:41
Plant People
Instead of suet, Brett, we could do chocolate.
00:07:43
Jessica
Hmm.
00:07:44
Plant People
Instead of suet, just I would. OK. OK.
00:07:48
Brett
I just, I think we can work out.
00:07:48
Plant People
We don't want to go there. We don't want to confuse our listeners.
00:07:55
Brett
Yeah, so what what are we talking about today?
00:07:57
Alexis
Time out some birds, which is not the normal thing we might talk about here on hort culture. But it is winter. And for a lot of us, we don't have a lot of plants in our lives right now.
00:08:09
Alexis
And so it can be nice to you know do something for our our other garden friends, our feathered friends.
00:08:13
Plant People
our feathered friends.
00:08:15
Jessica
Our wildlife that we have.
00:08:17
Alexis
Yeah. Jessica and I were talking about how, as millennials, we are probably not great. ah We're not great millennials because we're not huge birders. But yeah.
00:08:25
Jessica
And that's, that's a thing right now for millennials is like, you're supposed to hit a certain age and then you're suddenly going to be like, Oh my gosh, there's birds all around us, but maybe, yeah.
00:08:27
Alexis
Yeah.
00:08:31
Plant People
It's either Civil War history, or it's birds, or it's barbecue. I mean, and pit take your pig.
00:08:37
Alexis
I think it's because we're like really into plants. I think we fell too hard on the on the plant track.
00:08:39
Jessica
Yeah, I really into plants.
00:08:40
Plant People
Gardening. You're on the gardening. OK, gotcha.
00:08:42
Jessica
We're outside all the time. So like we already notice birds, but but maybe we just don't know all their names, right?
00:08:46
Alexis
Yeah. Yeah.
00:08:49
Jessica
Like, hey Oh.
00:08:49
Brett
i I also think, and here's a hot take, I think that that other that a lot of people are into it at a level of casualness where their knowledge is probably similar to what you have, but they talk about it as if they're really, really into it.
00:08:49
Alexis
Yeah.
00:09:02
Alexis
Mm.
00:09:04
Brett
And the people on this group are like, you know, if they're into something, they're very into it.
00:09:09
Plant People
You're like into it all the way.
00:09:09
Jessica
A little bit.
00:09:09
Brett
And
00:09:11
Plant People
Cut out good chocolate all the way.
00:09:11
Brett
So, so I would don't, my my point here, just mainly just don't feel, don't feel bad. You probably are into birds as much as many of your, your cohort. Um, it's just that you're not as into them as you are into like, uh, rock or what is it called?
00:09:20
Plant People
Will birds and gardening go together?
00:09:26
Brett
Uh, dish gardens, you know?
00:09:27
Jessica
Oh, thank you.
00:09:27
Alexis
Yeah, yeah, sure.
00:09:27
Plant People
Yes.
00:09:28
Brett
ah So give you cut, cut yourself some slack.
00:09:28
Plant People
All the succulents. Fair point. Fair point.
00:09:32
Brett
Yeah.
00:09:32
Alexis
I appreciate that, Brett.
00:09:33
Alexis
I appreciate that you were recovering us into the millennial generation.
00:09:33
Plant People
Yeah.
00:09:36
Jessica
Yes, it is important.
00:09:36
Brett
Yeah, of course. Well, you love dark chocolate, so you're clearly, clearly part of that. um ah did Well, did you all did you all get into any of the bird anything during COVID at all?
00:09:36
Alexis
So thank you.
00:09:49
Plant People
Uh, the bird apps, uh, we had, and we had after COVID, I think it's post-COVID, we had like actually a horticulture meeting, but yeah, it's a, there was an app that would listen to bird calls and identify birds.
00:09:52
Alexis
o Yeah,
00:09:54
Jessica
Uh
00:09:54
Brett
but Chicken wings or?
Birdwatching Trends and Techniques
00:10:01
Alexis
Tyler has that.
00:10:01
Plant People
And then we had a program on that from a naturalist in the Eastern part of, uh, the state here in Kentucky.
00:10:01
Jessica
-huh.
00:10:05
Brett
is This is Merlin bird ID.
00:10:07
Alexis
Yeah, that's all we have.
00:10:08
Plant People
Uh, that was one of the ones that she discussed, but that got me, uh, that kind of reignited my interest in birds because now it's easier than ever. I mean, I don't have big binoculars on me all the time or anything to actually do a sighting of the bird, then do the ID that way.
00:10:22
Plant People
But it fascinates me that there's ah tools available on your phone. You can just go out in a quiet location where there's bird calls and you can get IDs. Your phone can give you IDs from an app.
00:10:32
Jessica
h
00:10:33
Plant People
And that kind of got me interested in birds again. Yeah.
00:10:36
Brett
Yeah.
00:10:36
Jessica
I like use, and this is not real, it's it's about birds.
00:10:40
Jessica
So it's kind of on topic, but not like we're talking about feeding birds in the winter. So at my farm, I have a lot more, I guess, predatory birds, hawks, and a lot of different owls.
00:10:48
Alexis
Mmhmm.
00:10:51
Jessica
So it's been really cool for me. to figure out what owls I'm hearing at night.
00:10:54
Alexis
Mmhmm.
00:10:58
Jessica
And a resource that I have used is like the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, or I'm sure wherever you're listening at, whatever your state, you know, Fish and Wildlife, they often have profiles of the different birds in your area and like ranges they're in and will also have like sound profiles.
00:11:12
Plant People
Wow.
00:11:13
Jessica
So like that's how I was able to figure out that we have both screech owls and great horned owls that are nesting around our property because I can hear them you know at nighttime and stuff like that. So that's like another way if you start getting interested in what you're seeing or hearing some of your local fish and ah wildlife places can help you with that.
00:11:33
Plant People
Yeah, and it doesn't surprise me that, you know, in more more rural locations, you have this diversity of birds, large and small, raptors and otherwise, and probably lots of, ah you know, field-type birds and the smaller finches and things, I guess, orals, robins, all kinds of things.
00:11:46
Alexis
Mmhmm. Mmhmm.
00:11:49
Plant People
ah But it seems like in rural areas, you get this you know vast diversity of birds, both in the summer and the winter in Kentucky.
00:11:55
Jessica
Mm hmm.
00:11:55
Plant People
That's not to say that you can't have a pretty good diversity of birds in more urban areas, but I just notice the diversity of birds. And it makes sense because you know today we're talking about not only feeding birds, that's only like one part of the equation because birds are animals and animals need more than just food, you know, they need cover and water and some other things, but it's so cool when you go out into a natural meadow or here locally where I live in Scott, kind of in the central part of the state, I will go walking in wild areas that have like, you know, undisturbed meadow type openings, sunny meadow openings. And just, I always notice how much noise is made by the birds and it's so cool because I don't have, you know,
00:12:40
Plant People
quite as many birds here in Georgetown.
00:12:41
Alexis
Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
00:12:43
Plant People
But in those areas, it is really neat that you get such a diversity here in Kentucky, as I said, both winter and summer.
00:12:48
Jessica
Mm hmm.
00:12:49
Plant People
So it's pretty
00:12:49
Alexis
So I have a kind of a question. So when you think about feeding birds, do you think about like when somebody says, do you feed the birds? Are you thinking immediately like a, like a bird feeder, like a supplemental, you know, you're putting out seed of, you know, some something that's not in the garden and planted.
00:13:03
Plant People
Hmm.
00:13:08
Brett
No.
00:13:08
Alexis
or are you thinking about yeah so I'm the same way like we don't feed the birds here but I make sure I leave my plantings that I know are you know particular to birds like there's certain like finches that like Rebecca and you know all those kinds of things and I leave all those up until like March for you know both cover as well as to let them forage a little bit in there and that's what I always think of but I know a lot of people
00:13:10
Jessica
happy Yeah.
00:13:17
Jessica
Right.
00:13:35
Jessica
Right.
00:13:36
Alexis
Yeah, there's just like kind of two ways to think about that.
00:13:36
Jessica
Yeah.
00:13:38
Alexis
And then there's.
00:13:39
Jessica
Yeah, that's, I do the same thing at home. Leave some of those plants that I know, like you said, the finches especially that they like to feed on.
00:13:45
Alexis
Mm hmm.
00:13:46
Jessica
um But like here at our office, like we have more like the landscape plantings are more of like that traditional low maintenance, you know, evergreen stuff.
00:13:46
Plant People
Yeah.
00:13:56
Jessica
So they're not really getting anything from them. So like we have bird feeders out that we feed pretty much all year around and of course it fluctuates because you know once summer gets here there's more food and variety for them to eat so they're not going through as much. But that's how I've always done it and I think that's like our plant minds at work thinking you know certain plants that can benefit wildlife as well.
00:14:19
Alexis
Yeah, that's a really good point. Like if you do have a really, you know, high, like at your house or your whatever, if it's mostly, you know, conifers or plants that don't produce some sort of seed, then you might want to supplement if you want to have more bird population.
00:14:31
Jessica
h
00:14:33
Alexis
um But maybe you don't necessarily need to if you've got like a rain garden planting with a lot of these kinds of things or a lot of native plants. So that's a really good point, Jess.
00:14:42
Brett
So do you, do you specifically select things because they provide that?
00:14:42
Plant People
Yeah.
00:14:43
Jessica
thanks
00:14:48
Brett
Be honest. I'm just kidding. But, um, it, cause cause I, Oh, yeah.
00:14:50
Jessica
Be honest, I'm usually planting for bees.
00:14:52
Alexis
yes Yeah.
00:14:54
Jessica
So it kind of goes hand in hand sometimes.
00:14:55
Plant People
Nice bread and even that one.
00:14:57
Brett
Be yourself, Jessica, do what you want to do.
00:14:59
Jessica
Thank you.
00:15:00
Alexis
Yeah.
00:15:00
Brett
Um, cause I think, well, you'll, you will see in, in seed catalogs or in, in nursery catalogs and on nursery tags, it will say,
00:15:02
Alexis
No, I'm not.
00:15:09
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:15:10
Brett
You know, beneficial to wildlife and XY, you know, and that's what it usually means is either for cover or for food or for those other things is literally, you know, what we're talking about because the other thing I think about too is the more kind of plant mass and um spaces that I bring in the the more room I'm bringing in for.
00:15:30
Brett
better for worse and for some people, insects and small rodents and things that owls and hawks, but also other you know smaller birds eat insects. And so it's kind of like this e called this little micro ecosystem that's providing sustenance is another way I think of it.
00:15:46
Brett
But if you'd asked me when I was growing up, I would have thought of a bird feeder.
00:15:50
Jessica
Yeah, me too.
00:15:51
Brett
And I think most people that's kind of the vibe because that not everybody wants a wild
00:15:53
Alexis
Yeah, this sound there's no like wrong answer to it. I was just curious on what the.
00:15:56
Plant People
No. I mean a bird feeder is a concentrated thing if you want to if because you know one of the motivations for feeding birds is not only for the benefit of the birds but for the benefit of watching the birds ah so you can locate those at a certain spot you know either far away from window or close to a window we'll talk about that as we get into that but yeah I love the habitat angle of ah feeding birds because if you have a habitat that supports
00:16:06
Jessica
Mmhmm.
00:16:08
Alexis
That's true.
00:16:21
Plant People
You know, some of the native plants um that are good for wildlife, even non-native plants or some non-natives that, you know, different ones that that could be good. But if you have plants that are good for birds, that means you are thinking about the habitat and you're thinking about things like probably thinking about things like shelter and nesting sites. And you mentioned evergreens. You know, if you have evergreens, that's an important shelter location for birds. But I really like that angle.
00:16:49
Plant People
because you're taking the kind of the thousand foot approach as you're probably considering more than just feeding the birds. You know, and that's what this conversation is starting out as, I love that. um Because you can feed birds and have birds in an area, but I believe from a sustainable standpoint, if you address some of the the plants to go along with, you know, bird feeders, it's it's a better approach.
00:17:14
Plant People
Uh, because those plants are going to be out there, uh, when the bird feeder may not be full or be filled or, you know, otherwise not available to birds.
Feeding Birds: Pros and Cons
00:17:23
Alexis
What is um the thought process behind, you know, I feel like I've heard, you know, feed the birds in the winter or don't feed them unless it's a really hard winter, really long winter, don't feed them at all.
00:17:31
Plant People
i Yeah.
00:17:35
Alexis
And I feel like that can be that can be a toss up.
00:17:40
Plant People
Yeah, it's hard to nail down. I mean, some people say if you start feeding the birds in the winter, it's important to keep feeding the birds in case a habit develops.
00:17:46
Alexis
Mm hmm.
00:17:47
Plant People
And there's, there's information, I don't know about you guys, but as I was looking over some of the info, the info is not super conclusive on that.
00:17:55
Alexis
Mm hmm.
00:17:55
Plant People
As far as, uh, you know, do birds develop habits?
00:17:56
Jessica
Right. it's
00:17:59
Plant People
Do they become dependent through those habits on just coming to feeders or if you feed birds to the, does the population grow too much and.
00:18:03
Jessica
Yeah.
00:18:08
Alexis
Mm hmm.
00:18:09
Plant People
and becomes unsustainable. There's a lot of these issues around feeding birds that, you know, there's many angles you could talk about as far as bird feeders.
00:18:16
Jessica
Yeah. There's a lot of mixed, like you said, mixed information about, like I read somewhere that like, um, you can see like an increase, like, you know, increase in population of, um, or survival of chicks, basically, like versus like, if they weren't being fed, maybe they lay like four eggs and they're going to be lucky if two survive, but they've like noticed like birds that are being fed, like you know, have a regular food source.
00:18:30
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:18:30
Plant People
Yeah.
00:18:38
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:18:41
Jessica
Those chicks are, you know, you might have all four eggs you know survive with it.
00:18:45
Plant People
Yeah, yeah.
00:18:46
Jessica
so um And then vice versa with some of the other you know things Ray, he just mentioned too.
00:18:51
Plant People
I mean, birds obviously need more energy through the wintertime, and that's a given, especially when there's heavy snowfall. And in future podcasts, we'll talk about snowfall from a different angle. But ah when there's heavy snowfall, there's not as much forage available, especially for those ground feeding birds. ah And I guess that leads us to another point is, you know we talked about bird feeders, but they're not all created equally, and they're not all designed equally. Was it you, Jessica, that mentioned finches?
00:19:19
Plant People
ah
00:19:19
Jessica
Yeah, I think, yeah, both Alexis and I mentioned them.
00:19:21
Plant People
which, yeah, you guys mentioned finches and those bird feeders are completely different because the seed mixes for finches tends to be little and they are specific for finches um in many cases, um but not all bird feeders are the same and not all birds feed up high where you would hang a bird feeder maybe six, eight foot, you know, to keep it away from raccoons and squirrels and things.
00:19:21
Alexis
Mmhmm.
00:19:46
Plant People
Some birds in Kentucky, we have a whole, I don't know, bunches of different birds that feed on the ground, they're ground feeders. So that's an important note. When we're talking about bird feeders, we'll acknowledge the fact that, ah you know, there's a lot of different types of bird feeders and they each have their own kind of space and their own scenario to use those. And using a variety of different bird feeders, when you go to do your own research, um that can lead to a greater variety of birds.
00:20:16
Alexis
And I'm watching as a a fluffy creature crosses Ray's camera, which reminds me that we should talk about cats.
00:20:19
Jessica
i Same.
00:20:23
Plant People
Yeah, sorry. Yeah.
00:20:26
Jessica
Those fluffy creatures.
00:20:26
Plant People
That's why I don't have bird feeders now. this is This is a neighborhood cat that they're seeing.
00:20:28
Alexis
Yeah.
00:20:31
Plant People
I'm sorry that our listeners can't see this. We'll add video on the future maybe. But um yeah, prep predation is another, you know, we talked about some of the potential downsides, potential downsides of feeding birds, but a big one here where I live is predation from cats.
00:20:47
Plant People
Because if you have a bird feeder that accumulates the birds in one spot and it can be a real issue.
00:20:51
Brett
so So just to just to kind of close that out with ah hope not I mean, not to say clarity.
00:20:54
Plant People
Yeah. We were jumping. I was jumping, yeah.
00:20:57
Brett
No, no, you're not not at all. But I think in case anybody was waiting to hear It's definitely a terrible idea to have a bird feeder through the winter, or it's definitely a great idea to have a bird feeder through the winter.
00:21:07
Brett
It seems like we don't really exactly know, which means that it's probably some blend of both.
00:21:13
Plant People
So it's fine.
00:21:13
Alexis
Research is inconclusive.
00:21:14
Plant People
Yeah.
00:21:14
Jessica
In conclusive, yeah, it's probably okay.
00:21:16
Brett
And, you know, one of the things I try to, I try to keep in mind with, with some of the activities that we do, you know, on a scale of of one farm or one house or whatever, it's like, we're you know, we're not going to make or break the world with that, those types of interactions.
00:21:16
Plant People
Yeah.
00:21:29
Brett
And so as long as it's not, uh, you know, you're going to go out and plant some Bush honeysuckle or something like that.
00:21:30
Alexis
Mm-hm.
00:21:35
Jessica
Please don't do that.
00:21:36
Brett
A lot of activities, I don't know.
00:21:36
Alexis
who
00:21:37
Brett
It's, it's kind of like, you know, you, you can do it and you're probably, you know, so, so it's, I think if you want to have a bird feeder, seems like it's okay to have a bird feeder.
00:21:45
Plant People
Yeah, sure. And most of the information leans far towards that direction than the other, because especially in northern climates where you you do have lots of snowfall and there might not be that native habitat and those native habitat plants around, it is important to provide a food source and energy source for the different birds.
00:22:05
Plant People
It's much more of the information points to that than the contrary. So yeah, and you can enjoy that.
00:22:08
Jessica
So.
00:22:09
Alexis
And I feel like if you're if you're on the fence about it, ah or you know or you're not sure, then just ramp up your you know plants that support that population. So those are gonna be native species, they support a variety of things.
00:22:21
Plant People
Mm-hmm. The habitat, yeah.
00:22:23
Alexis
And I feel like I've seen, and if anybody else has seen this say something, but um this is Alexis's memory and not, I can't pull it pull the research out, but I feel like I've seen where they say like like suet or supporting them maybe with like fats rather than just seeds can is maybe is supportive and like um really beneficial ah if you're worried about, you know, like over like high energy and like upping the population too much with the seed or having issues with squirrels or something like
00:22:40
Plant People
Mm-hmm. You get a different ver variety of birds.
00:22:49
Plant People
The high energy, yeah.
00:22:50
Jessica
Mmhmm.
Bird Feeder Challenges and Solutions
00:22:56
Alexis
that.
00:22:56
Alexis
um
00:22:56
Plant People
And I love woodpeckers, and I mean, that's one of the things that I can, I know that if I want to attract, you know, some of our woodpecker species is put out suet. I just know that that's going to bring those guys in. There's certain types of birds that that goes back to suet feeder, oftentimes comes in blocks, suet does, which is a high fat product, a blend.
00:23:17
Plant People
of animal fats, but it's often in a cage to kind of protect that because everything loves and is attracted to that stuff. But that goes back to the fact that that's a different type of bird feeder and it attracts a completely different type, ah different types of birds than maybe the finch feeders would.
00:23:32
Jessica
h
00:23:34
Plant People
ah So that, yeah, that's a good point, Alexis. And that is high energy food and some of the larger birds tend to really like that specifically.
00:23:41
Jessica
And one of the other, besides the cats, as we watch the cat walk by again, um is I think a lot of people have issues with squirrels. Like that's like one of the big, big ones.
00:23:52
Plant People
Oh yeah.
00:23:54
Jessica
um And I know they make, you know, you see now where they're marketing those squirrel feeders right bird feeders that if a squirrel climbs on them it kind of like closes it up so it's like the bird shouldn't be heavy enough right unless it's a really chunky bird for the winter or something I guess so like stand on it and like close it but it should close off every time the squirrel gets on there but I feel like a lot of people you know once they find out you know that you have a bird feeder and that seed or whatever is available they're kind of challenging to keep to keep out
00:24:27
Plant People
Squirrels are so, um they can defeat a lot of different systems. That's why you'll find a lot of the, you know, on online order sources or local departments, or it'll feature prominently like squirrel proof, you know, bird feeder, you know, usually involves a wire cage.
00:24:38
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:24:42
Plant People
And there's all kinds of other novel mechanisms like the spinning squirrel feeder that you see that, you know, we all watch the funny videos on social platforms of the squirrel that just gets on there and flies around tail straight out but yeah there's lots of yeah there's lots of novel approaches to add to keeping um the undesirables out like squirrels but a lot of those are just ah maybe as simple as a very small opening depending on the type of bird that you're trying to attract or or that cage cages are what i see most nowadays is uh cages around the opening so that the birds can get to that small birds can but this squirrels can't
00:24:48
Jessica
Yeah.
00:24:49
Alexis
I was just gonna say that I was like,
00:24:49
Jessica
Yeah. Till they shoot off.
00:24:54
Alexis
The raccoons, yeah.
00:24:55
Brett
Have you.
00:25:18
Brett
Have you all seen the Mark Rober video of the squirrel? Like, um I guess you would call it an obstacle course sort of that he creates, that it's a squirrel getting to a bird feeder and it's like multiple panels and he filmed the whole thing and to see if this squirrel, it's ah it's he's he's the same guy who like did the poor the porch pirate ah glitter bomb boxes, you know, where the person goes to steal the Amazon package and it blows up like it,
00:25:23
Alexis
I don't think so. I don't know.
00:25:34
Alexis
ah I think I have seen that, yeah.
00:25:36
Jessica
Ah Oh my gosh, I've not seen that
00:25:47
Brett
Like ah but you know he's like a pretty famous YouTuber.
00:25:47
Alexis
Blows glitter on their face.
00:25:51
Brett
He makes like a couple of videos a year with a ton of money going into them. And so he has one that's a pretty good, he has like these really awesome like slow-mo video of like squirrels like jumping, you know, dramatically or when they fall, you know, they're kind of there.
00:26:07
Brett
He talks a little bit too about like them using their tails to fall and how they're able to do all that kind of stuff. But anyway, if you're, if you're looking
00:26:13
Alexis
They're crazy. and like listener listen If you go out in the woods and you you irritate them and they just like chat at you and they squawk at you and you're like, okay, excuse me, I'm rude.
00:26:16
Plant People
Thank you.
00:26:25
Alexis
They get pretty upset when they can't get to the bird feed. It's pretty funny. um
00:26:30
Plant People
Yeah, they do not they do not like being excluded.
00:26:33
Brett
One of Annie's coworkers was telling me ah that they, so they, they have a bird feeder, but their, uh, yellow lab just like eats the bird seed just nonstop.
00:26:47
Plant People
and The yellow lab is a ground feeder.
00:26:47
Jessica
I know ah somebody that Alexis and I both know really well, they had a lab do the same thing and then eventually had to take it to the vet and pay a hefty vet bill because it ate so much bird seed.
00:26:56
Plant People
Oh, goodness.
00:27:00
Alexis
Yeah, I love when um i I remember getting like these random calls.
00:27:00
Jessica
Um, yeah.
00:27:06
Alexis
I feel like there wasn't a couple of years ago, people were worried about the bird. Maybe it was like a rough winter and people were worried about the bird. So a lot of people have bird feeders out. And the next spring I got several phone calls ah that were about they were like, these random sunflowers have just like popped up in my yard.
00:27:22
Jessica
Oh, yeah.
00:27:25
Alexis
and And I was like, what? And they were like, yeah, it's just like in the middle of the grass. I don't know how it got there. And I was like, did you have a bird feed it out?
00:27:31
Jessica
Yep.
00:27:33
Alexis
And they were like, oh, my goodness.
00:27:35
Brett
Have you been, have you been listening to a lot of post Malone lately?
00:27:36
Alexis
And it was adorable.
00:27:38
Plant People
There you go.
00:27:39
Alexis
It was adorable.
00:27:40
Plant People
Little sunflower reference, Brett. Nice.
00:27:42
Alexis
Yeah. And they were like, the birds are just thanking you for feeding them this winter. So black oil sunflower seeds are a great bird seed.
00:27:49
Jessica
Very, very popular.
00:27:49
Brett
We were so, so Ray did some, Ray did some good, uh, some good detective work here.
00:27:51
Plant People
The most common mix. Yeah.
00:27:56
Brett
Ray, did you want to talk a little bit about some of these, um, food preferences that you pulled together?
00:28:02
Alexis
and
00:28:03
Plant People
Yeah, I guess so we've kind of alluded to it in different points here. ah But different birds, it's important to note here that different birds have different food preferences.
00:28:11
Alexis
Mm hmm.
00:28:12
Plant People
For instance, blue jays, cardinals, that lots of birds like the different sunflower seeds.
00:28:15
Alexis
Mm hmm.
00:28:17
Plant People
They specifically like the striped sunflower seeds. We mentioned that finches, they really love thistle seed, which are very small. and sometimes take a specific cedar. And you can even use peanuts for larger birds like ah blue jays and woodpeckers.
00:28:32
Plant People
They enjoy that as a food source. um The Proso millets, that's a lot of different species. And then with suet, we mentioned that the woodpeckers love that along with nut hatches.
00:28:43
Plant People
So I guess as you do your research, just know that not only is there different bird feeders, there's different birds
00:28:44
Alexis
Hmm.
00:28:50
Plant People
feeders for specific seed types and there's a lot of different seed types out there and some of the seeds can be a little bit expensive if you're trying to um attract specific bird species.
00:28:52
Jessica
No.
00:29:01
Plant People
Now you're going to find and find sunflower seeds and you know straight runs and a lot of a lot of ah bird feed and that's a great place to start because a lot of birds ah love those like the black hole sunflower seeds the dark sunflower seeds.
00:29:16
Plant People
ah They're really easy for small birds to crack open But yeah, it's interesting how different birds have ah very specific preferences in some cases. And I was working with a wildlife biologist and some of the bird feeders that I noticed, ah they were they were around the station, they're really, really messy and they were doing some kind of study and he said there was a preference study.
00:29:38
Plant People
they were using mixes and what they found out that the birds, and I don't know which, I don't remember which kind of birds, but they were going through and picking out only what they wanted and they were just tearing up the bird feed.
00:29:38
Alexis
Mm hmm.
00:29:46
Alexis
Hmm hmm.
00:29:48
Jessica
That's neat.
00:29:50
Plant People
And there was just bird seed, you mentioned, you know, plants coming up around a bird feeder, but there was a radius of 15 feet around this one bird feeder that they had a mix in it that they didn't like, but one of the five or six, you know, seeds that were in there, but they were just scattering most of the seeds everywhere.
00:29:54
Alexis
ah huh
00:30:06
Jessica
That's pretty cool.
00:30:07
Plant People
Yeah, but it was really interesting, but that that kind of hit home with me that birds have birds definitely have a preference.
00:30:13
Jessica
Yeah.
00:30:13
Alexis
And, and there's some things like to stay away from necessarily like basically the things that would be filler that are not going to be, you know, preferred by birds are going to be discarded.
00:30:13
Plant People
They really do.
00:30:24
Alexis
And so, you know, if you look and look at the ingredient list, you can stay away from those and not, you know, waste your money on basically these filler seeds. So you've got like. Wheat, whole oats, rice, rye, those types of things are usually discarded.
00:30:37
Alexis
And so you can create a weed problem for yourself if you're not not careful and there's no use you know spending money on something that's not.
00:30:41
Jessica
Right.
00:30:44
Plant People
A lot of those in a really cheap mix are kind of bulking agents. I guess I consider those like the bulking agents.
00:30:47
Alexis
Yeah. Yeah.
00:30:49
Plant People
Yeah.
00:30:49
Jessica
And we've talked a lot about feeders and I just remembered like a couple of years ago, we may had a class of like making your own kind of bird feeder.
00:30:49
Alexis
Right.
00:30:57
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:30:58
Jessica
So like something like in the winter, if you want to do yourself or if you have a kids, like the classic taking a pine cone and like rolling it like in peanut butter and then, you know, bird seed, or I've done one before where we've taken like,
00:31:05
Alexis
Oh yeah.
00:31:11
Jessica
ah like mini like mini little plastic bundt pan kind of things. And you just take your regular birdseed mix and you mix it with ah clear gelatin.
00:31:19
Alexis
Aww!
00:31:21
Jessica
and then and then put it together in the mold or you could do it or you could put it like in cookie cutters that way and then you let it set up you know obviously put like a hole in it so you can like string it and tie it onto the trees and you can put those out and they'll yeah and like they'll they'll hang out there and feed on those and you can kind of decorate your tree in the winter
00:31:35
Alexis
Little bird seed jello.
00:31:44
Alexis
So cute.
00:31:44
Jessica
Um, and have a, you know, a food source that way and something a little fun, fun to do on like the colder wintery days.
00:31:51
Alexis
Oh my gosh, it's a Christmas tree for the birds.
00:31:54
Jessica
It is.
00:31:55
Alexis
Just decorate that cute little tree.
00:31:56
Plant People
I remember when that was really popular, specifically the pine cones and the peanut butter trick.
00:32:01
Jessica
hu
00:32:02
Plant People
And I believe that was a master gardener or gardener program that we did four or five years ago. And it was so cool. And it worked. I brought one home with me. It was really messy. I had it in a little bag and I was like, how is this thing going to work?
00:32:13
Plant People
And I think they rolled it in peanut butter with birdseed in the peanut butter.
00:32:16
Jessica
Mm hmm.
00:32:16
Plant People
And birds came and scarfed it up right outside of the window.
00:32:19
Brett
I'll just let you know they are they are delicious.
00:32:19
Plant People
And did you enjoy them?
00:32:22
Brett
and there yeah A little crunchy, you want to have something to drink, but...
00:32:23
Plant People
Yeah. High on vitamin C breath.
00:32:26
Jessica
Yeah.
00:32:26
Plant People
Bread also enjoys them, apparently, folks. He does.
00:32:29
Jessica
Oh.
00:32:30
Alexis
It's ah similar to chocolate covered pretzels, peanut butter covered pine cone.
00:32:33
Jessica
Yeah, same thing.
00:32:34
Alexis
It's the same vibe.
00:32:34
Plant People
Yeah. I do love some peanut butter.
00:32:35
Brett
Listen, we all have traditions, family traditions.
00:32:37
Plant People
Yeah.
00:32:39
Alexis
So I know we're talking about feeding the birds and I feel like this is on point, but who would I be if I didn't ah britain bring this up of just sort of, you know, as you're thinking about feeding the birds and we talked about birds that you may want to um focus on, like kind of target with your seed and your style of bird feeder. Are there any birds that you anyone would say are like extremely or just like partially beneficial towards like gardening?
00:33:07
Plant People
obnoxious.
00:33:09
Alexis
Well, I'm just thinking like, um like birds as you know, which ah the birds, mostly the birds we're talking about are going to be you know, like seed eaters, which is which is great, but a lot of them are also insect eaters.
00:33:10
Plant People
Oh, I want the beneficial for gardening.
00:33:17
Plant People
who Oh, yeah.
00:33:20
Jessica
Mm hmm.
00:33:21
Alexis
And so are there ones, you know, if I had a choice, I you know would definitely want to attract this kind of bird, hoping that it'll stay around and eat up a bunch of my caterpillars in um you know in the summer.
00:33:34
Alexis
I don't know. It's kind of like a general question if anybody has any thoughts. Because I know from like a predatory bird standpoint, but I'm thinking about smaller birds eating insects, like house finches and stuff like that.
00:33:48
Plant People
Yeah, there's a lot of birds that I see. I don't know if it's their preference, but yeah, there's birds that eat. I mean, lots of different birds eat insects depending on food availability um and fruit it for that matter.
00:33:57
Alexis
i've seen
00:33:58
Plant People
because i
00:33:58
Jessica
what's What's the lens that everybody puts all the houses up for to help with mosquito control?
00:34:03
Alexis
Oh, Martin's the Martins.
00:34:03
Jessica
And yeah, right?
00:34:05
Alexis
That's a good one.
00:34:06
Plant People
and Martin's.
00:34:06
Alexis
Yeah. I forgot about those.
00:34:06
Plant People
Yeah.
00:34:07
Jessica
Yeah.
00:34:07
Alexis
Yeah. Martins. Yeah.
00:34:08
Jessica
um
00:34:09
Alexis
Martins are are good ones. um I was reading some um information about it. ah There actually was a UK entomology student who did her research on how birds, like canned birds, be incorporated into an integrated pest management program, and I thought that was really fascinating. and so um You know, there's a bunch of studies that have been done, a lot of them in like cherry and grape, like vineyards and orchards, you know, more out in like California, sort of West Coast stuff, uh, because fruit birds are, birds are a problem in fruit. And obviously there's a lot of insects, but they actually looked at a lot of things from a predatory bird standpoint, which I think I brought up before, but just like, because I like to talk about Falcons in general, um, the, you know, putting up, um, uh, like.
00:35:03
Alexis
places for falcons to roost or areas a areas where like kestrels might want to be can be great for um keeping those birds that might eat your crops out because they're you know intimidated by these predatory birds.
00:35:10
Jessica
Mm hmm.
00:35:20
Alexis
So just putting up these perches, they found what was really, really helpful in vineyards and in Cherry orchards, which I thought was really cool. And then like it basically just said like kind of research was still out on whether or not, um you know, birds are great for IPM.
00:35:37
Alexis
It's, to me, it sounded like For fruit, it was kind of one or it might be one or the other as far as birds that attacked insects. But for veggies, where veggies aren't necessarily as big of a um bird attractant, you know, not the same way that a fruit might be.
00:35:53
Plant People
Mm.
00:35:54
Alexis
And for low, they even said like strawberries, I guess, because they're low to the ground versus like like a tree fruit um that, you know, birds like ah Blue jay, um not blue jays like bluebirds and like house finches and you know A bunch of those kind of smaller ones were actually really helpful because they ate up ah There was one where they were saying like the kale um They had but cabbage loopers they ate like 80% of the cabbage loopers on this kale crop um and I was you know by just having birds and attracting birds vibe with you know nesting areas and stuff like that so
00:36:22
Plant People
Wow.
Birds and Agriculture
00:36:32
Alexis
Just something to think about if you're really trying to diversify your um ego's little ecosystem that you know birds might be an option. um If you're not growing super sweet things, that is.
00:36:45
Plant People
Yeah, some of the birds I was thinking I've seen robins when we used to grow some strawberries actually peck on things. I i mean, some of the ground feeding birds that if you have strawberries growing on bare ground specifically, ah they would get in there and they would pick on the fruit.
00:36:52
Alexis
v
00:36:57
Alexis
Yeah.
00:36:59
Jessica
Yep, I've seen that.
00:37:00
Alexis
Yeah.
00:37:01
Plant People
Yeah, they'll kind of they'll kind of get in there and do some damage.
00:37:05
Alexis
Yeah, I'm just wondering, like from like a veggie standpoint, you know you don't have birds necessarily pecking leaves and cabbage and things like that.
00:37:08
Plant People
Yeah, I don't know.
00:37:12
Alexis
Zucchini, you know there might be benefits benefits to having, like bringing in birds if you're growing more of, like ah like I said, a low sugar, or if you're growing cut flowers, ah having them come in for insect um for the cucumber beetles and stuff like that.
00:37:16
Jessica
h
00:37:27
Plant People
From a food safety standpoint, it's a little bit problematic with like the the birds.
00:37:30
Alexis
That's true, yeah.
00:37:32
Plant People
and And I didn't think about that until you mentioned that.
00:37:34
Alexis
Mm-hmm. That's true.
00:37:35
Plant People
ah you know We talk about what power lines, that you know electrical transmission lines that run overhead, and birds sitting there. And the problem is the birds pooping on everything.
00:37:43
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:37:44
Jessica
Right.
00:37:44
Plant People
So yeah, I wonder.
00:37:44
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:37:45
Plant People
I never thought about it from that angle, from that perspective. ah Lots of these fruit and veggie fields are you know the they are in more rural areas. And more rural areas may have more birds.
00:37:55
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:37:57
Plant People
And producers always worry about, you know because if a bird flies over and defecates on ah had a head of cabbage, technique you have to not harvest that head of cabbage or whatever once it's contaminated ah with feces.
00:38:06
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:38:09
Plant People
So yeah, I could see where there's a lot of different considerations yeah on that that end.
00:38:09
Alexis
It's a good point.
00:38:16
Plant People
So we're diversifying our food sources, not only that, but we're diversifying the bird feeders. There's little bird feeders that looks like houses that are decorative. There's bird feeders with cages that help against, you know, keep squirrels and raccoons out.
00:38:29
Plant People
And there's the tube top finch feeders, which I think it's so cool. The tube finch feeders, I see, I think it's only the finches that hang upside down and they get in. I've noticed, I thought it was so weird the first time I saw a tube feeder that had the little, uh,
00:38:42
Alexis
The perch was above the opening.
00:38:43
Plant People
Yeah, the perch was above and it was, a and they said, oh yeah, they, had they have that ability to feed upside down.
00:38:44
Alexis
Yeah.
00:38:49
Plant People
You'll see them. And I started noticing that it's so cool, but, uh, there's a lot of different types of feeders. So, uh, if you address those things and you have what else, uh, we haven't talked about water yet, have we?
00:38:59
Alexis
Oh yeah. Yeah, that's true.
00:39:00
Jessica
Yeah, like think about i I think about it like if when you're doing your pollinator gardens, right we think about all the extra things that we need to put out for our butterflies and stuff.
00:39:00
Plant People
ah water A water source.
00:39:05
Plant People
Uh-huh.
00:39:09
Plant People
Like butterflies is what I was thinking about.
00:39:09
Jessica
The same same thing like with the birds.
00:39:10
Plant People
Yeah.
00:39:12
Jessica
It's like helpful to have a water source, especially there in the winter. Maybe if we've had ah quite a few days where it's been really curled and frozen, just to have a little
00:39:16
Alexis
Yeah.
00:39:16
Plant People
That's shallow.
00:39:18
Alexis
It's frozen.
00:39:21
Plant People
Yeah, the f frozen is a problem, yeah. ah now
00:39:24
Jessica
Like not to, you know, a cat water dish, something small like that, not to lure in the cats, but you know, nothing, nothing too big, but shallow where they'll be able to find it.
00:39:29
Alexis
Yeah.
00:39:31
Plant People
Just something shallow, it seems like. um And I see a lot of the bird baths on online order sources now, they so really prominently specify, hey, this is a heated ah you know bird bath where it we won't it won't freeze over because that freezing is an issue, of course, in the winter when a lot of bird feeding is going on.
00:39:40
Alexis
Hmm. Fancy.
00:39:50
Plant People
But like you said, I see a lot of folks ah here in our neighborhood, and that they watch birds because we live along ah ah pretty good a pretty good size creek here with a tree line along both sides of it. But I see people setting out like on their back deck patios, they'll set out a shallow dish because they don't have any kind of heated bird water or anything. And, you know, I talk to our neighbors and that was for feeding the birds. They put it out next to their bird feeder just to have a water source in the wintertime when everything's frozen.
00:40:19
Plant People
So yeah, that that's the we've talked about the food. That's the water um Talked about
Bird Feeder Safety and Maintenance
00:40:25
Plant People
habitat. We haven't talked about placement of bird feeders Because a big problem with feeding birds to me is window collisions um And it seems like there's ah two strategies that you can um to use to sort of mitigate that, ah control that a little bit. And you can either put the bird feeder, you know, close to the window, the information if you look over that and do research online, it'll say either within three feet of the window,
00:40:53
Plant People
So that, you know, that, that helps with collisions because they'll, they'll shoot for the bird feeder and they're slowing down naturally any which way to get to the bird feeder, put the bird feeder close to the window or far away from the window, but not like in that 10 to three foot range.
00:41:00
Alexis
Hmm.
00:41:08
Plant People
Because if you get in that range. and put a bird feeder near a window. And that was a problem for us at first, because we have a large back patio sliding glass door. And we had a probably a feeder on the end of the deck, and it was not it was eight to nine feet to the corner of the deck.
00:41:25
Plant People
And we were having a lot of bird collisions with the window. And of course, Reed thought that when our son was younger, he thought that was the coolest thing ever. He's like, birds are saying hi. And I'm like, oh gosh, we have got to address this before a bird gets hurt.
00:41:34
Alexis
Oh, listen let's hope they're not still out there.
00:41:36
Jessica
Yeah.
00:41:37
Plant People
and but I made that mistake and started reading and it said you either do the through within three feet close to the window.
00:41:42
Alexis
Hmm.
00:41:43
Plant People
And so we moved it to the side within probably a foot of a window. So our son could you know go up to the window and watch the birds.
00:41:48
Jessica
Yeah.
00:41:49
Plant People
But that in between area is problematic for window collisions.
00:41:53
Jessica
it's
00:41:53
Plant People
You'll have more problems.
00:41:55
Jessica
Yeah, it's absolutely insane how many like birds die from window collisions.
00:41:59
Alexis
Mm hmm.
00:42:00
Jessica
So like on another nature animal podcast that I listened to, um, yeah, I want to say maybe Columbus or Cleveland somewhere, a bigger city in Ohio, a bunch of migratory birds fly through there every year and thousands of them were dying from collisions into like buildings.
00:42:20
Jessica
And so they've actually passed.
00:42:21
Plant People
like surfaces are a big problem, reflective surfaces like on a lot of skyscrapers, yeah.
00:42:23
Jessica
Yeah. Yeah. So they passed a thing like in the um like at night during that time. All those buildings leave their lights on for like a set you know week or two when the mass amounts of them are migrating through.
00:42:32
Plant People
Oh wow.
00:42:34
Alexis
Hmm, window of time, yeah.
00:42:38
Jessica
And they've seen like a great like reduction in the number of bird collisions because where they're doing that at nighttime and
00:42:44
Alexis
Mm-hmm.
00:42:45
Jessica
other things that they're putting on windows and stuff. just se because you just add I think it's something you don't think about until it actually happens, right until you have a bird flying through your window.
00:42:55
Plant People
Yeah.
00:42:56
Jessica
Because we have it happen, unfortunately, all the time at my office that where we just hear it and everyone's like, oh, there's another bird.
00:43:02
Alexis
Yeah.
00:43:04
Jessica
So we need to probably adjust our bird feeders at our office.
00:43:07
Plant People
we we did not We didn't have trouble at home until, and I read while this was, we did not have trouble with our patio door until I opened the curtains.
00:43:16
Alexis
Mmhmm.
00:43:16
Plant People
And that's when they would fly into it. So window treatments apparently help a great deal, like blinds, because that looks like a barrier.
00:43:21
Jessica
Mmhmm.
00:43:23
Plant People
And if the window's not at an angle where it's reflective, which also confuses birds. But ah if you have blinds or some kind of window treatment, that also helps a great deal. It's windows that are open that looks like an opening that Is is a problem
00:43:38
Alexis
I don't know why birds hit our back window. It's not like super often, but a couple of times a year. Cause like we don't feed the birds and it's like blocked by a tree. And, but they still manage to just like smack into it.
00:43:50
Alexis
And like the whole, the whole, the dogs lose in their minds about it. But I'm like, and it's, it's kind of scary. Cause if I'm like sitting in another room and then I just hear this big like bang in the back of the house.
00:44:01
Jessica
Yep.
00:44:02
Alexis
I'm like, Oh God, this is how I die. I'm dying. Somebody's coming in. Somebody's breaking in. This is how I die.
00:44:05
Plant People
This is the end. This is the end.
00:44:07
Alexis
This is the end. And it's a bird. And like they always get up and fly away. So it's like, is was it a bird? I always have to wonder. I'm like, wasn't a bird?
00:44:16
Alexis
Unless I'm...
00:44:16
Plant People
You look for the feathers, but don't go outside because you never know.
00:44:19
Jessica
Sometimes you see like their print, like on the window afterwards, which she was like, oh, that's terrible.
00:44:22
Alexis
Yeah.
00:44:22
Plant People
Yeah. The silhouette. Yeah.
00:44:25
Alexis
You're like, oh, Betty, you hit that hard.
00:44:26
Jessica
Poor bird. Yeah.
00:44:28
Plant People
That is, it's it's a problem.
00:44:29
Brett
It feels very Lenny Tunes.
00:44:30
Plant People
Yeah.
00:44:30
Alexis
Yes.
00:44:30
Plant People
Yeah.
00:44:31
Jessica
Yes, very much so.
00:44:31
Alexis
Yeah.
00:44:31
Plant People
Roadie Roadrunner. Yeah. Kind of. smashed up against the window um what else with bird feeders we we were talking a little bit earlier about you know it's recommended for bird feeders because they collect bacteria if the seed source gets wet especially it can set up a lot of mold and bacteria which is very very bad for the birds clean those once a month you know keep bird feeders clean that's an important thing um I should not tell this on my wife, but I remember there was ah there was a bird feeding station that you could turn a little doll and it would dispense a um seed in your hand and you could take it and feed the birds by this lake. well
00:45:08
Plant People
There was a lot of mold and it ended up being maggots in there. Well, she put that in her hand, it went and it looked like a lot of oats, but the in her hand and here she goes carrying that. And then I grabbed her hand, I was like, what is that?
00:45:20
Plant People
And she was not paying attention. She looked down and yeah, chaos ensued and people thought some of those are, yeah, she did not have a good reaction to that, but that was not a good scenario for a bird feeder.
00:45:25
Alexis
yeah
00:45:32
Plant People
It had a lot of wet feed in there, so keep your bird feeders ah clean also, because that can cause a lot of issues. And some birds, I believe it's finches, that have a really strong preference that if there's a mold present or wet food, they will not go to that feeder at all.
00:45:48
Plant People
So certain birds won't approach a feeder with moldy food in it, and they learn to avoid that.
00:45:53
Alexis
Good for them. Okay, let's not all get like what what was it?
00:45:54
Jessica
Mm hmm.
00:45:54
Plant People
Very discerning pallets.
00:45:57
Alexis
What's it called like and wheat is it ergot?
00:46:00
Plant People
Yeah, ergot a rye or whatever, yeah.
00:46:01
Alexis
Yeah If your birds start losing their minds, maybe they they've been poor boy.
00:46:02
Plant People
It's bad for you.
00:46:06
Alexis
They have a fungus poisoning them Yeah No bird feeders, yeah
00:46:08
Brett
do all Do you remember a couple of years ago when they were, when they were at, you know, you were supposed to not have bird baths and not supposed to have bird feeders because there was some, some disease going around.
00:46:10
Jessica
Yes.
00:46:15
Jessica
Mm hmm.
00:46:20
Plant People
Yeah, I can't remember.
00:46:21
Jessica
Right.
00:46:22
Alexis
We never, I feel like we never got good information on that.
00:46:22
Brett
it's
00:46:25
Brett
That's mystery.
00:46:27
Alexis
Like, as far as like, why can we do it now?
00:46:27
Jessica
That, yeah.
00:46:30
Alexis
Was it like, was it a fluke? Did they figure out what caused it? Um, I'm not, I have.
00:46:34
Jessica
Yeah. It's just everything went back to normal, right, suddenly.
00:46:37
Alexis
But it does recirculate certain times of year. Probably like coming up, you all'll start I would start getting calls um because someone would like dig it up from the archives and you know share it across social media.
00:46:48
Plant People
Yeah.
00:46:48
Alexis
And you're like, this article is from 2018. and ah
00:46:53
Brett
Yeah, the the last one was in 2021 when there was lots of communicable diseases going around.
00:46:58
Plant People
um Okay.
00:46:58
Alexis
yeah
00:46:59
Brett
So it's it's they still ah seemingly don't know what it is.
00:47:03
Alexis
Interesting.
00:47:06
Brett
Affected birds develop crusting around the eyes and neurologic signs such as tremors and paralysis.
00:47:12
Plant People
So in that case, I guess they would not want birds to accumulate in a single area.
00:47:12
Jessica
oh Right.
00:47:16
Brett
Right, just trying to slow down the spread.
00:47:16
Alexis
Mhmm.
00:47:17
Plant People
Yeah. Gotcha. Gotcha. And that that's.
00:47:19
Alexis
Ugh.
00:47:20
Brett
the birds The birds refused to stay six feet apart and wear masks.
00:47:23
Plant People
No, I refuse to.
00:47:23
Jessica
oh So dramatic.
00:47:24
Brett
That might be people, I don't know.
00:47:24
Plant People
so like
00:47:26
Plant People
those of you guys that are for plus one for habitat modification, because that's your social distancing for birds. Maybe that if they're going to all the different calling flowers or seed sources, they can space themselves out a little bit.
00:47:39
Plant People
It was also funny that, um you know, the folks from North Carolina is looking at a piece of their information. And one of the disclaimers towards the end of the information kind of made me smile a little bit. It says, if you notice heavy bear activity around your bird feeders cease feeding immediately, I'm not going to go out and refill the feeder
00:47:51
Alexis
Ugh. Please.
00:47:54
Jessica
Heavy bear.
00:47:56
Plant People
a heavy bear activity. Oh, it didn't mention squirrels, it mentioned bears. But bears do, they are attracted to sometimes those seed sources like sunflower seeds and stuff specifically, or suet.
00:48:07
Plant People
Suet will really bring in some animals.
00:48:07
Jessica
Yeah, I imagine so.
00:48:10
Plant People
But yeah, if you notice bears eating out of your bird feeders, you might not want to approach for a refill.
00:48:14
Alexis
says Yeah, maybe don't refill it moving forward.
00:48:16
Plant People
I'm just, you know, I'm just just throwing that out.
00:48:19
Jessica
yeah Just let it run out. Give it a few days.
00:48:21
Plant People
Just
00:48:22
Alexis
Or hang it higher in a tree or something.
00:48:22
Plant People
this ah Yeah, bear-proofing, we're not even going to try that.
00:48:25
Brett
Put up a sign that says no barriers.
00:48:26
Jessica
at bear level.
00:48:27
Alexis
No bears.
00:48:28
Plant People
Yeah. ah We talked about cats. And if you have a problem with neighborhood cats, which we do here, we don't have a bird feeder out now because we had a ah pack of cats, a large grouping of cats that were running around the neighborhood visiting all the bird feeders.
00:48:35
Brett
no
00:48:42
Plant People
And and it was kind of sad.
00:48:43
Alexis
The cat pack.
00:48:44
Plant People
We, yeah, the cat pack, we ah just saw groupings of feathers in the backyard.
00:48:48
Jessica
Oh, yeah.
00:48:49
Plant People
where they would they were taking down the songbird, so we took down her bird feeder ah for that reason.
00:48:54
Jessica
Yeah.
00:48:55
Plant People
We currently don't have it up because, as you guys mentioned earlier, I had one of the neighborhood cats in the basement wandered in and was making a racket. And she's one of the perpetrators. And Reed calls it the cat with the murder mittens because she's a very efficient hunter.
00:49:07
Jessica
oh ah Murder bins.
00:49:09
Plant People
So Reed's like, oh, that's that's the cat. That's the murder mitten cat. And I'm like, murder mittens? He says, yeah, her claws. She catches lots of birds. I'm like, oh, gosh. So, yeah.
00:49:19
Alexis
I'm always worried about birds at our house catching catching the the corgis because we've got, I've said this before, but we've we've got a pack of black vultures that roost in an old um tobacco stripping shed.
00:49:28
Plant People
Oh, yeah.
00:49:32
Alexis
And ah yeah, they're little fluffy babies. And then when they're like old enough to fly and they just like creep around and ah they're like very, very close.
00:49:40
Jessica
Mm-hmm.
00:49:42
Alexis
I'm like, okay guys, I'm starting to A little uncomfortable and the corgis are like,
00:49:50
Plant People
It's bigger than I am.
00:49:52
Jessica
Well, everyone already knows us on here, but we've had some incidents with hawks taking out chickens at my house. And so my oldest son, who is four, is convinced like the hawk is the apex predator, not the coyotes that we see, the foxes, like,
00:50:09
Jessica
the hawk because he will talk about like, we yeah, he's very concerned about baby calves, which, you know, they're born like close to a hundred pounds.
00:50:10
Alexis
They're taking out the cows.
00:50:17
Jessica
Some of them, you know, I'm like, that they're going to be taken out by hawks.
00:50:20
Alexis
Hawks are gonna get Um, I just blanked.
00:50:22
Jessica
So ah the red tail hawk is the apex predator on our property.
00:50:24
Brett
Well, not to get too too political, but to close out here, do you all have a favorite bird or a one that you've you been feeling?
00:50:28
Plant People
the top of the food chain.
00:50:30
Jessica
ah hu
00:50:38
Plant People
I like a Robin. I mean, I'm kind of basic. I like a Robin. They're pretty versatile.
00:50:43
Brett
Hmm.
00:50:50
Alexis
Um, no, there's, uh, oh crap. Somebody else go. I've just lost it.
00:50:55
Jessica
Um, I, I don't really know what my favorite bird is. I told Alexis, I enjoy those red wing blackbirds like in the summer.
00:51:04
Plant People
Yes, they're so cool looking.
00:51:06
Jessica
And I think it's just because it's like, Oh, it's summer.
00:51:07
Plant People
Yeah.
00:51:08
Jessica
Right. And I see them flying around our hay fields.
00:51:09
Plant People
Mm-hmm. Edges of meadows and hay fields, yeah.
00:51:12
Jessica
And yeah, them and like the barn swallows cause they're like kind of kamikaze birds, right? Cause if you're like, yeah, if you're like out on a tractor in a field and they just like dive right in front of you the entire time, um, getting all the insects and stuff, but those red wing blackbirds are pretty cool and they sound kind of cool too.
00:51:18
Plant People
Swoopers.
00:51:18
Alexis
Mhmm.
00:51:22
Plant People
Dive bombers.
00:51:29
Plant People
Yeah.
00:51:30
Jessica
And, um, yeah.
00:51:31
Plant People
Her harbingers of summer, yeah.
00:51:34
Alexis
We have a I think mine might be the bobwhite quail because we have like a little pack of them around the farm and I've seen them and they're yeah they're really cute but I just love like I'll be in the field and all of a sudden you hear bobwhite and I'm like oh hi so yeah I do I whistle back and and they're probably like god who is this perpetrator ah but they're they're fun I think birds in general I think can be really fun but those ones just like always make me smile so
00:51:34
Plant People
Yep.
00:51:40
Jessica
Yeah. They're cute.
00:51:49
Plant People
um mean Hello.
00:51:51
Jessica
you whistle Do you whistle back to them? Yeah.
00:51:57
Plant People
and This is a weird accent. Yeah.
00:52:04
Brett
There are, I've heard, well I've heard two different, and I'm sure there's more than that, like folkloric traditions that, ah about a robin, and the same thing about a cardinal, that when you see those, they are ah ah a deceased loved one.
00:52:04
Plant People
Brett, we know you have a favorite.
00:52:16
Plant People
Mm-hmm.
00:52:17
Alexis
Mm.
00:52:17
Plant People
Yeah.
00:52:20
Plant People
Out of window, specifically?
00:52:21
Brett
visiting you and ah you know thinking of you, and which is just kind of cool.
00:52:21
Alexis
Carnolia?
00:52:21
Jessica
um
00:52:22
Plant People
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:52:26
Brett
I've been really feeling grackles the last number of years.
00:52:29
Alexis
Yeah.
00:52:29
Plant People
OK.
00:52:31
Alexis
Yeah?
00:52:31
Brett
they're like ah They feel like the black cat, ah like the yellow-eyed black cat of birds, and they do not give a hoot.
00:52:38
Jessica
Hmm.
00:52:39
Alexis
<unk>
00:52:42
Plant People
in any cares at all.
00:52:43
Jessica
Yeah.
00:52:44
Alexis
They really, yeah, they really don't, do they? They're just like, they like prance around, you know?
00:52:47
Brett
they're they're in their they Yeah, they look,
00:52:50
Plant People
I mean, the name crackle is perfect for them. It's perfect. Yeah.
00:52:53
Brett
It is, it is. they they are So they are not in the you the Crow family. They're actually ah in the Blackbird family, but they look like a little mini Crow.
00:53:06
Brett
um I like Crows a lot. They've gotten a lot. they've I feel like they've kind of become really popular in the last number of years. Shout out to our friend, Neil Wilson, who has been a corvid head back, way back, way before anybody else was talking about him.
00:53:06
Alexis
Mm hmm.
00:53:21
Brett
um But we have we have a lot of crows and ah grackles in our backyard. And and speaking of of birds that eat a lot of insects, that's one of the reasons that I'm down with the grackle.
00:53:32
Alexis
Mm.
00:53:34
Brett
um But yeah, they're they're fun and they hate they make just unhinged sounds, which is fun.
00:53:34
Alexis
Yep.
00:53:41
Jessica
Mmhmm.
00:53:43
Plant People
They're rackety.
00:53:44
Brett
Yeah, yeah, they let out a grackle, if you will.
00:53:44
Plant People
They make a racket. Yeah, they're rackety.
00:53:49
Alexis
Well, cool.
00:53:49
Plant People
Birds, a lot of different ones.
00:53:50
Alexis
Well, something a little bit different on the pod for our plant people. But remembering birds can play a you know vital role in our ecosystems and in our gardens. And, you know, even just for our mental health in the winter, it's nice to those little bird cameras.
00:54:05
Alexis
ah The amount of I have some friends with the little bird feeders that have cameras on them and take pictures when the bird comes up to eat. And the amount of joy that brings some people is a beautiful thing.
00:54:12
Jessica
Mm
00:54:14
Plant People
Yes. i would and I would love to have that set up.
00:54:15
Jessica
hmm.
00:54:17
Plant People
Yeah.
00:54:17
Alexis
Yeah, yeah, well, you know, Christmas is coming, um or well, Christmas is past when this episode comes out, but but hopefully you get one for Christmas then, right?
00:54:20
Plant People
OK. We'll have to have a cat cage around our bird feeder.
00:54:27
Plant People
I hope Jennifer is listening.
00:54:27
Alexis
But yeah, yeah, Jennifer, pay attention.
00:54:30
Plant People
Shout out.
00:54:31
Alexis
ah So, well, we hope you enjoyed it and that you can follow us on Instagram at Hort Culture Pod. You can shoot us an email, which will be in the show notes if you've got any questions or thoughts.
00:54:44
Alexis
While we're not bird experts, we can certainly If you have a very specific bird question, ah we can certainly ask our resident bird experts, which yes, we do have some in the forestry department ah here at UK, so grateful for them.
00:54:58
Alexis
ah so But if you have any about that, you want to hear maybe about different birds or, you know I don't know, we'll do our best. Maybe we should have a bird expert on here. Maybe we need to call Lori or Jeff ah and see what see what's going on over there.
00:55:10
Alexis
But ah follow us. Well, thank you all for being here, our little true leaves. And we appreciate it. We hope you have a great time and that you join us next time. So we're talking about snow, which yes, can be fun. So anyways, have a great one, y'all.