Breakaway Adventures: This One’s for the Birds
Breakaway Adventures: This One’s for the Birds
The In and Outs of Proper Birding
Photos / Indrek Kongats
Birds are an integral part of our lives and culture. We have a national bird in the majestic Bald Eagle, and a state bird in the pretty Bluebird. There have been many well written screenplays about birds and we have a zillion uses for their feathers - from symbolic rituals to decoration and warmth and of course don’t forget 21 were once baked in a pie! Not to mention that feathers are the number one material used in tying fly-fishing flies!
This year’s Academy Awards are over but our avian friends are no strangers to Oscar! Five-time nominated director Alfred Hitchcock put the horror in The Birds with his classic 1963 movie a year after Burt Lancaster won his Oscar for nursing an ailing sparrow back to life as the Birdman of Alcatraz, only to have Oscar wining Jack Nicholson flee the coop in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1975 to go… where else but fishing!
“Birds of a feather flock together”, “a bird in hand is worth two in the bush” and “this is for the birds” are everyday colloquialisms that are familiar to us all, just as the first sign of spring is the appearance of a robin in your yard! Where would we be without our Thanksgiving turkey, Kentucky Fried Chicken or Chick-Fil-A or worse yet… ‘no partridge in the pear tree’?
Yes, birds are very important, especially for our mental health to keep us from going cuckoo like Jack or becoming bird brains. Companionship offered by our feathered friends keeps away the ‘Lonesome Dove’ syndrome as well. This is where backyard birding comes into play! Whether we just enjoy bird watching or feeding them, they bring peace and tranquility to our complicated lives. Simply listening to the familiar song of a chickadee is somehow comforting and reassuring that all is well in the natural world if not real life. For those few bars sung we forget all else.
There are all sorts of ways to attract birds of all types into our yards - from putting out a plate of bread crumbs to building sophisticated feeders and even going all out and planting wild rice in your pond to get those Mighty Ducks to stop in for a visit. In western NY the variety of birds is immense from year-round residents to migrating flocks of ‘Snowbirds’ like the Cedar Waxwings returning from a southern vacation.
My favorite resident birds are the Chickadee of course, those nutty upside-down Nuthatches, and being from Canada, the world champion Blue Jays! Less frequent visitors to my yard but no less cherished are those brilliant red Cardinals and that tufted Titmouse.
Every bird has its own unique personality; some are aggressive and bossy like the Blue Jays and some are happy-go-lucky like the Junco who are quite content to pick up after everyone else, feeding for leftovers off the ground. Less welcome are those annoying birds that sometimes swarm in large invasive flocks like Starlings and Grackles, chasing even the Blue Jays away. When you really think about it, there isn’t even one major league sports team named after them with exception that in Texas they have a minor league team in the state capital aptly named the Austin Grackles.
Although I derive great comfort in watching and listening to my regulars, I eagerly await the arrival of what I call the ‘Roadies’, the ones that set the stage for a most entertaining spring, full of stunning performances by colorful actors of song and dance. Red Breasted Grosbeaks are first to arrive, followed by a troupe of colorful Goldfinches and guest appearances by the Indigo Bunting and Bluebird, topping off with a dazzling flash dance by the Orioles.
Having a little pond in the yard, I also get plenty of vocal Red Wing Blackbirds making themselves well known if I get too close to their nest in the bulrushes. Although we only have horses, we do get the greatest of all impersonators in our pasture - those thieving rustlers, the Cowbirds. As mating season gets into full swing we’ll also get a pair of Mallards checking out the merits of our pond for a nursery. Thankfully the only geese we get are the ones that honk as they pass us by on their way to a cornfield or larger body of water. Not that I have anything against the Canada Goose, after all I am from their neck of the woods.
As I start approaching the end of this article, I have saved the ‘piece de resistance’ for last, the gem of precious gems. Although tiny in stature, what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in speed. We only wish the Bills had someone comparable, that mighty ruby throated master of levitation the Hummingbird. Talking about personalities, the Hummingbird quite literally has a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde side to its character. Sometimes I wonder as I sit on my front porch if I am safe? Meek and mild mannered like Clark Kent when all alone enjoying the nectar of my feeder, come along an unwelcome rival and all - excuse my language - hell breaks loose. All of a sudden, you’re caught in the middle of an aerial battle only equaled by Snoopy and the Red Baron. I would truly feel safer if I had a helmet on for protection, to prevent accidentally becoming collateral damage!
Today to keep this wonderfully cast of characters performing in your own backyard, you’ll unfortunately have to pay the price of admission. What used to be a relatively nominal fee, a few tossed crumps here and there, to get a team of major performers now requires you to have a salary cap! The cost of bird food has become outrageously expensive. If you still want to eat, yourself, you’ll have to come up with a plan and a budget to cut costs.
I have resorted to combining different feeds and foregoing the steak and lobster type designer bird feeds. The most inexpensive feed sold today is full of fillers that most of the birds discard. Black Oiled Sunflower seed is still the best price so I buy bags of just that and mix it with of all things chicken scratch that is full of barley, whole oats, wheat, milo and cracked corn. A bag of scratch is relatively inexpensive around $17.50 for a 50lb. bag compared to almost $18.00 for a 35lb. bag of cheap bird food. Chicken scratch offers more nutritional value than the filler filled mixed bags and is good for wild game birds and waterfowl as well. Don’t forget those lovable woodpeckers though, they still love those .99 cent suet cakes, “Ha-Ha-ha-HAAAAAHA”!
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Indrek Kongats is an artist, traveler, outdoorsman, and business owner residing in Ellicottville. He operates River Dog Art Gallery in Houghton, NY, and his Breakaway Classic Adventures specializes in adventure travel destinations. Learn more about him at breakawayclassicadventures.com.