For The Birds- Connect With Nature Fellow Bird and Nature Friend

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'BLAZE' the Squirrel Hot Pepper

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GIFT OF JOY

The delight of seeing so many active and energetic birds at your feeders, and knowing that you are having a positive impact on the quality of their lives, makes feeding the birds a real joy; especially this time of the year. The best part is that this joy is available to everyone.

More than 180 bird species can be attracted to yards across North America with the right food, water and shelter. Any given yard can attract 60 or more kinds of birds. That’s a lot of joy and all of it right outside your window.

Winter is a great time to watch the different types of birds at your feeders. Woodpeckers are busy eating mouthfuls of suet. Juncos and sparrows hurriedly scour the ground for millet.

Finches take turns at the finch feeder. Jays raucously grab peanuts and nuthatches and chickadees industriously horde sunflower seeds.

Bird feeding is a fun and educational hobby, and this is the season to share it with everyone.

Stop by the store (in person or online) this month and share the joy of the birds with us. We have the best seed, feeders, nature gifts and advice, and we can help you introduce this wonderfully joyful hobby to your neighbors, friends and family.

SHOP BIRD FOOD

MONTHLY INSPIRATION

Wild Birds Unlimited - Hot Pepper Products

Wild Birds Unlimited - Birds Enjoying our Feeders (Part 2)

BIRD OF THE MONTH

Scrub Jay

Aphelcoma woodhouseii and californica

The birds that we commonly refer to as scrub jays over much of Washoe County are actually two closely related species: the California scrub jay and the Woodhouse scrub jay. The Woodhouse jay was officially recognized in 2016. Birds of both species are characterized by attractive blue and gray coloration, relatively large (larger than a robin) size, and notable jay-like behavior; loud, brash, and curious.

These intelligent birds are often seen acting as lookouts on roof peaks, wires, and at the top of trees, leaving their perches with a distinctive rhythm of wingbeats alternating with a long, deep glide. The primary difference in appearance between the species is that the Woodhouse’s ‘necklace’ or breastband is not as bright, and color is more muted, overall, with a straighter bill.

There are several species and subspecies of scrub jays throughout the west and into Mexico and Florida; all have some degree of similarity and are distinctly different from the crested Stellar and Blue jays. The Pinyon jay of our pinyon-juniper woodlands is notable for its characteristics resembling a crow, and is a reminder of the relationships between these species.

Although quite similar in appearance, the Woodhouse and California scrub jays bills reveal evolutionary differences. California jays have a stouter, slightly hooked bill, better for breaking open the acorns they are most likely to encounter in their native environs. Woodhouse jays' slimmer, straighter bill is more adept at harvesting pine nuts from cones.

In addition to their similarities in appearance, both Woodhouse and California scrub jays are social and inquisitive, and may engage in mischief by stealing acorns and nuts from other birds' caches. They carefully take note of other jay's - and human- activity when hiding away (caching) acorns or nuts of their own.

Scrub jays are frequent visitors to feeders; sunflower seed and peanuts are favorites. Their raucous calls are a distinctive 'voice' of the west.

Stop by the store or visit the Moana Nursery website today.

We have the high quality foods and other products to help your feeder birds thrive.

ALL MOANA NURSERY SPECIALS

AUDUBON'S 121st

CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNT

Monday, December 14th - Tuesday, January 5th, 2021

It's easy to participate, even if you are a beginner, and your contributions add to the body of community science that is being used to help birds everywhere. Click here to learn more.

Audubon's Christmas Bird Count - Kids Who Bird

PARTICIPATE IN A HOLIDAY TRADITION

Join the Bird Count

In 1900, Frank Chapman organized 27 friends in 25 locations to count birds on Christmas Day to protest bird-shooting contests that were occurring at the same time. Chapman’s decision to count, rather than shoot, the birds became the Christmas Bird Count, a tradition in which many people participate every year.

Christmas Bird Counts are annual, early-winter bird counts sponsored by the National Audubon Society and involve more than 45,000 people from North and South America, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands. There are about 1,700 counts held during a two and one-half week period before and after Christmas.

Many people participate in the count as a way to get involved with their local Audubon Chapters. Beginners are welcome, and people can spend a few hours or the entire day counting birds. Each November, birders interesting in participating in the CBC can sign up and join in through the Audubon website. (Please note: Online registration is not available—please contact compilers by email using the information from the pop-ups on the map.)

Also note that the COVID-19 pandemic will affect CBC participation. Pending local restrictions, many counts will be done under the COVID-19 guidelines sent to compilers, while others will likely be cancelled.

NATURE HAPPENINGS

*Project Feeder Watch starts and extends until April, www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw

* An average of 10% of our rainfall falls in November.

* Temperatures can be cold this month with freezing nights.

*Feeding fats helps protect birds against potentially life-threatening loss of muscle mass: get out your suet and bark butter feeders.

* Clean up fallen leaves and dead fruit as they can harbor insect eggs and fungus spores over the winter. Do leave standing grasses and perennials as cover and possible food sources for your birds.

* Feeders get busier as the month progresses.

* Waterfowl migration peaks this month.

* Open water is important if there's an early freeze. Put up heated bird baths for a winter water source.

* Northern Flicker numbers are increasing. Put out a roosting box to prevent them from pecking on your house.

* Winter patterns of behavior become notable. Birds begin to flock.

* In some areas of our region, bushtits come in large groups to suet feeders.

* The 2020 Leonid meteor shower is active from November 5th through the 30th and will peak during the early morning hours of November 16 and 17.

OVERWINTERING ANNA'S

Some years there are a number of Anna's hummingbirds that might decide to tough out the winter here in the eastern Sierra. If you are one of those fortunate to enjoy hummingbirds year 'round, your feeder will be an important part of the bird's feeding territory. A hummingbird searches far and wide and selects a feeding territory based on the available food supplies it finds. If the feeder runs empty or freezes up, there might not be sufficient food elsewhere in their territory to enable the bird to survive. Keep it filled with fresh nectar and thawed out all winter.

Keep fresh nectar on hand in the refrigerator to make it easy to keep feeders stocked. You may want to increase the ratio of water to sugar to 3:1 (rather than 4:1) to help resist freezing and increase available energy for the birds

You can use multiple polycarbonate feeders to make it easy to quickly change out a frozen or stale feeder: fill and take a fresh feeder out in the morning, and run yesterday's feeder through the dishwasher.
Put a hook above your porch light if feasible or hang the feeder under an eave with a waterproof light hanging next to it. Make sure you can get the nectar close to a heat source so it doesn't freeze, and a light bulb makes a good heat source.

If your feeder does freeze up, bring it in as early in the morning as possible and change it for a fresh one or thaw it out.

Listen to the weather forecast, and if it will be freezing during the night, bring the feeders in at bedtime. Get up at first light in the morning to put the feeders back out. That way, the hummers can have their first feed with room temperature nectar to help them warm up after a long night of torpor.