Handfeeding Birds: How To Do It Best

Many families entertain the idea of getting a pet at one time or another.
Sometimes it is the children that insist that their lives will not be complete
without a friendly pet to have fun with. Then there is the posture of a
bird. Believe it or not, birds perch differently. For example, a Flycatcher
perches vertically (straight up and down) when on a branch while a Vireo
perches horizontally (almost lying down) when on the same branch.

Here is a feature that is often overlooked: bird-proof door locks. You
should get a cage that your bird can't escape from. Just think about what
would happen if your bird escaped & was free the entire day while you're
out!

Bird droppings can become very erosive, and the longer they sit on your
cage, the more damage can occur. Even the best brand name cages will
only last 3-4 years if not appropriately taken care of.

With so many people hoping to see a bird they'v never seen before, it's
not surprising to see a clamoring for the latest tips and tools to get the
job done.

Handfeeding: How To Do It Best

Birds are such delicate animals that they must be handled carefully.
Handfeeding is usually one of the best ways to interact with them.
However, just the same, it should be done with care and there are some
things that must be remembered and followed.

Birds, especially pet birds, have somehow learned that people are their
greatest benefactors. Although they have the capacity to live on their
own under nature's nurture, years of interaction with human beings have
taught them to accept people as good friends. Thus, it is normal that
they, at some point, rely on people for food. Handfeeding, however,
cannot be done as if you really are providing care for a bird. Your very first
consideration must be the frequency of feeding and the volume of food
that you provide. This should be the case especially for baby birds which
grow rapidly and have certain nutritional needs.

As a bird matures, his food capacity increases as well. You should regularly
take note of the development of the bird to be able to identify properly
what type of food and how much of it is most suitable. Handfeeding must
be a product of both observation and personal judgment.

Try this before you go; lower your binoculars to your side and very quickly
raise them to find and follow a jet airliner across the sky. After only a few
attempts, you'll get good at quickly acquiring your target. Quite often,
birds are visible for only a few seconds, practice to become proficient.

Don't be afraid to ask the store workers any questions you have about
owning a bird or about the differences between varieties of birds. Learn
as much as you can before you make your final choice.

Just where to hang the feeders? In general, it is good to hang these
feeders in any part of the garden where there is no direct exposure to
sunlight and where the wind will not be able to shake the feeder.

As much as you love the sound of your new little bird, you probably don't
want to hear it at the crack of dawn. If your feathered friend's morning
song is interrupting your sleep, you might want to buy a bird cage cover.

And here's why; when you decide to squeeze a cage into a specific place
in your house this almost always takes away from the well-being of your
bird! You must also take note of the unique features of a bird's digestive
system. The esophagus widens as well as the lower part of the neck.
Such widening is referred to as crop and serves as food compartment.

If you are trying to handfeed a baby bird, you can easily see and evaluate
its crop since the feathers are not yet thick. However, if your pet bird is
quite mature, the best way to evaluate is to feel the crop's contents by
pressing it with your thumb and index finger. You should do this prior to
feeding so that you know how much to foor to provide.

Baby birds should never be left with a totally empty crop. Normal
emptying time is 4 hours. If you notice that 4 hours have passed and the
crop still has contents, there might be some problem with the bird's
health. Not only should you be concerned about the volume and
frequency of feeding, you should also make sure that your hand is
positioned properly. Wild birds are generally easier to feed because they
reach for the food dropper without much encouragement. You can often
feed them without holding them; but the case is not the same for other
types where you have to use a towel to handle them carefully and
position for feeding.

In general, handfeeding birds is really not a straight forward task. You
have to take note of many factors that will benefit the animal. How do
bird watchers strive to entice birds to their yards? Find out at
http://www.bird-watch.info Is the bird cage you are considering made of
materials that are safe for your feathered friend?

Avoid hollow bars! Especially if you're getting a medium to large bird. Any
decent sized bird will bend or possibly chew through a hollow cage bar.

When buying online, however, be sure to weigh in the shipping costs to
determine if you are truly saving over buying local.

If you are a new bird watcher, we urge you to joing a bird watching
forum. The most important dimension in a cage is width. A guideline is to
choose a width at least 1 ? times your bird's wingspan.

If you decide to choose a bird as your first or next family pet, take the
time to educate your entire family on the bird. After you have taken the
time to learn, teach your family important facts about the bird and about
the needs the bird will have when it becomes a part of your family.

How do bird watchers strive to entice birds to their yards? Find out at http://www.bird-watch.info

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What Gift Can I Give A Bird Lover This Christmas?

Choosing gifts for any animal lovers can be quite a pleasure, as it is often a gift that is shared by the recipient with her animal friends or pets. This is especially so with bird lover gifts. People who really love birds tend to want them to enhance their gardens, to encourage real wild birds to visit time and again, or even stay for the breeding season.

A gift for a bird lover can therefore be a gift of life, a promotion of nature around the home, visible from the windows or while tending the garden. Encouraging wild birds to their gardens is something that millions do in the northern hemisphere, especially in the winter when many wild birds suffer from food shortages.

At Christmas, cards are commonly adorned by robins, their red breasts contrasting so vividly with the white snow. But that pretty picture can be deceiving, with the harshness of winter depriving the robin and other resident birds of the sustenance and warmth they need to survive until spring. It is that threat that brings out the best in bird lovers through those winter months.

It is not just winter, though, that encourages true bird lovers to think about the birds. In the summer, too, many Americans and Britons have taken to encouraging birds to nest in their gardens or on their homes.

What Gifts Can You Choose For A Bird Lover?

Christmas comes as the coldest of winter approaches, so if you know someone who cares for the wild birds, it can be a good time to buy a bird gift that will help them with their feeding of the birds in their garden. This will not only help the regular bird visitors to their garden, but encourage new visitors too. Sometimes in the worst winters, some rarer birds may give lots of pleasure and excitement to the garden's owner as they come seeking food and shelter.

If you are not a bird lover yourself, and are not sure of the sort of things you can buy as a gift, here are a few ideas for you:

Bird Feeders

Bird feeders can be the winter saviour for many birds in a cold winter. This is especially true with small birds, who have to eat continually from dawn to dusk to survive the night. Those nuts that are put out in a simple nut feeder could save those birds lives on many a night when there is frost and snow around.

The variety of bird feeders is very wide nowadays. Window feeders have been around a long time, but they too have grown in the variety available since the first plastic versions appeared a few decades ago. In more recent years, some very decorative, and attractive feeders have been created, and there is a wide choice of these available now as gifts for your bird lover friends and relatives.

Remember also that you can get feeders that are for particular species of bird. You will find feeders for bluebirds, hummingbirds, orioles and other beautiful birds.

Should you decide to buy a bird feeder as a Christmas gift, it may be a nice touch too if you added a supply of an appropriate bird food. That could mean the happy bird lover setting the feeder up Christmas morning, and having some very special feathered visitors for Christmas lunch. And I'm not talking about the turkey!

Bird Houses or Nest Boxes

If you want to brighten up Christmas by looking ahead to spring, then you will find another range of bird lover gifts with bird houses, or nest boxes as they are more commonly called in the UK. While bird houses may not be used until spring and summer for nesting, there are two good reasons for setting them up early.

Firstly, some birds will use them as shelter in bad weather, so again, this is a gift that could be a life saver. Secondly, house prospecting amongst birds can go on long before nesting. If the bird house goes up in December, you can bet that this new piece of prime real estate will be eyed by many a bird passing through the garden or by the house.

Bird houses make for quite an exciting gift for bird lovers, as the gift will bring lots of pleasures once the first birds use it for nesting. It is also a great way to teach children about birds as they watch the parents building the nest, the laying of the eggs, the hatching of the nestlings, and then the feeding of the young before their departure. A real pleasure for bird lovers young and old alike.

This bird lover gift article was written by Roy Thomsitt, owner and author of http://www.gifts-for-xmas.com and http://www.xmas-ornament.com

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Winter is perfect bird-watching weather

It's deep winter, the time when the nonskiing majority often feels an irresistible urge to curl up by the fire and stay there until daffodils trumpet the start of spring. A few snowy weeks later, however, serious cabin fever sets in.

An uncommon-but-sure cure is to get out and go bird watching, Deborah D. Cary, director of Central Sanctuaries for Mass Audubon, says.

Really? In winter??

“Actually it's spectacular in winter because there isn't so much foliage around to distract you. You get a much clearer view of the birds,” Cary said. “You can see their flight patterns better, and it's quieter when there's a lot of snow on the ground. Listening for a bird call is a key way to identify a species so it works great in winter.”

Audubon sanctuaries offer guided bird walks in winter to help you get the hang of where the birds are hanging out in cold weather. You also will learn something about their winged ways. You might see chickadees, blue jays and wrens but they are not the same ones you see in summer. That's because almost all birds are migratory to some extent, Alexander Dunn, a natural history guide at Broad Meadow Brook Wildlife Sanctuary in Worcester, said.

Some birds, such as the Arctic tern, travel 10,000 miles twice a year, basically from pole to pole and back. But our backyard birds might only migrate a few hundred miles so that in winter we have birds from Canada who head south to Massachusetts before the deep freeze hits their homeland. Meanwhile, the chickadees, jays and others that hop around our yards in summer have flown down to the Carolinas for the winter. They return as their Canadian cousins hightail it home in the spring.

So why is Massachusetts warm enough for one chickadee and not for another? Because they're a little bit like people, apparently. “Some of us spend the winter here and some of us go to Florida,” said Dunn, who is the outreach coordinator at Worcester Art Museum.

If you can't tell a robin from a roadrunner, you might want to check out a new blog Dunn has started, The Daily Bird New England.

The blog is like a “word-of-the-day” calendar for beginner bird watchers. Each day a brief entry describes a kind of bird that can be seen around here whatever the time of year it happens to be. The idea is that, if you visit each day, you can develop an understanding of birds in rhythm with the seasons.

“There are loads of websites and blogs about bird watching, but a lot of them are based around personal photographs, personal sightings and places that people like to go that are specific to a particular region,” Dunn said. “I wanted to basically do a website where people could go to learn about bird watching — and learn in pace with the season, so it's based in what's going on right now outside your window.”

Follow the blog long enough and you might become a twitcher, which is what obsessive bird spotters in England are called. Birders throughout the world are obsessed with their lifetime checklists that keep track of all the birds they've ever seen. The idea, in bird circles, is to have a very long list, so when a rare bird is spotted in the British Isles, twitchers, sometimes thousands of them, flock to the location, though it be many hours away from where they live. “These are people who will take a six-hour car ride to see a bird they've never seen, check it off their list and then drive back home,” Dunn said.

Dunn says he is not a twitcher, but he's all for going the distance where a special bird is concerned. He will be a co-leader for a Broad Meadow Brook-sponsored trip to Plum Island, a barrier island off the northeast coast of Massachusetts, on Jan. 29. The group will be on the lookout for the magnificent snowy owl, which usually lives in the far north tundra but comes south for the deepest part of winter. To a snowy owl, Plum Island in winter looks a lot like home. “It's similar to the tundra that these birds spend the rest of the year on,” Dunn said. “In the winter they get pushed down to these little pockets of flat frozen land. They'll show up sometimes at Logan Airport or Duxbury Beach and places that look like that, but Plum Island is a really reliable place.”

Of course they are white (hence the name “snowy”) and you are trying to pick them out against a snow-covered background. Still, bird watchers give a hoot about catching a glimpse of one.

“There's just something about them,” Dunn said. “They're this massive bird. You see them flying silently over the frozen expanse, you have the sense that you're suddenly transported to the Arctic. If you get a close enough look, they have these yellow and black eyes and when they lock on you it's kind of a looking-into-your-soul kind of thing. It's really powerful.”

For more information, click here or call (508) 753-6087.

Article written by Nancy Sheehan
Original article: telegram.com



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Bird Dander Do's - 4 Things to Be Sure to Do When Dealing With Bird Dander

If you have a pet bird, you have bird dander and always will for as long as you have a bird. But obviously you love your bird enough to take dander as part of being a bird lover and search for ways to effectively manage it. Here are 4 biggies to do in order to be successful at managing your bird's dander.

Let Your Space Tell You How Many-Bird dander is not a problem for birds or people unless the birds are kept in an enclosed space. This adds all sorts of problems that are just not on the radar for birds in the wild. If you have only a small space to offer, one of the best ways to cut down on the dander is to limit the number of birds you have in that space.

Know What to Expect-All warm blooded animals produce dander and birds are no different. While birds all have similar basic requirements, their needs, traits, and behaviors vary drastically from one species to another.

Knowing about the birds you are interested in will help you determine which birds are best for the space you have. For instance, some birds such as African Greys, Cockatoos, and Cockatiels also produce a fine white powder or dust in addition to bird dander.

So whereas your space might allow for 2 or 3 smaller birds that don't produce this powder, you and your bird will be subject to less dander and powder with a fewer number of birds from the dustier species.

Use High Efficiency Particle Arresting (HEPA) Air Purifier-With homes that are so well insulated, unless you actively filter the dander it will continue to go around and around in your home.

A HEPA purifier is so adept at clearing away bird dander because by definition for every 10,000 particles greater than.3 microns, it will remove 99,997 of them with 99.97% efficiency.

Since many bird-related diseases that affect birds and people are transmitted by airborne particulates, removing them before that become a problem is a cost effective way to eliminate problems before they start.

Size Your Purifier Correctly-When selecting a purifier, especially for birds, several factors should be kept in mind. First the actual square footage that you're trying to clean should include any area that is open to the area where your birds are kept.

So if you keep your birds in the living room, but that room is open to all the other rooms in the house, bird dander will find its way all through your home, and a good cleaner will eventually draw air from all over your home as well.

If you have sized your purifier correctly this is a good thing. This means that your cleaner will be able to adequately clean the entire space exposed to bird dander.

You should also consider the number and types of birds you have. If for instance a purifier is designed to clean 700 square feet, and you have 2 African Greys in an area that is 700 square feet, you should opt for the larger unit because of the unusually high amount of bird dander and dust you know will come just from the Greys.

In real estate the most important factor is location. With bird dander and air purifiers one of the most crucial factors is sizing. Choosing a cleaner that can adequately clean not only your square footage, but the amount of bird dander you are likely to have will mean a happy, healthier bird because there is less bird dander in the air. And less dander greatly reduces the chance of disease and infection for both you and your bird.

An excellent HEPA air purifier to remove bird dander from your air is offered by PurerAir.com-- the Bird Dander Air Purifier See it now at http://purerair.com/bird_dander_air_purifier.html
Debbie Davis, President, PurerAir.com

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Learn How To Build A Bird House

A great family project for those cold winter days.

Birds are great additions to your backyard. Putting up bird houses is an excellent way to attract them. However, not all birds opt to nest in bird houses. Birds differ in their habitat preferences and only cavity-dwellers are probably interested in the bird shelters in your backyard. As it is, these cavity-dwellers also have their own specifications about the kind of house they like. These are minor measurements or feature issues but they are important for the birds. However, there are general guidelines in building these houses.

First, it is important to identify the species of birds that visit your backyard. It is also necessary to distinguish which are the cavity-dwellers from the tree and burrow dwellers. Common cavity-dwellers are wrens, chickadees, bluebirds, and flickers. Choose one you like best and focus your bird house design on it. Even if the idea of building multiple bird houses appeal to you, refrain from doing so because birds are territorial animals.

Second, determine the required dimensions of your chosen bird. Forget asking the birds for these because you'll get no answers. Dimensions of bird houses include entrance-hole, height, depth, and floor size. Smaller birds like wren and chickadees usually prefer 4x4 floor size and a reasonable 8" depth. Consult a bird book or the internet for information regarding the measurements of your bird house.

Third, it is better to use untreated wood and lumber for bird houses. Aside from mimicking the birds' natural habitat, natural wood also minimizes risks of poisoning and overheating. Treated and processed wood like plywood contains preservatives like formaldehyde, which poses serious health hazards to your feathered friends. Lumber that is classified as pressure-treated often contain toxic chemicals which can poison the nesting birds. Paint is also a no-no. Chipping paint can be mistaken by the bird for food and eat it. Also, metals and plastics are not suitable for building avian shelters since they are both prone to overheating. You would want to provide the birds shelter, not an outdoor oven.

Fourth, in drafting or designing a plan for your bird houses, it is important to consider the birds' safety against the elements and predators. Slanted roofs are preferable so rain, dirt, and moisture would not collect on top and rot the wood. It is also preferable that the roofs extend over the sides and front. Perches are not really necessary since cavity-dwellers do not perch. Consider drainage and ventilation needs. Drill small holes on the floor but make sure that these are smaller than the bird's feet. These holes are also best placed on corners to help in draining water out in case of rain. Baby birds drown easily and a bit of collected rainwater in their shelter is enough to send them to their deaths. Aside from the relatively larger entrance holes, place ventilation holes along the house's walls or back. These let heat escape to keep the structure comfortably cool. Placing the bird house atop a pole is a good way to discourage predators like cats and raccoons.

Fifth, maintenance and cleanliness are also factors in bird house building. Unkempt bird houses are causes of diseases, according to experts. To help you in maintaining cleanliness in the bird house, add a backdoor. This way, you can easily remove unused nest and disinfect the vacated house. Droppings and other dirt also contribute to the contamination and cleaning these out limits risks of infecting other birds.

With these tips, you are on your way to designing and building your own bird houses. Help the birds by treating these houses as if you live there. Considering the birds' safety in your bird houses ensure you of longer years with your feathered friends.

Tristan Andrews is a freelance author who writes articles about pet health and pet supplies.

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Famous Bird Sanctuaries of India

India is a home for many species of birds local as well as migrant birds. Bird sanctuaries in India are therefore a hot spot for personality lovers and birdwatchers. Some of the beautiful local inhabitants like The National Bird of India “Peacocks” , Great Indian bustard, Indian Horn-bill, Kingfishers and Indian Eagle “Garuda”, a Sacred Bird of Hindus. The Great Indian Horn-bill is the largest amongst all the horn-bills found in the forests of India. There are over 1200 species of birds found in the India, so one can enjoy birding or bird watching in India. Kulik (Raiganj) Bird Sanctuary is one of the largest bird sanctuaries in Asia. Nawabganj is one of the luckiest sanctuaries that have such enormous range of wildlife creatures in India. is an ideal tourist destination for birding, twitching and Bird watching in India. Twitching is refer to those who travel long distances to see a rare bird that would called as twitcher.

Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary:
The famous Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary also known as Keoladeo Ghana National Park is situated in Rajasthan. Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary is one of the best bird sanctuaries in India and one of the finest bird parks in the world. Apart from the Great Thar Desert, Big forts and beautiful lakes, Birds of Bharatpur Sanctuary are one of the major tourist attractions in Rajasthan. Thousands of rare and highly endangered birds come here during the winter season. The Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary is paradise for the bird lover’s to watch some of the most exotic birds in the world.

Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary:
Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary is home for several colorful winged migratory species, located at Gurgaon district of Haryana. Its small area comprising with shallow freshwater Sultanpur Lake, where 100 of migratory bird species visit to feed every year. The Sultanpur National Park also known for its rich variety of wild animals and birds.

Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary:
The Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary is home to many varieties of local and migratory birds, situated in chorao Island along the river Mandovi in Goa. Salim Ali Bird sanctuary is one of the best known bird sanctuaries and very famous bird sanctuary in India. It is one of the smallest bird sanctuaries where flying Sparrows, Beautiful peafowl, Parrots,pelican, Indian giant squirral and other rare species of fauna can be spotted. Beyond the Beaches of Goa, Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary is one of the major tourist attractions in Goa.

Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary:
Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary also known as Vembanad Bird Sanctuary is situated at in land of attraction Kerala, near to the famous Vembanad Lake. It offers a home to a large number of migratory birds like Flycatcher, Teal, Siberian Stork, Crane, Parrots and Wood Beetle. by riding a houseboat will be the best way for birdwatching in Kerala. It is a favorite spot for migratory birds and paradise for the bird lovers. Another bird Sanctuaries in Kerala are Mangalavanam and Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary, situated on the banks of the Periyar River and famous for some of the rarest species of birds and other unique fauna.

Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary:
Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary is situated near to the banks of the Kaveri River in Karnataka. The Exotic migratory birds like light Ibis, Egret, Partridge, Heron, River Tern, Snake Bird, stone Plougher are the attraction for the tourist. This is an important tourist destination of Mysore and is located about 20 kilometers from the famous Brindavan garden lies adjoining the Krishnarajasagara dam.

Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary:
The Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary is the oldest bird sanctuary in India, situated in Tamil Nadu. The Vedanthankal Lake region attracted a variety of birds such as pintail, garganey, grey wagtail, blue-winged teal, common sandpiper. One sixth of landmass of Tamil Nadu is covered with forests, which is paradise for animal lover and bird watchers. Kunthakulam bird sanctuary and Pulicat lake bird Sanctuary are also famous for bird watching situated at border of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Kaundinya Bird Sanctuary:
Kaundinya Bird Sanctuary is one of the best bird sanctuaries in India, situated near Chittor in Andhra Pradesh. The habitat is rugged with high hills and deep valleys and Kaigal and Kaundinya are two beautiful streams, which flow through the sanctuary. Kaundinya Sanctuary offers the best of wildlife and bird watching in India. Kolleru Lake bird Sanctuary also offers variety of migratory birds to its largest fresh water Kolleru Lake.

Chilka Lake bird Sanctuary:
Chilka Lake bird Sanctuary is very popular among tourists,located near puri in Orissa. The Chilka Lake is the most beautiful brackish water lake in Asia and famous for a rich variety of birds. Chilka Lake serves as a bird sanctuary and is the largest wintering ground for migratory birds in India. The pear-shaped Chilka Lake is one of the best bird watching spots in India.

Mayani Bird Sanctuary:
The Mayani Bird Sanctuary is globally reckoned for its gigantic range of species for migratory birds situated in Satara district of Maharashtra. Many migratory birds pass through the area, such as Flamingos from Siberia come in large numbers. It is one of the most prominent and Famous Bird Sancturiesi in India.

Nal Sarovar bird sanctury:
Nal Sarovar bird sanctury comprising of a huge lake and ambient marshes, is situated in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Nal Sarovar bird sanctury is the largest wetland bird sanctuary in Gujarat, and one of the largest in India, spot birds like Flamingos, Pelicans, Spoonbills, Avocets, Coots, Pintails, small Cormorants, small Grebes and Shovellers. It is count as one of the busiest tourist attraction spot in India.One of the famous sanctuary in Gujart is “Porbandar Bird Sanctuary”. The Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park is India’s first marine national park in the Indian Ocean at Gujrat.

Article source: walkthroughindia.com



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Make A Difference - Save Domestic Birds

Nature is awesome, only it may not be for a great deal longer. Did you realize that several of the most common bird species are being diminished in numbers at a worrying grade, species alike the tree sparrows and skylark songbirds numbers are in heavy descend, as a result in around ten years time period these types of species could become non existent. The decrease has as well been seen in several of the more common household garden bird wild life, like the birds as Blue Tits and Robins.So what can ourselves do about it?? Well a beginning would be to try to have home pets under control, fifty-five million birds are researched and studied to be attacked and killed by home cats a year by it self. Putting a collar bell on them perhaps will help, so that at least the bird in your garden will have gotten a warning signal when they are close to get jumped on. No-one likes seeing a cluster of bird feathers on your home garden lawn, its normally a awful sign. approximately twenty five percent of our bird species mates in our very own home gardens, what also we can do to farther better this figure and cut back the bird deaths by domestic cats is to get bird-houses in our very own home gardens. Bird-Houses, or nest-box's as they are as well acknowledged present the birds a secure surroundings to hang around in, hence will lead in a superior survivability measure for new bird species and likewise assist keep all predators away.

To provide a supply of bird food with bird feeders is as well another good manner to give the birds feed, this will pull in a large scope of bird species towards your home garden, what a lovely place the home garden is with birds cherping. A good practice is to provide the birds with a broad mixture of bird food so that the garden can draw in various types of bird species and likewise attempt to support the bird feed as high up as achievable, not simply so the bird species can visualize it best but likewise again from squirrels trying to get the bird feed, or fight the birds while they eat. Bird baths are likewise good for clean preserved drinking water supply for the birds that come to your garden, during cold seasons all birds main water supply can get froze to ice, so birds getting water to drink is much crucial than always. To not let your bird baths water getting frozen to ice, attempt putting it side by side to a garden heat source like a light, this heat source that will aid keep the drinking water heated up so it doesn't ice up. Its too doable to put a hollow ball in the bath so it moves around during high winds, this will help stop the full-length bird bath getting iced up and allow a small bit of drinking water gettable for the bird species to drink and bath. You can also drop heated tap water ontop the bird baths one time a day to heat the frozen water, this is in all likelihood the easiest method. So by making sure that birds have got a large supply of drinking water and food will maintain the wildlife birds coming to your garden home and support the population of birds on the upwards, instead than the downslope.Get hold of a bird table for the backyard to put the bird feeder on top of, or combine all these tips in the writing and make the home garden the quality bird birvana. We require to keep the bird population stabilized, support nature the manner it is and the best way ourselves can do this is by taking steps to help now, or else we might end up to be wishing we did more about it in later on to come.

Want to take action? check out this site to buy bird houses .

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Bird Supplies for Exotic Birds

Chirp n Squawk bird supplies is a first stop online shop for all the items an owner of an exotic bird, such as a parakeet, parrot, macaw or other species of bird kept in a domestic setting should ever need to buy.

Items such as bird toys, bird stands and fresh quality bird food are all available to buy from Chirp n Squawk bird supplies where a large selection of fresh bird food, stimulating and educational bird toys and puzzles, and comfortable and varied bird stands for the bird to perch on.

Chirp n Squawk was formed when the owners of the company were unable to source a regular supply of bird food specifically for their own collection of exotic birds; however since the companyâ??s creation, the range of quality fresh food for birds has increased dramatically, and now all bird species kept in a domestic environment is catered for.

Building on the success of the food for birds range, the company also has a large number of general supplies for birds, which include many of the regular items one associates with birds kept in a domestic environment, and also items one doesnâ??t necessarily associate with domestically kept birds, especially exotic birds.

All of the regular cage supplies including mirrors, straight perches, cage covers, bird swings and treat holders, as well as the bottom of the cage liners that catch the bird poop, ready for easy and hygienic disposal are all available.
Chirp n Squawk also stock items which are ingenious to say the least, including a bird diaper so the bird can fly freely in the home without leaving its personal autograph on the furniture (or the owners head) and little purpose made bird tents so the bird can engage in camping vacations around the home.

Chirp n Squawk have assembled a large collection and range of general and specialist supplies for birds, specializing, but not limited to exotic birds such as parrots, parakeets, and cockatoos to mention a few.

The list of books and videos dedicated to bird care in general, but with titles specifically pertaining to exotic bird care and health tips and advice, combined with DVD presentations on how to look after, care for and keep an exotic bird in a domestic environment, give weight to the companyâ??s claim that their philosophy is centered on the care, treatment and general well being of exotic birds.

Ordering from the company website is simplicity in itself, and there is a page dedicated to frequently asked questions, and there is also an email contact address for general enquiries not answered in FAQ.

For further information on parrot and exotic bird care, and to source a reliable supply of quality, fresh bird food, bird stands, bird toys and bird supplies in general log on to http://www.birdsupplies.com today.

For further information on parrot and exotic bird care, and to source a reliable supply of quality, fresh bird food, bird stands, bird toys and bird supplies in general log on to http://www.birdsupplies.com today.

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10 Bird keeping mistakes NOT to make:

10 Bird keeping mistakes NOT to make:

Throughout the centuries mankind has learnt how to get it right by getting it wrong. Every species has since the dawn of life has learnt through its mistakes, and evolved in order to get it right and survive (with the exception of our old friends, the dinosaurs perhaps).

How often have you found yourself saying "I'll not do that again!" Well it's the same with bird keeping (or keeping any pets for that matter). Over the 10 years or so that I have been keeping and breeding pet birds I have made many mistakes and learnt not to repeat my failures.

Keeping any type of animal is a long learning curve, you learn more as you go along.

I have put together this list to help you so that hopefully you will not make some of these mistakes yourself, giving you a head start along the bird keeping road.

10 bird keeping mistakes not to make:

1 Do not put new birds in with any others you may have as soon as you get them home! You don't know if your new bird might be carrying some illness or virus that could be easily passed to your other birds. For this reason I suggest a "quarantine" period of at least 2 weeks to see if your new bird is OK. Keeping your most recent feathered buddy in a cage on it's own separated from your other birds is perhaps the best option.

2 Don't feed your new bird the wrong food! By this I mean you must find out what the previous owner has been feeding, then try and get the same food and introduce a different type or brand of feed gradually over a period of time, gradually increasing the food you want to give while decreasing the previous food. Sudden changes in diet can play havoc with a bird's digestive system.

3 Do not let your guests torment your bird or birds in any way! Children especially are particularly efficient at this, but so are some adults. On the same vein you must not torment your bird yourself either. Loud noises - especially sudden ones, prodding your bird, shouting, and generally annoying your feathered pet can rapidly turn your beautiful, loving, tame bird into an annoying and aggressive monster that nobody likes.

4 Don't give your birds water straight from the tap - or faucet to our US friends! Mains supplied water contains some chemicals - used by the water company to supposedly keep your water safe - that could harm your bird. Clean, fresh rain water is best, but failing that if you use mains water then boil it and then allow it to cool before giving it to your birds, that way most toxins will be destroyed during the boiling process.

5 Do not feed your bird the same boring old food continuously! Basically, the proprietary food or seed mix you give to your bird is fine as it's staple diet, and so you should always have some available for your bird; but would you want to eat the same boring old stuff all the time? Didn't think so; well it's the same with your bird; staple food is fine but your pet bird requires some variety to his or her diet. Fresh vegetables, fresh fruit and nuts are an excellent extra food or for a special treat, preferably for both reasons. Please look out for my next article in the directory to find out what foods are safe and unsafe for your birds.

6 Don't force your bird to live it's whole life alone in an empty cage! Most birds that are commonly kept as pets are not solitary by nature and often live as part of a large flock, they enjoy company. Hookbills - such as parrots, budgies, cockatiels, and many other parrot and parakeet species - will soon get bored and depressed on their own, so if keeping just one be sure to interact with it and provide some toys to keep your pet bird occupied. Some other species - such as finches for example - although they may be part of a flock in the wild, don't have a lot of interest in toys - except perhaps the odd tunnel, hole or box to investigate - but they also like company. Again you need to interact with them a little, but the best advice I can give is to keep 2 or more of these energetic little critters together, this way then can amuse each other. Society (Bengalese) finches hate to be alone and will always be found huddled together or playing closely (It's so cute to see them huddled).

7 Do not allow your bird's water to go stagnant! This can make them very ill. Change the water at least every day, sometimes more often. Even if fresh water was only given today as soon as it starts to look a little murky you need to change it. Be sure to wash out the water container thoroughly with clean water at each change.

8 Don't allow your birds cage, aviary and fitting to get excessively soiled! When things start to look messy, get cleaning! Bird droppings and other soiled items harbour germs, give everything a good wash (with a very week disinfectant solution if necessary, but be sure to rinse thoroughly). Clean out the cage or aviary, get rid of sand, shavings or whatever else is covering the base and replace with clean and new. Wash perches, toys, food and water containers; and wipe down the bars of the cage, or the walls and mesh of the aviary. Cages should be cleaned and changed at least once every week; aviaries can go a little longer but still need doing regularly - at least once a month is a good start.

9 Do not over-exhaust you pet birds! Just like us, your bird will need time to chill out and relax. Too much activity or too much heat (although many originate from tropical countries, during the hottest part of the day they tend to like a siesta in the shade somewhere) can cause exhaustion, and an over-exhausted bird is as good as dead. Yes, they need to be active, but they need some R & R too. For this reason if you find your birds are actively breeding for example try not too allow them to raise more than 2 clutches of chicks per year, in the Autumn (Fall) remove their nest boxes in order to stop them or they will be continuously exhausted - this is especially apparent in an exposed outdoor aviary, as your birds need to build up their fat reserves to see them through the winter, but if they have young all their efforts will be focused on raising their young rather than looking after themselves.

10 Don't buy or acquire adult birds and expect them to be tame! Taming a bird begins when they are still young and have only just left the nest. For them to become tame they need to be nurtured and handled every day. If you get an adult bird that is tame it's a bonus, but don't expect it!

For more bird keeping related issues please email me with your questions.
More information available in my new pet bird keeping ebook available now, visit http://www.myebook.com/index.php?option=ebook&id=80653 to get your copy or paste the above url into your web browser.
Visit my blog at http://stantonbirdman.wordpress.com/
Pete Etheridge
Nottinghamshire, UK
Keeper and breeder of pet birds for 10 years.
Offering information and advice on all aspects of bird keeping.
stanton.birdman@gmail.com

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The crow

No not the movie, the American crow

Crow Identification

The American crow is one of America’s best-known birds. Males and females are outwardly alike. Their large size (17 to 21 inches [43 to 53 cm] long), completely coal-black plumage and familiar “caw caw” sound make them easy to identify, even among other types of crows. They are fairly common in areas near people, and tales of their wit and intelligence have been noted in many stories.

Crow Habitat

American crows are widely distributed over much of North America. They breed from Newfoundland and Manitoba southward to Florida and Texas, and throughout the West, except in the drier southwestern portions. Crows in the northern parts of their range migrate southward in the fall and generally spend winter south of the Canada-United States border.
American crows servive the best in a mixture of open fields where food can be found and woodlots where there are trees for nesting and roosting. They commonly live in woodlots, wooded areas along streams and rivers, farmlands, orchards, parks and suburban areas. Winter roosting concentrations of crows occur in areas that have favorable roost sites and abundant food.

Crow Myths

The myth that splitting the tongue allows a crow to talk better is not true and is needlessly cruel.

Fun Crow Facts

- Crows are among the most intelligent of birds. Experiments indicate that American crows can count to three or four, are good at solving puzzles, have good memories, employ a diverse and behaviorally complex range of vocalizations and quickly learn to associate various noises and symbols with food.
- Crows can mimic sounds made by other birds and animals and have been taught to mimic the human voice.
- Crows begin nesting in early spring (February to May, with southern nests starting earlier than northern ones) and build a nest of twigs, sticks, and coarse stems ranging from 18 to 60 feet (5 to 18 m) above ground in oaks, pines, cottonwoods or other trees.
- Crow pairs appear to remain together throughout the year, at least in nonmigratory populations, and pairs or pair bonds are likely maintained even within large winter migratory flocks.
- The female incubates the eggs and is fed during incubation by the male and nest associates. The young leave the nest at about five weeks of age and forage with their parents throughout the summer. Later in the year, the family may join other groups that in turn may join still larger groups. The larger groups often migrate in late fall or winter.
- Few crows in the wild live more than four to six years, but some have lived to 14 years in the wild and over 20 years in captivity. A bird bander reported a crow that had lived 29 years in the wild.
- A communal roost site in the Fort Cobb area in Oklahoma holds several million crows each winter. In Nebraska, Wisconsin, and possibly other states, crows appear to be roosting in towns near people. These flocks roost together at night and disperse over large areas to feed during the day. Crows may commonly fly six to twelve miles (10 to 20 km) outward from a roost each day to feed.

Crow Damage Identification

Complaints associated with crow damage to agriculture were more common in the 1940s than they are today. Although surveys indicate that overall crow numbers have not changed appreciably, the populations appear to be more scattered during much of the year. This change has resulted apparently from the crows’ response to changing land-use patterns. Farming has become more prevalent in some areas, generally with larger fields. Woodland areas are generally smaller, and trees and other resources in urban sites provide crow habitat. Overall, the amount and degree of damage is highly variable from place to place and year to year. Several variables enter into the complex picture of crow damage, including season, local weather, time of harvest, amount of crop production, and availability and distribution of wild mast, insects and other foods.
Many of the problems caused by crows are more commonly associated with other animal species. Crows may damage seedling corn plants by pulling the sprouts and consuming the kernels. Similar damage may also be caused by other birds (pheasants, starlings, blackbirds) and rodents (mice, ground squirrels). Crows at times damage ripening corn during the milk and dough stages of development. Such damage, however, is more commonly caused by blackbirds. Crows consume peanuts when they are windrowed in fields to dry, but other birds, especially grackles, cause the greatest portion of this damage. Crows may also damage other crops, including ripening grain sorghum, commercial sunflowers, pecans, various fruits and watermelons. They may also attack very young calves, pigs, goats and lambs in rare situation. This problem, which is more often associated with magpies or ravens, is most likely to happen where livestock births occur in unprotected open fields near large concentrations of crows.
Another complaint about crows is that they consume the eggs and sometimes the young of waterfowl, pheasants, and other birds during the nesting season. It can be a problem of concern locally, particularly where breeding waterfowl are concentrated and where there is too little habitat cover to conceal nests.

Large fall and winter crow roosts cause serious problems when located in towns or other sites near people. Such roosts are objectionable because of the odor of the bird droppings, health concerns, noise and damage to trees in the roost. In addition, crows flying out from roosts each day to feed may cause agricultural or other damage problems.
Finally, large crow flocks may become a factor in spreading disease. At times, they feed in and around farm buildings, where they have been implicated in the spread of transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE) among swine facilities. At other times, large crow flocks near wetland areas may increase the potential for spread of waterfowl diseases such as avian cholera. The scavenging habits of crows and the apparent longer incubation time of the disease in crows are factors that increase the potential for crows to spread this devastating disease.

Crow Legal Status

Crows are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a federal act resulting from a formal treaty signed by the United States, Canada and Mexico. However, under this act, crows may be controlled without a federal permit when found “committing or about to commit depredations upon ornamental or shade trees, agricultural crops, livestock or wildlife, or when concentrated in such numbers and manner to constitute a health hazard or other nuisance.”
States may require permits to control crows and may regulate the method of take. Federal guidelines permit states to establish hunting seasons for crows. During these seasons, crows may be hunted according to the regulations established in each state. Regulations or interpretation of depredation rules may vary among states, and state or local laws may prohibit certain control techniques such as shooting or trapping. Check with local wildlife officials if there is any doubt regarding legality of control methods.

CROW EXCLUSION

Netting to exclude crows from high-value crops or small areas. Protect ripening corn in gardens by covering each ear with a paper cup or sack after the silk has turned brown. Widely-spaced lines or wires placed around sites taht need protection may have some efficacy in repelling crows, but further study is needed.

CROW CULTURAL METHODS

Alternate or decoy foods; example: scatter whole corn, preferably softened by water, through a field to protect newly planted corn seedlings.

FRIGHTENING CROWS

Use with roosts, crops, and some other situations. Frightening devices include recorded distress or alarm calls, pyrotechnics, various sound-producing devices, chemical frightening agents (Avitrol®), lights, bright objects, high-pressure water spray, and, where appropriate, shotguns.

TRAPPING CROWS

Check laws before trapping. Australian crow decoy traps may be useful near a high-value crop or other areas where a resident population is causing damage. Proper care of traps and decoy birds is necessary. Capture single crows uninjured in size No. 0 or No. 1 steel traps that have the jaws wrapped with cloth or rubber.

Article courtesy of crittercontrol.com


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A guide about the best and probably easiest way to tame your new pet bird

Taming your new pet bird can seem like quite a daunting task, but with time and patience it can be achieved successfully.
Most pet birds can be tamed, that is they can learn to trust you and allow you to handle them without being too nervous.

A lot of patience is needed on your part to achieve this, and the taming process needs to begin whilst the bird is still young and has not yet learned to be afraid of people. It can be done with an adult bird but is usually much more of a challenge.

Some bird breeds however do tend to be a little more difficult to tame (finches for example), they'll sit on your hand or finger ok but would often rather get away from you, and are less likely to take food offerings (unfortunately I don't know why that is so) but my findings are based on my own personal experience with these birds so if you'v had better luck or you get better look with this then good for you! (Please let me know how you'v managed it, I'd love to learn where I'm going wrong). Most parrot-like species (budgies, cockatiels etc) however are a different matter and will readily take to hand taming as long as this is approached in the correct manner.
Remember that whilst trying to tame your pet bird sudden movements or loud noises are a no no, you don't want to frighten the poor thing, talk softly, move slowly and don't shout at your bird, even if it does misbehave.

Whilst your bird is still very young, has only very recently flown the nest, and has not yet gained enough confidence to fly away is the best time to start the taming process.
Take your bird in hand or use your finger or hand as a perch and allow your bird to step onto it. Talk softly to your bird all the time as you are doing this, tell him or her what a good boy or girl they are for example. Give your bird time to get used to this and gradually move your hand around the cage and hopefully your bird will stay put. Offer some food stuffs and if your bird takes them it's a sign that at the moment it is putting its trust in you. After a while, say 5 minutes, return it to its normal perch and then leave it there and talk to it again from the outside of its enclosure for a minute or two, your bird will need to learn to trust the sound of your voice. Say goodbye then go away and leave your pet bird to its own devices for a few hours.

Do this several times a day, every day, until you feel it is confident enough to stay with you outside its cage. Your birds cage is its home and is the place where your bird feels at its safest, so if you try to take your bird out of its cage it may just jump off your hand or finger back into its safe place. Be persistent but be patient also, remember your bird has already learned to put its trust in you and it will only be a matter of time before it feels safe enough for you to remove it from its home. Learn what is your birds favourite food treat and use it as a prize for being good (much like taming or training any animal). Again you must interact and try these methods regularly throughout each day, but don't overdo it, your bird will need to rest awhile between its taming sessions.
Soon you and your bird will have enough confidence in each other to allow you to perhaps walk about your home with your bird on your shoulder for example (pieces of eight), or your bird will follow you about. Eventually it will look forward to its daily human interaction and so will you.

Remember to be sure that if removing your bird from its cage not to give it any means to escape outside; close windows, doors and curtains, turn off the ceiling fan (don't want chopped bird do we), and try and restrict your taming to one room that your pet bird cannot escape from. Eventually you may be able to allow your bird the run of the house but you must still be sure to not leave any escape routes.

Be sure to do some bird taming every day, don't put it off, because if you miss your sessions then after a while your bird will lose its trust in you.
Be persistent and confident and do these things very regularly and sooner of later your pet bird will be fully confident with you and not nervous.

More information available in my new ebook now available, email me to get yourself a copy or to ask any bird keeping related questions. I will try and answer as soon and as honestly as possible.

For more bird keeping related issues please email me with your questions.
More information available in my new pet bird keeping ebook available now, visit http://www.myebook.com/index.php?option=ebook&id=80653 to get your copy or paste the above url into your web browser.
My pet bird keeping blog is now online at http://www.stanton-birdman.blogspot.com/, please take a look at it!
Pete Etheridge
Nottinghamshire, UK
Keeper and breeder of pet birds for 10 years.
Offering information and advice on all aspects of bird keeping.
stanton.birdman@gmail.com

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Feeding Wild Birds in the Fall

Bird watching is an ever-growing hobby in the United States; therefore, bird feeders are a popular topic when it comes to bird watching. Some people question keeping their feeders out through the autumn months due to fear that wild birds will not migrate or just think birds will not use them as much. However, there are many benefits to leaving your feeders out through the autumn months for both wild birds and you.

One common misconception people may think about leaving their bird feeders out through the autumn season is that birds will not migrate. This is called a 'misconception' for good reason. Birds will eventually migrate when they are ready. Leaving your feeders out is only helping prepare them for their long migration journey. Taking your feeders down too early confuses them and may leave them struggling to store up enough body fat for their long journey. This in turn will make for a hard migration. Therefore, leave your feeders out at least for two weeks following the last sight of a bird at your bird feeders.

Wild birds develop a daily routine of visits to bird feeders and other natural sources of food and nutrition. Most birds may rely on your feeders for a secondary or even primary source of food and nutrition. At this time of year their natural sources of food may have somewhat or completely depleted. To prepare them for migration, wild birds will stock up on body fat; therefore, you will see them more often at your bird feeders this time of year. With that said alone, it is important to keep your feeders out through the autumn months.

Leaving your bird feeders out through the autumn months may attract other migrating birds and potentially invite new birds to your feeding area the following year. Migration is a long and exhausting trip for wild birds. For those birds passing through your backyard, they will appreciate the sources of food in your bird feeders through the migration season. If your feeders are made available they will most likely make them their usual lay-over every migration season. Not only does this benefit migrating birds but you will get an opportunity to maybe see new wildlife that you may have not seen before. This is an exciting time for bird watchers.

It's always important to keep your bird feeders clean just as you would during the summer months. Some people think they will not be used as much so why clean them. However, the cleaner your feeders are the more wild birds you will most likely attract during the migration season.

So think twice about taking down your bird feeders early. Remember that rather than a disservice, wild bird feeding in the autumn season provides opportunities for bird wildlife during the migration season. Bird feeders are a vital food source in the autumn months for those birds who have been accustomed to using the bird feeders you provide as well as migrating birds. If you do decide to take them down during the autumn season try waiting at least two weeks after your last bird visitor. Leaving your feeders out also extends your bird watching pleasure.

My name is Angie and I love the outdoors. I sell lawn & garden decor from my online store and strive to provide the best quality and largest variety of lawn ornaments I can. My store provides a lot of cute ideas for people to decorate their outdoor space. Personalize your lawn & garden today with adorable garden statues, stepping stones, bird feeders, bird houses, wind chimes, wind spinners and much more.
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A Few Words In Praise of Birds

Why do birds appeal to us ? Most people enjoy the sight of birds, even people who have never been active birdwatchers. Although birds are less like us in appearance and habits than our fellow mammals, birds undeniably hold a special place in our hearts.

One reason that birds capture our imaginations is that they can fly, while we remain trapped here on earth. What child hasn't watched a bird fly overhead and dreamt of being up there in the sky flying alongside ? What adults have not, at one time or another, wished that they could take wing and fly away from all of their everyday troubles and cares ? Birds are natural symbols of freedom and escape. After all, what could better encapsulate our vision of pure freedom than the ability to fly off into the sunset ?

Birds can soar overhead and they can also cover great distances. They are privy to a "bird's eye view" of a single building or a park, or an entire city or landscape, making them a perfect metaphor for obtaining a fresh perspective on a situation, or for taking a larger view of an issue.

Birds often symbolize other things, as well, such as human character traits and qualities. There's the proud peacock, the noble eagle, the thieving magpie, squabbling crows, and billing and cooing love birds. Gliding swans are the perfect picture of grace and elegance in motion. The hawk is a symbol of war, the dove a symbol of peace.

What else attracts us to birds ? Birds have feathers, soft to the touch and a joy to look at. Plumage seems to come in an infinite variety of lovely colors and patterns, from the subtle, earthy tones of the common house sparrow to the outrageous, iridescent regalia of the showy peacock. Birds are beautiful works of art, signed by nature. Their plumage adds color and spectacle to a humdrum world. Their colors may also suggest many different locales and associations to us.

For example, those small, round, brown sparrows are homey, comforting and familiar to those of us who live in temperate climates. They are our backyard friends and neighbors. American cardinals and blue jays are highly colored, cheerful sights to behold on gray days, from the tips of their tail feathers to the fanciful crests on their heads. They are a bit more exotic, yet they are still familiar backyard friends. Then there are those birds who live in far off exotic places, such as African pink flamingos and tropical parrots, who sport wonderful tropical colors. We love them, not only for their magnificent colors, but also for their association with far-flung lands and exotic adventures.

Birds also come in a great variety of shapes and sizes, which further adds to their appeal. We can relate to them, in so far as they, and we, have two eyes, one mouth and bilateral symmetry. Yet, they are also very unlike us. They have protruding beaks, from the sparrow's tiny jabbing beak to the toucan's enormous appendage. They have wings, more unlike human arms than those of other mammals, or even of reptiles. In fact, when their wings are folded against their sides, birds appear to have no arms at all. They also have thin, bare legs and they have claws. Their heads and necks flow smoothly into their bodies. Their forms create graceful outlines, whether round like a chubby European robin, long like an African parrot, or sleek like a regal swan.

Yes, birds are beautiful to look at, but the beauty of birds is not confined to the visual aspects of shape and color alone, because birds also fill the air with music. They seem to offer us their song simply to entertain us, and they ask for nothing in return. Like a garden bursting with colorful flowers, the fantastic colors and songs of birds seem frivolous and out of place in a world full of harsh realities. It seems as though they were put on earth expressly to make life more beautiful. They were not, of course. Their color and song serve biological ends in the process of natural selection, but that does not prevent us from enjoying such sights and sounds. We can listen in on their free concerts and derive pleasure and serenity from the experience. We can also be amused when a few species of birds even mimic our own speech.

Another characteristic of birds that we humans respond to is the fact that they build nests. They seem so industrious and we watch with wonder as each type of bird builds its own species-specific nest, ranging from a simple assemblage of twigs to an intricately woven masterpiece of craftmanship. "Nest" is such a cozy word. Birds build their cozy nests, care for their young, and raise their families, all in the course of a single spring or summer. We admire their patience and devotion and attentive care to their offspring. We observe and marvel at a parent bird's countless trips to and from the nest to diligently feed the helpless chicks. Birds provide us with fine role models for parenting.

Yes, birds are homebodies during the nesting season, but they also migrate. Birds are free to come and go and many cover vast distances each year, as they travel between their summer and their winter homes. They are social creatures, moving in flocks and creating great spectacles as they fly. A glimpse of a V-shaped flock of geese passing overhead thrills us and stirs something in us. We admire their strength and endurance in carrying out such grueling journeys year after year. We envy them, too, for they are free to go beyond mere political boundaries and to cross entire continents. We up north are sorry to see them part each autumn and we are heartened to see them return each spring. The return of such birds as the swallows signals the return of spring, with its promise of birth and renewal.

Each spring we are able to welcome them back into our midsts, for nearly everywhere that humans live, birds live also. Birds cover the earth. There is such a diversity of bird species to fill each ecological niche on earth and to contribute to its balance by doing such things as eating insects and dispersing plant seeds. There are the ducks and moorhens of rural ponds. There are birds who live in the forests. There are birds in the mountains and birds in the deserts. The forbidding oceans have their hardy puffins and pelicans. Even frozen, icy places have their own birds, the lovable penguins.

Birds adapt to so many different habitats and situations, including human environments. The often ignored pigeon is a beautiful bird. (I have cared for and been grateful to have known many individual pigeons over the years.) As a species, they have managed to adapt to modern cityscapes, substituting cliff-like building ledges and bridge girders for their ancestral cliffs of rock. Other bird species may be less tolerant of such disturbances and avoid the prying eyes of humans.

Wherever they choose to live, birds remain symbols of untamed nature, surviving despite man's interference with their habitats. They remain proud and free to the present day. They are also a living link to the mysterious and fascinating history of life on our planet, as birds are the surviving heirs to the dinosaurs. One look at unfeathered baby birds, with their oversized beaks and feet, and it is easy to see the dinosaur in them.

Each of us may have our own reason, or combination of reasons, for loving birds, but their appeal is indisputable and universal. Birds represent the perfect blend of beauty, strength, grace and endurance, from the cuteness of a tiny sparrow to the majesty of an imposing raptor. Birds fill both the eye and the ear with beauty. We enjoy them. We admire them. Sometimes we envy them. They add appreciably to the quality of our lives and to the diversity of life on earth and the world would be a smaller, sadder, emptier place without them.

Barbara Freedman-De Vito is a professional storyteller and artist. Visit Kids T-Shirts, children's clothing, and adult's clothes decorated with pictures and words

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The Wild Turkey

Its that time of year again, turkey time! (or Tofurky time depending on your preference) I would like to take the time today though to learn about the turkey before it's snuggled up next to the mashed potatoes.

The Wild Turkey was a very important food animal to Native Americans, but it was eliminated from much of its range by the early 1900s. Introduction programs have successfully established it in most of its original range, and even into areas where it never occurred before.

Adult Description
Large, dark ground-dwelling bird.
Long, powerful legs.
Large, fan-shaped tail.
Bare head and neck.
Short, slightly downcurved bill.
Tip of tail chestnut-brown (in East) or white (in Southwest).

Male Description
Breast feathers tipped with black. Head and neck blue-gray with pink wattles. During spring display, forehead white, face bright blue, neck scarlet. Spurs on legs. Beard long and obvious, larger on older birds.

Female Description
Breast feathers tipped with brown, gray, or white. Head with small feathers. Beard small, if present.

Cool Facts
- A native of North America, the turkey is one of only two domesticated birds originating in the New World. The Muscovy Duck is the other.
- The turkey was Benjamin Franklin's choice for the United States's national bird. The noble fowl was a favored food of Native Americans. When Europeans arrived, they made it one of only two domestic birds native to the Americas—the Muscovy duck shares the distinction.
- European explorers took Wild Turkeys to Europe from Mexico in the early 1500s. They were so successfully domesticated in Europe that English colonists brought them back with them when they settled on the Atlantic Coast. The domestic form has retained the white tail tip of the original Mexican subspecies, and that character can be used to distinguish wandering barnyard birds from wild turkeys which have chestnut-brown tail tips.
- The male Wild Turkey provides no parental care. When the eggs hatch, the chicks follow the female. She feeds them for a few days, but they quickly learn to feed themselves. Several hens and their broods may join up into bands of more than 30 birds. Winter groups have been seen to exceed 200.
- Attempts to use game farm turkeys for reintroduction programs failed. In the 1940s wild birds were caught and transported to new areas, where they quickly became established and flourished. Such transplantations have been responsible for the spread of the Wild Turkey to 49 states. (Alaska is the only U.S. state without turkeys.)

Habitat
Found in Open Woodland and hardwood forests with scattered openings, swamps, mesquite grassland, ponderosa pine, and chaparral.

Food
Omnivore, mostly feeding on acorns, nuts, seeds, fruits, insects, buds, fern fronds, salamanders.

Nesting Facts
average clutch Size of 4–17 eggs which are tan or buffy white, evenly marked with tiny reddish spots. The chicks are downy and able to follow mother. Their nest are described as a depression in dead leaves or vegetation on ground

Behavior
The male gobbles to attract females. When she appears, he struts around her. He has his tail fanned and held up vertically, lowers his wings so that the wingtips drag on the ground, raises the feathers on his back, throws his head back onto his back with the bill forward, and inflates his crop. He makes occasional deep "chump" sounds, followed by a low "humm," and accompanied by a rapid vibration of his tail feathers. During the strut his facial skin engorges and the colors intensify, especially the white forehead. Forages on ground in flocks. Scratches ground to uncover nuts.

Conservation
Populations dropped drastically in 19th and early 20th century because of hunting and habitat loss. Northeastern populations were eradicated. Stocking programs successfully reintroduced turkeys to most of eastern range, and to areas outside the ancestral range in West. Populations continue to increase.

Article courtesy of allaboutbirds.com



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Canadian Geese Begin Migrating For The Winter

The Canada Goose is recognizable by its distinctive colourings. The species is characterized by its greyish coloured body combined with a solid black head and neck with white cheek patches. Canada Geese appear to all look the same. The species may appear relatively uniform; however, there are many different species of Canada Geese. The species are distinguished mostly by size as some smaller varieties weigh as little as 1.1 kilograms with a wingspan of 90 centimetres, while at the other end of the spectrum a Canada Goose can weigh up to 8 kilograms and have a wingspan of 2 metres.

Migration

The Canada Goose like most birds migrates every year. Canada Geese begin to prepare to migrate in the late Fall when the ground in the North begins to freeze. In an effort to prepare for the travelling of migration Canada Geese eat more prior to making the trip. The Canada Goose migrates from its Northern locations, including Greenland, to the Southern United States or even Mexico as Winter in the Northern hemisphere approaches. The Canada Goose migrates a considerable distance; however, the migration period is not long as the birds can travel more than 1000 miles per day. When migrating the Canada Goose is easily recognized as the flock flies in a V-shaped pattern.

Habitat

The Canada Goose may be named after the country of Canada but the species can be found all over North America depending on the time of year. Canada Goose adapt well their environments, although ideally they like to live in low areas with lots of open waters. The Canada Goose when nesting will often make its nest on an island in an effort to provide increased protection from predators.

Interesting Facts

The Canada Goose is also an interesting bird as it has many unique characteristics. One interesting fact is that the species mates for life usually in the second year of life. It may be true that the species mate for life; however, it is also a fact that if one of the mates die, the remaining goose will take another mate. Another fact about the Canada Goose is that many of the species use not only the same nest each year but also build their nests in the same area that their parents did. The Canada Goose also spends a large amount of time eating grasses, roots and leaves as up to 12 hours per day can be spent foraging for food. Canada Geese as a flock also fly in a V formation the reason behind this is the fact that the formation makes it easier to fly and assists with communication. The Canada Goose has also successfully adapted to urban life as the population in urban centres is expanding. The adaptability of the Canada Goose is lastly proven by the fact that the average lifespan in the wild is 24 years.

Article courtesy of kwintessential.co.uk



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Bird Feeders and More for Loyal Bird Watchers

Bird watching is a lot more than just a hobby. Many loyal bird watchers team up with naturalists to understand more about the habits of birds, migration, increases and declines in populations, and mating rituals carried out by birds. A bird watcher who has several bird feeders in his yard not only enjoys the birds that frequent his feeders he also is taking detailed notes about the species, sex, and many different details to send the report to naturalists who study avian habits.



You could actually call these people professional bird watchers because they perform a service that is extremely important in nature. They, the bird watchers, will employ many different items to help lure more birds to their property. Some of the items bird watchers will use are:



* Bird baths: These will generally be placed near feeding areas and are placed in a purposeful line of view of the bird watcher. Birds will often do mating dances and such while using the birdbath.



* Bird houses: Different species of birds will nest completely different than others. Specialized houses that are built for certain bird species, such as purple martin houses, lure this breed of bird to the bird watchers location.



* Hummingbird bird feeders: These feeders don't hold seeds; they hold nectar or sugar water. Hummingbirds are very well known for returning to the same feeding grounds every season. Hummingbird feeders that are kept clean and full of fresh nectar will attract up to twenty hummingbirds at a time. Most bird watchers have at least four hummingbird feeders around their property.



* Window bird feeders: Bird watchers will use these types of feeders to try to get a closer look at the birds coming to feed. This is especially helpful if the watcher is trying to get a picture of a particular bird.



* Butterfly houses: Most avid bird watchers who have bird feeders and bird houses almost always have butterfly houses as well. These are set out to attract butterflies and just add to the beauty of the yard.



* Wind chimes: Bird watchers will have wind chimes of different styles with different tones, which are said to help calm the birds.



* Bat houses: These are not extremely common for most bird watchers but some will install bat houses to lure the bats in. The significance in having bats around is because one small brown bat can eat thousands of mosquitoes in an hour. If the bird watcher lives near a body of water such as a small pond, having bat houses around helps cut down on the mosquito population.



* Bird watching binoculars: These are an important tool to the bird watcher because some birds look a great deal alike with very subtle differences. The bird watcher needs the use of the binoculars in order to tell the difference between the two species of birds. Some binoculars come with a built in digital camera that comes in very handy for up close shots.



The valuable service that professional bird watcher perform is extremely important to the study of migration. If science can understand why and when birds migrate and to where they migrate this can give science a lot of useful information that can be used to determine weather patterns and other important data.



Whether a bird watcher is making detailed reports for naturalists or just watching birds for the beauty of it, one thing's for sure: a bird watcher loves birds. Blue birds to black birds, bird feeders to birdhouses; a bird watcher is a bird's best friend.

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies.
For tips/information, click here: bird feeders
Visit Majon's recreation-nature-outdoors directory.

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Bird Cages

Bird lovers should know understand how important it is to have the proper bird cage for their bird. Bird cages vary not only in their size, but also in a variety of other ways that should be considered while shopping for your pet bird.

For the bird, this cage will be its home where it will spend most of its time. As a bird owner it is your duty to provide your bird with a cage that will be comfortable for the bird, safe, and have a positive impact on the bird's mental health. Size of cage, appropriate spacing and thickness of the bird cage bars, and the structural material of the cage are all important factors that you need to consider.

The rule of thumb for bird cage sizes is bigger is better. The larger the cage, the more space, and freedom the bird has. Obviously not everyone has the budget or the space for a huge bird cage. However, a cage should be purchased that will be appropriate for the bird's size. For example a very small bird like a finch can have a significantly smaller cage than a large bird like a Macaw.

Once you have decided upon the bird cages size, the correct spacing between the bars as well as their thickness must be determined. Again, the size of the bird is what determines the appropriate spacing and thickness of bars in bird cages. If the spacing is too wide the risk of escape or getting the bird's head trapped in between the bars is greater. Spacing that is too small between the bars can lead to wings, beaks, or feet getting stuck and the bird being injured. Since the bars of bird cages are bitten by the birds, the larger the bird the thicker the bars. If the bars are not thick or strong enough, a larger bird is capable of bending the bars, which is a potential safety concern.

The material from which the cage is constructed is important. You want a bird cage that is going to last a long time. Mild steel powder coated cages can last between five and seven years with proper care. Stainless steel powder coated bird cages can last three times as long, but are more costly. Since it won't chip or break easily, 100% stainless steel is preferred by many folks. In addition, look for bird cages that have anti-rust properties. Some powder coated bird cages may have toxic levels of lead or zinc in the powder coating, so it is important to buy your cage from a reputable manufacturer.

You will need to clean our bird's cage frequently so you should consider before purchasing a bird cage the assembly of the cage and its bars. Drilled-through bars are sturdier and stronger than welded bars but are more difficult when cleaning the cage. A cage that is composed of many nuts and bolts may be more affordable, but is much harder to clean and assemble. You want to look for a birdcage that you can easily break down to cleaned.

As you search for the perfect bird cage you will see descriptions regarding dome bird cages and play top bird cages. Consider your lifestyle when deciding between "dome top" bird cages and "play top" bird cages. Although owners are advised to give their birds time out of their cage every day, it is not always possible. Dome bird cages offer additional space within the bird cage, without taking up more space in your home. Dome top bird cages are better for owners who do not let their bird(s) out to play everyday. Play top bird cages are popular with owners who give playtime to their birds outside the cage. Play top bird cages will allow your pet to perch, play, and stretch their wings on the cage's highest point where they feel safer. The external play areas offer various "play" features depending upon the model.

Now that you know what to look for when searching for bird cages go to americas-pet-store.com where you will find a large selection of a variety of bird cages made by the top bird cages manufacturers. In addition, you can use their chart to match your bird type to the recommended bar spacing, bar thickness and cage size minimums for your bird, making your shopping experience a whole lot easier. And, every item americas-pet-store.com sells includes free shipping.

At americas-pet-store.com you will find a huge selection of bird cages for every kind of bird and every kind of owner.

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