Helping Birds Beyond Bird Feeders

Recently published by Cornell Lab of Ornithology was  a pretty amazing and eye-opening article about the disappearance of birds. Audubon was on board way back in in 2013 with “Why Birds Matter” on their cover- and today’s email “Climate Change Pushes Birds to the Brink”. Research by the Journal Science confirms statistics. It’s all quite alarming though meant more as a wake-up call because birds really do tell us about climate.

A link to the article appears at the end of this post and well worth a few minutes to read! Graphics are superior and the comments prove most interesting. In short, here’s 7 easy ways to help birds… beyond the obvious bird feeders. Politics aside- whether you believe in climate change or not, humanity is choking… on plastic, on pesticides, on itself. There’s clear and simple suggestions to do any of these tasks in the article link below.

• • Make Windows Safe
  • Keep Cats Indoors
  • Plant Native- Reduce Lawns (great website for your zip code)
  • Avoid Pesticides
  • Switch Coffee to Shade Grown
  • Reduce Plastics
  • Citizen Science Watch Birds & Share Observations

A few noteworthy fall birding tips:
Leave a hummingbird feeder up even though your guys may have split! The Hummingbird Society strongly recommends this as it’s a total myth your feeders will cause them to stay. Lots of sightings further north (in mid-October) and most of these stragglers are juveniles and females who require calories for southern migration. Most of summer’s nectar producing flowers have since withered. Keep your hummingbird feeder fresh and full.

When raking leaves and fallen branches… leave a small pile in the back or corner of your yard. Brush piles offer both forage and shelter for birds.

Clean out birdhouses and repair if necessary. Many of them offer ideal roosting spots for resident birds through winter.

Consider a birdbath heater this year, just add to your existing bath instead of storing it for winter. Always keep fresh water accessible as some birds will never touch your bird feeders or birdhouses!

Copy this URL in your address bar… it’s absolutely worth a look!!

https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/bring-birds-back

Happy Fall Birding!