Befriend the feathered

This year’s cold weather affecting birds

By Marinell Scott Thornburg, Journal staff | Thursday, January 15, 2009

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The return of real winter weather to western South Dakota means a harsher existence for the area’s wildlife. Birds, in particular, are experiencing the effects of the cold.

Vic Fondy, who feeds and observes the birds from his home south of Whitewood, says there some noticeable differences in the bird population already this winter.

“We are seeing fewer migrants and fewer unusual birds,” Fondy said. “Everything in a bird’s life is tied to the food supply. And normally, we don’t worry about it. Some people believe that you need to stop feeding for the winter so that birds can fend for themselves. But most of the bird experts say that is not true.”

Fondy, a member of the Northern Hills Bird Club, is a bird watcher and occasionally takes bird counts for the Audubon Society.

“We are doing our Christmas bird count on Saturday (Dec. 27),” Fondy said. “The Piedmont bird count was close to average, but out in the country where the birds have to fend for themselves, we are seeing a lesser number of birds.

“Even at the feeders, the species you would expect, we aren’t seeing. We are seeing fewer migrants come through,” Fondy said. “We normally have purple finches, but we haven’t had any at all this year. We are seeing fewer migrants and unusual birds.”

On Christmas Day, Fondy and his wife went looking for snowy owls, as they have done for the past three years.

“We went out looking for snowy owls, and found two out on Highway 85,” he said. “It is the first time we have seen many horned larks. We saw hundreds of them. The latest winter has pushed them south.”

Fondy explained that the harsher weather has made the birds change their plans for where to spend their winter.

“Tree sparrows — we saw one flock. They have either bypassed us or have gone further south; that’s my opinion,” Fondy said.

“What we saw out in the country is that the meadowlarks are already gone,” he said, explaining that even though in western South Dakota the sound of the meadowlark is a sure sign of spring, some of them do stick it out for the winter.

“Some overwinter here, but this year, they are all gone.”

Fondy encourages homeowners and backyard bird watchers to feed their neighborhood birds, and referred to the fact that the price of bird seed had gone higher the past year as a result of a shortage of sunflower seeds.

“The price of bird food nearly tripled,” Fondy said, as a result of a push for ethanol. Farmers planted more corn and fewer sunflower seed crops, so the result was a shortage of seeds. The price of bird seed has dropped about 30 percent, Fondy said, but has not returned to previous low prices.

“What we’ve noticed so far is there is a lot of empty feeders,” Fondy said.

As the winter weather continues, Fondy recommends that homeowners do three things to care for the birds in their yards.

y Buy black oil sunflower seed for hanging feeders. Chickadees, blue jays and nuthatches are perch feeders.

y Fill ground feeders with wild bird seed mix (a mixture of milo, corn and some sunflower seed) and watch for junkos, sparrows and towies. 

Place ground feeders in a sheltered location, under a tree or even on the deck outside your house, preferably near a window so you can watch the birds.

y Hang suet blocks in wire mesh feeders and provide a source of water.

“We buy a heated dog dish and fill it with water,” Fondy said. He suggests putting a block of wood in the water dish, as some birds may be nervous about getting in the water. They will perch on the floating block of wood when they drink.

Fondy also encourages keeping predators away from birds, and that includes pets.

“Tie up the family cat and the dog,” Fondy said. “We had a northern mockingbird, just one in St. Onge, and it stayed year-round. Then the neighbor’s cat got it.”

Fondy encourages homeowners to keep the bird feeders filled.

“We have three sunflower feeders (hanging), and one platform feeder right out the window. The three sunflower feeders will be empty at the end of the day,” he said.

“We have evening grosbeaks here. We had over 500 years ago, but now only 40 or 50. They come in here and just pig out for awhile,” he said.

“We have 12 different species that come to the feeders regularly. We work hard on it, because we keep the feeders full.”

Contact Marinell Scott Thornburg at 

marinell.thornburg@rapidcityjournal.com or 394-8420.

For more information

Northern Hills Bird Club is in its 21st year of encouraging bird  watching. The group meets monthly year-round at Sturgis, and takes field trips twice a month, typically the second and fourth Saturdays. February’s field trip will be to Pierre to look for deer falcons.

Local bird watchers can post messages and

exchange information about birds they spot. The Yahoo group is sdbirds@yahoo.com