Munchkin baby feeders

4. Peelers. Designed for small birds. In such feeders it is better to put bread, which will be held by a metal mesh. Birds will peck out food from the cells.

5. Hoppers. They are small in size, so feathered friends will have to queue up to peck at the grain. There are models with automatic grain feeding, which is practical, since the feed will not scatter. nine0027

6. Cottages. A suitable option for a summer cottage. These are flat areas with a roof, so the bird's meal will not be spoiled by moisture.

Selection and installation guide

1. Decide where feeder will be installed. Small options are suitable for the apartment window - peelers, bunkers, hanging ones. Large ones will look good on the plot - houses, trays, platforms. nine0027

2. Locate the "refectory" in a place where food will not get wet from snow or rain. If this is not possible, consider options with a roof.

3. Birds can be easy prey for cats and small predators. Feeder must be installed so that the animals cannot reach it.

4. The product must be well reinforced. You can screw it to a tree, but there is a chance of damaging the trunk. Much more efficient to attach feeder to a free-standing pole, which must be well dug into the ground.

Useful conclusions

• in winter it is difficult for birds to get food without human help;
• feeder you can make yourself or choose a ready-made option;
• "dining room" for winged birds must be protected from predators, snow and rain;
• Not every kind of food is good for birds. Opt for prepared foods containing grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts. nine0008

CHILDREN AND YOUTH ART GALLERY

"Classic" feeders:
Large tits are perhaps the most massive visitors to feeders. Titmouse - visit feeders as willingly as great tits, but are usually less common simply because of their smaller numbers. House sparrows - in the city can be regular visitors, although complex designs are not mastered immediately (see below). Tree sparrows - may be common visitors to high number. Gray pigeons - are attracted to feeders, even completely unsuitable them by design (from milk bags). Interesting individual attempts pigeons to master the approach to the feed through the notch. Birds grab onto edge of the notch and, often flapping their wings to keep their balance, try get to the food. Gray crows - tearing feeders from milk bags. Nutcrackers - do not miss the opportunity to use the feeder, and not only eat food "on the spot", but also actively store seeds and even pieces of bread. Great spotted woodpecker - can be a common and regular visitor. Sometimes woodpeckers use permanent perches to peck seeds, individual for each individual. Bullfinches - described in the literature as ordinary visitors to feeders, however, according to our observations, they do not immediately learn to use them (see below). Often they are noted when they eat berries and buds in the immediate vicinity. proximity to the feeding ground. nine0005

Feeders rare or unusual:
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - sometimes flies to feeders, especially suburban. According to our data, visits are extremely irregular. Tap dancers - regularly pick up crumbs and fragments of sunflower seeds, dropped by tits pecking at them nearby. can learn and methods of extracting food from the feeder itself. Greenfinches - pick up seeds dropped by tits, can take seeds and themselves. Grosbeaks - not massively noted on the feeders, but some individuals visit them quite regularly. Siskins - usually collect leftover food under the feeder. Goldfinches - in winter and summer they collect leftover food under the feeder. Linnets - in the summer they collect leftover food under the feeder. Jays - tear up feeders made from milk bags, visit feeders-houses. Magpies - often ruin the feeders, turn them over. Long-tailed tits - are attracted to the immediate vicinity of the feeder, pick up leftover food under the feeder. Muscovites - small, but regular and regular visitors country feeders located next to a coniferous forest. Brown-headed chickadees - rare on feeders in the city, but may be common or even numerous on country feeders located along adjacent to coniferous forest. Waxwings - usually visit the immediate vicinity of the feeder, where eat buds and berries from trees and shrubs. In the spring of 2005 in Golovkove, Solnechnogorsk district, they observed how the waxwing ate litter (apparently, to replenish mineral elements) birds from the bush - a favorite perch of all "ordinary" visitors to the feeder. Finches - not immediately, but they learn to take seeds from the feeder. Fieldfare thrushes - in winter they pick up food under the feeder. Middle Spotted Woodpecker - Rarely found on feeders, but most likely due to their small number, and not "inability". White-backed woodpecker - if it is in the area, then it is quite possible expect at the feeder. Nutcracker is rare, but, apparently, due to its low abundance. nine0005

Casual visitors to the feeders:
Sparrowhawk - can be attracted to the feeder by abundance potential victims. Gray-haired woodpecker - recorded in the village of Khripkovo, Zaoksky district, Tula region. He was spinning near the house at the feeder, sat down and lightly picked the log the wall of the house, in the cracks of which the nuthatch actively stored seeds sunflower.

The list is most likely still very far from complete! For sure one can expect reports of both birds arriving for feeding sites for food, and about birds that do not use the feeder for "for its intended purpose" - as a food resource, but are attracted by the "atmosphere increased hype” in the area of ​​​​the feeder. nine0005

How birds become feeders
Not all birds are lucky enough to have instincts that allow them to to “understand” that a bizarre-looking structure is a feeder, containing many, many high-calorie foods, and quickly find a way extracting it from there. These birds are by and large only tits and nuthatch, well, maybe more woodpeckers. For other visitors feeders take more or less a long time to master new and unusual food resource. However, almost all birds whose nutritional spectrum includes those feeds that fill the feeder, able to learn how to use it over time. nine0005

There are three stages in this process. At first "newcomers" simply attracts a cluster of regular visitors, many of them even do not show a distinct interest in the feeder itself, “timidly” holding on away, as if watching. In the second stage, the birds are already using the place top dressing as a source of food, but they do not climb into the feeder itself yet. They they just pick up from the ground dropped by tits (main visitors) seeds and their remains, looking for them under the feeder and under perches, on which tits peck at food. After some time, accustomed birds begin to take seeds from the feeder itself, even though its the design may be clearly inconvenient for them, although, of course, convenience design greatly speeds up this process. nine0005

In the future, the ability to use feeders is transferred, apparently, by the mechanism of behavioral tradition. Therefore, a species that once mastered feeder, as a rule (unless something extraordinary happens), already does not drop out of the number of visitors. Thus, the number and variety of visitors grows over time - bait area "developing".

What are the advantages of the feeder?
Firstly, attracting birds to feeders creates additional opportunities for a more complete assessment of the species composition of birds this locality. For example, we can cite the already mentioned feeder on a personal plot in the vicinity of the village. Golovkovo, where even during short arrivals in winter, it is possible to register Muscovites and tap dancers Note that to fix these few species during route surveys (and rather long ones) are far from always possible. A similar situation is noted with the field sparrow. Only top dressing feeder allows you to regularly mark this species in the city center (n. Semenovskaya, Zoo Museum of Moscow State University). And in the spring of 2006, thanks to the feeder, it was possible meet in the square E-11 greenfinch - very few in that area. nine0005

Secondly, even a feeder filled only occasionally can increase the diversity of birds in its vicinity . It is especially interesting to see how the number of visitor species in over a number of years. Our observations allow us to conclude that this The number is really growing year by year. For example, in the winter of 2002-2003. our feeder in the vicinity of the village of Golovkovo was visited only by great tits and puffs, in the winter of 2003–2004. it also regularly noted Muscovites, blue tit, tap dances, jays and magpies, and in the winter of 2004-2005. to they were joined by greenfinches and bullfinches, and in the spring of 2005 - a chaffinch. nine0005

Apparently of greatest interest in terms of species diversity represent "country" feeders, especially if there is a forest nearby array. However, this question requires clarification, since some data from feeders in the parks of Moscow are no less interesting (the middle spotted woodpecker in Izmailovsky Park (Zubakin V.A.), nutcracker and white-backed woodpecker in the district Golyanovo in Losiny Island (Butev V.T.). The poorest species apparently, near-window feeders, located away from the "green" areas, although there, in addition to the usual views for the city center, there may be field sparrows and greenfinches. nine0005

When to feed?
In domestic popular literature, special emphasis is placed on winter bird feeding. But foreign benefits are advised to feed the birds year-round. As our experience and the experience of E. V. Makarova showed, this has a certain meaning, since in this case, in the field of view of the observer, in addition to common wintering species, both migratory (brimming) and flying ones can get: finches, linnets, grosbeaks. Spring and autumn observation at the feeder may provide some phenological data that supplement information about dates of arrival and departure of some birds. Often to the bird feeder bring chicks: feed and "bring to people." So top dressing can help prove the nesting of any species in the vicinity. Is it easy to find a hollow of puffs in the vicinity of a dacha village? And if available feeders are not scary and can not be found. nine0005

What to feed?
All observations described in this section were obtained on feeders, feeding on which was carried out with a very limited set of feed (sunflower seeds and bread). Numerous recruitment benefits birds recommend the use of a wider range of feeds: seeds wild plants, fruits of trees and shrubs, coniferous seeds, lard, hemp seeds, etc. For birds with small beaks (for example tapping) the same sunflower seeds can be crushed (for example, suppress on a newspaper bottle or can). But cereals for birds are not very attractive and not intimidating. nine0005

Feeder designs
The feeder can be made from anything. You may as well not do it at all: for example, sprinkle seeds directly on the windowsill or hang a piece fat on the wire. However, food usually has to be protected from rain and snow - for this you need a feeder with a roof and, accordingly, supporting walls and bottom. Here the boundless sea opens opportunities to realize the most daring fantasies. However, besides the fact that different designs evoke different aesthetic experiences in us, they may be unequal in their merits and from the point of view of birds. What kind same factors should be considered when choosing the design of the feeder? nine0027

If you want to expand your circle of visitors as much as possible, you should choose a feeder with wide entrances or even with open walls - so as not to impede access to large birds and birds that in nature You don't have to get into narrow holes. Bulky and not so dexterous like tits, it is difficult for birds (sparrows, bullfinches, pigeons) to climb into swinging and bending feeders. However, in the end with the task they are also coping, but until then, you can do a lot of interesting things. observation of bird learning. nine0027

If, on the other hand, it is desirable to restrict visits to a species, such as sparrows or squirrels, to give advantages to rarer visitors, it may be worth making it difficult for them to access: make narrow notches, deeper bottom, hang the feeder on a swinging fishing line. Another way out: hang two feeders next to each other: “light”, distracting commonplace species, and "difficult" - for rare birds.

Questions and hypotheses
We offer bird feeders a few questions and suggestions, requiring further study and clarification by our common forces:
1. Is there always an increase in the number of visitor species to the feeder when years of use? How does this process take place?
2. Is there a direct relationship between the variety of feeds used and an increase in the diversity of bird species at the feeder, or a greater role here plays the location of the bait area and some random factors? nine0027 3. How strong is the relationship between the number of visitor species and feeder design?
4. It is an interesting opportunity to test the assumption that that year-round feeding of birds can increase diversity of species nesting in the homestead.
5. Perhaps observing the behavior of birds at the feeder will allow supplement information about the forage plasticity of different species, i.

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