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09/22/2021 07:00 AMWhen I first put out my bird feeder, sometime during the doldrums of the first phase of the never-ending new normal of the pandemic, it was mid-winter and it took some time for the birds to find me.
Finally, they started to come and I fancied that I had regular, birds that would wait impatiently for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I’d go out to fill up the empty feeders and put fresh water in the small birdbath, and as soon as I heard the clack of the feeder top opening, I would hear twittering build to a small crescendo from bushes nearby.
I had one feeder, then two, and then a few more. Around the feeders, I created a small landscaped area full of native bird-, bug-, and bee-friendly plants. My little mini-bird paradise provided entertainment, joy, and delight every morning with my first cup of coffee, just outside my window.
Then, like many others, I took my feeders down when the state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection and Connecticut Audubon recommended it earlier this summer. Driven by fears that a mysterious illness afflicting birds throughout the mid-Atlantic states might spread to Connecticut, many other birders did the same. Then, as quickly as it came the illness seemed to go away, seemingly with little or no effect on our birds here.
After we got the all-clear from the experts, I rushed out to buy fresh seed at my local store, the Audubon Shop in Madison, and wondered aloud how long it would take the birds to come back this time after the months-long break. The owner, Jerry Connolly, told me not to worry. He was right. Within minutes of putting the fresh seed out in my sparkling clean feeders, there was a swarm. About 20 birds, a mixed flock, descended, and with only a bit of quibbling, settled in to eat. And eat. And eat.
Happily surprised, I checked in with several area bird stores, including The Audubon Shop, The Fat Robin in Hamden, and Wild Birds Unlimited in Old Saybrook. All, hammered by the recommended prohibition on feeding birds, are seeing business come back, but slowly. News of the prohibition’s end is not traveling as fast as the news of the often oversimplified, sensationalized, and misunderstood prohibition itself.
But customers are coming back, just in time to help our birds fatten up for the long winter ahead, and just in time for us to see fascinating bird behavior like mixed flocks, with their constantly evolving pecking order, some bickering and squabbling, and complex shows of cooperation that allow these birds, big and small, to work together to find food and alert each other to predators. Helping them find food helps them to help each other increase their chances of survival.
‘Like Some Kind of Life Force’
Connolly, of the Audubon Shop, 907 Boston Post Road, Madison (www.theaudubonshop.com/) says he knows everyone had the best of intentions, and that the intention was to keep the birds safe. He’s glad that, as he predicted, there was not a big bird illness problem in Connecticut. He remains frustrated by the sensational publicity around some of the coverage.
“And, in the end, no one has found anything out,” he says.
Some birders wondered if there was a connection between the bird deaths and the cicada emergence, or, perhaps, the pesticides used to fight that. In areas of the mid-Atlantic affected by the cicada emergence, thousands of birds died horrible deaths. But, for all of the research and investigations, nothing was ever found to prove that or disprove a connection.
He continues to get calls from customers asking if it’s OK to put bird feeders out again. And, it is.
One positive from all of the fuss is that it reinforced something that has been true all along, something he always emphasizes with customers, “and that is to keep your feeders clean.” His shop is among those that stock easy-to-clean feeders.
For birders who want to expand their watching beyond their backyards, the Audubon Shop, which will celebrate its 35th year in business in October, is offering its fall bird walks, every Saturday morning through Thanksgiving, and also has expanded them to Wednesdays, through Wednesday, Sept. 29.
“Just show up at the shop [907 Boston Post Road, Madison] at 7:50 in the morning, so that we can leave by 8 a.m. The fall migration is a great time to get out,” he says.
Connolly says now is a great time to start feeding the birds again. He says some birds are migrating south, but many remain in Connecticut.
“The babies are dispersing a bit, so it’s important to get your clientele, to attract those birds early,” he says. “What happens post-breeding is that birds form mixed flocks. That could include chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, woodpeckers, and finches. There is strength in numbers when it comes to foraging for food, and it means many eyes for predators.”
Since this is prime time for hawk migration, there are plenty of predators looking to pick off a bird or two.
“Prior to this, in the spring and summer, it was all about breeding and pairs, and defending territories at all costs. But that doesn’t matter anymore. It’s OK to mix it up with others for the benefit of all,” he says. “So you get these mixed flocks. One flock might cover 30 or 40 acres, including many yards and woodlands. So you kind of want to get on their circuit. Sometimes if people wait to put out their first feeder in January, it can take forever for birds to find it. So this is a good time to get started.”
That said, he adds, just about any time of year is a good time to be a backyard birder. Even on the coldest, snowiest day in winter, bird behavior can provide a quick flash of joy.
“When it’s really cold, when there’s a blizzard, and you think everything’s hunkered down, there’s a little chickadee out there, eating at a feeder, like some kind of life force,” he says.
Planning Ahead for Christmas
Ryan Zipp of Guilford, who owns and operates The Fat Robin, 300 Whitney Avenue, Hamden (www.fatrobin.com) with his father Jim Zipp, and step-mom Carol Zipp, can barely keep the frustration out of his voice when he talks about the effect that the recommended feeding prohibition had on their 26-year-old family business. During an already extraordinarily difficult year for retailers, one that required constant pivoting, and adapting, and adopting measures to keep people safe and healthy, the one bright spot was the swarm of new backyard birders. And then the feeding prohibition took that away, pushing many small birding stores into a fight for their life.
“Unfortunately it affected our sales greatly,” says Zipp. “But even worse was the emotional impact it had on our customers. During the pandemic, watching birds in your backyard at feeders was one of the very few calming things that many turned to. I can’t tell you how many people would tell us that and said how it was their saving grace.”
Zipp is now focused on letting the store’s customers know they can resume safely feeding birds, featuring the different cleaning products they stock that make keeping everything clean that much easier. The Fat Robin and other stores have always stocked these items, but now they are getting the interest they deserve, as new backyard birders are becoming aware that feeding birds, just like feeding any animal, requires care and attention to cleanliness.
“We also ran a bird feeder trade-in program where you received 15 percent off the purchase price of a new feeder if you traded in an old one. Any feeders collected that are still in working condition, we keep to donate to various schools and non-profit organizations throughout the year,” he says.
He agrees with Connolly that is a great time for people to get back into feeding birds.
“This time of year is always one of change in the bird world as well, with many summer favorites beginning to take off and being replaced in our yards by our incoming winter residents,” he says. “We lose our orioles, ruby-throated hummingbirds, and rose-breasted grosbeaks, but start to gain white-throated sparrows, dark-eyed juncos, purple finches, and more.”
He says one other struggle, common to all other retailers, is that since the onset of the pandemic, it’s been hard to keep items consistently in inventory. Shortages of supplies and supply change disruptions have affected huge chain stores and small independents alike, in all categories.
“So we have been working to stock up early on things for the rest of the year. We’re also trying to tell people to consider doing some Christmas shopping on the early side this year to avoid the heartbreak of coming back to items out of stock and unable to be re-ordered before December. This month is the first time we’re had our whole lineup of binoculars and spotting scopes in stock this whole current year,” he says.
‘A Great Way to Start and End the Day’
Jessica Penfield, the owner of Wild Birds Unlimited, 434 Boston Post Road, Old Saybrook (oldsaybrook.wbu.com) says her sales were affected dramatically as well.
“When people stopped coming in for birdseed, that meant they were also not buying binoculars and other gift items,” she says. “Customers are coming back. Slowly. But they are coming back, which I’m grateful for. We do have customers we haven’t seen in a while and they are very happy to be back feeding the birds. It just had such an emotional impact on people. They are thrilled to be back, feeding and putting the birdbaths out.”
During the recommended feeding prohibition, she says Wild Birds Unlimited focused on customer outreach and education, which it will continue to do. That has included providing information on how to keep feeders clean and about seasonal changes.
“Now that we’re going into fall, we talk about how the birds begin caching seeds and nuts,” she says. “You’ll see the little nuthatches. We put out the safflower and they hide them behind all the little crevices in the bark.
“We also offer seasonally savvy foods. In the spring, we have a nesting blend, which is good for nesting and molting birds. The winter blend is more focused on fat content. So we’ll be switching over to that in October,” she adds. “We also promote what we call tidy feeding, which is no-mess blends. That means fewer shells on the ground, shells that can attract critters or bears. You can also add trays at the bottom of feeders, so the feed doesn’t get dropped on the ground. If you’re proactive and keep everything nice and clean, you will be able to stop attracting things to the yard that you don’t want.”
The store is planning a few events to welcome customers back. On Sunday, Oct. 17 at 3 p.m., at the store, A Place Called Hope will do an owl presentation. On Halloween day, Sunday, Oct. 31 at 2 p.m., a local bat rehabber will give a talk about bats, and there will be a kids costume contest, along with other activities.
Pre-pandemic, this event attracted more than 100 people, so this year the store is asking participants to call ahead to register, at 860-661-5567 so they can keep a count a headcount.
As with the other shops, Wild Birds Unlimited is planning ahead for the holidays, anticipating spot shortages.
“We think the holiday shopping season will start sooner and we know there will be supply issues, so we are telling our customers we don’t know which vendors are going to have what items and for how long...We think a lot of things might eventually be out of stock or back-ordered.”
Like other birding experts, she knows that birds, for the most part, can get by without food provided by people, but she also knows it makes it easier on birds to have a supplemental supply available.
“Good nutrition equals healthy birds,” she says. “It’s also so much fun when the babies fledge and the parents bring the babies to the feeders. If they have a reliable source of food nearby, parents have to spend less time away from the nest.”
As important, it’s fun for the backyard bird feeder, she says.
“You get to witness all of that bird behavior of raising babies and babies fledging,” she says. “We feel we can help them with the food.”
The American Bird Conservatory reports that, in our lifetime, almost 3 billion breeding birds have been lost across every ecosystem.
“To put it another way, we’ve lost more than a quarter of our birdlife since 1970. These findings were reported in the world’s leading scientific journal, Science, [and] by researchers at seven institutions, including American Bird Conservancy,” the conservancy reports. More information about that can be found at abcbirds.org.
“With all of that habitat loss, birds are having to travel that much further for food. So by feeding them, we are helping them out, so that they don’t have to go all that much further searching for food,” Penfield says.
And, yes, there is the sheer joy of it.
“Just watching the behavior, and listening to the sounds. It’s calming. It’s peaceful,” she says. “It’s a great way to start the day and end the day.”