The House Finch

One of the first birds I noticed when I started to feed birds was the House Finch.  I had hung up a feeder and filled it with black oil sunflower seed for the benefit of an elderly housebound friend who lived next door.  When I first saw these very pretty little red birds, I asked her what they were, and she told me they were House Finches.  Since then, I have learned that the males are the ones who are red, and the females are brown with white stripes on their wings.  There is also a larger, redder finch that resembles the House Finch called the Purple Finch, but these tend to be in the area more during the winter.

House Finches are actually the descendants of pet finches that people have let go through the years, and have adapted readily to living in the wild.  Unlike other introduced species, however, (such as starlings and sparrows) they are a popular backyard visitor.  They also have a tendency to make their nests in hanging pots, so if you do manage to attract them to your yard, you will have to keep an eye open for this!  If you are interested in attracting these lovely little birds, they are actually fairly easy to lure in.

Male House Finch Eating Safflower Seed (photo by SCB)

Seed
House Finches enjoy a wide variety of seed.  They love black oil sunflower seed, striped sunflower seed, thistle and safflower seed.  When I first began to feed them, I provided them with plenty of the first three, but the sparrows eventually took over these feeders and drove them away (although they stand up to the sparrows a lot more than other shyer birds do).  Eventually I decided to simply go with the safflower, because this is also one of their favorites, and they have very little competition for it.  A plus about putting out safflower seed is that you will also get other visitors who like it, such as cardinals, mourning doves, chickadees, tufted titmice and even some of the less common birds in the area, such as red-breasted grosbeaks and indigo buntings.  Another plus is that other less welcome visitors, such as grackles, starlings (and, of course, sparrows) don't really care for it, so they will either avoid the feeder entirely or merely pick at it when nothing else is available.

Plants
I have never actually noticed House Finches being attracted to any particular type of plants, except, of course, the hanging pots they like to borrow.  They do like to perch in small trees and bushes, but I have hung all of my finch feeders from old clothesline poles for years, and they seem just as happy perching on those as any branch they might find.

Male House Finch Eating Safflower Seeder (photo by SCB)

Feeders
House Finches will use any type of feeder you choose to put out.  They seem to be more attracted by what is in the feeder than its appearance!

Another plus about House Finches is that they are relatively friendly, and are one of the most easily observable birds.  They not only ignore me when I'm outside, they also ignore my dogs, and this is something I honestly couldn't say about many of the other birds that visit my yard.

Baltimore Orioles

If you are interested in seeing Baltimore Orioles in the Omaha area, Mandan Park is a really good place to start.

There are two reasons for this.  First, there are many extremely tall trees, such as cottonwoods, which orioles prefer to make their nests in.  If you have never seen an oriole nest, it looks like a ball caught in a mesh sock hanging from the very tip of a branch.  The nests are normally not able to be seen until fall, when  the trees become bare, because the orioles will hide the nests in the midst of the leaves for camouflage.  Placing the nests at the very ends of the branches also makes it more difficult for predatory birds (like crows) to steal the nestlings.  I have watched orioles building nests in the same cottonwood tree near my yard for years, and only once did the crows find one.

The other reason orioles like Mandan Park is the preponderance of natural foods they are able to access there.  One of their favorites is wild  grapes, which are common throughout the park and also (somewhat unfortunately) at the edges of the yards near it.  They will frequently perch on the top of these and tear the grapes off.

Male Baltimore Oriole (photo by SCB)

Male Baltimore Oriole at homemade feeder (photo by SCB)

When I decided I wanted to attract orioles to my yard, I went about it in all of the wrong ways.  Fortunately, reading about them and talking to people at bird stores enabled me to find the right ways to attract them.  I have been lucky enough to see as many as 20 Baltimore orioles in my yard at one time trying to access my oriole feeder (which they do not share well) and an additional plus is that Orchard Orioles are attracted by the same things, so I can see them, too.  In case you are not familiar with them, male Orchard Orioles are somewhat smaller than the flashy Baltimores, and are primarily black and a deep orange, almost red color.  Females of both species are primarily yellow, and the juvenile Baltimore Oriole males are yellow and grey.

Below are some useful tips to attract Baltimore and Orchard Orioles to your yard.

Food
Don't make the mistake I did and purchase a sugar water feeder for orioles.  Yes, sometimes they do drink from them, but they do it so rarely you will almost never see them.  Sugar water feeders are great for hummingbirds, but not orioles.

The best way to get orioles to come into your yard is to put out grape jelly and orange slices.  They are not particularly picky about the type of feeder that you use.  They are also not particularly picky about the brand of grape jelly you put out...practically any regular grocery store brand is fine, EXCEPT for the one dollar brands.  They are not especially particular about the type of orange they prefer, either.  When I first started feeding orioles, they primarily ate the jelly, and I thought that the oranges were superfluous, but I was definitely wrong.  They DO eat the oranges (ravenously) and perhaps even more importantly, they are attracted to a feeder by the orange color.

Feeders
There are many oriole feeders for sale, mostly orange colored, but we actually made one ourselves from an old hummingbird feeder.  There is a small dish that holds grape jelly in the bottom portion, and on each side of the little roof over the jelly dish (which you will need) there is a nail for half of an orange.  You MUST have a roof over the jelly, because if it rains, the jelly will become diluted, and the birds simply will not eat it...which means you will have to empty the jelly dish and replace it, which can become expensive.  Your feeder, however, does not have to be orange colored...the orange slices will be enough to attract them to a feeder of any color.  My feeder is actually made of wood.

Plants
When I first put out my feeder, and had a difficult time getting the orioles to notice it, I planted a grape vine by it.  Orioles, of course, love grapes, and I now think that this might have attracted their attention to my feeder in the beginning.  Other plants I have heard they are attracted to are peas and sweet peas...so, if you don't have room for a grape vine, simple peas or sweet peas should do the trick (and yes, I planted these, too).

Other Guests
Once you have your oriole feeder up, you will more than likely discover that orioles are not the only birds that like grape jelly.  I have had Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, Cardinals and, of course, sparrows take advantage of my feeder.  There is NO WAY to keep the sparrows out of it...I have tried many times, and finally simply gave up.  Another bird that you might be lucky enough to attract is the Catbird.  This is an oriole sized, black and grey bird that really does meow like a cat.  When I first heard them, I actually thought there was a cat in the yard, but it turned out to be this initially shy, but now actually friendly, bird.

Once you have orioles at your feeder, they will come back year after year...as will the catbirds.  One point to keep in mind is that you will see most orioles when they first return...approximately the last week of April or first week of May.  After almost a month, they will establish their breeding territories and you will see fewer of them, at least until the breeding season ends, when you may be lucky enough to see them bring their babies to the feeder.  The catbirds will do this, as well.

Do you have a tip for attracting orioles or catbirds? If so, please post it!

The American Goldfinch

When one thinks about "hot" birding spots around Omaha, some of the places that come to mind are Fontenelle Forest and Neale Woods.  But another often overlooked area with a surprising variety of bird life is Mandan Park.  In the years since I moved to Omaha, near the Mandan Park area, I have encountered a number of birds that I was never even aware of until I became a birdwatcher, and almost all of them nest in or near the Mandan Park forest.

One of the first birds I set out to lure to my feeders was the American Goldfinch.  A neighbor of mine had told me they were around, but I had never seen one, and thus began reading about how to lure them into my yard, what they liked to eat, and so forth.  Below is some of the hard-earned knowledge I picked up from

Male and Female Goldfinch (photo by SCB)

books, magazines and actual experience that enabled me to see them not just occasionally, but on a daily basis.

Seed
Any publication about birds with information about goldfinches will immediately inform you that one of their favorite seeds is Nyjer Thistle.  This is available at any birding store, hardware stores and even grocery stores (although it tends to  be a bit expensive).  Since it comes in a large bag, it's best to store it in a dry place (the birds will not eat it when it gets wet, because it will mold).  Another recommended favorite is sunflower hearts, but I have learned that putting out sunflower hearts for goldfinches is a wasted endeavor...primarily because house sparrows will eat it all before the goldfinches ever get a chance to get near it.  House sparrows will bully other smaller birds away from feeders, and since goldfinches tend to be a little shy, they won't, for the most part, even bother to try.  Thistle is another favorite of house sparrows, so a feeder has to be selected with care.

Finch Feeders
There are a wide variety of finch feeders, many of which I have purchased, with holes that are supposedly only big enough for the finches to get the food from.  I say supposedly because sparrows will eventually figure out how to worm the seed out, whether the holes are supposedly too small for them or not.  In this scenario, once again, they will eat all of the thistle and/or bully the finches so that they will be afraid to come to the feeder.  I found the perfect solution to this by accident.  In addition to the regular sized feeders for thistle seed, there are small tubes you can purchase in bird and hardware stores with very small perches that only a bird of the goldfinch's size can balance on.  When a feeder of this type is used, the sparrows simply cannot perch on it, and therefore, the bullying stops.  The feeders are not supposed to be refillable, but they are...you just have to pry loose the top, fill it, and then fasten it tightly before you hang it back up.

Female Goldfinch (photo by SCB)

Incidentally, the goldfinches drop enough seed that there is plenty for the sparrows, too, so they really aren't missing out on anything.

Attracting Goldfinches
When I bought my first finch feeder, I though the goldfinches would immediately appear, but they had a harder time finding it than I had anticipated.  What I did to attract them to it (which worked very well) was plant sunflowers by it.  Goldfinches will land on sunflowers to pick the seeds out when they are ready to harvest, and they are easy to lure in with this plant.  Another plant they are extremely fond of is the purple cone flower.

The good thing is that once they find a feeder, they tend to return to it year after year, especially if you can ensure that they will not be bullied by sparrows.

Do you have a another tip for attracting/feeding goldfinches? If so, please share it by posting a comment.