Local Bird News
|  | This winter has been packed with winter hummingbird reports! Rufous Hummingbirds,
like the one pictured above, had a very successful breeding season in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon so we are seeing lots of birds in the southeast, which is considered part of their NORMAL wintering range. These birds are very cold-hardy! Many reports came flooding in last week when the temperature plummeted and birds were moving around in search of unfrozen nectar sources. If you are lucky enough to host a winter hummer, try to place the feeder under a heat source or 75 watt bulb, or switch it out with an unfrozen feeder every few hours when temperatures dip into the twenties.
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 | | Green-tailed Towhee in Georgia |
On December 20th, a Green-tailed Towhee, only the second ever found in Georgia (and the first since 1953!) was identified and photographed by Rachel Cass on the Oconee Christmas Bird Count at a dairy in Greene County. Luckily, the bird remained on site and birders from all over Georgia have been able to see it over the past few weeks! For details or directions, do a search in the Georgia Birders Online archives (GABO-l) for Green-tailed Towhee
or just scroll through the months of December and January. If you do plan to visit, be sure and check to make sure it is still being seen. The bird has not been located this week to our knowledge. Also please do not trespass onto dairy property or block any farm equipment. There are lots of other birds in this location including ten species of sparrows (White-crowned Sparrows are plentiful here!), Common Ground-Dove and many more!
To see Rachel's amazing photo of this rare bird, visit her Flickr page by clicking the link below!
************* Newsletter Lotto The winning receipt number for this period is
57689 dated 1/7/2012
************** If this number and date match your receipt, you are a winner! Bring the receipt in to any Bird Watcher store location to claim your $100 Gift Card!!! Receipts dated today through January 23rd are eligible for the next drawing on January 24th. Good luck! |
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Hi Birdwatchers!
 | If you're really lucky, you may attract a Brown Creeper, like this one, to your winter food offerings of suet!
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Winter weather in Georgia is so strange. One day it's clear and warm, the next it's rainy and dreary. And some days are down right frigid! We get lots of questions about helping birds out in the winter. For the most part, birds are quite capable of handling extreme cold and even snowy conditions. They can find food, even bugs, on the coldest days, they can fluff up their feathers to help insulate from the cold temperatures and will seek roosting sites in sheltered cover out of the wind. At night, wintering humming-birds like Rufous can go into torpor, a hibernation-like state which drastically slows breathing and heart rate to conserve energy. As the sun rises, the birds begin to warm up and come out of torpor to resume normal activity.
To help winter songbirds, be consistent in filling feeders. Stock up on sunflower, peanuts and white millet. If birds know they'll find plenty of food in your yard, they'll waste less time and energy searching out other feeders in the neighborhood. Also consider serving extra protein in the winter by offering live and freeze dried mealworms, and suet cakes, nuggets and kibbles. Bluebirds, Pine Warblers, Hermit Thrushes and Ruby-crowned Kinglets are some of our favorites that love these extra goodies.
Birds need fresh, clean water year-round for drinking and bathing, so we use a birdbath heater to keep ours from freezing during winter months (and as a bonus, the heaters keep our birdbaths from cracking due to ice formation). We make sure our birdhouses are in good shape since many birds such as Chickadees, Wrens, Bluebirds and even our Downy Woodpecker roost in them on cold nights.
Placing rain/weather guards over feeders is helpful especially during cold rain and snow. The birds can sit for longer periods of time and keep dry while filling up.
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What's New from Bird Watcher? |  | |
In case you missed its tiny debut in the last newsletter, The Bird Watcher is now blogging!!!
Ever wonder what goes on inside the mind of the president and founder of Bird Watcher Supply Company? Well now you can find out! Follow Richard Cole as he shares the joys and frustrations of this wonderful hobby we all share - feeding wild birds. Full of good advice, plenty of humor, and interesting observations, Richard's blog is not to be missed! |
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Kennesaw * Roswell * Buford * Marietta
Canton * Hiram
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