November 2009 Wild Bird Center e-Newsletter
Saturday Morning Special: On Saturday, November 7th from 9 a.m. to noon, stop by and take advantage of our 3 hour sale on hardware. Now is a great time to check and replace your poles, baffles, and hooks. We have poles for every use, shepherd’s hooks, pole systems, and deck poles. Add a baffle and hooks for your winter bird feeders.Sale priced at 25% off the regular prices for this special sale. Hurry, this sale ends at noon, no exceptions!
The grocery store Thanksgiving Turkey that was raised on a farm is originally a native of Mexico, was transported to Europe in the 1500's, and brought to the Atlantic Coast by English settlers. It is one of only two North American birds to be successfully domesticated (other is the Moscovy Duck). All the while the domestic turkey was moving across the Atlantic, the Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) was successfully inhabiting the hardwood forests of North America.
The Wild Turkey is easily distinguished from the domestic version by the color of the tail feather tips. The domestic turkey has white feather tips and the wild version has chestnut brown tips. In addition, the Wild Turkey is slimmer and more streamlined, has pink legs, and is an agile flyer that enables it to move quickly under the forest canopy. Domestic turkeys are bred to be larger and have very limited mobility compared to their wild counterparts.
Wild Turkeys build nests in depressions on the ground among dead leaves and vegetation. The female lays and cares for 4-17 eggs, and she receives no help from the male after they hatch. Chicks follow the female at the start of their lives, and are often prey for foxes, coyotes, bobcats, and owls for the first few weeks. They are much safer when they are able to fly and roost in nearby trees. Females and young will often congregate into bands of 30 birds, which can grow to 200 birds in winter. Wild Turkeys live in hardwood forests with scattered openings. They are omnivorous, preferring acorns, nuts, seeds, fruit, insects, and salamanders. They can often be seen in open fields scratching the ground and foraging for nuts and seeds.
Present in large numbers, Wild Turkey was an important source of food for Native Americans. Excessive hunting and loss of habitat reduced the number in Missouri to fewer than 2500 birds in 31 counties (mostly in the Ozarks) by 1952. Attempts to introduce domesticated birds into the wild were not successful, and a new strategy of capturing, transporting, and redistributing wild birds was implemented. The new program worked so well that Missouri began a new turkey hunting season in 1960, and by 2004 there were 60,744 turkeys harvested from Missouri forests. Their conservation status is currently LC (Least Concern) and population increasing. Their range extends across 49 states, with no Wild Turkeys found in Alaska (the turkey inadvertently shown being slaughtered during the 2008 presidential campaign was clearly the domestic version).
Wild Turkey play important roles in Native American legends. An example is the Apache legend "Turkey Makes the Corn and Coyote Plants It", in which the turkey shakes its feathers and various colors of corn fall out.
Benjamin Franklin called the Wild Turkey a "bird of courage" and argued against the Bald Eagle as the national bird because it was of "bad moral character".
Although it contains no turkey, Wild Turkey is the name of a popular whiskey in America. Distillery executive Thomas McCarthy took a private whiskey on a turkey hunting trip in 1940. In 1941 his hunting companions asked for "some of that wild turkey whiskey", and when it was produced for sale by the Austin Nichols Distilling Company the name Wild Turkey was chosen.
Beyond wildlife and whiskey, humans have chosen to use use the term "turkey" for describing events and other people. Webster's dictionary lists "turkey" as (1) a failure, or flop, particularly for a theatrical production; (2) a stupid, foolish, or inept person; and (3) three successive strikes in bowling. See YouTube video of Wild Turkey gobbling and walking in the rain, in a suburban backyard, flying, and strutting in the woods.
Read more about the Wild Turkey at:
New Products and Special Savings in November!
10% off to e-Newsletter Customers Only! - Seed and Hull Digester: A new product from Care Free Enzymes, an earth-friendly way to get rid of those seed hulls under your feeders. Just spray on and the hulls will disappear. Safe for use around birdseed, birds, pets, plants, and wildlife. Made of food-grade enzymes that will get rid of the seed hulls, remove harmful contaminants from the ground, and provide a cleaner environment for the birds.
- Ring Pull feeders: Droll Yankees is an innovative company that leads the way in bird feeder design. Their newest feeders are the Ring Pull feeders, a tube feeder that comes completely apart in seconds and reassembles just as quick. These feeders make cleaning a snap.
- Montana Artistic Impressions Jewelry: Beautiful hand-painted jewelry from Montana with pictures of birds and wildlife. Available in earrings and necklaces.
- The Perfect Christmas Gift--Jim Rathert Photography mugs, book marks, and mouse pads feature midwestern birds photographed locally.
Do you want to enhance your backyard birding experience and also help neighborhood wildlife? Our birding and habitat authority will visit your yard and assist you with planning and selecting the elements to enhance your backyard birding experience. Shortly after the visit, the Wild Bird Center will provide a complete plan for placement of feeders, baths, and other features to enhance your enjoyment. Consultation fee is $15. Call the store and make an appointment: 314-842-1496.
Want to attract more birds to your yard? Have a birding question? Visit Birding Tips on the Wild Bird Center site and Ask Denise.
|
HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE, November 13-15.
Don't miss this special event! We will preview all of our Holiday merchandise, including decor, gifts, and bird feeding products. Special events include: - On Saturday, November 14 from 11:00 to 1:00, we will have Scott Avetta here to personally sign his two books, St Louis Impressions or Missouri Impressions. Both are beautiful collections of photographs of familiar places or scenes, and make excellent gifts at only $9.95 each.
- On Sunday, November 15, Mike Mallett will be here with his bird of prey, a Red-Tailed Hawk. Mike is a falconer, who spends much of his time training and caring for birds of prey. He will bring his hawk here to display and answer questions. Be sure to stop by between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm to see this magnificent bird.
- As a special incentive, all of our e-news subscribers can take 10% OFF THEIR ENTIRE PURCHASE DURING THIS WEEKEND. What a great time to start the holiday shopping, and a great way to save too! And best of all, your purchase earns Birdie Bucks points. Print this page as your coupon.
The November Products of the Month are our Mobi Feeders. Mobi stands for MOre BIrds, and these feeders live up to their names. We have a limited supply, so shop early for best selection. Feeders are available for sunflower, shelled peanuts, whole peanuts, and nyjer. Trays are available for the peanut and nyjer feeders. Mobi feeders are on sale during the month of November for 30% off of their regular prices, while supplies last. Use a printed copy of this newsletter as a coupon. Only our e-mail subscribers are eligible for this special!
Wild Bird Center, Birding Number of the Month: Fall is migration time for many species of birds. Some species travel father than others. How many miles does the Arctic Tern cover in a round-trip migration every year? Answer at the bottom of this column.
The answer to the October Species Quiz (right picture) is the Virginia Rail. What is the species in the picture on the left? Answer in the December e-Newsletter.
November Birding News. November is the first time we really start feeling like winter is approaching. The summer birds like tanagers, warblers, and orioles are gone. New arrivals are here; juncos, white-throated sparrows, and purple finches can be seen at our feeders. Now is a great time to lay out the winter feast, a signal to the birds that this backyard will be a reliable food source through the winter. Concentrate on offering high-quality mixes or plain black-oil sunflower in your feeders, offer millet on the ground or on platform feeders for the juncos and sparrows, and don’t forget the suet for the woodpeckers, nuthatches, and titmice. You should be seeing lots of cardinals, finches, chickadees, doves, and sparrows at this time.
Cold weather means that birds need more food now to maintain their body temperature. They will be especially attracted to high-oil seeds like sunflower. The birds that eat above the ground on your feeder will prefer sunflower, kicking out the millet for the ground-feeders like doves and sparrows. Make sure your feeders are well-stocked early in the morning. When birds wake on a cold morning, their most urgent need is energy, so they will head for the feeders that are reliably full. Evaluate your feeders now to determine if they will adequately protect the seed from the snow on those winter days. Another important consideration now is the size and location of feeders. Using larger feeders in the winter means you don’t have to trudge through the snow to fill them everyday. Spending most of our time indoors now may dictate moving the feeders closer to the house where we can view them easier.
Many people are surprised to learn that Goldfinches are year-round residents here. Just because you don’t see those bright yellow birds flitting around your feeders doesn’t mean they are not there. Goldfinches lose their brightly colored feathers in the fall molt; they remain a dull greenish-brown throughout the winter months. They are still recognizable from their black wings with the two white wing bars. Keep your nyjer feeders stocked for them. Many winters, we will also see Pine Siskins at the nyjer feeders. - Birds to look for in November include Cardinals, Chickadees, Woodpeckers, House Finches, White-Throated and White-Crowned Sparrows, and Juncos.
- Best Seeds to feed in November: If you have only one feeder, feed a mix with sunflower, millet, and peanuts. If you have a separate ground feeder, feed millet on the ground and use a mix rich in sunflower up high. Don’t forget the suet feeders in November. And don’t be surprised if you start going through suet a whole lot faster now that the weather has turned colder.
Remember that all good mixes should contain mostly sunflower. And don't forget, millet is good, milo is bad. Beware seed mixes that contain milo - it is a cheap filler that the birds don't like. It will stay on the ground until mice or other rodents find it. - This Month’s Hint – Water. As odd as it might sound, offering water in the colder weather is a sure way to attract many species of birds. First of all, it enhances the habitat that you already have and makes it more attractive to all birds. Second, clean feathers are a necessity if birds want to keep warm. When they “fluff up”, they are using their feathers to hold warm air against their bodies. When their feathers get dirty, they lose this ability and birds can quickly lose body heat, or even freeze to death. Put your deicers out now to keep the water in your birdbath unfrozen. Deicers work on a thermostat, and keep water just warm enough so it will not freeze. Most keep the water at about 35 – 40 degrees. If you would prefer, there are many new birdbath designs with deicers built in. Electricity is a must for a deicer or heated birdbath, as there are no reliable solar models yet, and batteries don’t function well in cold temperatures. Species that really love the water include Robins, Bluebirds, Cardinals, and Blue Jays.
- Kids’ Activity for November. It’s an important time to keep your feeders full, especially in the mornings. Ask your kids to take responsibility for throwing a little millet on the ground each morning for the ground-feeders. Then they can watch and record the species they see. Most birds learn the times and places that food sources are available. If this is done at the same time every day, the birds will be waiting for the food, and should be on it as soon as it appears.
The Birding Number of the Month. The Arctic Tern flies from the North Pole to the South Pole, and then back again every year, an annual migration of 22,000 miles! Read about migrations of other animal species and the impact of humans at ecology.com.
Take advantage of our new Wild Bird Center Delivery Service for seed and suet. Save time and gas by having seed and suet delivered directly to your house. Read more on the Wild Bird Center web site.
|
