Tag Archives: winter and birds

The Bald Eagle: Cole’s Bird of the Month for July

It’s only fitting that in a time when we celebrate our nation’s independence, we choose the Bald Eagle as our bird of the month. The Bald Eagle has served our country as the national emblem since 1782 and while it is hard to believe that anyone would disagree that such a majestic and beautiful bird would be anything but perfect to symbolize the strength and freedom of America, The Bald Eagle was not always a favorable choice.

In fact, in 1784 Benjamin Franklin made it clear he had no part in choosing the Bald Eagle over the Wild Turkey. Franklin didn’t like the idea of choosing a bird that steals its food from others and could be so easily intimidated by small birds. “For my own part,” he wrote, “I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. … Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District.”

As far as stealing food goes, indeed the Bald Eagle seems to prefer grabbing an easy meal from another bird or a human to going to the trouble of hunting. Bald Eagles are also happy to go dumpster diving or grab a bite on the road. While Bald Eagles are skillful hunters and fishers, they’re not picky about what they eat or how they obtain each meal. These eagles prefer fish but will eat snakes, turtles, rabbits, and waterfowl. The Bald Eagles’ love for fish is what drives them to set up territories near oceans, lakes, rivers, or streams. You’ll find them up and down the U. S. coasts during various times of the year.

Eaglesnest

Ben Franklin may not have admired the Bald Eagles’ hunting abilities, but he’d have to admire their home building and parenting skills. Their nests are huge, and year after year couples will return to the same nests making it larger and more elaborate. While most nests are about five to six feet in diameter and two feet high, they can be much bigger. According to the website for the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest bird’s nest ever built was constructed by a pair of Bald Eagles near St Petersburg, Florida. The site reveals that the nest was examined in 1963, and it measured nine feet six inches wide and twenty feet deep. The nest was estimated to weigh more than two tons.

Record Breaking Nest

Eagleonnest
Once Bald Eagles begin incubating the eggs, they are incredibly dedicated parents. They will stay in the nest through the harshest winter weather. A National Geographic documentary follows a pair of Bald Eagles who illustrate the challenges and the fortitude of these amazing birds. At one point, the father must make a painful decision about how long to stay with his nest. After he has lost hope that the female will return, he does abandon the nest. Sadly, the female did not return because she died from an unknown cause.

Eagles are depicted as strong and powerful, but in reality this top of the food chain raptor has a very hard time just surviving to the mature breeding age of four years. Born weighing just a few ounces, the odds are stacked against these vulnerable creatures from the beginning. Mom and dad feed the young for the first four months, then they must fend for themselves.  It’s at this time that the young eagle struggles to survive. In fact, it’s estimated that only about one in ten eagles makes it to four years old. The ones who do make the cut are powerful hunters and can be expected to live to be about 20 – 25 years old.

Although at one time Bald Eagles were endangered because of hunting and herbicides including DDT,  efforts in the 1970’s to bring back this national emblem have worked and populations have increased. It is no longer considered endangered.

If you want to see Bald Eagles, head for water where they winter in large numbers at lakes and national wildlife refuges. Below is a link showing the best places for spotting Bald Eagles.

Where To Spot Bald Eagles

If you have photos or experiences with Bald Eagles, we’d love for you to share them with the Cole’s community on our Facebook page.

Cole’s Wild Bird Products is a family-owned company that distributes wild bird feed and suet products. The company is known for offering the highest quality products on the market. Cole’s also specializes in chile infused seed products designed to make your feeder a bird’s only “hot” spot. Cole’s started in the garage of mom and pop entrepreneurs Richard and Nancy Cole back in the early 1980’s. Today it distributes to retailers nationwide. Cole’s is located in the metro Atlanta area. For more information, visit www.ColesWildBird.com.

If you have any questions for the experts here at Cole’s, please contact us directly. Your quickest response will be from our Contact Us form. We are happy to help.

 

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker: Cole’s March Bird of the Month

Photo by Beth Willis

What’s yellow, red, black, and white, loves to drink from trees, and sounds like a cat? Yes, the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, of course. This rather small woodpecker can be seen flying from tree to tree and to your feeder, if you serve suet cakes. Its distinctive, bold black and white patterned jacket blends beautifully with its yellow vest and bright red hat with matching neck scarf.

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers can easily be distinguished from other woodpeckers by their soft yellow or tan breast and belly. The males and females look very similar, except she has a white chin rather than a red one. The juveniles are similar to the females, but they are more of a dull brown than rich black, and they sport no striking red markings.

Like other woodpeckers, the Yellow-belly has a distinctive undulating flight. Unlike its fellow woodpeckers, the sapsucker has an irregular drumming rhythm and very few vocalizations – the only one of note being a cat-like meow sound.

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers may have gotten their names from their habit of drinking sap from trees. They drill holes in a pattern of horizontal rows in small to medium sized trees and once the sap starts oozing, they lap it up. It is a fortunate coincidence that bugs also find the sugary sapwells delicious. You can be sure the sapsucker enjoys every bit of that extra protein along with his sweet drink.

The sapwells are attractive to porcupines, bats, and other birds as well. The hummers enjoy the sugary treat so much that, in parts of Canada, the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds time their spring migration with the arrival of sapsuckers.

Elaine Cole keeps them hanging around her own backyard during the winter with a tasty blend of Cole’s Suet Kibbles™ mixed with Cole’s Dried Mealworms. “I also find that the Yellow-bellied sapsuckers love our Hot Meats™ Suet Cakes which I feed out of a homemade suet log feeder, though regular suet cages work just as well,” she advises.

In early spring, before mating, sapsucker pairs have a playful pre-courtship behavior. One sapsucker chases the other around tree trunks and branches. Courting birds will land on a tree and face each other. They raise their bills and tails while they stand with their throat feathers fluffed out and crest feathers raised then swing their heads from side to side. Ironically, while they use this dance as a courtship, it’s the same behavior used between competing males when aggressively facing off over a desirable female.

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers build cavities for their nest. They have just one brood during mating season. The male usually excavates the nest in a tree that’s infected with a fungus, which causes the tree’s heartwood or sapwood to decay, making excavation easier.  The male and female stay together to raise the young and may reunite during the next mating season.

During the summer, you can find Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers from Alaska to Maine. During the winter, they migrate through the southern United States going as far south as Central America.

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are beautiful, striking birds that are fun to watch and entertaining to listen to. Their courtship, their meow-like calls, and their drumming on metal make them a true pleasure for any backyard birder.

 

Below is a video showing a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker enjoying a delicious treat.

Please share your photos, videos and experiences with this beautiful bird on the Cole’s Facebook page. Just click the link below to join the conversation and to be a part of our birding community.

Cole’s Facebook Page

Cole’s Wild Bird Products is a family-owned company that distributes wild bird feed and suet products. The company is known for offering the highest quality products on the market. Cole’s also specializes in chile infused seed products designed to make your feeder a bird’s only “hot” spot. Cole’s started in the garage of mom and pop entrepreneurs Richard and Nancy Cole back in the early 1980’s. Today it distributes to retailers nationwide. Cole’s is located in the metro Atlanta area. For more information, visit www.ColesWildBird.com.

Yellow-rumped Warbler: Cole’s February Bird of the Month

Yellow-rumped Warbler: Cole’s February Bird of the Month

The Yellow-rumped Warbler is among the most bright and colorful of all the birds you will see at your feeder. In the winter, you’ll recognize them as fairly large warblers with a subdued color palette of yellow and brown. But watch out for the spring makeover when Yellow-rumped Warblers display a striking bright yellow against charcoal gray and black with some bold white thrown in for effect. The yellow for which they are named is on the face, sides, and of course the rump. “Butter butts,” as they are known to some, are very active throughout North America during the summer.

The Yellow-rumped Warbler feasts on a steady diet of bugs and spiders in the spring and summer. Insects have no place to hide with these birds. They will pull them out of spider webs, scoop them off the surface of rivers and oceans, pick insects out of seaweed on the beach and even catch them in mid-flight.  During the cold winters when there aren’t as many insects around, they eat berries. In fact, they are the only type of warbler that can digest the waxes found in bayberries and wax myrtles.

During the mating season, the female builds the nest and the male helps out by bringing her material. The couple will have one to two broods during a season then move on to the southeastern United States and South America for the winter.

If you want to attract Yellow-rumped Warblers to your feeder, try Cole’s Nutberry Suet Blend, Special Feeder, or Dried Mealworms. Since they are also greatly attracted to suet, a generous offering of Cole’s Suet Kibbles and Hot Meats suet cakes are guaranteed to get these beautiful little birds’ attention.

The Yellow-rumped Warbler has an upbeat song, and you can hear it by clicking on the video below.


Thanks to our Cole’s Facebook fan Jeremy Bock for nominating the Yellow-rumped Warbler as our Bird of the Month for February. Do you have photos of Yellow-rumped Warblers? If so, please share them with our Facebook community. Join the conversation on ColesFacebookPage

Cole’s Wild Bird Products is a family-owned company that distributes wild bird feed and suet products. The company is known for offering the highest quality products on the market. Cole’s also specializes in chile infused seed products designed to make your feeder a bird’s only “hot” spot. Cole’s started in the garage of mom and pop entrepreneurs Richard and Nancy Cole back in the early 1980’s. Today it distributes to retailers nationwide. Cole’s is located in the metro Atlanta area. For more information, visit www.ColesWildBird.com.