For the Love of Birds

Our feathered friends have been greatly impacted by late winter and early spring storms.  Northern Wisconsin received frequent and heavy storms in April, while in southern Wisconsin we received two record breaking snow storms totaling 12 inches the third week of April. It was beautiful to see a snow covered landscape and we were rewarded with seeing tracks and body-slide marks from a pair of river otters at the sanctuary!

However, it is difficult to watch the birds trying to survive and it is important to help to the birds that we can. Some species that are impacted by the late storms cannot be helped, like the nesting sandhill cranes at Otsego Marsh and the Virginia rail that walked across our deck on April 17.

A sandhill crane remains on the nest through an April snowstorm. Photo by Richard Armstrong

Many other species of birds can be helped during storms and one way is to keep the bird feeders full with a variety of seeds. Our friend, John Kaiser, has been busy keeping feeders full outside of Hayward for a flock of 400 common redpolls. John really enjoys watching the birds, taking photos of them, and sharing photos and observations with friends.   

A redpoll oasis. Photo by John Kaiser

Another way to help birds out is to plant trees and shrubs that provide food and cover to help the birds during critical times. A perfect strategy is to have conifers adjacent to feeding stations. At the Kampen Road residence we expanded our spruce/white pine windbreak to help block the wind as well at provide cover for the birds.

This windbreak provides essential shelter for birds in winter storms. Photo by Mark Martin

In addition to the older conifers, we planted spruce, white cedar, red osier dogwood, American hazelnut along with crab apples and apple trees. An eagle scout’s project involved fencing the dogwoods to protect them from hungry rabbits and deer and the plantings are looking great after only a few years. We also prune the apple trees and leave the cuttings in a brush pile providing winter food and cover for the rabbits.

While not its favorite, a robin feeds off of crabapples after an April snowstorm. Photo by Mark Martin

Usually at this time of year, American robins are finding plenty of worms and getting ready for the nesting season. We often see our first broods of robins on Mother’s Day. This spring the robins are trying hard just to survive. We have seen them feeding on sumac, crab apples, and on the few remaining apples hanging on the trees. These shrubs and trees are not preferred food but will help them survive during these difficult times. Jacqueline Komada, summer intern, counted seven robins, a black-capped chickadee, a song sparrow, and a fox sparrow feeding  in our sumac patch on the hill above the pond.

Jacqueline Komada, Goose Pond intern this summer, is looking forward to planting trees and shrubs. Photo by Mark Martin

Jim Edlhuber, wildlife photographer from Waukesha County enjoys planting trees and shrubs for the birds as well at photographing them. Jim recently wrote “While birding Lake Park in Milwaukee one of the highlights was watching the northern flickers, yellow-shafted feeding on a couple of clumps of staghorn sumac. Three or four northern flickers hit these plants hard for seeds probably with anticipated snow coming and the ground having 4″-5″ of fresh snow down now. I have never seen northern flickers on sumac before. Many American robins and black-capped chickadees hit these plants hard too and while I was there, a pair of eastern bluebirds even checked out the seeds but did not stay.”  

A beautiful northern flicker helps itself to sumac. Photo by Jim Edlhuber

Jim also wrote “Getting people to plant things for birds? We can't do enough of that. We plant fruit bearing trees every year and a lot of them, just for the BIRDS!” This spring Jim is planting over 200 stems of 12 species ranging from dogwoods to swamp white oaks.

Crabapple trees are both useful and beautiful! Photo by Mark Martin

Crab apples are an excellent species to plant in your yard.  In addition to providing color in May the blossoms also provide nectar for bees.  There are many varieties of crab apples and we recommend planting varieties that “provide food for the birds” by holding their fruit over winter into spring. Three excellent books for selecting trees and shrubs to plant are:  

• Douglas Tallamy, Bringing Nature Home – How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants

• Steve Kress, The Audubon Society Guide to Attracting Birds

• Mariette Nowak, Birdscaping in the Midwest

We are fortunate to live in Columbia County where for many years the County has a tree and shrub program. This year they sold over 40,000 stems to land owners that are excited to help birds and other wildlife. If you would like to help us plant Washington hawthorns, red osier dogwoods, and white cedar, please contact us at goosep@madisonaudubon.org.

Written by Mark Martin and Sue Foote-Martin, Goose Pond Sanctuary resident managers

Japanese Beetles and the Value of Birds

The beautiful but devastating Japanese beetle can lace plants faster than your granny with a crochet hook. Photo by Joshua Mayer

On a recent early morning, I was looking out our kitchen window and bemoaning the fact that both the swamp white oak and tamarack tree in my view were full of Japanese beetles.  I had noticed hundreds of these shiney bugs in both trees the day before and we were making plans on how to rid the trees of these damaging insects. 

The early light enabled me to notice a number of birds actively feeding in those trees.  First, an eastern phoebe with two young perched nearby was plucking the beetles from the leaves and feeding them to the young.  Next, a gray catbird flew into the action and ate a few before carrying some away, and then a song sparrow, followed by some house sparrows that eagerly ate some too.  Before long, a beautiful Baltimore oriole came by to partake of the feast!  I had to know more.

My research showed that the champion beetle eaters are European starlings followed by blue jays, robins, crows, grackles, kingbirds, woodpeckers and purple martins, to name a few.  Some birds eat the grubs, some the adult beetles, and some both.

This made me think about the economic value of birds and their work as pest controllers, especially given the fact much of the credit for this service is given to our declining cave bat mammal species who struggle with white nose syndrome.  I continued to look for more evidence of the value of these flying bug exterminators.

The most recent summer edition of Living Bird magazine (7/17) contains an article on this topic titled Analysis: The Economic Value of Birds by Cagan H. Sekercioglu.  In his article, he mentions a recently published book called Why Birds Matter, authored by himself along with Chris Whelan, University of Illinois, Chicago and Dan Wenny, San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory. 

Sekercioglu talks about the large economic value of pest control by birds saying, “Birds can reduce the intensity of spruce budworm outbreaks and mitigate damage on spruce tree plantations comparable to effective insecticides.  In Washington (state) avian control of spruce budworm was calculated to be worth at least $1,473 per square kilometer per year.”  He goes on to site many other examples of ecosystem services of birds as pollinators, seed dispersers, and even carcass cleaners (disease control).

A female dickcissel captures a large insect at Schoeneberg Marsh Waterfowl Production Area. Photo by Jim Otto

We love to watch birds, feed birds, and study birds.  Many of us plan our vacations and lives around birds. We love to work with non-profits like Madison Audubon, restoring habitat at our sanctuaries where we welcome and count the birds, monitor their populations, and provide nest boxes for cavity nesting birds.  We band birds to learn more about their life cycles and travels across the landscapes.

No matter why you connect with birds, you might agree that they bring value to our lives by providing color and beautiful songs for our senses, and wonder which piques our curiosity, lifts our spirits, and builds a lifetime appreciation and connection to nature. 

And, birds eat Japanese beetles.

Susan Foote-Martin, Resident Co-Manager, Goose Pond Sanctuary