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Ripple Effects: Enhance Backyard Birdwatching When You Feed & Protect Birds

Ripple Effects: Enhance Backyard Birdwatching When You Feed & Protect Birds: Downy Woodpecker Male at Bird Feeder Courtesy US FWS, Leah Schrodt, Photographer
[Downy Woodpecker Male at] Bird Feeder
Courtesy US FWS, Leah Schrodt, Photographer

Applying Anti-Strike Film to Window Courtesy US FWS Brett Billings Photographer Applying Anti-Strike Film to Window
Courtesy US FWS
Brett Billings Photographer

Birdwatching is a fun hobby for all ages and it is a great way to connect with nature and increase self-efficacy, so let’s discuss the benefits and the importance of a safe environment for feeding our backyard birds. First, the benefits of supplemental feeding, and second, preventable deaths from cats and window collisions.

Supplemental food and water are important ways we can reduce stress for backyard birds, especially through the winter months. Sites with bird feeders attract more birds over time than those without feeders, and the birds are in overall greater health than birds at sites without feeders. A higher percentage of chicks hatch at sites with bird feeders, and the survival rates are significantly higher, but supplemental feeding must be done in a safe environment.

Free ranging domestic cats and window collisions are leading causes of bird deaths in North America. The American Bird Conservancy estimates that outdoor cats kill approximately 2.4 billion birds every year in the United States alone. Approximately one billion birds are dying from window collisions each year in North America – that represents about ten percent of our birds dying from crashing into windows (1), and combined, that’s over three billion fewer insect eaters, fewer pollinators, fewer seed spreaders, and fewer parents for the next generation.

Cats should be kept indoors, and windows should be treated, especially if they reflect trees and shrubs. If you have seen a ghostly bird imprint or heard the sickening thump of a bird hitting your windows, then those are windows in need of treatments such as screens, translucent UV tape, or even tempera paint designs, because even birds that manage to fly away have potentially life-threatening internal injuries. Feeders less than 3 feet away don’t allow birds to build up too much speed before they collide, so it’s good to put feeders and birdbaths 3 feet or closer to a window or greater than 30 feet away.

Feeders placed on or near windows have the added benefit of being easy to access and monitor. In addition to a window suet feeder, one of my favorite window feeders is actually a clear plastic suction-cup toothbrush cup holder from the dollar store – it’s easy to clean and there’s no need for binoculars!

In addition to enhancing a backyard bird watching hobby and improving bird health and survival, the ripple effects of feeding birds, keeping cats indoors, and preventing window collisions include pest control in our gardens where birds feast on slugs, snails, aphids and grasshoppers. I for one particularly appreciate Black-billed Magpies when they remove wasp nests from my house! The Bridgerland Audubon website has tools, coloring pages, checklists, and science-based information on window collision prevention. Solutions can be as simple as the careful placement of bird feeders and keeping cats indoors. Find us at bridgerlandaudubon.org, that’s Bridgerland Audubon – A-U-D-U-B-O-N dot org.

I’m Hilary Shughart, and I’m wild about Bridgerland Audubon, wild about Utah Public Radio, and Wild About Utah!Supplemental food and water are important ways we can reduce stress for backyard birds
Credits:
Images: Courtesy US Fish & Wildlife Service, Leah Schrodt and Brett Billings, Photographers
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright © Kevin Colver, https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/collections/special-collections/kevin-colver
Text: Hilary Shughart, President, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/
Additional Reading: Hilary Shughart and Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional ReadingSupplemental food and water are important ways we can reduce stress for backyard birds
WildAboutUtah pieces by Hilary Shughart, https://wildaboututah.org/author/hilary-shughart/

Procure Bird Seed from local Audubon Chapters:
Great Salt Lake Audubon
2024 Seed Sale: https://greatsaltlakeaudubon.org/events/full-calendar/sunflower-seed-fundraiser-pickup
Bridgerland Audubon
Other Statewide Birding Groups

Hellstern, Ron, Build a Certified Wildlife Habitat at Home, Wild About Utah, July 17, 2017, https://wildaboututah.org/build-community-wildlife-habitats/

Hellstern, Ron, Attracting Birds and Butterflies to Your Yard, Wild About Utah, May 28, 2018, https://wildaboututah.org/attracting-birds-and-butterflies-to-your-yard/

Beorchia, Mykel, How To Create a Bird Friendly Yard, Wild About Utah, November 9, 2020, https://wildaboututah.org/how-to-create-a-bird-friendly-yard/

Shughart, Hilary, To Grow Your Own Bird Food, Native Plants Are Key!, Wild About Utah, April 12, 2021, https://wildaboututah.org/native-plants-are-key/

Kervin, Linda, Bird Feeding, https://wildaboututah.org/bird-feeding/

Kervin, Linda, Cane, Jim, Feed the Birds, Wild About Utah, December 1, 2011, https://wildaboututah.org/feed-the-birds/

Creating Landscapes for Wildlife… A Guide for Backyards in Utah, Written by Sue Nordstrom and Illustrated by Kathlyn Collins Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, Utah State University with Margy Halpin, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources; Second Printing 2001,
Updated for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, by Frank Howe, DWR Avian coordinator; Ben Franklin, DWR–Utah Natural Heritage Program botanist; Randy Brudnicki, DWR publications editor; and landscape planning illustrations by Stephanie Duer.,
Published by:
State of Utah Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife Resources,
Utah State University Cooperative Extension Service and
Utah State University Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning;
1991 updated 2001 https://wildlife.utah.gov/pdf/landscapingforwildlife.pdf

Sizemore, Grant, Cats Indoors–Cats and Birds, American Bird Conservancy, https://abcbirds.org/program/cats-indoors/cats-and-birds/

Bird-Strike Prevention: How to Stop Birds From Hitting Windows, American Bird Conservancy, https://abcbirds.org/glass-collisions/stop-birds-hitting-windows/

Messmer, Terry, Cowell, Samuel, Dietrich, Dietrich, and Sullivan, Kimberly, Ask an Expert: Seven Tips to Keep Birds from Hitting Your Windows, Utah State University Extension, March 28, 2017, https://extension.usu.edu/news_sections/agriculture_and_natural_resources/bird-windows

Cowell, Samuel, Dietrich, Dietrich, Sullivan, Kimberly and Messmer, Terry, Reducing the Risk of Birds Colliding into Windows:
A Practical Guide for Homes and Businesses [NR/Wildlife/2017-01pr], Utah State University Extension, March 2017, https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2682&context=extension_curall

Klem, Jr., Daniel, Solid Air: Invisible Killer: Saving Billions of Birds from Windows, Hancock House Publishers, October 5, 2021, https://www.amazon.com/Solid-Air-Invisible-Killer-Billions/dp/0888396465

For the Birds (Download Brochure PDF), US Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, rev March 2001, https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/digital/api/collection/document/id/1107/download

Morse, Susan, To Feed or Not to Feed Wild Birds–Bird Feeders Can Be Sources of Joy — and Disease,, US Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, https://www.fws.gov/story/feed-or-not-feed-wild-birds

Make Your Home a Safe, Healthy Home for Birds,, US Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, Sep 13, 2021, https://www.fws.gov/story/2021-09/backyard-birds

Celley, Courtney, Helping wildlife while avoiding common pitfalls,, US Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, https://www.fws.gov/story/helping-wildlife-while-avoiding-common-pitfalls

West Nile virus bird identification, , Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, October 20, 2017, https://wildlife.utah.gov/bird-identification.html

Dragon, Sydney, (Student Conservation Association intern), Conservation in Urban Areas: Backyard Bird Feeding, US Fish & Wildlife Service Bird Walks (Texas), U.S. Department of the Interior, Apr 27, 2021, https://youtu.be/2bkliew6aj8

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West Nile Virus found in Mendon

Cache Valley Mosquito Trap, Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer
Cache Valley Mosquito Trap
Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer

Cache Valley Mosquito Trap, Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer Cache Valley Mosquito Trap
Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer

Cache Valley Mosquito Trap, Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer Cache Valley Mosquito Trap
Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer

“West Nile Virus Found in Mendon.” This warning, printed in big block letters, definitely caught my attention when I walked into the Mendon Post Office. The poster included a picture of a mosquito and a message saying “Please take the necessary precautions to protect yourself and your loved ones.”

The warning came from the Cache Mosquito Abatement District. Curious, I called them up. I found out that their staff goes out once a week and activates 18 mosquito traps at rural locations throughout the valley. They invited me to go along and see how they collect their test mosquitos

I was surprised to find out its carbon dioxide that attracts the mosquitos. The sun was setting when we pulled up to the first stop and found the cylinder of CO2 already in place on the ground. The first step was to turn on the CO2, a slow flow emitting about as much as a human exhaling. Next, they snapped a battery into place on the underside of a metal disc that was hung a few feet above the CO2 cylinder. This disc, that looked a lot like a broad brimmed man’s hat, also held a small fan which now started whirring. The last step was to tie on a white mesh bag below the fan.

The trap was now emitting an enticing trail of CO2. When the mosquitos arrived, the fan would blow them into the mesh bags.

Early the next morning, it was time to turn off the CO2, and retrieve the batteries and the mesh bags.

Back at the lab, the mesh bags made a quick trip into the freezer, which killed the mosquitos.

Then the mosquitos were emptied onto a black tray and counted. Of the varieties of mosquitos in Cache Valley, only the Culex carries the West Nile virus.
To the trained eye of the staff, it was short work to separate the Culex from the rest. These mosquitos were then packed into small vials and sent to the lab in Salt Lake which runs the tests for the West Nile virus.

We now know that West Nile is one of the viruses transmitted by a mosquito bite. And with the help of high-powered microscopes, we can see that a mosquito bite is actually the complex work of 6 needlelike shafts housed in the female mosquito’s protruding mouthpiece. Two shafts with serrated edges saw through the victim’s flesh, two hold the cut open, and two are inserted into the cut. These last two function like straws, one to suck blood up and one to carry down anti-coagulant saliva to keep the blood flowing. It’s the mosquito’s saliva that transmits the virus.

For most people who become infected, West Nile feels like a bout of flu. But for 1 in every 150, it can lead to deadly neurological problems. Now that we’ve been warned, we would be wise to take some precautions: Drain any stagnant pools of water in our neighborhoods where mosquitos can breed. Wear long sleeve shirts and long pants after dusk- the Culex fly at night.

And let’s not forget that some of our valley bats are helping us. Some bats can eat as many as 500 mosquitos in an hour. But that’s a story for another day.

This is Mary Heers and I’m Wild About Utah

Credits:

Images Courtesy & Copyright Mary Heers, Photographer
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright © Friend Weller, Utah Public Radio upr.org & Cook Laboratories https://folklife.si.edu/archives-and-resources/cook-labs-records
Text: Mary Heers, https://cca.usu.edu/files/awards/art-and-mary-heers-citation.pdf
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah Pieces by Mary Heers

Cache Mosquito Abatement District, visited September 25, 2024, https://www.cachemosquito.gov/

West Nile Virus, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Health and Human Services, https://www.cdc.gov/west-nile-virus/index.html

Goddard, Amanda, First human West Nile case confirmed in northern Utah; officials encourage prevention, The Leader [Tremonton], (HJNews), https://www.hjnews.com/tremonton/news/local/first-human-west-nile-case-confirmed-in-northern-utah-officials-encourage-prevention/article_3b654032-79c3-11ef-b350-3b31f525dce1.html

West Nile virus, Utah Epidemiology, Utah Department of Health and Human Services, https://epi.utah.gov/west-nile-virus/

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American Pika

Pika, Courtesy Pixabay, Makieni77 Contributor
American Pika
Courtesy Pixabay, Makieni77 Contributor
As I hike the high country, there is a non-bird call that always brightens my way. A mini rabbit, or rock rabbit in Jack vernacular, the pika, has been declared North America’s cutest mammal. I won’t argue with this declaration, unless it’s compared to my grandkids.

On a scramble up two gnarly peaks above Alta Ski Resort a few weeks ago, my spirits went sky high with an abundance of pika busily gathering hay for their winter larder. Their Ehhhhh! Notes surrounded us, tiny furry forms darting in and out of boulder fields while we made our way to the summits.

This was especially heartening given the warming trends, which push these little spirits beyond their limits of heat tolerance in too many locations. Pikas have disappeared from more than one-third of their previously known habitat in Oregon and Nevada. Despite this, the American Pika has not been listed under the Endangered Species Act. The pika can overheat and die within 6 hours when exposed to temperatures as mild as 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

American Pikas are famously vocal. They chirp, sing, and scream in an effort to protect their territory. They use their signature call to alert others in the colony of an approaching predator, to establish boundaries, and in some cases, to attract mates.

Pikas spend a great deal of time gathering vegetation for winter which they cure on rocks to prevent molding, then store their piles under rocks for safekeeping, occasionally moving them so they don't get rained on. Haystacks, as they're called, weigh a whopping 61 pounds on average. The timing of haying seems to correlate to the amount of precipitation from the previous winter. They appear to assess the nutritional value of available food and harvest accordingly. Pikas select plants that have the higher caloric, protein, lipid, and water content. They also enjoy their fecal pellets, which have more energy value than stored plant food, by consuming them directly or store for a later sweet treat.
Cedar Breaks National monument in southern Utah has adopted the pika as its token mammal. You can get your own stuffy who has a remarkable resemblance to the real deal. Your donation will help the Monument with its field research on the pika and other park critters.

Considering pika are mostly found in alpine and subalpine environments with cool temperatures and deep snow, I was shocked to find them occurring at Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho averaging 6000’ elevation. Summer temperatures at the Monument can soar to 170 degrees on the black rock surface, which would fry a pica in short order. Yet, here they are, finding relief in lava tubes and deep crevasses. Unlike their diurnal alpine cousins, they are primarily crepuscular- active early morning- late evening.

The American pika can be found throughout the mountains of western North America, from Canada to New Mexico. Of the 30 global species, only two inhabit North America, which includes the collared pika found in Alaska and Canada.

Jack Greene for Bridgerland Audubon Society, and I’m wild about Utah and its rock rabbits!

Credits:
Image: Courtesy Pixabay, https://pixabay.com/photos/pika-animal-wildlife-nature-cute-5326942/
Audio: Courtesy & ©
Text: Jack Greene, Bridgerland Audubon, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/
Additional Reading: Lyle W Bingham, Webmaster, Bridgerland Audubon, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading:

Jack Greene’s Postings on Wild About Utah, https://wildaboututah.org/author/jack/

Cane, Jim, Voice: Dick Hurren, Pikas, Our First Haymakers Wild About Utah, October 28, 2008, https://wildaboututah.org/pikas-our-first-haymakers/

Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw, Pika Country: Climate Change at the Top of the World, September 18, 2020, https://www.amazon.com/Pika-Country-Climate-Change-World/dp/1970039027

Plumb, Sally, A Pika’s Tail, May 1, 2012, https://www.amazon.com/Pikas-Tail-Sally-Plumb/dp/0931895251

American Pika, Utah Species, Field Guide, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Department of Natural Resources, State of Utah, https://fieldguide.wildlife.utah.gov/?species=ochotona%20princeps

American Pika, Animal Diversity Web, https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Ochotona_princeps/

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Naomi Peak

Climbing Mt Naomi, Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Climbing Mt Naomi
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Nature Journaling, Mt Naomi Hike, Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Nature Journaling
Mt Naomi Hike
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer

Nature Journal Entries After Climbing Mt Naomi, Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer Nature Journal Entries After Climbing Mt Naomi
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer

One September day when I was a fifth grader, my dad pulled me out of school to climb the Pfeifferhorn, an 11,000 foot peak in the Wasatch Range. That was the most meaningful and defining day of my elementary school experience.

Years later, when I first arrived in Logan, my younger sister Heather and I climbed Naomi Peak the day before our USU classes started. We made it an annual habit. At just under 10,000 feet elevation, Naomi Peak is the highest point in the Bear River Mountains.

Fast forward forty years from that day on the Pfeifferhorn and I’ve made a career of taking students out of class and into the mountains. Outdoor school programs are synonymous with science, but you can justify any destination with the language arts curriculum by having students write for authentic purposes and read meaningful texts.

When I taught at Mount Logan Middle School, we offered a literacy-based summer school program for incoming sixth graders. Part of that two-week experience was an overnight backing trip up to High Creek Lake. The next day we would climb Naomi Peak, then pack down the trail to Tony Grove. It is a grueling journey. We did it with student groups two to four times each summer for more than 15 years. Our strategy was simple, walk until our students were tired, then sit down, eat snacks, create word lists, and read and discuss a chapter of the book we were reading together. When students began to fidget, we’d hit the trail again. We repeated the pattern for eight hours, or however long it took to reach our destination. We wove science, math, and social studies concepts into the learning, but our main curriculum focus was literacy.

Four years ago, we decided to carry on these traditions with our sixth graders at Edith Bowen Laboratory School where I work, facilitating outdoor experiential learning opportunities for students. The second week of school each year we take four separate groups of students from Mr. Baggaley’s and Mrs. Jenkins’ classes to Naomi Peak to start off the school year. The round trip is just over 6 miles and it takes us 6 hours with our learning stops.

When we reach the summit, we have students pull out their field journals and use their word lists from the trail to create vivid descriptions of their journey. This is the best classroom to teach writing—where students can write with purpose about real emotions and experience. Writing forces students to slow down, to be still, and to be fully present with the landscape and with their thoughts. It allows them to construct meaning.

One student wrote, “I kept doubting myself, asking if I should turn back—my thighs aching, my feet sore, my stomach hungry. Every doubt was a new reason to quit, making me question if it is worth it. But I made it.”

Students huff and puff and we talk about the importance of pacing and controlling our breathing. We focus on being efficient, not fast. Students make new friends. They build confidence and they have fun along the way—even if they don’t want to admit it. One student wrote, “It was meh.”

As an educator I’m accountable to the state to connect learning to curriculum standards—I take that seriously. Outdoor programs give purpose to learning—making the state curriculum a means rather than an end. But I’m also accountable to these little humans to bring joy to the learning process, to nurture their curiosity, and give them a sense of belonging.

I do wonder what these kids will remember about Naomi Peak. I wonder if they will ever come back in the years ahead. Will they remember the adversity tree we stopped to talk about? The steep inclines? How tired they were? Or will they just remember the euphoria of standing on the summit while a cool breeze blows all their cares far away into Wyoming?

A student shared her journal entry with me on the summit: “I have never been so proud of myself and my mental self. The view is unreal. I am so lucky and happy, but I wish my mom was here because she pushed me to go. I’m so lucky to have my friend. She helped me and I helped her. I can live life accomplished. I am calm and I am free.” Underlined twice, in giant letters, she finished her entry: “I am amazing!”

I am Eric Newell and I am Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Images: Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell
Text: Eric Newell, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University
Additional Reading: Eric Newell & Lyle Bingham, Bridgerland Audubon

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah Pieces by Eric Newell

Morgan, Susan K, Geologic Tours of Northern Utah, 1992, Found on website hosted by Utah Geological Survey, Department of Natural Resources, State of Utah, https://ugspub.nr.utah.gov/publications/misc_pubs/mp-92-1.pdf

Mt Naomi Wilderness Map, Wilderness Connect, University of Montana, https://umontana.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=a415bca07f0a4bee9f0e894b0db5c3b6&find=Mount%20Naomi%20Wilderness