Keep The Birdseed Flowing All Winter

Tue., Dec. 5, 2000

By Susan English susane@spokesman.com

Birds burn off 12 to 15 percent of their body weight trying to keep warm through a cold night.

That’s one reason birds feed vigorously at dawn. If they don’t find food soon after sunrise, they will starve after a single night of frigid temperatures. They also need a hearty meal just before sunset.

There’s no better reason to keep those backyard bird feeders filled. (From December Birder’s World)

* Creative recycling: Pondering what to do with your obsolete satellite dish? A clever birdwatcher in California built a bird feeder out of two old satellite dishes.

Peter Hoijer of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., bought a surveyor’s tripod at a garage sale and mounted one dish on it. He bolted rods to a a second dish as a roof. He even cut a hole in the top dish and installed a stovepipe (at an angle and capped so water doesn’t flow in).

The stovepipe acts as a funnel for the birdseed so Hoijer can easily fill the feeder. (From December Birder’s World)

* Volunteer counters needed: The annual Audubon Christmas Bird Counts will take place all over the country the last two weeks of December. In some cities, the bird-count groups compete with each other to see how many birds they can spot. In other towns, it’s more low-key; sometimes a single family conducts the count and reports their numbers to the regional Audubon office.

It’s a great excuse to spend a whole day outdoors, and experienced birdwatchers in the groups are usually eager to share their tips and expertise.

A list of the Christmas Bird Counts in the Inland Northwest, including dates and contact numbers, will be published in Sunday’s Outdoors & Travel section.

Enthusiastic birdwatchers can participate in as many counts as they want.

* Backyard journal: The buck with the handsome three-point rack is gone, moved on, no longer interested in the graceful does. Even the harem has split up, and one lone doe strolls by just after dark, eating what’s left of the climbing rose and licking sunflower seeds out of the bird feeder tray.

Local journalism is essential.

Give directly to The Spokesman-Review's Northwest Passages community forums series -- which helps to offset the costs of several reporter and editor positions at the newspaper -- by using the easy options below. Gifts processed in this system are tax deductible.

Meet Our Journalists

Jesse Tinsley

Meet Jesse Tinsley. As a certified drone pilot, this veteran Spokesman-Review photographer often can be seen capturing beautiful aerial photographs of our region. Sometimes though, the job requires getting down with the dogs.
Jim Meehan

Jim Meehan is no stranger to Zag Nation. As the lead writer covering the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, he tells the stories behind the game and gets fans a bit closer to their favorite players.
Molly Quinn

There is no artist in Spokane like Molly Quinn. Her whimsical style is instantly recognizable to readers of The Spokesman-Review. She has painted gorgeous illustrations that instantly elevate the journalism accompanying it. She brings to life the stories that defy photography. She makes our pages better.
Rob Curley

Spokesman-Review editor Rob Curley loves to talk with people and learn about their lives, whether it's a best-selling author or a stranger he meets downtown on his walk to lunch. It's that inquisitive nature combined with a playful sense of storytelling that helps make our newspaper different than most.