This past week has been a cold one! Two mornings in a row, our home weather station read 12 degrees when I got up! I am not a big fan of cold weather; in fact, I’m not even a little fan. Having grown up in Tucson, I prefer hot weather over cold weather any day.
As fate would have it, I had outings three consecutive days this past week. On Friday I led a store-sponsored bird walk to Granite Basin. It was 23 degrees when the walk started, and it really didn’t warm up much by the time the walk ended three hours later.
The birding was very slow at first. I think the birds were waiting for it to warm up before becoming active. In spite of a slow start, we ended up with 28 species for the day. The best find of the day was a white-throated sparrow.
Saturday morning was the mid-winter Bald Eagle Survey. My assigned area was Goldwater Lake, and the event ran from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. It was virtually dark when the count started, and it was only 22 degrees. I actually had frost form on my spotting scope. One of my fellow birders brought a hydration pack with a bladder—the water froze, so she couldn’t take a drink!
For the day, we saw nine Bald Eagles. It is possible we double counted some of them, as they were coming and going throughout the four-hour count. It is fairly easy to distinguish juvenile Bald Eagles from one another by their variation in plumage, but we saw several adults, which made it hard to tell them apart.
When we weren’t looking at Bald Eagles, we had plenty of water fowl to look at, including hooded mergansers, common goldeneyes, lesser scaup, ring-necked duck, gadwall, mallard, and pied-billed grebes.
On Sunday, my wife and I enjoyed our weekly Sunday walk on the Peavine Trail. When we arrived at the trailhead, there was only one car in the parking lot. It was 28 degrees, and we got caught in a snow shower—it was definitely an adventure!
All of this time out in nature, under sub-freezing temperatures, makes me appreciate the fact that I am not a bird. I cannot fathom what it would be like to endure such extreme conditions, 24/7. When I went out to feed the birds after the snow storm on Sunday, I believe the birds were very happy to see me with my seed bucket.
When you feed the birds in winter, I encourage you to provide food that is high in fat and protein. Winter survival for wild birds is all about maintaining a body temperature of about 104 degrees. Their metabolism is fueled by what they eat.
Not all bird seed and suet are the same. I encourage you to read the nutrition label and compare the guaranteed analysis—it makes a difference what you feed. The brand of suet we sell is high in fat, with no fillers. We also carry a product called Mr. Bird Wild Bird Feast which has over 40% protein!
Black oil sunflower seed is excellent for winter bird feeding, but I’d recommend feeding it out of the shell—just the sunflower chips. Sunflower seeds are high in fat and protein, which is exactly what wild birds need this time of year.
I am happy to announce that we lowered the prices on our specially formulated bird seed blends this past week. Some of our 25-lb. bags went down seven and eight dollars per bag! We also lowered the price on millet, black-oil sunflower and sunflower chips.
Until next week, Happy Birding!
Eric Moore is the owner of The Lookout, in Prescott, where you will find a Hallmark Gold Crown Store, wild bird products, and Vortex and Swarovski optics. Eric has been an avid birder for over 55 years. Eric can be contacted at eric@thelookoutaz.com.
