Bird Feeders and Whaling Ships

BirdNote^®

Bird Feeders and Whaling Ships

Written by Bob Sundstrom
 
This is BirdNote!
In the opening lines of Melville’s masterpiece, Moby Dick, the narrator, Ishmael, confesses to “a damp, drizzly November in my soul.” An eloquent phrase indeed – words that also capture the mood of these gray, potentially soul-chilling fall and winter days.

Ishmael’s response was to go to sea on a whaling ship. [Creaking of ship] Not an option for most of us. But one sure way to brighten November’s damp and drizzly mood is to welcome birds into your yard with feeders and birdbaths. The liveliness and calls of a batch of chickadees, nuthatches, jays, or finches will break the spell of a dreary day.

Hang up a tube-shaped feeder full of black-oil sunflower seeds. Scatter a mix of millet and other seeds on a platform feeder or on the ground. Hang suet in a wire feeder. The more choices you offer, the greater variety of birds you’ll host. And nothing brings birds to a yard like a consistent source of water in a shallow basin. [Call notes of chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatches, American Goldfinches]

For BirdNote, I'm Michael Stein.

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Support for BirdNote comes from Skagit Valley Tourism, a Pacific Northwest winter haven for swans, geese, raptors, and more. Info on the Birds of Winter Experience at VisitSkagit.org.

Bird audio provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York.  American Goldfinch call recorded by D.A. Sibley.  Red-breasted Nuthatch call recorded by R.C. Stein.  Black-capped Chickadee call recorded by R.S. Little.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2013 Tune In to Nature.org      November 2018     Narrator: Michael Stein

ID# 111406ishmaelKPLU  feeder-03b