What do birds wish to chow down on anyway? And what to do with pesky squirrels? NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Talkin' Birds host Ray Brown about birdfeeding.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Time now for some Talkin' Birds.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ROCKIN' ROBIN")
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing) Tweedly-deedly-dee (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: A fowl present - I like that. I really like birds.
(SOUNDBITE OF WHISTLING)
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing) Tweedly-deedly-dee (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Ray Brown's Talkin' Birds.
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing) Tweet.
SIMON: Ray Brown is host of the radio present and podcast Talkin' Birds. Ray, thanks for being again with us.
RAY BROWN: Effectively, you are welcome, and thanks, Scott. Nice to speak to you once more.
SIMON: Winter is simply forward of us. As quickly because the snow begins hitting the bottom, many individuals who love birds need to make sure they've sufficient meals. Are some concepts higher than others for giving it to them?
BROWN: Effectively, I feel so, when it comes to the seed significantly, however I am sort of a giant fan of black oil sunflower seed. You already know, quite a lot of the seed you sort of get down on the grocery store has quite a lot of filler in it. Usually, individuals need colourful songbirds, so I am a proponent of black oil sunflower seed as the only greatest meals you'll be able to put on the market.
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BROWN: A whole lot of research that say birdfeeding is sweet for birds. Some research say it is not. However definitely the preponderance of research point out that it is a good factor for birds.
SIMON: Why wouldn't it be a nasty concept to feed birds?
BROWN: There have been a few research completed within the U.Okay. that give a distinct viewpoint. They studied a fowl known as the blue tit, which is a relative of our black-capped chickadees.
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BROWN: So it is a comparable fowl within the U.Okay. They acquired totally different outcomes, but it surely looks like they had been sort of restricted of their geographical space that they studied. And so they had one chance that this was - made an imbalanced weight-reduction plan should you gave them too many seeds. However one other factor is that with these seeds that we're feeding birds, a few of the birds that would not actually have survived the winter to nest would survive. So these birds had been attempting to nest in locations that weren't good locations to nest.
SIMON: Yeah. We predict that each one birds like seed, however that is not strictly true, is it?
BROWN: Not fully true. You already know, we have now quite a lot of - our neotropical migrants, for instance - you understand, tanagers and orioles, cat birds and birds like that that that go to the tropics within the wintertime - they're actually insect eaters. Once they're up right here, they're going to eat quite a lot of fruit. So tanagers, for instance, and orioles like to eat orange slices you could put on the market.
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BROWN: However birds can get meals in so some ways. And I've a good friend who likes to feed bluebirds. He is fortunate sufficient to get Japanese bluebirds in his yard, and one of many issues that they actually love is mealworms. And what he does is he'll get just a little slingshot, and he'll put a mealworm in a slingshot and hearth that factor up and watch the bluebirds catch the mealworm in mid-air.
SIMON: Oh.
BROWN: So it is just a little further leisure.
SIMON: Leisure? Not for the meal worm.
BROWN: (Laughter).
SIMON: If somebody will get a fowl feeder, have they got to fret about attracting squirrels?
BROWN: (Laughter) That is the most important downside of all, I feel, for individuals with fowl feeders. Folks go loopy, I do know. I do know individuals who have simply give up feeding birds due to the squirrels, however they are often defeated. You already know, there are - there are issues. Like, you'll be able to connect a baffle dome on prime of the feeder in order that they'll slide off. And there actually are squirrel-proof feeders on the market, and doubtless the last word instance is one known as the Yankee Flipper.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO, "YANKEE FLIPPER SQUIRREL PROOF BIRDFEEDER")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) This should be an actual Yankee's feeder.
SIMON: I've seen the video you are speaking about.
BROWN: OK. Yeah, so you understand about that (laughter).
SIMON: It simply looks like a not a pleasant factor to do to a squirrel.
BROWN: It isn't that good, but it surely's fairly efficient. Yeah, the squirrel will step on the perch, and its weight will power the perch down, activating a small motor, which is able to then trigger the feeder to spin and the squirrel to go to your neighbor's yard by air (laughter).
SIMON: Yeah, I do know. And I feel, oh, Rocky, I am sorry.
(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO, "YANKEE FLIPPER SQUIRREL PROOF BIRDFEEDER")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Whoa, whoa, whoa (ph). Wow, what a journey.
SIMON: Ray Brown, host of Talkin' Birds, joined us from the studios of WGBH in Boston. Ray, thanks a lot for being with us.
BROWN: It is my pleasure. Thanks, Scott.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ROCKIN' ROBIN")
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing) Tweet, tweet.
(SOUNDBITE OF WHISTLING)
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