Last week, the Ontario government issued a stay-at-home order to get skyrocketing COVID-19 numbers under control. What this means is we are only to leave home for essential reasons such as food, healthcare, exercise, and work. For me, not much will change as most of my purchases of food and other goods have been online having the item either delivered or using curbside pickup. I can count on one hand the number of stores I’ve entered in almost a year, and I worked from home before the pandemic and will continue to after.
Fortunately, there are plenty of things we can do at home to get our fix of birds while keeping ourselves and others safe. In this post, I’m going to share several bird-related ideas to do from the comfort of your own home.
1. Put Up A Birdfeeder
Bringing the birds to your yard is a great way to enjoy them anytime but especially when we are encouraged to stay home. Birdfeeders come in all shapes and sizes and can either purchased online or from your local feed supply store. Most local feed stores remain open for curbside pickup as this is considered an essential service. A feeder and a bag of food can be ordered by phone and picked up. I really like the Squirrel Buster line of birdfeeders with the Squirrel Buster Plus being one of my favourites. This feeder’s seed ports close off under the weight of a squirrel preventing them from accessing the seed. The large perch ring is perfect for all birds including cardinals. This feeder also comes with a lifetime guarantee.
2. Hone Your Identifications Skills
Now is the perfect time to learn how to properly identify some of those hard to identify birds like warblers so you are ready when spring migration hits. In my post, The 4 Best Field Guides To Help Hone Your Bird Identificatins Skills I share which field guides I use and what I like about each one. If you are wanting to learn bird calls you can listen to the various songs and calls of birds for free at All About Birds.
3. Build A Birdhouse
Birdhouses are easy to build with minimal woodworking skills or tools required. In my opinion, there are few things more rewarding than watching birds raise a brood in a house I built myself. Check out 70 Birds for free plans on how to build birdhouses for you guessed it 70 different birds!
4. Watch A Birding Related Movie
It’s not a popular theme for movies and there are not many to choose from but A Birder’s Guide To Everything and The Big Year are my two favourites. The former stars Ben Kingsley and is about a group of young friends, one a birding fanatic, who set out in search of a rare duck. The latter stars Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, and Jack Black, and as I’m sure you can tell by the cast is quite funny. I watch this movie every year before heading to Pelee for spring migration.
5. Create A Garden Design To Attract More Birds
Attracting more birds to your yard is easily done by adding native trees, shrubs, and flowers. By doing so it will provide food, shelter, and areas to nest setting your yard apart from your neighbour’s. I was amazed at the variety of birds that visited my yard after doing a little research and carefully choosing some native species to plant. I found the book Gardening For The Birds: Ho To Create A Bird-Friendly Backyard very helpful in helping me choose what to plant based on the birds I wished to attract.
As you can see there are plenty of ways to get our fix of birds while staying at home. If you find yourself needing your fix, I recommend giving one or all of these ideas a try. Be sure to let me know which ones you try and which ones you like best. Keeping ourselves immersed in what we love and our minds occupied are great ways to stay positive, stay safe, and get us through these difficult times.
Good birding,
Paul
Listening to and watching birds online that come by the Cornell lab feeders can be very neat (and often soothing!):
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/cams/
Awesome suggestion Jann, thank you!