drintoul@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (David A Rintoul) (06/04/91)
The following is a monthly feature in our Audubon chapter newsletter; its title is "Burning Birding Questions". If acceptable, I will try to post it every month for your edification. Some of the allusions may be local, but most items are of general interest. If you have any Burning Birding Questions of your own, please feel free to e-mail them to me (drintoul@matt.ksu.ksu.edu) and I will try to get them answered. Good Birding. 1. Since you claim to be both ancient and venerable, perhaps you can answer this question from personal experience. I have been told that goldfinches, which are incredibly common at my feeder presently, do not nest until later in the year, since they use thistle down to line their nests. I also understand that the common thistle in the state was introduced from Asia in the 19th century. What did goldfinches do before they had thistle down? Did they have the same nesting schedule in pre-settlement days as they do now? Excellent question. But first of all, I don't understand how it can be that you consider the numbers of goldfinches at your feeder to be incredible. Are you suggesting that I should not believe your observation? Or that you don't believe your observation? If this is true, then bird watching must (with apologies to Brace Beamer) "return . . . to the days of yesteryear, when out of the past comes the sound of the . . ." shotgun as the only way to verify a bird observation! But back to thistles. To answer your question I had to turn to someone more ancient and venerable than myself; I consulted Ted Barkley (who many NFHAS members know as the benefactor responsible for "The Barkley" awarded at the annual Christmas Bird Count compilation), who is the editor of The Flora of the Great Plains. In this hefty tome, 11 thistles are listed, only one of which has been introduced. I also checked the plant list for Konza Prairie to obtain a local perspective. There are 4 thistles on that list, one of which is exotic. So one can probably assume that goldfinches and thistles have coexisted at least since the Pleistocene. Goldfinches have never been without thistle down, existing through time by adjusting the light-driven timing of their reproductive cycle to match the phenology of the thistle. Now, that's a wonderment and does almost border on the "incredible!" I suspect, however, that you are thinking of the musk thistle, which actually is in a different group. There are two "plumeless" thistles listed in The Flora, and both of them are exotic. Musk thistles invade habitats which have been severely degraded by human activities; that the musk thistle is the "common thistle in the state" and a problem is an indictment of our maladaptive agricultural practices. 2. How can I keep ants from emptying my hummingbird feeder every day? Unless you are a respondent from east of Kansas City, I find it "incredible" that you are actually feeding hummingbirds (except in late summer and early fall when they indeed become more frequent around Manhattan). There are several solutions to your problem: 1) my most preferred suggestion is to provide a reservoir for your hummingbird feeder that contains more sugar solution than the ants can consume in one day, 2) erect your hummingbird feeder in the center of a bird bath and make sure that you keep the moat full of water, 3) although less environmentally preferred, erect your feeder in a basin containing a solution of insecticide, 4) if it's a hanging feeder, you might suspend it from one of those electrical gadgets that fries insects when they touch it. As most of my faithful readers know, my own solution would be to just refill the feeder; ants are as much a part of nature as hummingbirds.
martin@geovision.gvc.com (Martin Taylor ) (06/04/91)
In article <1991Jun3.212337.2512@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu> drintoul@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (David A Rintoul) writes: > >2. How can I keep ants from emptying my hummingbird feeder every day? > My father-in-law has found a solution that works for him. He hangs his hummingbird feeder from a hook in the eaves of his cottage. Around the hook he stuck double-sided tape so that it completely surrounded the hook. The ants won't cross the double-sided tape and thus have no way to get at the feeder. -- Martin Taylor (martin@geovision.gvc.com)
lp@well.sf.ca.us (Lily Pond) (06/05/91)
David A Rintoul was kind enough to share with us his entirely delightful and fascinating "burning bird questions"; one addition: what I do to prevent the ants from getting at the hummer feeder is to hang the feeder from a plant hanger, and then spray the hanger with furniture polish! Lemon scented. The polish washes off at the first rain and thus never harms the birds, should they land on the hanger, but I guess the ants learn, cause they never come back.
zepf (06/06/91)
In <1613@geovision.gvc.com> martin@geovision.gvc.com (Martin Taylor ) writes: >In article <1991Jun3.212337.2512@maverick.ksu.ksu.edu> drintoul@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (David A Rintoul) writes: >> >>2. How can I keep ants from emptying my hummingbird feeder every day? >> >My father-in-law has found a solution that works for him. He hangs his >hummingbird feeder from a hook in the eaves of his cottage. Around the >hook he stuck double-sided tape so that it completely surrounded the hook. >The ants won't cross the double-sided tape and thus have no way to get >at the feeder. I have always hung mine from a hook or swivel mount, and put Vaseline on the wire. The ants can't cross the vaseline, though some seem to die trying. You have to replace the goo every several months or so, depending on the weather. ============================================================================= Sun Tom Zepf zepf@central.sun.com Work: 719-594-6018 /\ Fax: 719-548-1009 /\/ \ Rocky Mountain Technology Center / \ \ Sun Microsystems 5465 Mark Dabling Blvd.; Colo. Springs, CO 80918 =============================================================================
jbm@safn2.UUCP (John McClatchey) (06/06/91)
> >>2. How can I keep ants from emptying my hummingbird feeder every day? > > I have always hung mine from a hook or swivel mount, and put Vaseline > on the wire. The ants can't cross the vaseline, though some seem to die > trying. You have to replace the goo every several months or so, depending > on the weather. I have tried lots of vaseline, but the ants always make it through. Perhaps the vaseline is not so viscous in the summer down south. I have hung the feeder by a strip of fly paper. That works for a while, but the stickum hardens after a week.