Explore Amazing Birds this Columbus Day!
Birds That Crossed the Ocean Blue
As we celebrate the historical European explorers of the United States this Columbus Day, lets not forget about our avian neighbors that were brought to this continent with us. Read on to explore two birds that were introduced to the North American ecosystem, for better or for worse.
The European Starling
The European Starling is quite an infamous bird in the United States. As most backyard birders know, large flocks of starlings will find your bird feeder and have it cleaned out in under five minutes, not a crumb left for the other birds.
The European Starling was brought to the United States in 1890, by Shakespeare enthusiast Eugene Schiefflin. He felt that America should be home to every bird that was ever mentioned in a Shakespeare play, so he released 100 starlings in Central Park. 100 quickly turned into 90 million. Starlings are extremely prolific!
If you find yourself feeling sympathetic for this widely disliked bird, fill your feeders up with something that they will appreciate. European Starlings love berry and fruit wild bird food!
Valley Farms Fruit Nut & Berry Blend is sure to tickle their fancy. It’s a win-win because the starlings will gobble this seed up, but will leave all the safflower seed for the other birds.
The House Sparrow
The far more beloved House Sparrow, was also released in New York City in 1851. The house sparrow has spread across the United States assisted by two more western releases in San Fransisco and Salt Lake. This bird is aptly named for its preference to live in manmade structures, like walls of houses.
Due to their friendly nature, house sparrows have little fear getting close to people. They have become the most widely studied bird - with over 5,000 papers written on them.
House sparrows need more carbohydrates than most other birds, so they have a diet mostly consists of grain and bird seed.
If you want to treat them, put out Valley Farms White Millet. Full of healthy carbohydrates, proteins, and magnesium, our White Millet wild bird food is bound to leave the House Sparrows singing.
The Rock Pigeon
Rock Dove, or Pigeon, is one of very few birds that thrives in human company. They are most likely to congregate in big cities as there are fewer predators and they like nesting on hard surfaces. The Rock Dove was brought to the United States in the 1600s.
Evidence from Egyptian hieroglyphs suggests that they were domesticated over 5,000 years ago. Domestic pigeons have an incredible ability to navigate and have been used to deliver messages. Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology has observed that Pigeons can find their way home blindfolded from great lengths. Scientist theorize that pigeons are able to use magnetic field in the earth to understand location.
Rock Dove will readily eat foods that were intentionally or unintentionally left for them. This means that plenty of these Rock doves are eating foods that are bad for them. This is evidenced by the fact that domestic pigeons have been known to live for up to thirty years, while wild pigeons often only live about two years. A diet of human castoffs is not ideal!
Like the House sparrow, Rock Doves will love White Millet wild bird food. We recommend feeding them a well rounded bird seed mix like Valley Farms Hi-Flite Wild Bird Food. It has Black Oil Sunflower Seeds for high energy fats, White Millet for carbohydrates, and Cracked Corn for protein. Feeding pigeons proper bird seed can dramatically improve their quality of life and life expectancy.
House Finch
The House Finch is an outlier on this list, as it did not originate from Europe. The House Finch was originally found on the west coast of North America. They were introduced into New York in 1940. After failing to sell as caged birds, a handful of these little red birds were released. The quickly spread up and down the east coast.
These cheerful birds were a happy additions to most backyard feeders. The red breast and heads on the males come from a pigment that they derive in their food. The more of this pigment they consume, the redder that they will become. Female House finch will choose males with the darkest red. Scientist assume it is an indication of good health.
House finch eat an almost fully vegetarian diet from hatching. They will be residents of your backyard bird feeder all year long, even during the summer when the majority of wild birds switch to an insect diet.
Feed them well with the Valley Farms Wild Finch Mix. It’s full of delicious chopped sunflower hearts, Nyjer seed, and German & Siberian millet for birds. A finch feeder will allow these tiny scarlet birds to eat without other birds over taking the feeder.