Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Fall and winter offer bird-watching opportunities – especially in your own backyard when you hang feeders outside your windows for up close viewing.

05—There is no place better in the world for attracting birds than right here in Texas.

Mark Klym, an avid birder, oversees the Wildscaping program at Parks and Wildlife. Common feeder fare is the black oil sunflower seed, which attracts various species, including cardinals, finches, and sometimes chickadees.

06—And watch the way they feed. Some of them will actually sit and break the seed right there on the feeder and eat it.

If you’re new to feeder-watching, some of the behavior you observe may seem perplexing.

15—We get people who are frustrated all the time; they say, ‘how come that bird comes in and throws half the food out?’ Well, what they’re doing is, a bird like a chickadee or titmouse, they don’t have a bill that’s designed to crack that seed. So they’ve got to go back to the branch and bang it on the tree to break it.

But what are they doing when they hurl seed to the ground?

07—They’re actually weighing the seed to make sure there’s enough weight there to make sure it’s worth their while to fly back to that branch before they get their meal.

Now you know. Find additional information about birds on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.