ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 12, 1996 TAG: 9602130003
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
Maybe it couldn't be called a silent winter, but last year people were asking why so few birds were showing up at their backyard feeders. There were expressions of wonderment and worry among birders as their feeders hung from tree limbs more like decorations than dinner tables.
The winter of 1995-96 has brought still more wonderment and worry, but of a different kind. The question this time: How can you keep feeders filled as birds line up to wolf down your offerings? And will you be forced to make an early withdrawal from your IRA to cover the seed and suet bills?
``We have fed well over a ton [of seeds],'' said Barry Kinzie, a Botetourt County orchardist who has turned 65 acres of his property into a nature center.
The same snowdrifts that have buried automobiles along roadsides also have covered the natural foods that birds eat. Frigid temperatures have been energy-sapping for wildlife. These conditions have drawn flocks of birds to feeders.
It is a reversal of last winter, when mild weather likely caused birds to ignore the hand that fed them because of the abundance of natural food, according to the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.
Surveys by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reveal bird feeding takes place at one out of every three American homes. Few locations handle it on a grander scale than Kinzie's place, which is called Woodpecker Ridge Nature Center.
Kinzie gets help in the feeding and financing from fellow members of the Roanoke Valley Bird Club. Among them are Kent and Kathy Summers of Bedford County, who show up every Thursday to stuff sacks of seed into feeding devices that can appear to be bottomless.
``You can fill them and go back the next day and they are half-empty,'' said Kathy Summers.
Never mind the name Woodpecker Ridge; the center's mature oaks, gnarled pines, clumps of cover, downed trees, bog, fields and creek also attract finches, jays, sparrows, chickadees, titmice and nuthatches by the hundreds.
There are five feeding stations, each with about 10 feeders grouped to serve a variety of birds. This is the second season of the effort at Woodpecker Ridge
``There are birds this winter that we don't often have an opportunity to see, but the cold weather has pushed them down here,'' Kathy Summers said.
As early as September, Kinzie got the feeling that this winter would be unusually productive for birders. Black-capped chickadees, purple finch and red-breasted nuthatches began arriving in impressive numbers by Sept. 25. On Oct. 8, a hermit thrush, winter wren and golden-crowned kinglet were spotted. Pine siskins showed up Oct. 12. Fox sparrows arrived on Oct. 14th. An orange-crowned warbler was seen by three observers in late October.
``This is an early and unusual fall migration for many species,'' said Kinzie, who predicted a rough winter was on the way. Three months later, he was wading through 27 1/2 inches of snow to fill feeders.
Kinzie and his friends take bird feeding beyond the back-yard basics by encouraging a diversity of species through an understanding of bird behavior and feeding preferences. They hope their efforts will benefit other birders.
``The idea is to try to do something to open other people's eyes so they will appreciate, preserve and learn about nature,'' Kathy Summers said.
People have been opening their eyes, and their pocketbooks as well. A letter recently mailed to supporters of the feeding effort requested only half the $1,600 that was contributed the previous year. Last year's response was really more than needed, Kathy Summers said.
Rather than feeding a commercial mix, the Woodpecker Ridge gang dispenses four kinds of food: white proso millet, black oil-type sunflower seeds, niger (thistle) seeds and suet.
Birds tend to waste commercial mixes because often they contain a high percentage of mostly useless filler seeds, Kent Summers said. It not only is better for birds, but for billfolds as well, to stoke feeders with separated seeds purchased in bulk form, he said.
The white millet is a grain that attracts most types of ground-feeding species, including sparrows and doves. Often it is scattered under elevated brush piles, where birds can feed protected from snow and predators.
Finches, cardinals, grosbeaks and chickadees like the black oil sunflower seed, which is high in oil content and nutritive value. Niger is attractive to all types of finches, a fact that adds splashes of color to your feeder. Pine siskins, woodpeckers, titmice, chickadees, wrens and nuthatches will gather around suet.
``Feeding birds can be as expensive or inexpensive as you care to make it,'' Kathy Summers said.
At Woodpecker Ridge, it is tough to determine who is reaping the greater rewards, the birds or birders.
The center's activities and other subjects on nature are highlighted in a newsletter available for $10 from Woodpecker Ridge Nature Center, 815 Stoney Battery Road, Troutville, 24175.
LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. Birds of a feather may flock together, but feedersby CNBat Woodpecker Ridge are attracting a variety of visitors this
winter. color STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS STAFF
2. Kathy Summers is on feeding duty at top left. color
3. BARRY KINZIE. color