WBird feeding is the activity of feeding wild birds, often by means of a bird feeder. With a recorded history dating to the 6th century, the feeding of wild birds has been encouraged and celebrated in the United States and United Kingdom, with it being the United States' second most popular hobby having National Bird-Feeding Month congressionally decreed in 1994. Various types of food are provided by various methods; certain combinations of food and method of feeding are known to attract certain bird species.
WA bird bath is an artificial puddle or small shallow pond, created with a water-filled basin, in which birds may drink, bathe, and cool themselves. A bird bath can be a garden ornament, small reflecting pool, outdoor sculpture, and also can be a part of creating a vital wildlife garden.
WA birdfeeder, bird table, or tray feeder are devices placed outdoors to supply bird food to birds. The success of a bird feeder in attracting birds depends upon its placement and the kinds of foods offered, as different species have different preferences.
WBird food or bird seed is food consumed by wild and domestic birds. While most bird food is fed to commercial fowl, people also use bird food to feed their pet birds or provide a feeding site for wild birds.
WCoturnism is an illness featuring muscle tenderness and rhabdomyolysis after consuming quail that have fed on poisonous plants.
WThe Eurasian eagle-owl may well be the most powerful extant species of owl, able to attack and kill large prey far beyond the capacities of most other living owls. However, the species is even more marked for its ability to live on more diverse prey than possibly any other comparably sized raptorial bird, which, given its considerable size, is almost fully restricted to eagles. This species can adapt to surprisingly small prey where it is the only kind available and to large prey where it is abundant. Eurasian eagle-owls feed most commonly on small mammals weighing 100 g (0.22 lb) or more, although nearly 45% of the prey species recorded have an average adult body mass of less than 100 g (3.5 oz). Usually 55-80% of the food of eagle-owls is mammalian.
WGleaning is a feeding strategy by birds in which they catch invertebrate prey, mainly arthropods, by plucking them from foliage or the ground, from crevices such as rock faces and under the eaves of houses, or even, as in the case of ticks and lice, from living animals. This behavior is contrasted with hawking insects from the air or chasing after moving insects such as ants. Gleaning, in birds, does not refer to foraging for seeds or fruit.
WHawking is a feeding strategy in birds involving catching flying insects in the air. The term usually refers to a technique of sallying out from a perch to snatch an insect and then returning to the same or a different perch, though it also applies to birds that spend almost their entire lives on the wing. This technique is called "flycatching" and some birds known for it are several families of "flycatchers": Old World flycatchers, monarch flycatchers, and tyrant flycatchers. Other birds, such as swifts, swallows, and nightjars, also take insects on the wing in continuous aerial feeding. The term "hawking" comes from the similarity of this behavior to the way hawks take prey in flight, although, whereas raptors may catch prey with their feet, hawking is the behavior of catching insects in the bill. Many birds have a combined strategy of both hawking insects and gleaning them from foliage.
WMealworms are the larval form of the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor, a species of darkling beetle. Like all holometabolic insects, they go through four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Larvae typically measure about 2.5 cm or more, whereas adults are generally between 1.25 and 1.8 cm in length.
WA nectar source is a flowering plant that produces nectar as part of its reproductive strategy. These plants create nectar, which attract pollinating insects and sometimes other animals such as birds.
WA nest box, also spelled nestbox, is a man-made enclosure provided for animals to nest in. Nest boxes are most frequently utilized for birds, in which case they are also called birdhouses or a birdbox/bird box, but some mammalian species such as bats may also use them. Placing nestboxes or roosting boxes may also be used to help maintain populations of particular species in an area. The modern nest box was invented by the British conservationist Charles Waterton in the early 19th century to encourage more birdlife and wildfowl on the nature reserve he set up on his estate.
WA pellet, in ornithology, is the mass of undigested parts of a bird's food that some bird species occasionally regurgitate. The contents of a bird's pellet depend on its diet, but can include the exoskeletons of insects, indigestible plant matter, bones, fur, feathers, bills, claws, and teeth. In falconry, the pellet is called a casting.
WA plucking post is a raised structure such as a tree stump which is used regularly by a bird of prey to dismember its prey, removing feathers and various other inedible parts before eating it.
WA puddle is a small accumulation of liquid, usually water, on a surface. It can form either by pooling in a depression on the surface, or by surface tension upon a flat surface.
WSuet is the raw, hard fat of beef, lamb or mutton found around the loins and kidneys.
WSuet cakes or fat balls are nutritional supplements for wild birds used in bird feeders. They commonly consist of sunflower seeds and wheat or oat flakes mixed with suet, pork fat, or coconut oil. Further blends may also contain nuts, fruits, mealworms and other insects.
WThe sunflower seed is the seed of the sunflower. There are three types of commonly used sunflower seeds: linoleic, high oleic, and sunflower oil seeds. Each variety has its own unique levels of monounsaturated, saturated, and polyunsaturated fats. The information in this article refers mainly to the linoleic variety.