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Welcome to The Birdhouse Banter — brought to you by Meika's Birdhouse.
Join host Bryn Griffiths and co-founders Ian Sprague and Janine Couture as we talk birds! Our team brings over 100 years of combined experience and a whole lot of passion for our feathered friends — whether they're soaring wild or perched right at home with you.
We are Alberta's trusted destination for bird lovers. From quality products and expert advice to supporting bird rescue right here in our community — Meika's Birdhouse has you covered.
Welcome to Birdhouse Banter brought to you by Meika's Birdhouse, Alberta's trusted destination for bird lovers. Hey, everybody. It's Bryn. Ian's with us. Janine is with us.
Bryn:We're at Meika's Birdhouse out here in beautiful Sherwood Park, Alberta. It is, well, was crazy, crazy summer for weather, but you know what? We continue to move along. Let's talk about right off the top, you guys. Let's talk about, let's focus in on the song Sparrow.
Bryn:What's the difference? Are there a lot how many sparrows are there?
Janine:I feel like there's a lot of sparrows.
Ian:There's a bunch of different kinds of sparrows, and that's that's kind of the point of what we were gonna do here is that a lot of people that don't know just associate all sparrows with house sparrows. Yeah. House sparrows, of course, are are rather a naturalized species now. They were brought over from Europe and have basically gone everywhere where people are now.
Bryn:So let's sparrow this down a bit.
Ian:Yeah. So now we're talking about a song sparrow, which is a native species. There are a
Janine:lot Sparrow it
Ian:down. Sparrow it down.
Bryn:I I thought that was just gonna go by,
Ian:but okay. No. Janine's looking at me though. Yeah. But that's a cool
Janine:always good pun.
Ian:Yeah. If there is such a thing. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Ian:So anyway, so the so the song sparrow is a is a native space native species to hear. They're a little bit smaller than than than our house sparrows, but they do look somewhat similar. You know, they're kind of a a brown nondescript bird.
Janine:Can you tell the males and females apart?
Ian:I don't know.
Bryn:Don't Do think so? The doctors?
Ian:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Janine:Okay. Well, I'm just thinking, what is the what are those red ones? Oh, house finches.
Ian:Think. Those are house finches. Those aren't sparrows at all. Very different.
Bryn:Well, this is what we're trying to figure out.
Janine:Yeah. See?
Ian:Okay. Okay. So the other, very different.
Janine:I know my parrots.
Ian:Yeah. I don't know my song sparrow. The best way to identify a song sparrow is is basically if you're looking at their chest. So they have a, like, a clay colored clay colored sparrow is another species, but we're not talking about that. Anyways, they have, like, a clay colored chest with some barring on it, but the song sparrows have it looks like a circle.
Ian:Okay. A dot.
Janine:What color?
Ian:Dark.
Bryn:Dark color?
Ian:Dark dark dark. Purple? Like brown, I guess.
Bryn:Brownish or black?
Janine:Dot on their chest.
Ian:Yes. And that's and and and they're and they're singing. But yeah. But that that's how you that's how you would identify a song sparrow from from the rest
Bryn:of the sparrows. Okay. So I'm really confused on this. Like, I I don't know. They all seem to be singing to me, but they're not.
Ian:Okay. Yeah. No. Song sparrows song they're they're all chirping. Yes.
Ian:But, yeah, song sparrows were are are more, I guess, instead of a chirp is more of a is more of a song. Okay. Right? And you and you look for that dot on their chest.
Janine:I'm gonna see if I can find a quick little
Ian:You can see if
Bryn:you have general you look at song sparrow. Oh, okay. So the the question for me is and here we are, we're like the middle of September. So Yeah. Like, when did they arrive on the scene here?
Bryn:Are they early Yes. Arrival in the Edmonton region?
Ian:Yeah. So April, I would say the song sparrows well, some of them are starting to overwinter now. Our our our our temperatures and our climate's changing. Do they stay here? So yeah.
Ian:So, yeah, now they're starting to overwinter.
Bryn:Alright.
Ian:Before they would migrate, but they they weren't, like, migrating to to Panama or anything like that. You know, they would just go for a little into The States probably.
Bryn:Okay. Sure.
Ian:So there there is your oh, there's your song.
Janine:Sounds like.
Ian:There you go. And see the dog on the chest. See?
Janine:Yeah.
Ian:That's pretty good. There you go.
Bryn:This Internet is never gonna catch on.
Ian:I I know. I know. It's just for kids. Sick of me saying
Bryn:that since 1993. Okay. So now so now they're managing over the winter. How do they I've I've been so curious. Mhmm.
Bryn:How do they make it through the winter? I I've I've seen birds huddle under the eaves or maybe deep in a Yeah. In, let's say, a Virginia creeper Sure. Area into that. I I I have no idea how they even make it.
Bryn:Like, how do they do it?
Ian:Well, I I think that the key is is that our our climates are changing. And and when we have our cold snaps, they're not lasting as long maybe Sure. As what what well, I always tell my kids, you know, when I was a kid and there was and it wintertime came and it was, you know, December 3 and it went down. Songs both ways. Otherwise, your mouth would freeze shut.
Bryn:Some would actually be hoping for that.
Ian:But I was gonna say look at her face. I know. She's holding it in.
Bryn:She's not seeing
Ian:anything. I'm so impressed.
Bryn:Very good willpower there. So but but to to be able to keep warm.
Ian:Yeah. Well and and but people are are putting their feeders out in their yards, and they're they're feeding, quality seeds. So high high high energy seeds.
Bryn:I heard somebody say that it's not a good idea to have a feeder out in the winter, and I don't know. I I like it. Like, they say, well, it's, you know, it's gonna toughen them up. I'm going, this is not the time at minus 20 to be worrying about toughening up a bird. Let's do what we can here.
Ian:Well and and, you know, I guess the the the the real thing is if you wanna see them, you better feed them. Sure. You know, so it it it makes things a lot easier if you're if you're interested in watching birds and seeing birds and things like that, that put out the feed and and all that. And so these song sparrows now are are, you know, finding food sources, learning that they're maybe here all year round or or or a good part of the year, and they're and they're and they're being able to tough it through a little bit. Access to water?
Ian:Access to water is always important for everybody.
Bryn:Yeah. Even though they seem to find the eaves on the snow when it's melting a
Ian:little bit. Right? So Yeah. And I you know, I don't know how how how all they do it, but, yeah, I think they're they're eating a little bit of snow or any kind of runoff they they can get off of, you know, up on the roof. Maybe there's some
Janine:Heated bird baths.
Ian:Heated bird baths are awesome.
Bryn:Do you guys have heaters for that kind of thing?
Ian:Yeah. Absolutely.
Bryn:So what kind of heaters? Can't be a plastic one. Right?
Ian:No. Not for not for the heaters, but the there's ones that are all enclosed and they have a, you know, a thermostat and everything like that. The heater's built right into the bird bath. And they're kind of a I don't know what kind of I guess they're plastic, but they they they stay warm enough not to freeze right up.
Bryn:And the quality of the bird bath is gotta be what? Pretty decent? Concrete? Yeah.
Ian:Concrete or or or steel or or anything like that.
Bryn:Can't go with plastic.
Ian:No. And then what we use a lot of times is just a heated dog dish too because it's a Oh, yeah. Yeah. You can just see you know, they have that out for the for their pets, lot of people.
Janine:I got a question, though. Like,
Ian:don't call your you're
Janine:the answer.
Bryn:Of the questions, not the asker.
Janine:Yeah. But, like k. So if you get a heated steel bird bath
Ian:Right. K.
Janine:And it's wet and the bird steps on it, would it stick to the bird bath? Like, you know, when you stick your tongue to a pole?
Ian:Well, I'm I've never stuck my tongue to a pool. I'm sure you've never. I've never done a thing like that.
Bryn:But you gotta put your own water in there. Right?
Ian:You can't put water in there. Yeah. But birds don't stick to
Janine:the metal.
Ian:No. Because it's not frozen.
Janine:Oh.
Bryn:Okay. That brought that to a grinding halt.
Ian:Well, I don't know. But that's a good question. And actually
Janine:Thank you.
Ian:To be fair to be fair. Mhmm.
Bryn:Good question. Well,
Ian:Well, it's a little It happened. It's it's okay. It could happen. Just happy with this pen. It could happen, but I I I remember years ago, somebody had, you know, out on an acreage or something like that, had a bird that had frozen to a barbwire.
Janine:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Bryn:Really? Yeah.
Ian:And it was easily resolved, thank god. You know, the guy was there and he and he and he quickly just poured a little bit of coffee on the bird's feet and the way it went, but that was and I wasn't there.
Janine:Mhmm.
Ian:So that's the other part of the story. But I I was told this. I didn't witness it. It could be a little urban legend or anything like that, but So I I have heard of it.
Bryn:Was that early in the morning? Because everybody loves coffee early in the morning.
Ian:Well, you know, and I know you're always walking around with a coffee when you're That's exactly. When you're looking at your barbed wire fences. Absolutely.
Bryn:What else do we wanna talk about on the song Sparrow?
Ian:Just that, you know, we we I guess the big takeaway for this one Yeah. Is that, you know, people have a a lot of bird people have a pretty strong strong feelings against sparrow house sparrows. Because house sparrows, they're bully birds and they kick the birds that they're looking for. Like, if they want purple martin, sometimes the house sparrows will go in there and take the nests and stuff like that, so they get a bad rap. And you know, you don't wanna be kicking song sparrows out of nests necessarily if you know, make sure that that is actually a house sparrow that you're targeting and not not not a song sparrow.
Bryn:Can people just let them all figure
Ian:it out for themselves? Ideally. Yeah.
Bryn:I know. That's just the way
Ian:I say Ideally. We all kinda live on the planet. That's right.
Bryn:Jean, anything else on the song sparrow?
Ian:World peace.
Bryn:Alright.
Janine:I'm good on the song sparrow.
Bryn:Perfect. Okay. Well, I'll tell you what. We'll, take a quick little break when we come back. It's time to find out what's going on in the safe house.
Bryn:Time to check-in with Janine and find out what's happening at Meika's safe house. Hey. I gotta ask you. You know, adoptions. Yes.
Bryn:They don't all work out. Right?
Janine:No. They don't. They don't all work out. It's it's there's a few reasons. It is tough, you know, because you do everything you can to make sure that everybody knows what to expect, and you tell them all the things that they need to know that they even need to take a course.
Janine:And, you know, a week, two weeks, three weeks, a month later,
Ian:they all knew it's not working out.
Janine:And it's like, ugh, it's so discouraging because we put so much into it. We we try so hard to have a success successful adoption and, yeah, it is heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking for the birds. It's heartbreaking for us when it doesn't work out.
Bryn:But I've seen how you interact with people who are looking to adopt a bird, and you have them come in numerous times. Yeah. Like, are people not listening, or are they just caught up in the fact that I'm gonna have a bird?
Ian:I'm gonna have a bird.
Janine:That's a lot of it. You know? And a lot of it is, you know, I guess you don't know until you take one home. You know? You can talk about it until you're blue in the face, but until you actually live it, it's, yeah, it's a lot different, you know, visiting a bird for an hour at a shelter versus, you know, having it live in your house twenty four hours a day.
Ian:Well, and depending on the species too, you don't, like Yeah. Sometimes you don't realize just how loud loud is. You know? I can I can tell you until I'm blue in the face that a cockatoo is really, really loud? Oh, noise doesn't
Janine:bother me. Noise does oh, until it comes into your house. Right. That bothers you.
Ian:Yeah. When it when it's loud when it's when it's drowning out your teenagers.
Bryn:You know? That says it all right there.
Ian:Yeah. Yeah. And they can do it.
Bryn:So is that the number one issue for people? Is it they
Janine:just say there's three main issues
Bryn:Okay.
Janine:On why birds, do come into the shelter, why adoptions don't work, or why, you know, birds even just come into the shelter. They don't realize how loud they are. They don't realize that they're not like dogs. Well, they are in a way, but, like, you do you have to ask them permission. You have to ask the birds, do you want to come here?
Janine:Do you wanna step up? You know? And what am I gonna do for the bird to make it want to be with me? They don't they feel like the bird should just want to be with you with no rewards, but that's not how they work. They there's a reason why they wanna be with you.
Ian:Especially in early days, right, when they when they don't have a history with you yet. Mhmm.
Janine:So Gotta build that trust.
Ian:You have to build the trust, and you gotta build the relationship.
Janine:Instantaneously for some people.
Bryn:Yeah. Yeah.
Janine:It's it's disheartening for them.
Ian:Yeah.
Janine:It's but, you know, I when they when the bird when they finally have that breakthrough, oh, the adoption is amazing. And I love some of the stories that we do have. But, yeah, it's it's one of those things.
Ian:Yeah. And it it's it's it happens more more more than we like it to happen for sure. And it's just one, like Janine says, it's hard on the bird, it's super hard on the birds a lot of times. They come back, they're kind of confused, what was that all about? Know, and that's one of the reasons why we don't do fostering.
Ian:We don't have our birds out in foster homes, you know, and then
Bryn:then That's what's the process again. Right?
Ian:Well, then
Janine:yeah. They it's develop a relationship with their foster people, and then oh,
Ian:no. Oh, you go. Out You're
Janine:out of there. No. We the foster people don't want you. So Yeah. It's like
Ian:Yeah. So it it stay
Janine:in the shelter. They get used to a whole bunch of different people coming through, you know, all the volunteers and all the staff. And, you know, they don't bond usually with one person, and that leaves it open for people that are actually interested in adopting to develop a
Ian:To make the bond. Yeah.
Janine:To develop a more
Ian:meaningful relationship. And then what happens, I I you know, in in a couple of them anyhow, they're just at that threshold, you know, where they're just about to make that breakthrough with the bird. It's just about there.
Bryn:And then they give up.
Ian:And, oh, man, it bit my wife or or or or, you know, one of these things. Right? So biting is a big thing. So if somebody becomes starts being fearful of the bird, you know, then then, you know, it's it's basically, all bets are off. Right?
Bryn:But but I would have to think at some point, you might get nipped a little bit, but, you know, it's like having a puppy. Puppy's gonna nip you a little bit. You can't just turn away from Yeah.
Janine:Sometimes it's not just a nip. Sometimes it's a full on bite where you do have to get a Band Aid
Ian:Yeah. Because it bleeds. But, generally, if you keep your fingers out of their mouth, it's
Janine:Yeah.
Ian:And that's
Janine:that's the whole that's the whole thing about, like, consent. You know? You have to get consent from the bird saying, okay. I'm gonna put my hand here. Are you gonna bite me?
Janine:And if they come at you with a beak, then no. You take your hand away before they can get to you. Yeah. You know, you also don't wanna tease them because some birds, you know, they use their beak to step up for you. But, like, you just have to learn that body language and you just have to to power through.
Janine:Okay. So that's what that means. You know, if the bird's coming at me this way, then that means I'm gonna get bit. Don't do that. You know?
Janine:Mhmm. Allow the bird to make their choices and do do something that they wanna do or teach it something, target train it. You know?
Ian:But Well,
Bryn:let me ask this too because I would have to think everybody says, have the time. I'm it's not gonna be a problem for me. And then all of a sudden, somebody and their partner, whatever, they wanna go away for two or three weeks, they go, what are we gonna do? We've got a bird.
Ian:Yeah. Well,
Janine:we do bird sitting,
Bryn:so that's
Janine:that's always nice. So that should never be an excuse to surrender your bird because there is bird sitting available.
Ian:Oh, and you can use bird sittings for lots of different, things. Like, so if you wanna go on holidays or something like that and you need some place where the bird the bird can come here, the bird can go to a family member if you trust them and all that stuff, that's all easy. Or if you just need a mental health break, you know, like
Janine:Like, if it's if it's, you know, mating season, breeding season, the bird's screaming their head off, I need a break, then bring them here for a week.
Bryn:You know? Let's talk about consulting, though, because, obviously, you work with people before the adoption goes through. For sure. I would have to think if you hit a rough spot with that particular bird, if they drop in here to Meika's Birdhouse to talk to you guys, you guys have probably well, Jeanine, you've probably seen it and heard it all.
Janine:I've heard it all.
Ian:Oh, yeah.
Janine:Yeah. I feel like I've heard it all. There's every once in a while, something will come up and surprise the heck out of me, but, no, I've I've heard it all.
Bryn:So you just have to convince people, hey. Look. Just be patient here. Things this will find its way.
Janine:Yeah. Take breath. Don't force yourself and don't force a relationship. Let the bird come to you. And I know that, you know, patience is a virtue.
Janine:Like, I
Ian:Can't believe she said that. I can't believe she's saying that.
Bryn:That's the word on the street.
Ian:That's how Ella got all these bruises and all that because to be so patient.
Bryn:Alrighty. Remember when
Ian:you cut that ladder out in front of me, you remember that? Whatever. I didn't see a thing. This first? No.
Ian:Patience is a virtue.
Bryn:Say what you wanna say to him after the show.
Janine:Yeah. I'm gonna.
Ian:Oh, yeah. There's gonna be some words. I would like to
Bryn:be back in a couple weeks.
Janine:Yeah. Yeah. No. It's like this you gotta be patient, and and patience is not like, oh, I gave it a week. Mhmm.
Janine:You know? Like, that's not patience. I'm talking, like, six months.
Bryn:Thank you. I was just gonna say, is there kind of a time frame here?
Janine:Six months. Eight months. I had a Senegal parrot that was petrified of everything, and it was with us for a good solid, like, thirteen, fourteen months. And finally, one day, it just flew to my shoulder and wanted to be with me. So, like, it takes that time.
Janine:Every bird comes from different backgrounds, and they all learn things the way they learn things, and they just they just need that time. And if you show them that you're not gonna grab them, you're not gonna force them to do anything, then that relationship blooms a lot faster.
Ian:And and so if, yeah, if you're asking a bird to step up, you know
Janine:Offering your hand.
Ian:Step up, set and the and the bird's not doing it, maybe you have to change the question a little bit Yeah. You know, instead of just banging
Janine:head each other. If I give you this treat? You really like this treat. You haven't had it in a couple days because I've been holding off because I know you like it. So, well, this treat, maybe that will, you know, give it that little bit of motivation to to come and see you.
Bryn:As a dog owner, I've always said, you know what? You're not training the dog. I'm the one that needs to be trained.
Ian:For sure.
Bryn:Right? So okay. And we've been doing this what? We're into episode 11. So we we've been doing this in almost every episode where we talk about a safe house story about a particular bird maybe that that needs some attention or needs to have their story told.
Bryn:What have we got today?
Janine:Well, today we have Xerox the conure. Xerox came from animal care and control. It was a little green cheek conure. I think it was a pineapple mutation.
Ian:Yeah. He's one of those.
Janine:Yeah. A little colorful little guy. Yeah. It was found outside. It had a broken leg, and it stated animal care and control for its hold period.
Janine:Then they called us because nobody had claimed it and came here. And, man, we had the leg looked at. It was already half healed.
Ian:Yeah. We run it over to Murray or did Murray come here?
Janine:Me and Darren. Yeah. Darren. We we brought it there and, yeah, he checked it out. It did have a broken leg.
Janine:So it was it was, like you said, half healed because you can tell in the x-ray when it starts to I'm not a vet and the vet's gone now, so I can't even
Ian:Whatever.
Janine:Look at him to say, what are we doing? Yeah. No. But it could tell it was don't know, whatever the word is. It started to heal.
Janine:So, anyways, lovely lovely little guy, like, so interactive. Like, I'm surprised that nobody had claimed him. And, yeah, within he got adopted pretty quick by a a family that adopted some budgies from us. Yeah. So, yeah, they fell in love with him and yeah.
Janine:And I feel
Ian:that that Xerox wasn't very old.
Janine:I think it was a pretty young bird.
Ian:Yeah. So they're gonna they're they're they're gonna have a lot of years with Xerox and Yeah.
Bryn:Who names their bird Xerox?
Janine:Oh, they came without a name. Okay. They came without a name, and I needed something with an x in it. I don't know why. I can't remember, but I needed something with an x in it.
Ian:So she looked at her she looked at her photo photocopier and had an epiphany. I don't have a
Janine:Xerox. Xerox.
Bryn:I I'm not saying that I don't like it. I think it's a neat name, but I just say it's an unusual name.
Ian:Yeah. Very.
Janine:Probably just a carbon copy
Ian:of, like, every other copy.
Bryn:There we go.
Ian:There you go.
Bryn:Somebody had to say
Ian:it. Yeah.
Bryn:There we go. So it's a happy story with Xerox?
Ian:Yes.
Janine:It was a happy story. I was sad that he had a broken leg, but it didn't it doesn't stop him. He's still energetic and curious, and he can move his foot around.
Ian:So And he's been in a couple times for since then for for for grooming and and and all that kind stuff.
Bryn:How is that for you guys, by the way, when you have a a you you have a bird that somebody has has has adopted, and you get a chance to see it. Is it like a like a weekend camp?
Ian:Oh, yeah. I feel
Janine:like they're ant. I feel like and you could be their uncle, uncle Ian.
Ian:Auntie Ian. Think anybody ever calls me uncle Ian.
Janine:But no. I I love seeing the birds when they come in. So Yeah.
Ian:It's yeah. Xerox.
Bryn:Xerox. Okay. Got it. I love it. You know what?
Bryn:I I could tell you I'm tired today because I can't think of a single bad pun to end this segment on without repeating myself without repeating myself without repeating myself without repeating myself. Okay. Beautiful. That's a great way to end this, this edition of the safe house. Well, on a happy story.
Bryn:So Right on. Good for Xerox. Okay. It's now time for the seed and time to wrap things up. I gotta tell you one of the things that really bothered me about my feeder this year, and I changed the type of bird seed.
Ian:Mhmm.
Bryn:I had a I kind of it was like a no mess bird seed Sure. Which was okay. But then I went to what's the one with the it's spelled with a Z or whatever. It's a different bird seed. I can't remember.
Bryn:It's unusual name.
Ian:Oh, the Nutrisaph. Thank you. Nutrisaph. Yes. That's not even close.
Ian:Not a not a single Z in there, but I'm with you, man. I know you. You were yeah.
Bryn:How are you even able to figure that out based on that? Anyway, yes. And now that one seems to be fine. Yeah. But I see it seems to be I'm getting things growing beneath the feeder.
Bryn:Is that
Ian:And and you shouldn't get much growing with Nutrisaph.
Bryn:Okay.
Ian:But you might get a little bit. Alright. The the thing with Nutrisaph is is that we've you know, we we always talk about the sparrows. Sparrows don't seem to like it k. Yet.
Ian:I always have to put the yet on there because, you know, the house sparrows are
Janine:They do watch the other birds.
Ian:They watch the other birds, and we were actually watching that last night or the night before. They come over, and they're looking, you know, they're working on it, and they're like, god. God. I really hate this, but I'm not gonna let this other bird eat it either. You know?
Ian:So Yeah. Yeah. They're doing it. But, yeah, the the new the Nutrisoft is is something that is to be a a sparrow deterrent. Is it bitter
Bryn:or something like that? I heard.
Ian:I don't know if it's bitter. It's just it's just not I also heard squirrels don't like it. Squirrels don't care for it yet either. Okay. I I always gotta put the disclaimer in there because they will you know, if that's all they have, that's what they need.
Ian:Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. That's why they're that's why they're so successful, they adapt.
Bryn:Is it good to mix those two brands up? The one with what's the first one? The No Mask?
Ian:No Mask Gardeners? You you can. I don't I'm not a big fan of mixing things up because then I never really know what's successful.
Bryn:Okay.
Ian:Yeah. Yeah. Right? But that's that's that's a Go with
Bryn:the Zed.
Ian:Go with the Zed stuff. Yeah. But yeah. But if you really if you wanted to, you know, you want to avoid the mess around the feeder, there's a thing called a seed hoop, and they're they'll scare the daylights out of you when you first take them out of the packaging. This is speaking from experience, like my first cardiac event.
Ian:You pull this then thing
Janine:this tiny little flat box.
Bryn:Is that the one that goes
Ian:yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it
Janine:And it opens up like an umbrella.
Ian:Yeah. And it it yeah.
Janine:But fast, like spring It
Ian:won't hurt you, but mind if you're not paying attention, it'll
Bryn:So what do you do with that?
Ian:Do you
Bryn:like, I've I've got bark chips down below my my feeder, but so would I put it on top or would I put it under some bark chips
Ian:and then I It can it attaches directly to your feeder. Oh, I see. So it'll hang underneath?
Janine:It's a big, like, nylon tray, and it's got strings that you attach to the bottom perches of your feeder.
Ian:And so it it will catch a bunch of stuff, and then other birds that that are maybe like juncos or something like that that that are more, in tune to eating off the ground will come out in the in the seed hoop. Got it. Wow. Okay. But then then there's the Zed stuff.
Ian:The Zed. Yeah. It's
Bryn:I love that. That that that's fantastic stuff. But what do people lean to?
Janine:Garden friendly. The garden friendly,
Ian:that one they lean to. And the and the the medium sunflower chips. That's the that's our those are our big sellers always have been.
Janine:And, yeah, the birds love that. It's just got the perfect balance of that those fatty acids that they need for the wintertime and and the non mess. Yeah.
Ian:Good energy food.
Janine:Energy food, and it makes sprout.
Bryn:The other thing too, and I think this was on an earlier episode, I now the squirrels love our feeder. We have not a ton of squirrels, but but we do get visitors at the same time every day. I don't know how they do it. Yeah. I but it's like you could set your watch by our squirrels.
Bryn:That's crazy. However but I've started out putting it on the ground level. Mhmm. Because one, you can't see them. Mhmm.
Bryn:They seem uncomfortable in the bird feeder, but on ground level, they move around and they just try to find all of the the all of the little peanut shells or whatever they they could find. But what it also does is it leaves more time and space for the birds to actually come to the bird feeder. So thank you
Ian:for that that little tip. Yeah. Yeah.
Bryn:You know? But foraging is a good idea, though, right, not just at the bird feeder.
Ian:Oh, yeah. No. It's it's a totally good idea. It's that's that's that's nature in your yard. That's what you that's that's the whole game.
Bryn:Got
Ian:it. And now that we know we we have to change the name to Nutrazaph. Sorezaph. Nutrazaph. Wow.
Ian:We'll get Stacy we'll get Stacy over in the in the with the felt And
Bryn:you know what's funny is that I generally know the names of that stuff, but I just I could not even remember that. That was just such a disaster on my part on this episode today. Okay.
Ian:Don't worry. We'll forget about
Bryn:it sooner or later. By the time we get to the next episode. So we've got seed trays. That's that's pretty much it. Is there any other secret success?
Bryn:And I also have a a a a basically, a birdbath close by as well for water because Yeah. Who wants to eat all that seed and not have be able to wash it down with some water?
Ian:Absolutely. You gotta have some water or something to
Janine:You said it again.
Bryn:Absolutely. Yeah. He did it again. You. You've been pretty good, though, the last
Ian:couple of episodes. I've working on it. I've been working.
Janine:Yeah. Absolutely.
Ian:I'll give
Janine:you I'll give you one absolutely per episode.
Bryn:There you go.
Janine:That's it.
Bryn:He's been he has been good. We do have to give him that. Yeah.
Ian:Actually, just a little bit.
Bryn:You know what's absolutely fantastic? You know what it is? You know what time it is?
Ian:Oh. It's time for Oh, fuck. Alright.
Bryn:A fun fact. What do we got today? What is the black swift, by the way?
Ian:Okay. Again, a super cool bird that we have here in Alberta. Okay. Mainly in in in our national parks at like Jasper and Banff. They love it around waterfalls and and really steep canyon y kind of train.
Ian:These guys are just an amazing bird. They're they're they're really hard to study. There's not a lot of there's people working really hard trying to figure out how they live and how they do things. They're very similar. We talked about night jars last episode.
Ian:Mhmm. They're also insectivores. I don't know if they time their their egg hatching to the full moon like the night jars do, but the thing that's interesting is that they fly almost always. They spend very little time on the ground or in the nest, so when actually lay eggs and the eggs hatch, the chicks have to go into a state of torpor because there's nobody sitting on them to incubate. What is that?
Ian:That is almost like hibernation.
Bryn:Okay.
Ian:So they have to slow down their whole metabolism to almost a stop, Right? Because mom and dad are off getting food and all that kind of stuff. And then when mom and dad come back, you know, they'll warm the chicks up a little bit, feed them
Bryn:And then away they go.
Ian:And away they go. And the chicks have to go back into that state of tofu.
Bryn:Isn't that amazing how that works?
Ian:That is such a, to me, that's one of the coolest little fun facts going for for for night jars. I think they are just some amazing birds.
Bryn:What was that word again?
Ian:Or or not night jars. Black Swiss.
Bryn:Black Swiss.
Ian:Yeah.
Bryn:What was that word again? They go into a state of what? Topor. Topar. There's no zed in that.
Ian:There's no zed in that, but it could but it could. We can change it. We'll do what we can. Yeah. Because and then hummingbirds can also go into that state of topar.
Ian:Really? Yeah. So if it gets super cold
Bryn:Another bird that doesn't seem to stop.
Ian:Yeah. And they they have to they they if it gets super cold, they will you can almost freeze them. Amazing.
Bryn:Yeah. That is pretty crazy. Super. Hey. Great episode today.
Bryn:Thank you. It's hard to believe that here we are at the middle of September. Yep. But, time keeps marching. And the next episode's coming up the middle of almost to the third week of October.
Bryn:So we're getting into that season now. So, we gotta be prepping everybody a little bit more for winter. But, hey, thanks for your time today.
Ian:Awesome. This has been a lot
Bryn:of fun. You bet. I'm so embarrassed, so it does not start with a z. Nutrizaff. Thanks.
Bryn:Talk to you guys later. Okay?
Ian:You bet.
Bryn:See you. Bye. Hey. Thanks for joining us today. If you're a birdbrain like me and you don't wanna miss our next podcast, then check us out on any of your favorite ear candy sites like Apple, Spotify, Google.
Bryn:There's lots of them out there. Make sure you tell your friends and make sure you follow or subscribe to our podcast. That way when a new one drops, you'll get the new one right to your home perch. And, also, if you're not as the crow flies and you can't drop into our location, check us out online at meika'sbirdhouse.com. That's it for The Birdhouse Banter.
Bryn:Have yourself a great day. Let's get chirping.