How To Attract Breeding Birds In The Fall - Pt 1.

When it comes to attracting breeding pairs into your backyard, Spring is usually the time. But what if you want to attract those that will breed in the fall and stay throughout the winter while their babies hatch and grow? Can it be done? Of course it can, if you simply know what to do.

Many people don't start feeding birds until severe or cold weather breaks out, and they are missing out on some prime time to lure new birds to their yards. Fall is the real season to begin feeding birds, even if there are natural foods that are abundant around your yard, or around the area. And, since some of these natural foods are readily available, you may not see a massive influx of birds into your yard just yet. Instead they are out gathering up those natural goodies that they love.

The birds that will visit your feeders however are mainly scouting out food sources that will be available when the natural foods they love dry up for the winter. For example, the red-bellied woodpecker and the tufted titmouse will always scout out feeders, food sources, and safe places to nest during the winter months well in advance of the bad weather setting in.

Keep this in mind: cold will increase the calorie requirements that

birds have and it will happen right at the time that normal food becomes harder to get. The insects stop flying and wiggling around, tree buds are suddenly iced over, wild fruits are no longer growing, and so on. So, birds have to be ready for the weather, which is why they take plenty of time to figure out where the food supply will be when they will really need it. They note where food will be available, they locate alternatives when it comes to natural food sources, and they take inventory of contingent provisions.

It's always a good thing to have your yard included in their inventories of where food will be. If birds discover that your yard is worth visiting, they will remember that. And, when they first snow storm hits that kills off their natural food sources, they'll be in your yard right away. Chirping, hungry, and calling to their friends that they found food.

To attract these birds to your yard, you want to make sure that you offer a variety of the following foods:

1. Black oil sunflowers

2. White millet

3. Niger

4. Safflower

5. Cracked corn

6. Broken nuts

7. Suet (in hanging baskets for woodpeckers)

8. Chopped up fruits (for birds of all types)

You can buy these seeds and feed at most major discount stores, and at specialty pet or animal stores. If you are interested in buying fruits for the birds, make sure that you read up on the particular fruits that are native to your area, such as apples, peaches, strawberries, and more. These are the fruits that will attract birds that will stay throughout the winter.

In the next part of this "how to" blog, we'll show you other tricks that you can use to ensure that birds are constantly visiting your yard throughout the winter months as well as breeding there.

Breeding Cockatiels In Your Cages for Coins

In Birdland, the name of the game is earning coins to buy bigger and better things and birds. To do this, you can work forever buying and selling Budgies, or you can find a better way. One of the easiest ways to build up a massive coin bank is by buying, breeding, and selling Cockatiels.

To start out, you will want to buy at least two Cockatiels, preferrably one white and one gray - but it doesn't matter which color you prefer. The gray ones will cost you 15,000 coins (yes sounds like a lot but the turnover is great) and the white ones will cost you 15 feathers. Just make sure that you have a male and a female so that you can breed them. Take care of them until they are grown.

When you start breeding, you want to make sure that you have plenty of room in your cage and breed them as often as you possibly can. Now, the good thing is that even though the white Cockatiels only sell for 6000 coins, when you breed them with the gray ones, they are now worth 13,000+ and when you breed the gray ones together, they are now worth 18,000+.

You will get all sorts of different color variations when you breed the white and gray together. Some of these include solid yellow, a mix of gray, white, and yellow, as well as some with turquoise spots on their faces. If you are breeding two gray ones together, you will always bank a profit of 3000+ coins. If you are breeding a white and a gray together, you can bank anywhere from a 2000 to an 8000+ profit, depending on the color variation. Plus, once you get to the point where you're breeding and selling the ones that you've already bred from (and didn't pay for), you will start making a 12,000-18,000+ profit per bird.

So, if you don't have Cockatiels in one of your cages that you're breeding and selling, make sure that you start doing so. By breeding and selling them, you'll find that your coins will quickly go up by leaps and bounds.

Want to know more about Cockatiels in general? Check out these great posts here on our Birdland blog:

Birds of Birdland: The Cockatiel

Teaching Your Bird the "Step-Up" Command

Top 5 Popular Bird Species

Budgerigar Color Mutations

The exact science of budgie color genetics deals with the different mutations and how hereditary they are. These mutations cause the different feahters to change color in the birds when they breed. For example, in the wild, Budgies are normally called "lightgreen" as they contain a black type melanin called eumelanin as well as a basic yellow pigment called psittacofulvin. Other parrot species produce different advanced-psittacin that gives them the ability to produce different colors such as oranges, pinks, reds, and even peaches. But, when these feathers are explosed to sunlight, only the blue part of the spectrum is reflected by their eumelanin granules. Since the blue light passes through the yellow layer of their pigmentations, it results in the lightgreen coloration that we know and love in parakeets.

Of course, there are tons of color mutations that have been bred into them in captivity. All of these fall into four major groups:

Albinism: this is where the eumelanin is partially or completely reduced in the body tissues and structures of the bird

Dilution: this is where the eumelanin is reduced only in their feathers

Leucism: this is where the eumelanin is completely reduced from total or localized feather patches

Melanism: this is where the eumelanin is increased in the feathers

Some of the more popular mutations of budgies colors include:

Dark: this is where they turn a dark green and cobalt blue or olive and mauve

Goldenfaced: this is where they have a golden sheen to their faces

Violet: this is where their feathers are a beautiful purple or violet color

Dilute: this is where they can be any different shade of yellow or white, or a suffused white

There are tons of different colors in between all of these different mutations and you will notice that the chicks you breed will all look different from each other, and normally different from the parents as well. So, don't get discouraged if your first brood doesn't have much in the way of looks or doesn't have any of the different mutations that you were hoping for. Each budgie is special in their own way and you will find that they will all grow up to be beautiful birds.

Birds of Birdland: The Cockatoo

The Cockatoo is a larger bird that many people confuse with the Cockatiel. They are actually any of the 21 species that belong to the bird family Cacatuidae, and are a species of parrot as well. In the wild, they are found throughout Australia, the Philippines, some of the eastern Indonesian islands, New Guinea, and the Soloman Islands.

Cockatoos are easily recognizable by their crests and curved bills and are generally larger than most other parrots. Their size difference is the easiest way to tell them apart from the Cockatiel, who is the smallest of all the parrot species. Of course, the plumage of the Cockatoo is a bit less colorful than most parrots, being mainly white, black, or grey - but they have beautifully colored crests, and usually colored cheeks and tails as well. Cockatoos are very popular birds among bird lovers, although they do take a lot of care, which is why many newer bird owners choose the smaller Cockatiel.

Their main diet is made up of seeds, fruits, flowers, and insects and they are very social birds. They like to eat in flocks, especially on the ground. But, they only like to eat later in the day when the sun has gone up and warmed their nests. Then, they love to travel around in very noisy flocks looking for food. Since they love such a wide variety of different foods, you can start off with a normal diet of prepackaged Cockatoo food and then add fruits and vegetables as well as other treats. If you aren't sure what else they can have, talk with your local vet, check for special home recipes online, or talk with local breeders or pet stores.

When it comes to breeding them, Cockatoos are monogamous birds, meaning that one pair will bond for many years. Most Cockatoos will actually pair up for life before they have even reached sexual maturity, and will even delay breeding for about a year. The females will breed normally for the first time when they are anywhere from three to seven years old, and males will be a bit older when they are ready to breed. Cockatoo's sexual maturity is delayed so that they can develop the skills needed for raising and parenting their baby birds, and is much longer than other bird's sexual maturity.

One of the main reasons that Cockatoos are kept as pets, and popular ones at that, is due to the fact that they are very smart and have engaging personalities when it comes to humans. They can be problematic however, and love to eat drywall and other areas around homes that can cause them harm and harm your home. Making sure that they have plenty of toys that they can tear up and destroy and affection will keep this from happening. They are very affectionate birds and will become really attached to their owners as well as some other people, but the will also demand attention from you. While it is hard for them to mimic human sounds, it can be done with a lot of work from their owners. They love different sounds, such as cartoons, music, talk from their owners, the radio, and more, so it's always a good idea to leave some noise on to help them work on their ability to mimic noises.

If you are considering getting a Cockatoo, you do need to know that they live a very long time. Normally, a Cockatoo will live anywhere between 30 to 70 years, although it has been reported that some have lived over 100 years.

Earning Coins With Normal Activities In Birdland

Want to earn more coins in Birdland so you can buy bigger and better birds, cages, and goodies? Of course you do, and we want to help you out. Here are some of the different things that you can do in Birdland so that you'll gain coins just from every day things:

1. Breeding birds: While breeding itself doesn't make you any coins, selling

the adult birds later will. For example, if you breed two love birds together and then let the baby grow to an adult, you can easily make over 1000 coins per bird you sell. The trick is to breed as often as you can and breed all of the different birds that you own. The different colors will help the sale proceeds as well.

2.Cleanliness is next to coin-ness: Each day, clean your cages then visit neighbors and clean theirs. Just cleaning your neighbor's cages can earn you a decent amount of coins each day, depending on how many neighbors you have!

3.Treasure chests: Make sure that you log in daily to get your treasure chest bonus and visit your friends to gather theirs too! This is an excellent way to make a lot of coins without doing anything at all.

4. Neighbors: You want to have as many neighbors as possible so that you can visit them and help out. When you get a help request, make sure that you accept it and that you make sure that you do whatever the pop up asked to you - such as loving their birds, feeding them, and so on. Also, you will want to do other things while you're there too!

5. Feeding: Feeding your birds will cost you coins, but yield experience. So, while you're at your neighbor's cages, feed their birds completely in all of their cages. This will earn you both experience and coins. Don't pass up any of their other cages, make sure you get them all.

Do these five things daily and you'll start to see your coins build up and up and up!

Buying And Selling Birds In BirdLand

When it comes to your cage, you strive to have the coolest birds possible right? So, what do you do if you are short on coins and really want more birds? Well there are several ways that you can get the coins you need to buy more birds or even gain some free birds. Here are several tips on buying and selling birds to help you build up your cage with ease:

1. Buy cheap birds when you can - Start off with the cheap birds that the store

offers and when they get to an adult, you can sell them for a profit. Of course, cheaper birds won't sell for as much as higher priced birds. So, it's always a good idea to raise a few of the cheaper birds, breed them for more free birds, and then sell and buy more expensive birds. It won't take long before you have a pretty good amount of cash!

2. Breed your birds - When your birds turn into adults, breed them so that you can gain new baby birds and then you can sell the adults. This is an excellent way to gain new and unique birds for your cage without spending any cash at all. To breed your birds, simply click on one of them and then click "Breed". That bird and a bird of the opposite sex will fly down to the little hay on the bottom and cuddle for a bit. Then, a small egg will appear and you'll get a notification that they are expecting a baby bird. The cool thing is that when you breed birds, you don't always get the same color bird that you bred. So, breed together two different colored birds and you will get a unique baby bird that you cannot buy in the shop. Aside from getting unique colored birds, you'll be able to sell them for more money than a normal bird. Make sure that you've got plenty of room though, so that you'll have room for all of these babies!

3. Sell adult birds - You can not actually sell your birds until they are adults, so you will have to wait until they are adults before you can sell them. Just make sure that you breed them with several different colored birds before you do sell them so that you will get the most birds from your breeding and find some unique colored birds to sell and enjoy.

4. Specialty birds - There are plenty of times when special birds will pop up on your screen. These include endangered birds, oil covered pelicans, penguins, and more. Share these with your friends whenever you can and buy one for your self with Facebook credits. (Facebook credits are cheap, such as 70 for only $7.00.) When you can, buy one of these for your cage. If you can buy two of them, breed them and sell them for more money.

Once you start to play around with buying, breeding, and selling birds, you will find that your money will get a large boost without doing much work. Plus, you'll start to really build up some very unique birds and fill your cages with some that you cannot buy anywhere.