Summer Bird Feeding

Backyard bird feeding continues to grow as a hobby, and one of the fastest‑growing areas of interest is summer bird feeding. More people are discovering that they can enjoy their birds all year long. Watching birds from the warmth of your home in winter is wonderful, but it can be equally—if not more—engaging to watch them from your deck or patio during the summer months. In warm weather, you not only see the birds up close, but you also hear them and may even interact with them directly. The birds benefit from this relationship too, especially through the increased access to high‑quality nutrition. Newly fledged young and adult birds alike need excellent summer food sources high in protein and fat to support growth, feather development, and overall health.

Provide Essential Protein with our FeatherPro™ SuperBlend®

Be seasonally savvy by feeding our SuperBlend food collection. FeatherPro® SuperBlend® includes high protein, high fat ingredients birds love to promote feather growth, development and functionality. Healthy, functional feathers are critical for survival. Our FeatherPro SuperBlend foods are designed by experts to provide not only the protein and fat needed to grow feathers but also include calcium to support bone growth and development as well as egg development. From baby birds to adult birds, they all need the right nutrition to support strong bones and feathers. Growing new feathers, molting, replacing damaged or lost feathers - it supports all of those needs. Includes Sunflower Chips, Peanuts (halves and small peanut pieces), Bark Butter® Bits with calcium, Dried Mealworms, Tree Nuts, NutraSaff™, and Pecans. Offer alone or mix with your favorite WBU seed blend.

Why Protein & Fat Matter for Birds

Protein needs are highest from hatching until a bird reaches full adult size and weight.
Protein is the building block of strong feathers — in fact, feathers are over 90% protein, made mostly of keratins.
Fats provide the energy needed to grow feathers and supply the pigments that create vibrant colour.
Young birds need extra protein for flight feathers and extra fat for proper colouration, which later helps them attract a mate.
A diet low in protein and fat can lead to dull colours, frayed or curved feathers, and poor insulation or flight ability.
Growing feathers requires both amino acids (protein) and lipids (fats), so birds naturally seek out foods high in both during growth and molt.
Lipids — fats, oils, and waxes often found in tree fruits — supply energy, essential fatty acids, and pigments.

How Birds Get Their Feather Colours

Unlike clothing dyes, feather colours come from natural pigments in lipids and from structural feather elements.
Carotenoids create reds, oranges, yellows, and even violets.
Melanins and porphyrins create blacks, browns, greys, and related tones.
Blues and whites aren’t pigments at all — they’re created by light reflecting off feather structures.
Greens are a combination of carotenoids, melanins, and structural reflection.

Colour = Survival & Reproductive Success

In many species, carotenoid‑based colour is essential for breeding success.
Birds with brighter, richer colours are more likely to attract mates because their plumage signals good nutrition and strong health.
A male House Finch with brighter red plumage has a better chance of attracting a mate.
A male Red‑winged Blackbird’s ability to defend territory and attract multiple mates depends on the size and brightness of his red epaulettes.

Protein and Fat Requirements Found During Bird Research

Lynda and I see the need for protein and fats and the results of a lack of sufficient protein and fat in a birds diet during our Bird Migration Monitoring Research Project at the Tommy Thompson Park Bird Research Station and our Simcoe County Banding Suburban Backyard Bird research project. The banding of birds is a significant part of these two projects. The data collected on each of the banded birds includes the age of the bird. The age of the bird is determined by the birds feathers. Part of the aging process is to check the birds feathers for missing, growing and/or replaced feathers.

Adult Birds

An indicator that tells us a bird is an adult (the bird was hatched in a previous year) is the symmetrical replacement of a primary or secondary wing feather. Symmetrical replacement is the replacement of the same feather on the two wings. The primary and secondary flight feathers are large feathers and require a lot of proteins and fats to grow the new feathers. During the growth of these new feathers the adults may also still be feeding young. The images below are of an adult female Black-capped Chickadee replacing a primary flight feather, probably still feeding young (her brood patch is still very evident).This bird was part of our Simcoe County Banding Suburban Backyard Bird research project. The "New feathers Growing" indicates the replacement and growth of two primary feathers. The "Greater coverts" indicator by itself could indicate a hatch year or adult bird.

Hatch Year Birds

A simple indicator of a hatch year bird, a bird hatched in the current spring/summer is a growth bar or fault bar. Growth and fault bars are easily seen because a section of feathers in the same location will have the same pattern, typically across the tail feathers but will show in the primary and secondary wing feathers. A growth bar shows as a lighter colour than the rest of the feather and the fault bar shows as an actual break in the formation of the feather. A growth bar or fault bar can also be found in a single feather or staggered across a section of feathers, but this would indicate an adult bird. A growth bar and fault bar represents a period of time in which the bird did not get enough protein or fat in its diet to grow the feathers properly. Often the feathers at the fault bar are brittle and can break off easily.

Picture on the left - growth bar in a tail of a hatch year bird; picture on the right - a fault bar in the primary and secondary feathers of a hatch year bird

Customer Backyard

Bald Headed Male Cardinal

Not a common sight but it does happen and usually in cardinals and blue jays. The debate is whether this is an unusual molt versus feather mites. In either case a healthy available food source will help this bird replace the lost feathers. Note the cardinals ear. How cool is that!

Customer picture by M Bell.