Welcome to the rainbow connection! If you’re lucky, you might see all of these Boston birds in one place… your backyard. It’s restaurant week here in Boston, so we’re all flocking (pun. intended.) to our favorite eateries.
If you want these birds to come to you, create your own restaurant week outside your house or apartment.
Above, the Northern Cardinal needs a buffet of sunflower seeds: black oil, striped, you name it. If you have sunflower, you will get a cardinal, they are everywhere, and their bright red color is a dead give away.
Next you’ll want a Northern Oriole to stop by, also unmistakable with a black head and stunning orange body. Perhaps not surprisingly, orioles love oranges. Cut an orange in half, hang it from a tree, and soon curious orioles will stop by. Really, try it out sometime before they head back to Central America for the winter.
The American Goldfinch (remember, potato chip?), loves little thistle seeds, but will also go for the cardinal’s sunflowers. Can you say Angry Birds?
Ah, the ruby throated hummingbird, our only little green bird, and the smallest bird you’ll find around Boston. The hummingbird needs a whole different feeder, filled with sugar water and colored bright red (hummingbirds are attracted to red nectar-filled flowers).
Our last bird of the rainbow is the elusive Indigo Bunting. I mean look at that little guy, it’s so damn blue. Have you ever seen anything so blue? Indigo buntings aren’t big into the inner city areas, I’ve only seen one at the Arnold Arboretum in JP, but they are known to come to feeders with sunflower seeds as well. Three birds in one! So get yourself some sunflowers, oranges, thistle and sugar water, one recipe for a rainbow.
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PHOTOS CREDIT TO: StephanieCorsentino, Kelly Colgan Azar and Mr. T in DC
