No red coloring is necessary. The red on the feeders is enough to attract birds. Study the wood warblers. By the time you are reading this column, migrants will have been arriving for several weeks. Go to the beach.
Shore birds are our first arrivals.
Look for red knots in the surf. They should be there in small flocks, running into the waves and out, each bird in perfect synchronization with the next. Their breasts will be starting to turn red. Beside them may be ruddy turnstones in harlequin patterns, with red legs and feet. Groups of black headed laughing gulls will be gathered with terns, Sandwich terns, tiny least terns, larger Caspian terns with dark orange bills, and royal terns with golden yellow bills.