Bird Seed Experiment

Bird Seed Experiment

Last week I wrote about Starlings. One of the links suggested discouraging them from the feeders by using safflower seed instead of sunflower seed. It said that the other birds would love the safflower seeds but all the blackbirds – starlings, grackles, and redwing blackbirds – would leave it alone.

As the blackbirds, grackles in particular, were eating most of the seed, I decided an experiment was in order. So I bought some safflower seed. These seeds looked different, a stark white instead of black. We filled two of the feeders with it and left the sunflower seeds in the other feeders until they ran out. Each time we passed the kitchen window we peeked out to see who was munching on what.

At first it seemed that the information was correct; the grackles munched on the sunflower seeds and left the safflower seeds alone. The cardinals shifted back and forth between feeders, as did the finches. Then the sunflower seed ran out. The blackbirds were not happy. They hopped over to taste the new seed and left, disgusted. The other birds were testing it out, too. They seemed to prefer the original meal but most came back. It didn’t seem to bother the tufted titmouse, or the chickadee. We even saw a woodpecker munching away. The flocks of blackbirds that sweep in and decimate the feeders were not present. A lone grackle would show up and soon leave. The experiment was working! And then…

There it was. A grackle was eating the new seed! I thought it would leave once it realized this was not the delicious sunflower seed it was used to finding. It didn’t. The bird took another seed, and another. It didn’t seem upset at all. Now comes the question – Was this an aberration or an adaptation? Would this lone bird alert its flock that the change on the menu was okay? Were we participating in an evolutionary shift?

It’s too early to tell where this will end. All I know is if the blackbirds will eat both kinds of seeds, the sunflower seeds cost less. To be continued…

Starlings are Stars - at Survival

Starlings are Stars – at Survival

According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, “European Starlings were released into New York’s Central Park in 1890 by a small group of people with a passion to introduce all of the animals mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare.” The original specimens took off, literally, until now the birds number in the millions and have established themselves across North America and Canada. A good story of survival and flourishing. Yet it is also a story of problems for homeowners, farmers, and other birds.

These prolific birds are not shy. Starlings nest in cavities so they sometimes get into dryer vents or attics, utility poles or cracks in buildings. They might even take over nest boxes and co-opt nests from native birds.

Starlings are aggressive about food, as well. They may prefer insects but they will eat fruits, seeds, plantings, and are sometime found rooting in garbage pails. They are a problem to farmers, especially as they can show up by the hundreds in freshly planted fields and feast on cultivated fruits – grapes, peaches, cherries, etc. – and may eat sprouting grains. They sometimes even damage golf greens digging for grubs.

To add to the negative profile, these birds are not neat. Their droppings are acidic and can corrode metal plus they carry disease spores that can be transmitted to livestock and occasionally to humans.

So although they are pretty birds, especially in the winter with their speckled feathers, and as they tend to flock with grackles and can deplete feeders rapidly, it might be a good idea to discourage starlings from your backyard. Here is a humane and practical way to do it without driving away the birds you prefer to have visit: http://www.songbirdgarden.com/store/info/infoview.asp?documentid=167

And here is some further info about Starlings:

http://www.wbu.com/education/starlings.html

http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/starlings.html

Worms Deserve Respect

Worms Deserve Respect

Since the weather has been so balmy recently, I decided to get my hands dirty and start cleaning up the garden. I pulled up a clump of dried weeds from underneath the butterfly bush and exposed a host of earthworms. They immediately squiggled for cover; they don’t care for light and they don’t want their skin to dry out. Each time I dug into the earth more of them appeared. It seems to be a banner year for worms.

When I was a kid the boys used to try to scare girls by dangling worms in front of us. The frequent, and expected, response was, “Ewww!” As a mom, I tried to help my own children see the value of worms, without the ewww factor.

Worms aerate the soil. They dig down and churn up the subsoil, allowing air and water to penetrate, a valuable asset especially for any garden with marl or clay. Their droppings, known as castings, contain nutrients that enrich the soil and consequently the plants that are grown there.

And worms are great recyclers. Redworms are industrious creatures. Vermicomposting is becoming more widespread. Why not use worms to eat our garbage and transform it into usable addition to our gardens? It’s a win-win situation.

How intriguing, the variety of life forms – the interaction, support, and sometimes challenge among us. We share this earth, after all. Worms deserve our respect.

Be a kid again with some simple facts about worms:

http://urbanext.illinois.edu/worms/facts/index.html

Meet Mary, the Worm Woman and learn how to make your own worm bin:

http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/worm/pg000223.html

Get serious about worms:

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~rlenet/Earthworms.html

Oh Dear, Deer

The forest looks barren and lonely in winter. Its trees still hold onto the dried, brown leaves, a memory of more verdant seasons. The wind rustles the crisp foliage in a visual image that would be a good set for a sub-titled noir film. The scene is deceptive, however. Hidden behind the dreariness is new growth, buds emerging from branches with their green promises. And somewhere within the plot and between the trees is new life. Deer are concealed there, beautiful, limber creatures that bound through the self-made paths. If this were a protected and enclosed environment it would be delightful to watch them. But deer cause problems.

This is the suburbs, after all, where houses border the rare patches of undeveloped land and cars zip by even on 25 MPH designated roadways. There is no protection here and deer often emerge at unexpected times, springing across the road into the middle of traffic. If they are lucky, the cars will stop but that isn’t always the case. I saw a dead deer among the edge grasses two weeks ago; my sister saw one this week. Then there was the time when three tiny deer sprinted in front of my car. They were young and small; they almost looked like large dogs. I pressed hard on my brakes and put on my flashers to alert the cars behind. The deer made it safely across into the woods – this time - though it might have ended differently. The number of deer-vehicle accidents is in the thousands across the United States; cars, motorists, and deer are not always compatible.

Suburbs in general, however, and deer, are. The animals prefer the edge of the forest to deep woods so these sparse woodlands are ideal. In developing the land, we have removed the deer’s predators so the deer population has ballooned. Ask landscapers and gardeners how they feel about deer and the response may be less than joyful. Deer damage trees, eat crops, destroy flower gardens. Overpopulation is not controllable by hunting in populated areas. Fences and repellents have varying degrees of success in keeping deer away. And deer are hosts to ticks that transmit Lyme Disease.

It is a shame that people and deer cannot exist more comfortably together. I would rather think Oh! Deer! with a sense of wonder in the sighting than Oh, dear! when I see one on the road. Here is an article about the white-tailed deer, the good, the bad, and the problematic, from the Cornell Cooperative Extension program: http://wildlifecontrol.info/pubs/documents/deer/deer_factsheet.pdf

Have you had any deer encounters?

Robins are Ready for Anything

Robins are Ready for Anything

The robins are here, a visual announcement of spring’s imminent arrival (a more natural indication than Punxutawney Phil’s famous predictions). It is a treat to see them. Several have been hanging out in my backyard for a couple of weeks now. The birds I’ve been watching are having gourmet meals, feasting on the now-plentiful worms in the warm ground. They are patient, standing in one place and turning their heads to better view the field. Before long they jab their beaks into the dirt and emerge with a wiggly prize. Very efficient hunters.

But there is more to American Robins than just their familiar red breast feathers. These large members of the thrush family are flexible birds. They live in a wide range of habitats, in many different environments: in backyards, parks, marshes, fields, wooded areas, and even in the tundra. They are flexible eaters, too. In the warm weather they mostly eat worms and insects, but when it turns cooler or those aren't available they change their diet and eat berries and other fruit. Sometimes they eat seeds from shrubs or trees though they are not bird feeder frequenters. Robins tend to migrate but are not fixated on a date. Their departure depends more on the availability of food than of the time of year or the weather. Some robins stay put and don’t migrate at all.

I think that this flexibility has helped the robin to be more plentiful now than when the colonists came. The newcomers found a wooded land in the east, which they proceeded to thin out for dwellings and heat, exposing the land. The robins adapted - there were worms a-plenty! And in the mid-west where forests were sparse, the colonists planted trees, giving robins places to nest and breed.

In our changing world, as the weather shifts, technologies change, and cultures merge, we could use some robin-flexibility. We need to be able to work with the new circumstances and use them to our benefit to thrive. Robins are good examples.

Answers to questions you have always wanted to ask about robins: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/search/Robin.html

And more about the American Robin:

http://www.squidoo.com/robin-in-summer-robin-in-winter#module148013736

Crocuses – They’re Up!

The crocuses are up! These are late winter, early spring flowers. They are early bloomers and hardy so that they can often be seen peeking out from a coating of snow. They come in purple, yellow, white, orange, and blue with variations of shading and spark an anticipation of the coming season even when the weather is still cold and gloomy.

This year, however, the weather has been atypical in many parts of the U.S. We have been having unusually warm weather here in the northeast. This may cause both a delight and a dilemma. The crocuses have come up earlier than usual and although they are certainly appreciated are the bees ready to do their part to pollinate the plants? And are the other flowers that are blooming before their natural time going to survive? Crocuses and daffodils probably will but others may not.

Plants usually take their growing cues from lots of areas such as the season, the amount of sunlight, how much rainfall, whether or not the ground freezes. Much as we can be confused by unusual weather, so can the plants. It will be interesting to see how this warm winter affects plant growth in general.

Mind you, I am not complaining. I love to see the burst of color from the crocuses and I look forward to the early daffodils and the late hibiscus and everything in between. Though, as the saying goes, they should live and be well. Us, too, so we can enjoy their beauty.

Something about crocuses:

http://www.gardenersnet.com/bulbs/crocus.htm

Factors that affect plant growth:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/plant-growth-factors.html

Thinking of Spring - Again

Thinking of Spring - Again

Lilies and irises are such beautiful flowers. They aren’t ready to grow around my way yet, though with this warmish winter the daffodils have put up leaves. So it was quite a delight for me to get an unexpected bouquet in the mail. It immediately brought to mind the prospect of spring. I actually like winter and particularly snow but if that isn’t happening then I am eager for spring to make its appearance.

We used to have lots of day lilies in our backyard adding early excitement to a sleepy flowerbed. There were also irises, tulips, snowdrops, columbine, daisies and a host of other colorful plants. That was when the garden was new. Most of them have succumbed to a) too much shade from now mature trees, b) bulb-loving squirrels or c) those wascally wabbits. That doesn’t stop me from dreaming, however, and trying new plants that a) grow in deep shade, b) are supposedly anathema to squirrels or c) are not traditionally known to attract rabbits. Only modest success so far. Did you know that rabbits like to eat hosta leaves?

The gardening catalogs are starting to come in the mail and I pour over them. What flowers will we plant this year? And what veggies will we grow? I think that tomatoes will be on the list again, maybe another watermelon plant, some carrots perhaps, and sweet potatoes, which I can start on my windowsill as I did last year. The plant itself is lovely. If anyone is interested in putting in a sweet potato crop, here is a great article from Neil Shelton at http://www.homestead.org/NeilShelton/SweetPotato/SuperTuber.htm on the origin of sweet potatoes and how to plant them. It even gives recipes!

I’m also thinking about zucchini and green beans.

And lilies again.

And irises.

Any suggestions for easy, shade friendly, animal-proof flowers?

Spring isn’t here yet but it doesn’t hurt to plan ahead. I still hope it snows, though.