Don't forget to feed the birds!

[gixxerific]

I was going to put this in wildlife section but there is not much traffic there.

Birds area a form of organic gardening, because the more bugs they eat the less you have to do about eradicating them chemical or organically.

I have been meaning to get more bird seed, I kept forgetting this week. Just got back with some and before I was in the house there were 5 birds on my tree checking it out (not a single one before) less than 5 min later there were 12+ in my tree. They are on it, I'm hoping to keep them coming back and take care of my bug problems if there are any.

Just a friendly reminder. Have a good day!

[rainbowgardener]

Absolutely agree. We always keep the birdfeeders full, have tons of beautiful birds (and very few obnoxious ones, by careful choice of seed and feeder types). And I do think that is one reason why my garden is so low maintenance and I have relatively little trouble with pests other people complain of, Japanese beetles and whatnot. Many birds that come to the feeders, also eat insects at least part of the time.

[applestar]

In areas with freezing weather, it helps the birds to give them water during the winter too. When I go out to feed the birds, I take out a pot of warm water to put in the birdbath, and I also keep a birdbath deicer plugged in.

[Sage Hermit]

A lot of the seeds in the feeders can be organically grown and harvested at the end of the summer. Thats what I'm doing.

~one day I was sitting down on my farm and just watching the birds and I noticed this lovely butterfly. I thought " boy I really don't see many of them these days!' Just then a blue jay came by and I heard this loud snap as it caught it in its beak. :/

[soil]

don't forget to plant things that have food for birds. much easier than buying seed all the time. perennial shrubs with small berries are loved. sunflowers let to go to seed of course. this will not only give your birds food, it will give them habitat and housing to stick around and do there job 24/7.

[gixxerific]

don't forget to plant things that have food for birds. much easier than buying seed all the time. perennial shrubs with small berries are loved. sunflowers let to go to seed of course. this will not only give your birds food, it will give them habitat and housing to stick around and do there job 24/7.

Very true but right now there's not a lot growing so feeding them is the next best thing. We have several little flower garden strewn around my property that the birds like soon well will be in full swing soon my friends. I make extra sure to bring in the hummingbirds there are a bunch around here and nothing is more cool than watching them float around the flowers and feeders I have.

[bagardens]

I heard this from a pest control company actually. Its quite true. I was asking for a way to keep pests out of the garden and this was one of the things they suggested.

They don't do organic pest control themselves, so they gave me a few things. They hummingbirds are my favorite. So lovely.

[GardenGeek]

Agreed! But I have got one problem with this idea that is somewhat related to health. I have japanese beetles problem in my garden last year and I treated it with milky spores.

Someone gave me the same idea which you have told but I thought that doing this there would be lots of bird poops in my garden. I don't know whether bird poops can raise health issues or not but I am just so scared to it(don't know why). Can any one please clear this issue for me so that next time I can employ birds to eradicate any insects or beetles problem? I also heard that birds poop cause respiratory issues.

[applestar]

I don't know whether bird poops can raise health issues or not but I am just so scared to it(don't know why)

Avian Flu related marketing propaganda?

Bird poop dry up and get blown around by the wind. I don't think you can get away from them unless you lock yourself away in a cleanroom.... It's not like you're picking them up and putting them in your mouth.

We had a discussion earlier in another thread about immune responses and certain amount of exposure strengthening your immune system, whereas over conscientiously eradicating germs can actually make you weaker and more prone to infection....

Do you take your shoes off at the door?

[rainbowgardener]

We have lots of birds, but it is not like the yard is covered in bird poop! Never has seemed like much of a problem to me. I mainly notice droppings when the mulberries are on the tree and the droppings turn purple-- they seem to stand out more!

But really for ordinarily healthy people (not severely allergic or asthmatic) I think it's a non-issue. I think if you've heard any "warnings" about that, it's probably more oriented to keeping birds indoors. Sealed up houses that are mostly air tight, tend to have very bad indoor air quality and having caged birds might add to that.

[gixxerific]

An observation I came to this morning. I have 2 big Willows in my yard approx. 50 ft apart. It has been snowing like crazy all day. The tree with the bird food and water has had 20 - 40 birds in it most of the time (Yes I counted) the other with no food might have about 5 - 10. I have checked and checked again same thing, food tree = tons of birds - non food tree = not so many birds.

Just an observation, not that they are all over the food just hanging out but I'm sure it has something to do with something.

[Zapatay]

I - for my 3yr old - pathetically attempted to make a bird house... after a few hours I decided to simply cut up a empty gallon of milk and hang it outside... the birds were encircling it within a couple of hours...

Doesn't require a lot to satisfy those lil ones does it?

and to think I was wearing some carpenter gear, goggles, gloves, hair up in a bandana.... when I could have just stayed in the warmth of the kitchen and with a milk jug and scissors, get the same response.

I need to yahoo search for more easy - nature minded - crafts.

[GeorgiaGirl]

Definitely; I love my bird friends! As I've been planting more things over the past year, I've been doing as Soil suggested, planting things that grow their own food naturally for birds. I do try to keep the feeders full, especially throughout winter, but they have plenty of food growing now even if I lapse a bit.

I have, however, somehow failed miserably in the hummingbird department... oh well.

[rainbowgardener]

Top favorites that hummingbirds come to in my garden are all vines:

trumpet creeper, honeysuckle trumpet vine, cardinal climber (an annual).

They also like red salvia and red bee balm a lot. I always grow some bee balm in a container on our deck. The hummingbirds come right up on the deck with us to get to it.

We also always have a feeder up for them and change the food at least weekly, more when it's hot. But much of the season they prefer the flowers to the feeder. At the end of the season when they are getting ready for the big migration, they prefer the concentrated energy of the feeder.

[applestar]

Birdbath heater is still working...
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[MC Mixin Bricks]

I do not have a picture of it yet, but I will this summer. I am talking of course about the stickpile I am growing next to the lombardi poplar in the backyard. now its 10' x 4' x 4'. birds love it my underlining goal behind it is to get a bunny to make it its home.

[GeorgiaGirl]

MC, I forgot about my stick piles... our property has woods on it and surrounding us on two sides, and there are a ton of fallen trees as well. We wouldn't dream of having them removed... lots of bugs move in and provide food for all our insect-loving birds. We have so many gorgeous woodpeckers because of it... LOVE my woodpecker friends!

[rainbowgardener]

Yup! Love them stickpiles... I've cleared a ton of Japanese honeysuckle shrub from my hillside. It goes into brush piles along the property edges, which then become habitat for birds, squirrels and all kinds of things...

[gixxerific]

I can't do a stick pile my dog will chew them up in to mulch wait a minute that might be a good idea now that I think of it. Free mulch. She likes little stick and BIG sticks

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[GeorgiaGirl]

Gix, your pup is too cute! I'm laughing at that last one... my pups would be in HEAVEN if they got to play with a "stick" that big. As it is, I sometimes see them trotting around with branches 5x longer than they are.... crazy puppies!

[gixxerific]

Thanks GG that's actually a 8 foot long landscaping timber.

About birds and dogs, I saw another spot on the news today with a local wild bird specialist who was saying to keep your little dogs and cats in or at least watch them. The snow covered ground around here is making it hard for the Great Horned Owls to get their normal fare of mice, skunks and raccoons etc. It is their mating or breeding season (one of the two, probably breeding) so they are hungry. They have been picking up small pets for food. The G H Owl can fly away with something up to half it's body weight and they can't fly away with they kill than dismember and come back for the rest. How sweet.

[GeorgiaGirl]

YIKES!!! Our pups are indoor dogs, although the two young 'uns love playing hours outside every day (especially in this snow!), including at night... they weigh 55-60 pounds each, so that'd have to be a huge owl to carry one of them off... still, when they beg and plead to go out and play at night, I will be telling them no thanks to this info!

[cynthia_h]

Just take 'em out on leash at night if they need to "do their thing."

Cynthia, Lives with big dogs, too, and cats

[gixxerific]

Those dogs are big enough plus you are Ga don't know if you have the same thing going on there. We have quite a few owls around me. I was coming home today and a Red Tailed Hawk, which there are tons of here, swooped across the road right in front of me to get something. I dang near hit it.

I tried to see if I could find a link to the piece on the news channel but my anit-virus tells not to go there. That's weird it's a major news station, FOX.

[GeorgiaGirl]

Yikes about the hawk! I've actually never seen or heard an owl here in Georgia. Even so, my pups could fend for themselves... I'd be more worried about the owl!

LOL, your anti-virus software must be liberal! (no offense to my liberal friends here; I'm very liberal in some ways, very conservative in others!)

[gixxerific]

LOL, your anti-virus software must be liberal! (no offense to my liberal friends here; I'm very liberal in some ways, very conservative in others!)

Yeah that's a good one.

I think it's too liberal, cause I spent a the past day or so trying to bring my PC back from the dead. It detected a virus but couldn't do anything about it than CRASH!-wall- I couldn't do anything not even start in safe mode. I fixed it though I'm good like that, aint nothing I can't fix. Heh heh maybe my anti virus is trying to make up for that little boo boo.

[Sage Hermit]

Fucsia are mainly what I use to attract the humming birds.


I have a question. Are there any nitrogen fixing bird food plants out there that you know of?

[applestar]

Taller growing clovers like Yellow and White Sweet Clovers as well as Cleome - there are Cleome species native to U.S. too. -- hummers loved them last summer.

I don't know if you're also interested in nitrogen fixing shrubs and trees but Locust -- I only have the Honey Locust, not a native -- are also supposed to attract hummers. Maybe the red/pink flowered Robinias are what they're talking about. My Honey Locust attracts Gold (and other) Finches and Chickadees when they invariably get hordes of aphids on them. The Chickadees liked it so much they moved into a House Wren house on that three, which is standing right next to the mailbox. Other Chickadee buddies like Titmouse and Nuthatches also regularly patrol the tree. And I believe Redbud is another nitrogen fixing tree that is supposed to be good for birds though I can't remember why (my Redbuds are only knee high, and only attracts bunnies who munch on the leaves, tiny branches, and bark )

[rainbowgardener]

Redbud tree is actually a legume, so it is a nitrogen fixer. Birds eat the seeds, and use the tree for cover. The seeds are persistent so can be an important winter food for birds (and deer and other creatures).