Don't forget to feed the birds!

[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

[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).