BACKYARD SECRET – BUTTERFLIES ARE SOMETIMES SMALLER IN THE SPRING

Mar23

       Recently my wife and I were walking about our backyard on a recent March after noon we noticed that one of our native azaleas was in full bloom.  When we stopped to admire the beautiful blossoms displayed by the large native azalea, an eastern tiger swallowtail flew in and began nectaring at the shrub’s stunning blooms.  As we watched the butterfly feed, we both noticed that it was much smaller than the tigers we normally encounter.  This begged the question, “Why is this individual so small?”

       One possible reason for this is eastern tiger swallowtails overwinter as pupae in a chrysalis.  If a butterfly emerges earlier than normal due to unseasonably warm weather, it may be smaller because it pupated before reaching its normal size.

BACKYARD SECRET – BLUE-GRAY GNATCATERS ARE NOT FEEDER BIRDS

Mar18

      Regardless how hard we try, we cannot entice all of the birds that visit our yards to dine at our bird feeders.  One such bird is the blue-gray gnatcatcher.

      This past week my wife spotted a blue-gray gnatcatcher feeding among the green leaves of a coral honeysuckle that grows beside our driveway. Today, while walking to the mailbox I spotted a blue-gray gnatcatcher in the same place.  The bird did not flush until I was about 10 feet away.

BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER

      This provided with a great view of the bird’s clean blue-gray plumage that almost seemed to shine in the morning sunlight as it flew to the bare branches of a nearby tree. Once there, it did not remain motionless for long before it began flitting about in search in spiders and small insects.

    Since these birds do not visit feeders, if you want to attract them to your yard, you must offer the feathered sprites native trees and shrubs where they will be able to forage on caterpillars, spider and tiny insects.

BACKYARD SECRET – OFFER WHITE FEATHERS TO TREE SWALLOW

Mar15

          We are rapidly approaching the tree swallows nesting season for the tree swallow here in Georgia.  With that that in mind, if you find tree swallows attempting to build a nest in one of your nesting boxes, here is something that might considering doing to help tree swallows construct a nest.

          Tree swallows just love to incorporate white feathers in their nests.  Since such feathers can often be hard for the birds to locate, you can come to their aid by simply scattering some white feathers near their nesting box. Then sit back and wait.    Since the females do most of the nest building, there is a good chance you will see her fly down and gather some of the feathers to add to the nest.

          Even if tree swallows do not use the feathers, all is not lost.  A number of other birds will add them to their nests too.

BACKYARD SECRET – ADDING NESTING MATERIAL TO NEST BOXES CAN HELP ATTRACT BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCHES

Mar12

       If you have never been able to entice brown-headed nuthatches to nest in your nesting boxes, adding 1-3 inches of dry nesting material such as pine shavings, sawdust or wood chips to a nest box just might change your luck.

       I should note the only times brown-headed nuthatches have nested in my boxes is when I added nesting material.

       Who knows?  This simple technique might just work for you.

SAPSUCKERS AID HUMMINGBIRDS

Mar9

       Since spring has arrived, any day now ruby-throated hummingbirds will begin showing up in our backyards.  When they return it is easy to believe that the sugar water we offer them in our feeders will address all of nutritional needs of these tireless migrants. Unfortunately, this is not the case.  While our hummingbird food supplies the birds with much-needed energy, it does not contain the vitamins, and minerals that are important to their diet. 

       The nectar that furnishes them typically comes from nectar gleaned from flowering plants.  The problem is many of the flowers that bloom at this time of the year are not excellent sources of nectar. Plants such as Daffodils, Bradford pears, even most ornamental azaleas produce little nectar. Fortunately, hummingbirds have another source of the sugar, minerals and vitamins they desperately need.  This food is tree sap.  A bird named the yellow-bellied sapsucker unwittingly supplies this “liquid gold.”

       This woodpecker drills shallow holes in the trunks of trees and other plants.  The sap wells become shallow reservoirs that collect tree sap.  The yellow-bellied sapsucker uses its brush-tipped tongue to mop up the sap.  To ensure that it has plenty of food, it chisels out lots of holes in concentric circles around a number of trees.

       Other critters such as butterflies, squirrels, and birds like hummingbirds also avail themselves of this unusual food.  In fact, the only Rivoli’s hummingbird I have ever seen was feeding at sapsucker holes in a tree growing in a backyard near Winder, Georgia.

       Ruby-throated hummingbirds often follow yellow-bellied sapsuckers to these holes.  However, whenever one of these special woodpeckers spots a hummingbird or other interloper feeding at its sapsucker holes, it promptly runs it off.

       I should note that this source of food is so important to rubythroats; their spring migration follows closely behind that of the yellow-bellied sapsucker. This helps ensure that rubythroats will have readily available sources of food as they proceed on their own journey north.

       I guess it would not be a stretch to call sapsucker holes Mother Nature’s Hummingbird Feeders.

BACKYARD SECRET – THE HOUSE SPARROW POPULATION IS DECLINING

Mar4

       The North American Breeding Bird Survey has found that between 1966 and 2015 the house sparrow population has plummeted 84 percent in the United States and Canada.

       Cornell University’s FeederWatch Program corroborates the decline.  Data collected volunteers taking part in this survey reveal that since 1995 the proportion of FeederWatch sites reporting house sparrows dropped by 7.5 percent.  In addition, the size of house sparrow flocks decreased some 22 percent.

       This does not mean the house sparrow is not facing extinction. Surveys indicate that 82 million house sparrows are still flying about the United States and Canada.

       This is good news, however, for those folks that for decades have been building, erecting and maintaining nesting boxes for bluebirds, tree sparrows, and many other native cavity nesting birds.  As they all know, too often house sparrows will out compete these birds for nesting sites.

BACKYARD SECRET – A WAY TO KEEP WATER OUT OF NEST BOXES

Mar1

         Here is a simple way to help keep rain out of nesting boxes.  If a nestbox is properly built (with an overhanging roof), in most cases, rain is kept from entering the box.  However, wind-blown rain is a different matter.  While it is impossible to always keep this type of rain out of boxes, you can reduce the chance of this happening by simply erecting a box so that the opening to the nestbox faces away from the prevailing wind.

 

CAN COLD WEATHER HARM BLUEBIRD NESTLINGS?

Feb25

      Recently a bluebird landlord told me that when he recently checked his bluebird nesting boxes, he found three dead bluebird hatchlings.  Since there were no apparent clues that revealed the cause of their deaths, he wanted to know that since the birds he found the young birds during a stretch of unseasonable cold weather, could the frigid temperatures inside the box could be responsible for the birds’ untimely deaths. He also wanted to know if plugging the ventilation holes found on each box would help preventing this from happening again.

       The answer to both questions is yes; extremely cold weather can cause the death of bluebird hatchlings.  In Georgia, bluebirds typically begin nesting in late February and early March.  This means that bluebirds are nesting in the latter stages of winter. As such, there is a good chance that we will experience cold weather before spring arrives on March 20.  For example, just two nights ago, after a weekend when temperatures soared to 80ºF, the temperature dropped to 22ºF.

       The North American Bluebird Society recommends that temporarily plugging ventilation holes during both cold and wet weather can benefit the hatchlings.

       Keep in mind, that the ventilation holes are designed to prevent overheating.  As such, once there is little chance that exceptionally cold weather will return, uncover the ventilation holes.

BACKYARD SECRET: DEALING WITH SQUIRRELS EATING SUET AT FEEDERS

Feb22

          If you are having a problem with gray squirrels eating more than their share of suet, here is something you might want to try.  Typically, squirrels prefer eating suet laced with peanut butter and peanuts.  If this is the case in your backyard, simply replace the peanut butter suet with plain suet. While birds will eat it, it seems that bushytails are not particularly fond of plain suet.  While this solution might not work in all backyards, this simple, inexpensive approach to this problem just might work for you.

EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES HAVE NOT ALWAYS BEEN SEEN AT GEORGIA FEEDERS

Feb18

          There are three exotic species of birds that can be seen at most Georgia birdfeeders.  These birds are the starling and house sparrow and Eurasian collard-dove.  While none of us were around when starlings and sparrows were introduced to the United States, if you were feeding birds during the 1980s, you probably remember when Eurasian collared dove first flew into your backyard.

          Supposedly, a bird breeder living in the Bahamas was burglarized in the 1970s. During the event Eurasian collared doves escaped their confinement.  Sometime thereafter during the same decade Eurasian collared-doves had leap-frogged to Florida.  By 1989 the birds were seen in as far north as Florida’s Lake Okeechobee.   In 1989 the collared doves were seen in North Florida.  The birds were spotted in South Georgia by 1998. In 2006, the birds had spread across the entire state except for extreme Northeast Georgia.

           When they visit feeders they most often dine on black oil sunflower seeds, corn mile and wheat.

          When I began feeding birds decades ago, I never thought I would see the likes of a Eurasian collard-dove at my feeders. While they rarely visit my feeders nowadays, I regularly see them perched on utility wires in cities and towns.

         If another exotic seed-eating bird appears in the United   States, there is a good chance it will suddenly appear at a backyard bird feeder.  Keep watching.