FEEDING BIRDS SEEDS DURING THE SUMMER CAN BE CHALLENGING
Feeding seeds to birds during the summer can be more challenging than during the winter months. One of the main reasons for this is in the summer the high humidity and heat encourages mold and bacteria to contaminate seeds. As a result, birds that dine on contaminated food are more likely to become infected by a number of diseases. Here are a few tips that will help you prevent this from happening.
During the summer, you often have to clean feeders every 3-5 days in order to discourage a buildup of dangerous bacteria and mold. Clean feeders with soap and water. Follow this up by disinfecting them with a solution of nine parts water and one part bleach. Dry the feeders before refilling them with seeds.
Some seeds are safer to use in summer. One of these is black oil sunflower seed. These seeds can be fed shelled and unshelled.
White millet also can resist mold and bacteria however, if you scatter it on the ground, the millet seeds will spoil quicker than they will if fed in feeders.
Avoid feeding mixed seed during the summer. The reason for this is it contains ingredients that quickly become contaminated (e.g. cracked corn and milo). Peanuts also spoil quickly in humid, hot weather.
SHOULD I USE A LAZER WHILE BIRDING?
When you are trying to tell people where a bird is perched high in a tall tree, we all have use terms such as it is at 10 0’clock or is feeding near the third limb from the top of the tree. While these directions sometimes help another birder find the bird through their binoculars, often the bird vanishes before they locate it. With that in mind, some birding trip guides and everyday birders are using laser pointers to point out the exact locations of hard to see birds. While these devices can indeed be helpful, should lasers be used for this purpose?
The American Birding Association (ABA) states that these instruments should be used with caution. Since lasers can be stressful to the birds and potentially harmful to birds and humans alike under no circumstances should lasers be aimed directly into the eyes of a bird or human. Instead, point the beam at an object near the bird.
If you choose to use a laser, use either a red or green low-power laser pointer rated in the -5mW range. Using such a device lessens the chance of eye damage.
In addition, refrain from using the device around birds that are nesting or easily agitated.
It is also important to remember that under no circumstances should a laser pointer be aimed aircraft, or vehicles,
Many birders feel the use of laser devices is unethical. As such, each of us has to decide if this potentially valuable bird tool is something they want to use.
BACKYARD SECRET – SILVER-SPOTTED SKIPPERS SHUN YELLOW FLOWERS
Sometimes a wildlife secret hides in plain sight. A good example of that is, in spite of the fact that the silver-spotted skipper visits gardens across Georgia; it is not generally known that this handsome butterfly shuns yellow flowers. While the silver-spotted skipper occasionally nectars at yellow flowers, it by far prefers feeding at purple, red, blue and pink blossoms.
If you want to see if this is true, closely watch which flowers silver-spotted skippers visit in your flower gardens this summer.
SPURRED BUTTERFLY PEA – AN ATTRACTIVE WILDLIFE FOOD SOURCE
Whenever I discover a new native plant or animal in my yard it is a great day. My latest discovery took place this morning when I stumbled across a new native plant growing on my property within minutes of the time I set foot outside. As I began my daily walk around my yard, I spotted a handful of attractive lavender blossoms blooming inches above the ground. As it turned out, I had found a couple of native perennial vines that had just begun flowering. This plant is the spurred butterfly pea (Centrosema virginianum).
Spurred butterfly pea vines attain a length only seven feet or so. A single plant will only spread over an area measuring one to three feet in diameter. My two plants cover far less of the dry, clay hillside where they are rooted.
Although the plant is much smaller than many wildlife food plants, it provides food for a wide range of wildlife. Two species of butterflies (northern cloudywing and long-tailed skipper) use it as a host plant. Its foliage is consumed by white-tailed deer and other herbivores. Even gopher tortoises will devour the plant’s leaves. The butterfly pea’s seeds are eaten by songbirds, and quail. While such uses are important, is perhaps more valuable as a food source for many native bees and other pollinators.
Since this fascinating native plant is a source of wildlife food and is also attractive, you should consider adding it to the list of the native plants growing in your yard.
TIPS THAT HELP OFFERING HUMMERS FRESH NECTAR
With heat indexes almost daily soaring above 110°F, the nectar we offer our hummingbird neighbors can quickly spoil. With that in mind, here are a couple of simple tips that help ensure that rubythroats will be dining on nectar that has not spoiled.
While summer temperatures soar, the hummingbird nectar we provide in the feeders’ spoils more rapidly than it does when temperatures are not excessively hot. With that in mind, if you are using large feeders that take hummingbirds days to drain, put them away and use smaller feeders. In addition, it is a good idea to replace the unused fluid in your feeders every couple of days.
If you notice that the nectar in a feeder is cloudy, immediately discard it. That is a sure sign that it is no longer fresh.
THE HACKBERRY GALLS – PROVIDES IMPORTANT WILDLIFE FOOD
Most of us recognize that the hackberry is a fantastic wildlife food plant. It is a caterpillar host for a variety of butterflies including the hackberry emperor, tawny emperor, snout, mourning cloak, question mark and comma. The tree’s berries are eaten by at least 48 species of birds and other wildlife. The importance of the hackberry’s berries is compounded by the fact they remain on the tree throughout the fall, winter into the next spring. And yet the tree’s value does not end there. It is a little-known fact that the galls that appear on the tree’s foliage are also fantastic sources of food.
Although the galls are not pleasing to the eye, they do not cause any real harm to the tree. These odd unsightly growths are made by insects known as the blackberry psyllids. Hidden inside the galls are tiny grubs packed full of protein.
Many birds peck into the galls and dine on these tiny morsels of food hidden there throughout the year. The tiny insects housed in galls from late summer into early fall are a great source of food for southbound songbirds.
During rhea winter insect-eating birds also dine on the insects living inside the galls. In spring, when the adult psyllids emerge, they are an important source of protein and fat for breeding songbirds and migrants heading north through the state.
Wow! It is astounding that galls that we commonly overlook are so important to so many.
BACKYARD SECRET – PARTS OF FOX SQUIRRELS SHINE IN ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT
Remarkably, when viewed under ultraviolet light, the teeth, bones, and flesh of fox squirrels shine pink. This trait is so rare that in Florida researchers use it to identify their remains at archaeological sites.
