THE VALUE OF LEAVING DRY CONEFLOWER SEED HEADS
With each passing day, the beautiful coneflower blossoms that adorned our gardens throughout the summer wither and die. When this occurs all that remains are prickly brown seed heads. When this happens often your first impulse is to prune cut them off. If you want to help many of the seed-eating birds that have called your yard home throughout the spring and summer, resist the urge to snip them off.
The reason for this is each seed head contains 200-300 nutritious seeds. Since the seed heads persist into winter, they provide seeding-eating birds with a source of food when food is scarce. Indeed these natural seed feeders are an asset to any backyard.
American goldfinches are particularly fond of the seeds; however, other birds dine on the nutritious seeds too. The list of the birds that compete with goldfinches for this bounty include blue jays, mockingbirds, Carolina chickadees brown-headed nuthatches and cardinals.
WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH A LIVE TRAPPED ARMADILLO?
In reference to the previous post, where to release the animal. This location should be at least 5-10 miles away from where it is caught. However, you cannot release it just anywhere. According to the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division, “You should not relocate or release a live-trapped armadillo onto public lands or someone else’s property without explicit permission, and holding a live armadillo requires a permit.” The WRD goes on to say, “If released on private land, you must have the landowner’s written permission.” They also recommend, “Armadillos should be released in suitable wooded habitat with cover and water.”
You should not hold the mammal for any extended period of time since to do so you need a specific state permit.
For more detailed information regarding moving live-trapped armadillos, contact the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division at 706-557-3350.
BACKYARD SECRET – MOURING DOVE NESTS CAN BE FOUND THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE YEAR IN GEORGIA
Remarkably mourning doves can be seen nesting throughout the entire year in Georgia. This is due to the fact that doves are known to nest up from five o six times a year; however, they normally nest only three times a year.
Typically the mourning dove nesting season commences February 1 in South Georgia. In spite of this, the peak of nesting season takes place from May – July.
TRAPPING ARMADILLOS
Since armadillos first arrived in the Peach State less than 50 years ago, these odd animals have become a nuisance in our yards. While we are sleeping armadillos roam our backyards hunting their favorite foods that include a wide variety of insect larvae, adults such as termites, cockroaches, as well as scorpions, worms, frogs and the like. Homeowners would consider this their feeding activities commendable, except while foraging for food they uproot valuable vegetable and ornamental plants. As a result, these odd alien animals are reviled more often than not and leave folks searching for ways to eradicate them.
Live-trapping these animals is an ideal way to control them, however, most folks that try this technique have poor results. The reason for this most do not know how to go about it. They buy a live trap, set it up and bait it with a variety of baits including bananas, rotten vegetables, fresh fruit name it. If you find an armadillo in a baited trop, more than likely it accidentally walked into the trap.
In order to be successful, a live trap needs to be large enough to hold one of the creatures. This means it should be at least 12 inches tall and 10 inches wide.
An excellent location to locate a trap (without any bait) is alongside your house. Once you have put it in place, erect a board or section of construction fencing at a 45⁰angle away from the mouth of the trap. This works because the wall of your house and the board or fencing creates a large funnel. If an armadillos wanders through the large funnel, it will eventually end up in the trap. If armadillos are foraging away from your house, set a trap up in the area they are prone to feed and create the funnel using two boards or construction fencing.
Now that that you know the secret of armadillo trapping, with patience and little luck you should eliminate the armadillo problem in your yard.
BACKYARD SECRET – FUELING RUBYTHROAT MIGRATION?
During the past few weeks the hummingbirds that have been visiting our feeders seem are on a feeding frenzy. The reason for this is they are trying to store enough fuel (in the form of fat) to power their fall migration.
Prior to migration, an adult female ruby-throated weighs roughly 1/10th of an ounce (3.5 grams). These long-distance migrants will consume enough nectar and insects to increase their weight to 5.5 grams (0.194 ounces). Each gram of this stored fat enables a hummingbird to migrate 300 miles.
THE TIMING OF THE FALL RUBYTHROAT MIGRATION
If you have been feeding hummingbirds, you have probably noticed that the number of rubythroats visiting your feeders has dropped significantly. This reason for this is rubythroats are heading south on their fall migration. Interestingly, the timing of their departure is dependent on their sex and age. Let’s take a quick look at the timing of the migration in Georgia.
If you take a close look at the birds visiting your feeders, you will notice that currently few adult males are still using your feeders. The reason for this is adult males are the first to leave. While some adult males will begin migration as early as July, most will leave in August. The adult females are the next to leave they begin their southward trek in August. The last to depart are the hummers that hatched this year. Most of these birds migrate in September.
BACKYARD SECRET – KILLDEER CAN FEED AT NIGHT
One evening this week my granddaughter called to ask me, Is it unusual see killdeer feeding in a brightly-lit parking lot at night?” She posed the question because she and her friend spotted two killdeer feeding alongside puddles of water in a large well-lit parking lot.
While killdeer do most of their feeding during the daylight hours, they do feed at night. Killdeer will hunt for food during the non-breeding season on moonlight nights. In addition, they also forage for food at night in open areas such as parking lots and athletic fields that are bathed in bright artificial light. It seems that the bright lights often attract a bounty of insects such as moths and beetles.
BACKYARD SECRET – BUTTERFLIES HAVE AN ODD WAY OF TASTING THEIR FOOD
We taste food by placing it in our mouths; such is not the case with butterflies. Unbelievably, butterflies taste food with their feet. It seems that when a butterfly lands on a flower, before it unrolls its straw-like proboscis and begins dining on the flower’s nectar, they taste the potential source of food through their feet. They are able to accomplish this amazing fete because their feet are cloaked with cells (chemoreceptors) that let a butterfly know whether the flower contains sugary nectar.
BACKYARD SECRET – HOW MUCH NECTAR DOES AN ADULT E. TIGER SWALLOW EAT IN A DAY?
The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail is one of the largest butterflies commonly seen in Georgia yards. In spite of its relatively large size (wingspan -3.5 – 5.5 inches), this colorful butterfly consumes only 0.0014 – 0.0105 ounces of nectar daily. To put this in perspective, a standard-sized paperclip weighs only 0.04 ounces.
