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BACKYARD SECRET-WEBSITE THAT PROVIDES INFORMATION ON NATIVE PLANTS IN YOUR AREA
The number and variety of native plants that grow in your yard plays a key role on determining what species of wildlife will inhabit your yard. The problem is trying to determine which plants will grow in your neck of the woods.
The National Audubon Society has simplified the task of trying to identify which native wildlife-friendly plants grow in the county where you live.
If you want to access this information, go to the National Audubon Society’s website. Once there scroll to the window labeled Plants that Grow in your Area. You will see a place where you enter your zip code. Type in your zip code; press the Enter button and the plant list for your area will appear.
AN EASY WAY TO PROVIDE BIRDS WITH NESTING MATERIAL
Some backyard birds incorporate hair in their nests. In fact, my wife and daughter watched a tufted titmouse pluck hair from one of our sleeping bird dogs. This is a form of kleptotrichy.
If you want to do something to help your feathered neighbors other than provide them with food, water and cover, try offering them nesting material.
Recently my wife and I packed hair my wife trimmed from out little housedog into a wire suet feeder. They next day after we hung the wire feeder up in your backyard, the hair began disappearing. Since we have not caught any bird in the act of plucking hair from the feeder, we have are not sure what birds are using it. Perhaps it is a tufted titmouse, who knows?
If you do try offering your backyard birds hair trimmed from your family dog, make sure that it is free of flea and tick control chemicals and shampoos.
BACKYARD SECRET – TIME SPENT WITH NATURE CAN BENEFIT OUR MENTAL HEALTH
Jay Maddock, a professor of public health at Texas A&M University, reports that spending time with nature can have a positive effect on our mental health. According to Maddock, “Spending even a short amount of time in nature has been shown to improve mood and reduce stress.” He goes to say, “There are noticeable benefits in as little as 10 minutes at a time and some emerging evidence that two hours a week is beneficial to mental health.”
BACKYARD SECRET – OFFER WHITE FEATHERS TO TREE SWALLOW
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.
THE GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT – BIRDING WITH A PURPOSE
There are 365 days in the year, however during four special days in February you and your family can take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count. During these four days you will be able to join literally hundreds of thousands of bird enthusiasts living in more than 200 countries scattered across the globe in a survey designed to assist ornithologists better understand the world’s bird populations.
The 2026 Great Backyard Bird Count will take place February 13-16.
The survey is sponsored by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, National Audubon Society, and Birds Canada.
This has got to be the simplest bird survey you have ever seen. All you have to do is select an area (e.g. backyard, park, you name it) and count all of the birds you can identify in just 15 minutes. You can survey as many areas are you like during the four-day count period. In fact, you can survey the same areas each day.
Then after you complete a survey count you submit the data online. The survey form is very simple and takes only a few moments to complete. One of the neatest things about the count once you submit a survey you can visit a map of the world displaying where the counts are being held.
You do not have to be an expert birder to take part in the survey. This is because you count only those birds you can identity. Consequently, this is a survey practically everyone can enjoy.
For more information regarding this super event, simply go to your computer’s search engine and type in Great Backyard Bird Count. The website will provide you with all of the information you need to enjoy some tine birding knowing that the bird list(s) you submit will help bird conservation.
WHAT ARE THE 10 BIRDS THAT MOST OFTEN VISIT GEORGIA BIRD FEEDERS?
According to a conservation group named Avian Report the bird most often seen at Georgia bird feeders is the northern cardinal (95.6%). Rounding out the top 10 list are the tufted titmouse (94.67%), Carolina chickadee (93.78%), Carolina wren (90.22%), house finch (89.76%), mourning dove (85.78%), American goldfinch (85.78%), downy woodpecker (85.33%), red-bellied woodpecker (82.22%), and eastern bluebird (80.89%).
How does this list stack up with the birds that visit your feeders?
WHERE TO PLACE A NEW FEEDER
If you received a new feeder for Christmas, here is what some experts say is the perfect spot. They recommend you follow the 5-7-9 rule.
This means the bottom of the feeder should be at least five feet above the ground, seven feet away from a fence, shrub, tree or other object, and in a location, that is at least nine from below an overhanging limb.
Some experts say that this will help keep squirrels from raiding bird feeders. While this might help, I suspect placing a feeder in such a location will not make the feeder 100% squirrel-proof.
If you erect your new feeder in such a location, let me know how it works.
CAMELLIAS HELP WINTERING HUMMINGBIRDS SURVIVE DURING GEORGIA WINTERS
It is easy to believe that winter hummingbirds are totally dependent on our feeders to survive. Although feeders hanging in backyards have helped hummingbirds winter throughout the Southeast, wintering hummers such as the rufous have other sources of food.
One of these foods is the sap that wells up in active sapsucker holes. Although yellow-bellied sapsuckers excavate these shall reservoirs to provide food for themselves, a variety of critters such as other birds, squirrels, butterflies and even hummingbirds dine on the sugary sap found their excavations. Since the shrub also produces pollen, they attract the some of the few pollinators that also dine on pollen during the winter.
Another underappreciated source of food is the nectar is produced by winter blooming camellias. One of the best is (Camellia sasanqua). This flowering shrub blooms from fall throughout the winter.
These glossy-leaved thick shrubs also provide the tiny birds with much-needed roost sites.
If you know of any other varieties of camellias that attract winter hummingbirds to your yard, please let me know.
AMERICANS BUY LOTS OF BIRD SEED
I normally do not like to be a member of large crowds. Such is not the case with those of us that feed wild birds. Recent survey reveal that more there are more than 50 million of us in the United States. Our extremely large group annually spends more than $4 billion to purchase 1 billion pounds of birdseed!
