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WATCHING FLYING SQUIRRELS DINE AT YOUR FEEDERS
Chances are, in spite of the fact Georgia is home to both northern and southern flying squirrels, you probably have not seen them at your feeders; this due, in large part, to the fact they are nocturnal.
The vast majority of Georgians will never see a northern flying squirrel since its range extends only into a small section in northeast Georgia. The southern flying squirrel, on the other hand, ranges across the entire state, including the range of the northern flying squirrel. With that in mind, I am going to focus my comments on just the southern flying squirrel.
Those of us that have mature oaks and hickories growing either in or close to our yards have the best chance of seeing these fascinating mammals. Acorns and hickory nuts are two of their favorite foods. However, they are also fond of sunflower seeds. The best way to feed them to southern flying squirrels is to place them in a platform feeder.
Some people have accidentally discovered southern flying squirrels visit their yard when the animals’ activities triggered motion-activated security lights. In addition, some homeowners point incandescent yard lights on their feeders so they can watch the animals feed. Others prefer to bathe their feeding area in the glow of red lights. Although red light is not totally invisible to the squirrels, we can see squirrels moving about.
In recent years, some homeowners have begun watching flying squirrels with using UV-flashlights. If you decide to use these special devices, read the instruction material that accompanies them. Improper use of them can lead to eye damage.
When you shine UV light on the animals, you will discover that areas on their flying squirrels’ body will appear to be pink.
Whatever source of light you use, if you notice that your light source is altering their activities, shut the lights down.
EASTERN COTTONTAIL RABBITS CAN HELP CONTROL DANDELIONS GROWING IN LAWNS
If you have an aversion to spraying herbicides on your lawn to control dandelions, the eastern cottontail rabbit just might help provide a more environmentally safe approach to weed control.
It just so happens, that cottontails are fond of dandelions. They eat the leaves, bright yellow blossoms and even the plant’s seeds. This approach works for some homeowners. These individuals report that the rabbits cause little or no damage to ornamental and garden plants. On the other side of the coin, many folks are afraid taking the risk cottontails might damage their cultivated plants.
You might want to try this control technique. If it does not help solve your problem, explore other approaches. If it does, this member of the leporidae family might be the answer to an often-perplexing problem. If you try it, you can tell your friends that you are controlling dandelions using a technique that has been around for a long time—weed control by leporidae.
MEALYCUP SAGE IS A GREAT WILDLIFE PLANT FOR CONTAINERS AND TRADITIONAL GARDENS
One of the many traits I like about gardeners is their willingness to share information with others. A good example of that is this past week during a conversation with Jean O’Shields (she and Terry Waith coordinate the Community Wildlife Project for the Garden Club of Georgia). During our call, Jean told me about a plant that was still blooming in her Ft. Valley garden long after a recent freeze killed many of her flowering plants. The plant is mealycup sage (Salvia farinacea). She was impressed with the plant’s hardiness, beauty, as well as the fact that it attracts loads of pollinators long after most plants were dead or not producing pollen or nectar.
I must admit that I had never heard of the mealycup sage. After doing a little research on the mealycup sage, I now wish that I had made an acquaintance with it years ago.
Don’t be put off by the plant’s unattractive name. Its name stems from the fact that the plant bears cup-shaped flowers covered with a dust-like substance.
While mealycup sage is not a Georgia native, it is a native of North America. Its range includes parts of Mexico, Texas and nearby states. Horticulturalists have developed several cultivars that enable gardeners to choose plants that display flowers ranging from white, blue, dark purple, to two-tone blue and white blossoms.
The plant blooms from late spring until fall. Georgia gardeners will be pleased to know the plant is rabbit and deer resistant. It also tolerates drought, is low maintenance, will grow in a broad range of soil conditions ranging from well-drained soils ranging from alkaline to acidic. It will even grow is clay soil types. The plant will grow in full sun to partial shade.
Mealycup sage is an ideal addition to traditional gardens, borders, xeriscapes as well as containers. If planted in containers, they do best in three-gallon or larger containers.
Since the plant will attract hummingbirds, bees and butterflies, it is an ideal candidate for inclusion in wildlife-friendly container gardens. Here it can be combined with other plants such as coneflowers and zinnias that are also attractive to wildlife.
If you create a container garden for wildlife and would like to earn certification in the Community Wildlife Project’s Container Gardening for Wildlife Category, download an application found on the Garden Club of Georgia’s website (gardenclubofgeorgia.org). When you visit the website, look at all of the other ways in which you can create a beautiful, wildlife friendly, backyard.
The Community Wildlife Project is a conservation initiative sponsored by The Garden Club of Georgia, The Georgia Department of Natural Resources and The Environmental Resources Network (TERN).
A HALF DOZEN PLANTS THAT PRODUCE FOODS EATEN BY BROWN THRASHERS
The brown thrasher is a permanent resident throughout Georgia. As such, if you have dense shrubs in or near your yard, it is possible that you can host one or more in your yard. Shrubby habitats provide these handsome birds insects they uncover by scratching away leaf litter beneath shrubs and trees. The birds also eat the fruits, berries, or drupes of a wide range of native plants.
Here is a list of half a dozen native plants that provide food for brown thrashers: flowering dogwood, sassafras, black gum, American holly, Virginia creeper, pokeweed and American beautyberry.
I am fortunate that brown thrashers inhabit my yard throughout the entire year. I believe this due to several reasons. To begin with, five of the six plants listed above are growing on my small patch of Monroe County. I also have a variety of cultivated and native shrubs that offer the birds places to feed, escape severe weather and cold, as well as places to nest. I also supplement the wild foods grown in my yard with suet, and seed scattered beneath my feeders. In addition, I provide brown thrashers with three separate birdbaths where they to drink and bathe.
This formula is working for me. If brown thrashers are not currently visiting your yard, or, you would like to see the birds more often, perhaps one or more of these elements will work for you too. If your lacks native food plants, there is no better time to incorporate them in your landscape than this fall and winter.
THE HUMMINGBIRD RESCUE KIT
From time to time, many hummingbird fanciers face the task of trying to save the life of a hummingbird that has flown inside a garage or other structure. If you know what to do and can act quickly, you can save the life of a bird that just seems like it cannot find its way back outside.
I have found the best to be ready for such an event is to have what I call a Hummingbird Rescue kit ready at all times. My kit includes a long-handled butterfly net, telescoping window rod, or paintbrush extension pole, roll of duct tape, a brown paper bag, hummingbird feeder, and small bottle of nectar.
Late last week, I had to use my kit to rescue a hummingbird from a laundromat. It seems that one morning around 9:00 a.m. a hummingbird flew into a laundromat. When I received the call, the bird had been flying about the ceiling of the laundromat for over five hours. Knowing the bird was tired and hungry—I had to act fast.
When I arrived and walked into the establishment, I spotted the bird flying about the ceiling some 10 feet above the floor. The laundromat had two doors, one in front and one at the far end of the facility. Both of them were left open in hopes the tiny bird would flu out. However, as usual, the bird flew along the ceiling and never dropped down where it could exit either door.
It was obvious that it would be impossible to net the bird with a short-handled net. My only chance to net it was to tape my butterfly net to the end of a curtain rod. Although a net taped to the curtain rod would allow me to reach the bird flying near the ceiling, the laundromat was so large it would prove next to impossible for me to get close enough to capture the bird in a net. My best hope of saving the hapless prisoner was to coax it down low enough where it could directly fly out of a door.
With that in mind, I rolled a metal laundry basket in front to the door on the far end of the laundromat. I put a small amount of nectar in a hummingbird feeder and hung the feeder from the bar that ran across the basket. This placed the feeder about four feet above the floor.
I then walked to the far end of the building, raised my butterfly net above my head, and slowly began walking toward the bird flying high above the dryers. In response to my approach, the bird flew toward the far end of the building. When it got about 30 feet from the door and feeder it made a sharp, steady decline and landed on the one of the perches on the feeder and immediately began drinking. It drank and drank. Even when a worker raised her arms and slowly walked toward the frightened, hungry bird it never stopped feeding. I told the attendant to stop walking when she got about feet from the bird. By that time, I too was standing closely. The hummingbird continued to feed.
After allowing, the bird to feed for a while we slowly approached the hummer. Eventually it rose up, flew out the door, and vanished over the parking lot. My rescue mission took only a few minutes and was a resounding success. I wish they were that easy.
Fortunately, I did not have to use everything I carry in the kit. However, it is always to best to carry everything you might use.
In a home setting, if a bird refuses to come down and drink at a feeder placed in the opening to a garage, you may have to catch it in your net. If you do, it is important that you do not squeeze it. Gently hold it in your hand, take it to the door, open your hand and let it fly away.
However, if the bird spent a long time in the garage before it is rescued, while gently holding the bird in your hand give it a chance to feed on nectar from a hummer feeder or shallow jar lid. You will be amazed; often the bird will begin feeding while you are holding it in your hand. Don’t dip the bill into the liquid. Let me bird feed on its own volition.
If the bird that is trapped in the garage simply drops to the floor, or has a difficult time flying, place it is a brown paper bag. Fold the top of the bag over just enough to allow air to enter the bag while preventing it from flying away. Some folks even place a jar lid containing a small amount of nectar in the bag along with the exhausted bird.
Place the bag in a cool dark place for a short while. Continue to check on the hummer’s condition. When it begins to flutter about, or seems very alert, take it out of the bag. Give it a chance to feed and then let it go.
CAROLINA WILD PETUNIA- GREAT FOR CONTAINERS
Container gardening for wildlife is rapidly gaining popularity throughout the Peach State. This novel approach to gardening allows folks to combine their love for wildlife and gardening by planting a combination of native and ornamental plants in containers to create mini wildlife habitats that are beneficial to wildlife and enhance the beauty of their yards. The Carolina wild petunia (Ruellia carolinensis) is a Georgia native plant that does well in containers.
Although you may not have heard of the Carolina wild petunia, there is a chance that you have seen it. This is due to the fact this attractive native perennial wildflower grows in natural settings as well as in our yards. However, since it sometimes pops up in lawns, some consider it a weed.
CAROLINA WILD PETUNIA//PHOTO CREDIT: Angela Dupree
This plant is definitely far from being a weed. Although the blooms of this plant look much like the blossoms found on the ornamental petunias we commonly raise in our gardens, the only thing the two plants have in common is the similarity of their flowers.
While Carolina wild petunia grows in dry soils, it much prefers to sink its roots in moist loam. It will also grow in soils containing clay. The plant grows in spots ranging from full shade to sun. As such, it will grow in most garden situations. Consequently, this plant can be a great addition to practically any container garden.
The plant grows in areas ranging from full shade to full sun.
Georgia gardeners should appreciate the fact that it blooms all the way from spring into fall.
In addition to being beautiful, Carolina wild petunia also yields pollen and nectar for many pollinators including the ruby-throated hummingbird, and a wide range of butterflies, bees and wasps.
It is also a host plant for the common buckeye butterfly.
Gardeners are successful growing Carolina wild petunia from transplants, stem cuttings, and seeds. Plants can also be obtained from nurseries that deal in Georgia native plants.
The Georgia Wildlife Conservation Section and the Garden Club of Georgia are jointly promoting container gardening for wildlife. For a list of the many other wildlife-friendly ornamentals and native plants that can grow in containers to create small habitats that are both beautiful and beneficial to wildlife, email Abbie Young at abbie.young@dnr.ga.gov You will also receive a copy of an application you can use to apply to have your container garden certified in the Community Wildlife Project’s Container Gardening for Wildlife category.
EARLY SPRING IS A GREAT TIME OF FIND BIRDS MIGRATING THROUGH YOUR BACKYARD
I think you would be amazed to know how many different species of birds actually pass through your backyard in a year. Most of these are migrants that only visit your yard during their spring and fall migrations. Some of these migrants have already begun making their way north. With that in mind, now is a great time to begin looking for them.
Most of us do not take the time search the trees and shrubs that may harbor the birds. However, in the case of those birds that occupy deciduous trees and shrubs, they are often easier to find early in spring. This is because the foliage of these plants has not fully developed. Consequently you and often catch a great look at a bird before it vanishes.
One of the best ways to recognize that the birds are present is to listen for them. Since most folks are not familiar with the calls of birds that they infrequently see in their yards, they rarely realize they came through.
However, Cornell University’s free bird identification app named Merlin solves this problem. It enables anyone armed with a smartphone to locate and identify the birds calling in their yard. Once you have downloaded the app, simply turn it on and wait. As your smart phone picks up the calls and songs of the birds, their names pop up. Beside each name, you will see a photo of the bird. You can even access a recorded call of the bird and determine if the device was correct in its identification.
One thing folks have told me they like about Merlin is that it alerts them to the presence of a bird. If they did not know it was there, they would have taken the time to look for it.
During the past few days, I heard both red-eyed and white-eyed vireos in my yard. If I were not familiar with the calls, just knowing the birds were there would be exciting.
I hope you will try it. If you do, let me know if the app added to your enjoyment of backyard birds and/or helped you identify migrants that might have passed through yard unnoticed.
Honestly, this app can help make this a spring you will long remember.
CEDAR WAXWINGS HAVE ARRIVED IN OUR BACKYARD
For the past few weeks, winter visitors have been arriving in our Middle Georgia backyard. Yesterday cedar waxwings made their first appearance.
While my wife and I were checking out the plants growing in containers on our deck, I activated my Merlin Bird Identification App. In in matter of seconds, the app detected the call notes of a cedar waxwing. Once the bird’s name appeared, I looked for the bird(s) in the trees and shrubs growing nearby. When I did not see one, I decided that Merlin had made a mistake.
Seconds later, I was proven wrong when a flock of a couple of dozen cedar waxwings swooshed in from the northwest and landed in the top of a tall red cedar tree. As the birds flew from limb to limb searching for the tree’s small berries, a slightly smaller flock joined them. We watched the birds disappearing in and out of the cedar’s thick canopy, for a few minutes, when without warning the cedar waxwings took to the air and flew over the house.
Although cedar waxwings visit our yard each winter, we do not consider them a feeder bird simply because they have never visited our feeders. Here they feed exclusively on red cedar and mistletoe berries.
However, data collected through Project FeederWatch indicate they will dine on dried fruits. One of their favorite dried fruits is raisins. There are reports that cedar waxwings can devour a half a pint of raisins in a matter of minutes. The birds will also eat halved and chopped apples and other fruits.
Although these gregarious birds do not feast at our feeders, they do visit our birdbaths to both drink and bathe.
If cedar waxwings do not visit your backyard, it could be due to the fact you are not offering them anything to eat or a place to bathe. With that in mind, consider planting a red cedar and/or other native trees and shrubs that retains their fruit throughout the winter in your area of the state.
In addition, keep your birdbath full of clean water throughout the winter. This will benefit cedar waxwings and your other backyard winter guests.
BACKYARD SECRET—WHEN IS IT TIME TO REMOVE DEAD ZINNIA PLANTS?
By this time of the year the zinnias in my gardens have, in large part ceased blooming. While there are scattered colorful blossoms here and there, most of my once beautiful flowers and plants have been nipped by an early frost. All that remains of the zinnias are brown stalks and the withered remains of the flowers they once displayed to hungry pollinators.
When each of us is faced with this situation, we must decide if we should go ahead and cut or otherwise remove the drab remains of these garden favorites. Many gardeners immediately remove the dead plants in an attempt to beautify their garden. However, I am one of those backyard gardeners that leave the plants standing.
This is done because I realize that a number of birds dine on zinnia seeds. Here is a list of some of the birds that eat the seeds of dead zinnias: American goldfinch, chipping sparrow, house finch, purple finch, cardinals and pine siskins.
I keep an eye on this unorthodox food source and remove the dead plants only after the birds have extracted all of the seeds they harbor. When this occurs varies from year to year.
DEAD ZINNIA SEED HEADS