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BACKYARD SECRET – CANADA GEESE EAT BRADFORD PEARS
Canada geese have demonstrated that they are extremely adaptable. For example, they are able to live in urban and suburban areas. In fact, in some parts of the state and country, they are more common living close the humans than they are in the wild. For example, in Columbia County, my daughter and granddaughter often see them walking around Kroger parking lots, yards and swimming in small neighborhood ponds.
In order to survive just outside our backdoors, the geese often have to alter their feeding habits. In the subdivision where they live, Canada geese annually nest around the edge of a small pond located near the entrance to their subdivision. As such, they often see adult geese leading their goslings across roads and even feeding on the lush grass blanketing yards.
In typical “wild” habitats, the birds graze on such foods as lush grasses, aquatic plants, seeds, corn and other grains left on the ground after crops have been harvested. Never once had I ever heard of Canada geese eating the small fruit produced in Bradford pear trees. Several weeks ago, that changed when granddaughter and daughter found Canada geese feeding on fallen fruit beneath Bradford pear trees located in their subdivision.
It seems that late in the day, a small flock of Canada geese leave the small lake and walk across the entrance road to their subdivision. Typically, the birds begin feeding on the fallen fruit littering the ground beneath a Bradford pear growing in a side yard on one side of the road. Once they have eaten all they want at that location, the slowly cross the road and dine on the Bradford pears found in the yard across the street. This has been going for several weeks. Interestingly, this is the first year they have witnessed the odd feeding behavior. That begs the question, “Why now?”
I suspect that the birds’ traditional foods are in short supply this year. Consequently, they needed to locate other sources of foods. I doubt that the geese would have fed on the small fruit earlier. The fruits are more palatable since they have gone through several freezes and frosts that softened the fruit.
It seems that other wildlife species such as American robins and cedar waxwings will also dine on the pears during the winter. It is obvious that Bradford pear fruit is not a preferred food. Instead, it is an emergency food. This is a food that wild critters rarely eat unless they have little else to eat to ward off starvation. Even so, I would not have thought they would have turned to Bradford pears.
If you have witnessed Canada goose eating Bradford pears or other unusual foods, please let me know.
THE 5-7-9 RULE DOESN’T WORK FOR BLOGGER
In my last blog for 2025, I wrote about the 5-7-9 rule. These recommendations relate to the ideal location for a bird feeder. The rule simply states that feeders should placed 5 feet off the ground, 7 feet away from structures such as fences, shrubs and trees, and in a spot 9 feet below an overhanging limb. In the posting, I asked for feedback from anyone that has erected a feeder following these parameters.
To date, only one individual has been kind enough to share his experiences. Here is what John Kelly says about what happened when he place a feeder in his yard following the rule, “I have a feeder that met all of those criteria, but squirrels didn’t have any problem dropping 10 feet from an overhanging limb and landing on the feeder. They could easily grab onto the rough wood top. So, I covered the top with smooth metal, painted it with slippery paint, and waxed it. It was hilarious to watch them hit the top and slide right off.”
I want to thank John for sharing his experiences with us. If you have experimented with placing feeder in your yard using the 5-7-9 rule, please share your findings with us.
HAVE YOUR NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRDS DISAPPEARED?
Mockingbirds are common permanent residents across the Peach State. In spite of this, many mockingbirds do not inhabit some backyards during the winter. Did they migrate? No. Well, if they did not migrate, why did they leave and where they go?
Look around your yard; if you do not see any berries or fruits on the plants in your yard right now, chances are birds have set up winter-feeding territories that do include plants that produce fruits and berries that persist into the winter.
It seems that during the warm months of the year invertebrates make up the bulk of the mocker’s diet. As soon as the days and nights get colder and insects are difficult to find the birds’ diet primarily consists of fruits and berries. Consequently, if your yard does not contain plants that display berries and fruit, mockingbirds will set up a feeding territory that has plenty for them to eat.
While both a male and female, will often defend the same winter-feeding territory, sometimes a single male or female will defend its own territory.
If you want to retain mockingbirds throughout the winter, the best thing you can do is to plant a variety of shrubs, vines and trees that produce an abundance of winter foods. Here are just a few examples of some of these valuable winter food plants: American holly, native hawthorns, Virginia creeper, Callaway crabapple, smooth sumac, American beautyberry and hackberry.
If you successfully establish a variety of these winter fruit and berry-producing plants, chances are you will be able to enjoy the handsome beauty and songs of this popular bird throughout the entire year.
BACKYARD SECRET – WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS ARE BIG EATERS
White-throated sparrows are welcomed winter visitors to backyards throughout Georgia. They serenade us even the coldest days, and display an attractive plumage. While most folks that feed birds are excited when they appear each year, the people that have the best chance of attracting them are those that offer them plenty of food and nearby cover. In backyard settings, the birds prefer shrubs.
While the birds feed on the ground, they also dine at elevated feeders. They eat a variety of foods. The whitethroats that visit my yard seem to prefer white proso millet to all other food offerings. Other foods eaten by these beautiful sparrows include, nyger, cracked corn, mixed seed, and sunflower seeds, to name just a few.
White-throated sparrows have huge appetites. Studies have shown that a white-throated sparrow consumes anywhere from 85 to thousands of seeds per hour. The number of seeds they devour is linked to the weather; they eat more food in freezing weather.
BACKYARD SECRET – ARMADILLOS DON’T HIBERNATE
Since armadillos are rarely, if ever, seen scampering around our yards when it is cold, it is easy to assume they hibernate. In truth, they do not hibernate.
Since they are essentially hairless, they have a rough time keeping their bodies warm during frigid weather. Consequently, the only way they can keep warm on cold winter days is to retreat to burrows dug in the ground. Once the air temperature rises, these odd mammals leave their warm hideaways and resume searching for insects and worms.
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.
WHY DO WE SEE MORE CHIPPING SPARROWS AT OUR FEEDERS IN WINTER?
One of the most common birds we see at our feeders is the chipping sparrow. During the winter, it is not uncommon for me to count 30-40 “chippies” feeding in my bird feeder area. Once warm weather arrives, they simply disappear even though I provide them with as much food as I do throughout the winter.
Two of the main reasons why we see so many chipping
sparrows in the winter is the chipping sparrows that bred locally have abandon their breeding territories and migrants that were raised far to the north of Georgia. The truth of the matter is literally thousands of chipping sparrows winter in the Peach State. Once here, flocks of chipping sparrows roam places like fields and roadsides looking for the seeds of crabgrass, ragweed and the like. They are also particularly fond of feeding in our backyards. Here they find an abundance of easily accessible food.
By far, the chipping sparrows that feed in my yard prefer dining on while millet seeds. Others have found they will also eat canary seed cracked corn and hulled sunflower seeds.
AFTER FREEZE NECTAR SOURCES
This week much of Georgia suffered through the first freezing temperatures of the season. At our home in Monroe County, the temperature fell to 27º. Realizing that spelled trouble for many pollinators my wife and I brought in two plants (scarlet sage and pineapple sage) that have been hosting cloudless sulphurs for the past few weeks.
When the weather returned to normal, we put them back on our deck. In a matter of minutes, they were once again being visited by cloudless sulphurs, syrphid, and hover flies. While our efforts did not benefit many pollinators, they did provide a few with much-needed food. In addition, we extended the time we can enjoy watching pollinators at work in our yard.
Based on our success I decided to visit our local nursery (Mossy Creek) to see if any of their plants had survived the cold and were hosting pollinators.
I no sooner got out the door of my vehicle when one of the nursery’s staff called me over to look at a stunningly beautiful butterfly. The butterfly turned out to be a zebra longwing; it was the first I have seen this year. The whole time that I was there, the butterfly fed at lavender pincushion blossoms.
While I watched, an American lady joined it. Nearby, an Ocola and fiery skippers, and a couple of American ladies visited marigolds. All of these plants had survived the severely cold weather.
Later, our daughter told us that a hover fly was feeding on a late four-o’clock bloom beside her house. She also saw several pollinators visiting coneflowers at a nursery in Columbia County.
Admittedly, the weather was not kind to our gardens this year consequently; we did not have many sources of nectar available deep into the fall. However, we pledge to do better next year.
If you want to help late pollinators in your yard, the first thing you need to do is find out which pollinator plants can survive cold weather in your neighborhood. One great place to learn find this information is your local nursery. There is no better time do so than after our recent freeze. Armed with this knowledge you will be better able to address the food needs of the pollinators living close by.
When I returned home, I was carrying four pots containing cold-hardy plants that we are going to add to our yard.
BACKYARD SECRET – URBAN AMERICAN CROWS OCCUPY SMALL TERRITORIES
Researchers have found that American crows typically occupy territories measuring only 10 acres or so. On the other hand, the home ranges of crows living in rural areas are often ten times larger.
