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MISTLETOE IS FAR MORE THAN A SYMBOL OF CHRISTMAS
With our preoccupation with attracting backyard wildlife with supplemental foods such as suet and seeds, it is easy to overlook the fact that those backyards that often attract the greatest variety of numbers of backyard wildlife are also home to a variety of native plants. One of the most underappreciated plants that inhabit the yards of many of us is American mistletoe.
Whenever the subject of the mistletoe arises, more often than not one thing comes to mind; most people regard the plant as one of the treasured symbols of Christmas. Supposedly, if a couple passes through a door adorned with a sprig of mistletoe bearing berries, it is permissible for them to share a kiss. At the end of the kiss, the couple is supposed to remove one of the berries. However, it is out of place for a couple to steal a kiss beneath a berryless frond of mistletoe.
Although this popular legend has been around for centuries, few realize that mistletoe is also an important food plant for many forms of wildlife ranging from insects to birds and mammals. This very different side to the mistletoe should further endear the plant to everyone that shares an interest in wildlife. Let me explain.
This widespread parasitic plant is the host for the great purple hairstreak. This beauty is the only Georgia butterfly that lays its eggs on the mistletoe.
Mistletoe also produces both pollen and nectar that feed countless insects. Bees frequently avail themselves of the food offered by mistletoes. Ants, native bees, honeybees, flies, also visit the plant’s tiny flowers.
Mammals such as white-tailed deer, gray squirrels, and eastern chipmunks eat mistletoe. Deer are particularly fond of the mistletoe’s protein-rich foliage.
Many species of birds eat mistletoe’s white almost translucent berries. Each berry contains two to three seeds that and enveloped in extremely sticky flesh. Among the birds that gobble up mistletoe berries are cedar waxwings, eastern bluebirds, eastern meadowlarks, American robins, northern flickers, purple finches, blue jays, dark-eyed junco, white-breasted nuthatches, American goldfinches, and eastern towhees.
Now that you know that mistletoe is a valued wildlife food plant, are you willing to say mistletoe is far more than a magical Christmas plant? I am.
PINEAPPLE SAGE IS GREAT FOR LATE SEASON HUMMERS AND MORE
There are at least 60 species of salvias. In addition, more than 50 cultivars of these popular plants are also available. There are so many varieties of salvias available it is difficult for Georgia gardeners to decide which are best for their gardens. If you are looking for salvia that blooms late from late summer into fall and provides nectar for hummingbirds, butterflies, native bees and other pollinators, I recommend you plant pineapple sage (Salvia elegans).
This plant is native in Central America. Here in Georgia it is either a tender perennial or annual. While it is susceptible to cold weather, some gardeners report that when mulched it can survive winter temperatures that plummet as low as 5˚F.
One of the things I like about pineapple sage is that it begins blooming late in the summer and will continue producing blooms until the frost ends its growing season. Consequently, in autumn, it is providing nectar when it is often a scarce commodity.
Although ruby-throated hummingbirds have been gone from our yard for weeks, they did nectar at the plants long tubular-shaped blooms before they left. However, the main beneficiaries of its nectar are now cloudless sulphur and sleepy orange butterflies, and native bees.
Over the years, many folks that have been lucky enough to attract wintering hummingbirds have told me that rufous hummingbirds frequent the pineapple sage’s striking red blossoms.
Pineapple sage grows to be 3-4 feet tall and 3-4′ wide. It seems to prosper in spots bathed in both morning and afternoon sunshine. Pineapple sage also needs frequent watering. In addition, they do best in rich, well-drained soil.
The plants are easily propagated from cuttings. Young plants should be transplanted as soon as the threat of frost has passed in your neck of the woods.
As you might expect, the blooming period in the southern half of the state is considerably long that it is in Middle and North Georgia. However, regardless of how long is blooms, when it is blooming it provides pollinators with a valuable source of food while at the same time adding beauty to our yards.
Cloudless Sulphur on Pineapple Sage
My wife and I bring our potted plants inside in the winter. The pineapple sage growing in our yard is mulched during the winter.
With the freezing weather forecast during the next several days, it is time for us to protect our pineapple sage before it is too late: This is one plant we do not want to lose.
BACKYARD SECRET–FEEDER BIRDS CAN TASTE THEIR FOOD
One of the joys of eating is that we can taste our food. As such, it is one of the reasons why we prefer some foods to others. In the not too distant past, few folks held the belief that birds also have a sense of taste. We now know this is not the case.
Whereas we have about 9,000 taste buds, the birds that visit our feeders possess only 50. Consequently, they must rely heavily on sight and touch to select foods. Instead of being located on its tongue, a bird’s taste buds are located near the tip of its bill as well as the floor and roof of its mouth.
IS IT A GOOD IDEA TO FEED BIRDS IN AUTUMN?
Back in the day, most bird enthusiasts never fed seeds to birds during the autumn months. Nowadays fall bird feeding is quite popular. However, if you are currently offering sunflower seeds, millet and other delicacies to birds in your backyard, have you ever wondered if this causes more harm than good?
The truth of the matter is it appears fall bird feeding is more beneficial than harmful. Some go so far to say that fall feeding discourages birds from migrating. However, the truth of the matter is it appears fall bird feeding can actually benefit birds. Here are a few reasons why this is the case.
Seed eating migrants actually benefit from your efforts. The reason for this is during migration they deplete the stored fat that fuels their flight south. An abundant supply of seeds offered at feeders allows them to quickly refuel and continue on to the winter homes.
An abundant supply of seeds also allows resident birds to build up the fat reserves they need to survive cold weather. This is especially important during those years when acorns and other seeds hard are hard to come by.
While it is true, that, for many birds, autumn is a time of plenty–food seems to be everywhere. However, as the year moves on into December and beyond, these food supplies will be exhausted. Consequently, the seeds provided by your feeders become increasingly more important to seed-eating birds.
Finally, feeding birds in the fall provides you with some great wildlife watching opportunities. Not only do you enjoy tufted titmice, Carolina chickadees and others permanent residents making endless trips to and from you feeders, but you also get to see southbound birds that might have passed over your yard on their way south. This year, for example, this fall backyard wildlife watchers were able to catch glimpses of rose-breasted grosbeaks. For many, they only see this bird in the spring.
The bottom line is, if you keeping your feeding area clean, fall feeding can benefit wild birds.
BACKYARD SECRET–BLUE JAYS DON’T RELOCATE MOST OF THE ACORNS THEY HOARD
Blue jays are currently busy hoarding acorns. Whereas some birds and mammals store acorns in a single spot, such is not the case with blue jays. These handsome birds hide each acorn they gather in a separate spot throughout the territory they will occupy throughout the winter. It is hard to believe that a blue jay might bury an acorn it plucked from your lawn at a spot more than a mile away.
Since a single blue jay can hoard up to 107 acorns per day, you might wonder how in the world it remembers every spot where it has buried an acorn. The truth of the matter is it doesn’t. Studies have found that a blue jay only retrieves roughly a quarter of the acorns it stashes away each fall.
In other words, each day that a blue jay is collecting and hiding acorns it is potentially planting 75 acorns. Obviously, some of these acorns will rot; other critters will consume some of them. The rest could potentially germinate and develop into new oak trees.
One might say that blue jays are playing a key role in replanting our precious forests. Looking at it another way, a single blue jay plants vastly more trees than any of us in a week than most of us do in a lifetime.
MY FIRST WINTER BIRD OF THE FALL–A RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET
For weeks, I have been eagerly awaiting the appearance of my first winter bird of the fall. By that, I mean the migratory birds that winter in my backyard typically arrive well before winter actually begins. Well, my wait is finally over as this week I spotted a ruby-crowned kinglet eating bird butter laced with peanuts.
I find it interesting that, although the ruby-crowned kinglet is one of the last insectivorous birds to leave its northern breeding grounds, it was the first to arrive in my yard located in Middle Georgia. I cannot help but wonder if the bird I saw will indeed winter here, or, was a migrant using my yard as a stopover to refuel before moving on southward to its winter home is south Georgia or Florida.
Since I never see more than one ruby-crowned kinglet at a time, I would like to know if only one of these tiny passerines establishes a territory in my yard each winter. Since there is evidence that these small birds set up winter territories, perhaps more kinglets actually inhabit my three acres of land than I realize. If such is the case, it could be possible that I host more than one ruby-crowned kinglet and the only one I see is the bird that claims the portion of the yard where my feeders are located.
Overwhelmingly, when a ruby-crowned kinglet makes an appearance in my bird feeding area it dines on bird butter. However, in one instance, I watched a kinglet sifting through white millet offered in a small feeder.
If you would like to attempt to attract a ruby-crowned kinglet to your yard this winter, make sure suet or bird butter are on the menu of your backyard bird cafe. Other foods known attract ruby-crowned kinglets are peanut butter, mixed seed, finely cracked nuts, peanut hearts, cornbread, and doughnuts. They will even visit hummingbird feeders from time to time.
I have never seen a ruby-crowned kinglet drink at my birdbath. However, there are numerous reports of them doing so.
If you are successful in attracting a ruby-crowned kinglet to your yard for the first time, you will quickly learn they are a joy to watch. They are full of energy and are constantly on the move. Some might even say they get tired just seeing them constantly flit about in search of food.
MUSHROOMS FEED GRAY SQUIRRELS AND OTHER CRITTERS TOO
Often as we walk about our yards, we find partially eaten mushrooms. Invariably we assume gray squirrels have devoured them. Although this is often the case, the truth of the matter is a wide range of backyard wildlife visitors may have dined on what most of us would consider an unusual wildlife food.
In addition to the gray squirrel, the larger fox squirrel also feeds on mushrooms. Among the other mammals you might spot eating mushrooms in your backyard are eastern chipmunks, armadillos, eastern cottontails, opossums, wood rats, white-footed mice, raccoons, striped skunks, and of course white-tailed deer.
Even birds such as brown thrashers, cardinals, and crows will dine on mushrooms. Some birds, like blue jays and American robins, will actually pluck out insects and other invertebrates hidden inside mushrooms.
Who would have thought mushrooms provide food to so many of our backyard wildlife neighbors?
UNUSUAL CARDINAL FOOD
One of the reasons I enjoy watching wildlife in my yard is every time I walk out the backdoor I have a chance of making a new discovery. It does not matter whether or not anybody else has made this discovery elsewhere. The important thing is it is new to me. Finding it in my own yard makes it extra special.
I would like to take a moment to tell you about my most recent discovery.
Each year my wife scatters globe amaranth seeds in large containers sitting on our deck. She grows globe amaranth because it bears beautiful flowers that attract a bevy of different wild pollinators such as butterflies. In addition, the plant does not require a lot of water, plant pests rarely bother it, and it blooms profusely from summer into autumn.
For weeks, we have been noticing the papery remains of tiny amaranth blooms littering the deck and nearby rail alongside one of our pots containing globe amaranth plants. We suspected that birds were the responsible for the scattered flowers. Our suspicion proved to be correct. Recently while I was drinking my second cup of coffee and gazing out the window over the kitchen sink, I saw a group of globe amaranth plants violently shaking. When I focused my attention on those particular plants I realized a female cardinal had landed on them and was pulling apart their globe shaped flower heads. After tearing apart several blossoms to reach the tiny seeds hidden inside, the bird snipped off an entire flower head and flew away. Shortly thereafter a male cardinal arrived and ate his fare share of the globe amaranth seeds.
Wow! To say the least, we are elated to find that a container full of globe amaranth plants provides foods for butterflies, bees, butterflies, and cardinals. Who knows what else is visiting our globe amaranth plants? What I do know is we are going continue watching the plants in hopes of discovering if anything else is benefitting from them.
