From late summer into the fall, one of the most often seen butterflies in our backyards is the cloudless sulphur.  These medium-sized butterflies are seen drifting across our yards in search of nectar.  As you might imagine, both males and females are flying at this time of the year. Although male and female cloudless sulphurs look very much alike, if you know what to look for, you can easily tell the males from the females. Even though their wings are quite similar, there are several differences between them, here are some of the most easily identifiable ways in which they differ.

       The dorsal side of the male’s wings is unmarked.  The female, however, displays a broken black border along the trailing edge of her hindwings.  In addition, each forewing features a single black spot.

       The ventral sides of the male and female cloudless sulphurs are also quite different.  On the underside of each of the female’s hindwings, you cannot help but notice prominent silvery spots surrounded by a brownish trim.  The spots seen on male are inconspicuous.

       One finale note, the hindwings of the female are more heavily marked than those seen on the male.

FEMALE CLOUDLESS SULPHUR

      One of my favorite backyard birds is the summer tanager.  The male is Georgia’s only all red bird.  Unfortunately, I do not see summer tanagers as often as I would like.  In fact, I see more bathing in birdbaths than moving about the canopies of the numerous trees scattered across my property.  Fortunately, for the past few weeks I have been hearing them practically every day calling from the canopy of the numerous trees scattered about my property, their picky-tucky-tuck call is unmistakable.

       If I saw the birds more often, perhaps I would have better luck watching them capture wasps and bees. Tanagers catch these insects in flight.  When a tanager captures one of these stinging insects it lands and beats them against a branch and removes the insect’s stinger.  Studies have found that a single tanager may capture and eat 10-20 wasps and bees a day.

       If you just happen to see a summer tanager this summer, spend some time watching it.  Perhaps you will see the gorgeous bird capture and eat a bee or wasp. Now that would be something!

       The barred owl will sometimes nest in neighborhoods blessed with mature trees. Often the only way you might know birds are living close by is to hear their calls.  The birds’ vocalization sounds like they are saying, “Who cooks for you?  Who cooks for you all?”

       Whether they nest in your neck of the woods is often determined by whether or not they have suitable nesting sites.  The birds typically nest to hollow trees, however, when one is not present, they will nest in the stick nests of large birds such as red-shouldered hawks.

       If you want to encourage them to nest nearby,  erect a barred owl nesting box.  These huge nest boxes look like bluebird boxes on steroids.

       Since of the bird’s favorite food is the gray squirrel, folks that are vainly trying to keep squirrels away from their bird feeders should welcome these large fascinating birds to their neighborhood.

       If you would like to receive barred own nest box plans, and information on how you can certify you backyard in the Community Wildlife Project (sponsored by the Georgia Wildlife Resources Davison, TERN (The environmental Resources Network and the Garden Club of Georgia), email Melissa Hayes (melissa.hayes@dnr.ga.gov)

       Nobody likes to hear the sound of a bird striking a window.  One of the ways that we can reduce mortalities caused by birds hitting windows is by locating feeders within no more than three feet of a window.  The reason why this technique works is when a bird leaves a feeder so close to a window, it cannot get up enough momentum to suffer a fatal injury. 

       I will discuss other ways to prevent window strikes in future columns.

        Now that November has arrived, we have entered Georgia’s Second Hummingbird Season.  This special time of the year extends from November through February. During these four months, Georgians have the best opportunity to spot see a rufous and other unusual hummingbirds.  Consequently, many hummingbird fanciers maintain a feeder throughout these coldest months of the year.

       Since we rarely see winter hummingbirds, it is easy to forget that hummingbird feeders should be kept clean and filled with fresh nectar.  Dirty feeders containing fluid that is contaminated with mold and bacteria are potentially harmful to the birds using them.

How often feeders should be cleaned and refilled with, fresh fluid is determined by the temperature of the air.  As such, those Georgians that live in South Georgia where winters are milder than anywhere else in the state, will have to clean and refill feeders more often than those of us the live in Middle and North Georgia.

       If the temperature reaches into the 80s and above, it would be a good idea to change sugar water at least every three to four days.  If daily highs average in the 70s, you might be able to go up to a week before refilling your feeder.  When the daily high temperatures drop to 60 or below, nectar will sometimes remain fresh well more than a week.  If the nectar becomes cloudy, however, you have waited too long.

      I hope you will host one or more winter hummingbirds in your yard this winter.  Unfortunately, chances are one will not appear. If one does show up, you are in for a real treat!   Good luck!     

        I have often wondered how many species of native bees forage in my backyard.  I have long realized that my yard hosts a variety of native species.  However, not being an expert in bee identification, all I can say is that a number of native bee species are hard at work in my yard each day.  This observation is based solely on the colors, patterns, and sizes of the bees that I see.

       Research conducted by University of Georgia suggest our yards are homes to far more native bees than most of us would have ever have imagined.  In a two-year study of bee populations living yards in Athens, Georgia, they were able to locate more than 100 species of native bees.  What makes this figure even more remarkable is these urban bees represent roughly 20 percent of the 500+ species of native bees known to exist in the entire Peach State.

       Interestingly, the yards where the greatest diversity of bees was found were adjacent to patches of forested habitat.