Tag Archive | Backyard Secrets
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 – BUTTERFLIES ARE SOMETIMES SMALLER IN THE SPRING
Recently my wife and I were walking about our backyard on a recent March after noon we noticed that one of our native azaleas was in full bloom. When we stopped to admire the beautiful blossoms displayed by the large native azalea, an eastern tiger swallowtail flew in and began nectaring at the shrub’s stunning blooms. As we watched the butterfly feed, we both noticed that it was much smaller than the tigers we normally encounter. This begged the question, “Why is this individual so small?”
One possible reason for this is eastern tiger swallowtails overwinter as pupae in a chrysalis. If a butterfly emerges earlier than normal due to unseasonably warm weather, it may be smaller because it pupated before reaching its normal size.
BACKYARD SECRET – BLUE-GRAY GNATCATERS ARE NOT FEEDER BIRDS
Regardless how hard we try, we cannot entice all of the birds that visit our yards to dine at our bird feeders. One such bird is the blue-gray gnatcatcher.
This past week my wife spotted a blue-gray gnatcatcher feeding among the green leaves of a coral honeysuckle that grows beside our driveway. Today, while walking to the mailbox I spotted a blue-gray gnatcatcher in the same place. The bird did not flush until I was about 10 feet away.
BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER
This provided with a great view of the bird’s clean blue-gray plumage that almost seemed to shine in the morning sunlight as it flew to the bare branches of a nearby tree. Once there, it did not remain motionless for long before it began flitting about in search in spiders and small insects.
Since these birds do not visit feeders, if you want to attract them to your yard, you must offer the feathered sprites native trees and shrubs where they will be able to forage on caterpillars, spider and tiny insects.
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.
BACKYARD SECRET – ADDING NESTING MATERIAL TO NEST BOXES CAN HELP ATTRACT BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCHES
If you have never been able to entice brown-headed nuthatches to nest in your nesting boxes, adding 1-3 inches of dry nesting material such as pine shavings, sawdust or wood chips to a nest box just might change your luck.
I should note the only times brown-headed nuthatches have nested in my boxes is when I added nesting material.
Who knows? This simple technique might just work for you.
BACKYARD SECRET – THE HOUSE SPARROW POPULATION IS DECLINING
The North American Breeding Bird Survey has found that between 1966 and 2015 the house sparrow population has plummeted 84 percent in the United States and Canada.
Cornell University’s FeederWatch Program corroborates the decline. Data collected volunteers taking part in this survey reveal that since 1995 the proportion of FeederWatch sites reporting house sparrows dropped by 7.5 percent. In addition, the size of house sparrow flocks decreased some 22 percent.
This does not mean the house sparrow is not facing extinction. Surveys indicate that 82 million house sparrows are still flying about the United States and Canada.
This is good news, however, for those folks that for decades have been building, erecting and maintaining nesting boxes for bluebirds, tree sparrows, and many other native cavity nesting birds. As they all know, too often house sparrows will out compete these birds for nesting sites.
BACKYARD SECRET – A WAY TO KEEP WATER OUT OF NEST BOXES
Here is a simple way to help keep rain out of nesting boxes. If a nestbox is properly built (with an overhanging roof), in most cases, rain is kept from entering the box. However, wind-blown rain is a different matter. While it is impossible to always keep this type of rain out of boxes, you can reduce the chance of this happening by simply erecting a box so that the opening to the nestbox faces away from the prevailing wind.
BACKYARD SECRET: DEALING WITH SQUIRRELS EATING SUET AT FEEDERS
If you are having a problem with gray squirrels eating more than their share of suet, here is something you might want to try. Typically, squirrels prefer eating suet laced with peanut butter and peanuts. If this is the case in your backyard, simply replace the peanut butter suet with plain suet. While birds will eat it, it seems that bushytails are not particularly fond of plain suet. While this solution might not work in all backyards, this simple, inexpensive approach to this problem just might work for you.
