Tag Archive | Backyard Secrets

BACKYARD SECRET – BUTTERFLIES ARE SOMETIMES SMALLER IN THE SPRING

Mar23

       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

Mar18

      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

Mar15

          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

Mar12

       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

Mar4

       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

Mar1

         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

Feb22

          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.

BACKYARD SECRET – BLUE JAYS HAVE A NEAT WAY TO CARRY LOTS OF ACORNS

Feb8

       The acorn is one of the most important foods in the blue jay’s diet.  Unwittingly blue jays store (cache) many of the acorns they gather in spots that are sometimes located a few miles away.  That being the case, more acorns can be stored in less time if jays could carry several acorns at a time.

       Well, as it turns out the blue jay has a simple but effective way to carry up to five or six acorns at a time. It accomplishes this fete by removing the caps of each acorn. If you carefully watch a blue jay collecting acorns, you will find that, in most cases, it removes the cap from each nut before stuffing it into its mouth.

       It is equally amazing to me that blue jays bury each acorn with its tip down.  It sounds similar to the way we plant bulbs with the bottom of each bulb facing downward. Since jays never find all of the acorns they bury, unbeknownst to them they are planting oaks.

       If you just take the time to watch a bird, there is no telling what you will learn.

BACKYARD SECRET – THE DOWNY HAS A SPECIAL WAY TO DEAL WITH THE COLD

Jan31

       Georgians deal with the bitter cold in a number of ways.  However, earlier this week we were truly tested.  The temperature dropped to 14º.  Now I know that is not as cold as it gets where many of our fellow bloggers live, but it is indeed cold here in the Peach State.

       Living in a rural area prior to the temperature dropping into the teens, we have to make sure that our water pipes don’t freeze. In our case, this means turning on strong lights in the well house to keep the pump and pipes found there will not freeze. We also wrap our outside faucets. In addition, we let the faucets steadily drop water throughout the night.

       While we can take these and other measures to keep from suffering from the bitter cold, our wildlife neighbors have few ways to deal with the cold of a winter night As such, they often face a life or death situation just trying to stay warm. However, I am always amazed when I learn of some to the ways these seemingly defenseless creatures have found ways to survive winter’s icy cold temperatures.  Here is an example of what I mean.

       During the fall downy woodpeckers, cavities downys excavate to serve as roost sites typically face away from the prevailing wind.  Meanwhile those dug at other times of the year are randomly oriented. Many experts believe this is because in winter, the interiors of cavities that face into the prevailing winds get colder than those facing away from them.

       Isn’t nature amazing?

BACKYARD SECRET – BIRDS NEED WATER IN FREEZING WEATHER

Jan25

       Those Georgians that feed birds have been busy during the past few days keeping their feeders stocked with suet, seeds, cornbread and other bird favorites.  However, I suspect many folks have not offered their bird neighbors water.  The truth of the matter is that birds need water in winter as much as they do in summer.

       The problem is that when the temperature drops below freezing our birdbaths freeze.  Nothing is sadder that watching birds fly up to a frozen birdbath vainly looking for water.
With that in mind, if the water in your birdbath does freeze, there are a few things that you can do.  One is to pour water onto the ice.  If it is not extremely cold, birds will be able to drink and bathe before it freezes.

       Another thing that you can do is to place a shallow pan such as those placed beneath potted plants atop the frozen ice.  If you do take this approach, fill the pan so that it is only 1.5 inches or so deep.

       You can also purchase devices that heat birdbath water.  My wife and I received one for Christmas.  The problem is it is still in the box!