Garden Decor

     Now that autumn has arrived, the trees are gorgeous, leaves are falling, and the days are getting cooler.  We’re busy cleaning up our yards and the wild bird population is changing into the winter variety.

     The best foods to provide in your birdfeeders are black oil sunflower seed, peanuts, and especially suet. These enable our wonderful colorful feathered friends to build their fat reserves and hoard seeds for later use.

     Keeping your suet birdfeeders stocked supplies the ultimate cold-weather food for birds.  Suet is loaded with the fat and calories birds need to maintain their energy levels when the weather is cold.
  

     …….Just doing what I can to help keep our winter birds fat and happy and healty and airborne!

Many people still think of birdfeeders as the standard sunflower seed feeders that most birds seem to like.  However, there are a wide variety of birdfeeders available that will attract not only all the traditional birds, but birds you’ve probably never seen in your yard.  Thistle feeders for example will attract finches and smaller birds, and also deter squirrels because of the small size of the openings.  Suet birdfeeders are loved by a wide variety of different birds, including larger species like Flickers, Jays, and Woodpeckers.  Peanut feeders are another favorite of larger birds. 

There are also birdfeeders which use mixes of seeds and nuts that will succeed in attracting multiple species to the same feeder.

A good way to clean birdfeeders.

If you would like to take special care of the birds that visit those decorative birdfeeders & specialty birdfeeders in your backyard, then you know that with the many birds that they attract, they can get rather dirty.  Regular upkeep on birdfeeders will ensure that the birds that fly in and dine will be healthy after they’ve eaten. 

Here are some tips for your chief birdseed provider & birdfeeder washer:

 Obtain a tub big enough to hold your birdfeeder(s), a scrub brush (an old toothbrush works well - you can reach small places), garden hose, gloves, scent-free liquid soap or detergent, and white distilled vinegar.

Place your feeder in the tub outdoors; fill it with warm water and a squirt of liquid
soap or detergent. Wearing gloves, scrub the parts of the feeder you can reach,
and rinse thoroughly with a hose. Empty the tub and fill it with clean water and 4 cups of vinegar.

 Let the feeder soak for one (1) hour. Rinse thoroughly.

People who enjoy decorative birdfeeders are often annoyed with groups of “bully birds” descending upon their feeders, draining them of all the food and chasing away their favorite songbirds in the process.  The most common varieties of “bully birds” tend to be blackbirds, grackles, pigeons, and house sparrows.  These invaders are usually attracted to a bird feeder by easily accessible birdseed or suet, either in a birdfeeder or on the ground.

There are several suggestions you can try to ridding your yard of these overbearing visitors. Bully birds are usually bigger, so it is recommended that the accessibility to the feeding ports in your birdfeeders is limited to allow smaller birds only.  Try to keep the areas under birdfeeders as clear as possible to keep away pigeons.  Being selective about the food you dispense in your feeders can also be a deterrent to bully birds, who tend to prefer corn, bread, sunflower seeds and wheat.  Finches will be attracted to hanging tube feeders containing only nyjer, or thistle, seeds.  Cardinals, chickadees, and nuthatches prefer safflower seed in hopper or tray design feeders.

When people first feeding the birds in their yard, hopper birdfeeders are usually the first birdseed container they purchase.  The simple design is probably the most common form of bird feeder in the world.  It consists of a storage and dispensing system that feeds on demand, usually with a cover to keep the birdseed dry.

Since the birdseed is automatically replaced by the process of gravity, hopper birdfeeders are exceedingly easy to maintain.  Many of them also incorporate a clear material into their construction to make the level of birdseed visible and allow for timely refills.

  A garden gazebo, a freestanding outdoor structure with a roof, open sides, and seating, is becoming very popular as the focal point in outdoor landscaping.  It’s a place to sit and just view and enjoy your own lawn and garden.

     Decorative windchimes hanging in the center of your garden gazebo will add a lovely, light meoldic charm when touched by a gentle breeze.

     After sitting quietly for a few minutes, you can enjoy watching the activity at your angel garden birdfeeder and your hummingbird feeders.

     And it’s definitely a wonderful place to relax with a cold lemonade after a morning of gardening, to sit and enjoy what you’ve done!

     Nestled deep in the woods of the Great Smokey Mountains lived three bears birds in a little Log Cabin Birdhouse.
     One day a little girl came along and peeked into the opening. She saw three little open beaks, and the little hairless bird chicks were just quivering! Being quite startled, she jumped and ran away.

The moral of the story…
Leave them alone, and mama will come home with treats for the quivery bird chicks!

Ok, I’m a tragic failure at story telling. But bird watching is great fun, and with birdbaths, and birdfeeders, and novelty birdhouses, you’ll have lots of bird company to enjoy!

…and there’s a lot of activity at the birdfeeders today! The House Finches are congregating and having a great time. Occasionally a Black Capped Chickadee will flutter up to these decorative birdfeeders, light, grab a seed, and flit away.

But for the House Finches, it looks like it’s mating time again. They appear to be feasting and celebrating; preparing to raise another brood for this year.

As you know, the nest will accomidate 4-5 hungry little finches, and the male will gather food and tend to his mate while she nurtures the babies.

I’m looking forward to watching all the activity in that little log cabin birdhouse just outside my window!

My neighborhood is one of those suburban backdrops that you always see in the movies. We’ve got those lawns and gardens that battle it out for the best garden on the block prize every year. 

It wasn’t a big deal until some of my neighbors got really competitive. My edge is that I’ve got stylish garden decor objects in my yard. No sir, no ceramic gnomes for me! One of the suet birdfeeders that I recently purchased is one of my centerpieces because it is decorative and useful. Even the judges this year loved it!

Mating season is here!

 The eastern population of House Finches is descended from cage birds that were released near New York City in the 1940s. They tend to breed in close association with people. (It’s in their genes!) At birdfeeders they’re putting on a show!

 House Finches choose a wide variety of nesting sites, and will nest in many man-made objects such as window ledges or crevices in buildings. They may also even nest in wooden birdhouses. House Finches like birdhouses mounted just out of reach on a post. City backyards are good locations for these.

 Often they will build a nest in a hanging plant.

 You may lure a couple close to a window so as to watch their family life.  The first requirement for this birdhouse is a solid base with some overhanging material. The female builds most of the nest, which is an open cup of grass, weeds, twigs, leaves, and rootlets, lined with feathers and other fine material.

  The female lays 2 to 6 bluish, finely speckled eggs and Incubates them alone for 12 to 14 days. The male defends his mate (rather than a nesting territory as other birds do) and feeds her on the nest. He does this by regurgitating seed into the females mouth.
 
 Then they hatch, and you have 12 to 15 days to observe the parents feeding the young right in the nest. After they fledge they may be fed by the male for about two more weeks, while the female starts a second clutch.

  House Finches are monogamous, and will probably raise at least 3 broods in a season.