Feed birds in your yard without a birdfeeder!

Log: about 1 foot long by 2 in. diam.

It's not difficult at all, and it's incredibly inexpensive!  Just slather some peanut butter on a small area of a tree's bark  (I use the Crunchy kind - the cheaper the better).  You can spread it on a part of an existing tree, or do what I've done:  cut a log section and outfit it with an eye-hook, to hang where flowering baskets were last summer .

Sometimes these "spreads" are marketed by some specialty stores. Don't waste your money!  Instead, save money by avoiding paying for others' marketing and pointless 'secret ingredients'.

Common Nighthawk

Sandhill Crane

Researchers with too much time on their hands discovered that most birds spend more flying time with their wings moving downward than with their wings moving up.  The downward motion (probably counteracting gravity) is a power stroke, and takes a tiny bit longer than the "recovery" stroke.

E. Meadowlark

N. Mockingbird

Look who showed up in my birdbath!

Although I felt somewhat like a voyeur, I spied on a Wood Thrush who was splashing around in one of our birdbaths. Wood Thrushes are usually summer birds here, so this may be the last I see of its kind for a while. But their "migration" may be just a short distance, so you never know! (see any similarity to a Robin?   He's a kind of Thrush too)

Mallard

North Texas has mild winters, so Mallards often stay here all year, depending on the availability of food and the safety of the surroundings. In the winter, they prefer roosts in or near wetlands (which rarely freeze solid here) which have lots of natural food, and are a hindrance to approaching predators.

Oh, to fly like a Turkey Vulture!

Turkey Vulture

ditto

You can see Turkey Vultures all over north Texas.  For a moment, let's forget the distasteful images. They soar effortlessly - flapping their wings only occasionally, and rocking gently from side to side. They're riding air currents, and it's almost a contest to see which bird can go the longest without flapping its wings. That behavior makes me envious of airborne Turkey Vultures and makes them easy to identify, even from a great distance.

Mockingbird in Yaupon Holly

A good landscape design has a place for everything you need. It accommodates a typical grassy lawn, places for birds, outdoor relaxation spots etc. All while lowering maintenance and utility costs dramatically. If this is the sort of "birdscape" you're wanting, from a licensed Landscape Architect (semi-retired), email Birdpoop@charter.net   This is the very best time of year to start planning a north Texas landscape.

Winter bird arrives in north Texas. Early bird?

White-throated Sparrow

A sharp-eyed reader saw the first White-throated Sparrow of this season. There are actually several species of these native sparrows such as the Chipping Sparrow, Fox Sparrow etc. They are all here in north Texas only during cooler weather - migrating here from Canada. The aggressive, pesky bird we informally call a sparrow (House Sparrow) is in another genus entirely.

Green Heron

Great Blue Heron

Many Herons seen around here migrate to warmer weather as cold weather approaches, but not all of them. Some stay around north Texas since our winter weather isn't very severe. Which means they can hunt fish whenever the water surface isn't frozen solid. If it does freeze, they'll hunt in nearby fields and yards for rodents and whatever else they can find to eat.

"I forgot to fill the feeder" insurance

birds love native grasses like this

Birds are drawn to native prairie grasses if your feeder happens to be temporarily empty. In north Texas, now's the very best time to plant native grasses (not springtime, like up north). It's full of seeds - the freshest food around. In the winter, it's a great place to escape the wind and the cold.

In north Texas we're fortunate to have many kinds of native grasses (sometimes called "ornamental" grass) to choose from. Some favorites of mine are Little Bluestem, Sideoats Grama, Lindheimer Muhly, Indiangrass, Eastern Gamagrass and Windmillgrass.  These grasses are NOT your typical lawn grass; heights of native grasses range from 4 inches to 6 feet, they're drought-tolerant and almost maintenance-free.

A  group in Louisiana has a clever idea - one of those "that's so obvious I should have thought of it" ideas like we all have sometimes. They acquired a number of birdhouses for a scenic trail, and had each one engraved with a mile number to indicate how far along the trail you were (the inhabitants don't care if there's a big "4" on the wall).

It not only reduced the need for a huge number of signs, but will increase the total bird life.

Are there enough dead trees in north Texas?

For birds to protect themselves from bad weather, and to raise little birds, there needs to be at least four dead, full-size trees per acre, according to 'Bird Watchers Digest'. Clearly, they make nests in them, or on the branches.  If all dead trees are totally removed, birds will simply go elsewhere.

Thirty to forty percent of all birds in north Texas nest in the "cavities" in dead trees. To keep those birds around my yard, when I remove a dead tree, I often leave a tall stump (6 ft or more).

Does your neighborhood make Chickadees, Wrens, Woodpeckers, Titmice, Bluebirds and Swallows feel at home?

Since thousands and thousands of bats, flying closely, don't ever bump into each other, we know that they're not blind. That's a total myth!

They each use an exceptionally fast and accurate sonar-like system called "echolocation" to avoid other bats, to avoid humans, and to find food (flying insects). Each bat makes an extremely high-frequncy sound and listens for the sound to bounce off an object. This happens in a millisecond.

Each bat has a slightly different sound so they don't interfere with each other. They can also use this unique sound to identify family members.

bats hunting at dusk, Uvalde TX

An owl's grasp is lethal to its prey, by design

Barn Owl

Great-horned Owl

An owl can grasp its prey with deadly effectiveness; anything from a field mouse to a squirrel.  They have razor-sharp talons which dig into the victim, puncturing whatever organ may be in its path. Also, all owls have outside "toes" that pivot forward and backward, making it adept at conforming its lethal grasp to the exact size of the prey.

Here in north Texas, frequently-present owls are the Great-horned, Barn, Screech and Barred.

Downy Woodpecker

Woodpeckers frequently hammer on a house's siding; often it's the Downy Woodpecker. If the siding's metal, or he's hammering on metal flashing, it can be annoyingly loud. He's sometimes looking for insects; but he's discovered that his hammering can be heard for great distances, by other woodpeckers. It tells other males to stay out of "his" territory.

Downy Woodpecker