At this rate, how soon will Dickcissel's become extinct?

Dickcissels are handsome yellowish songbirds seen in north Texas in warm months. They should be here in just a few weeks. A few years ago, they inundated open fields and meadows throughout north Texas. But their numbers have drastically declined lately.  Now we know the biggest reason why. They’re considered agricultural pests in South America (they really aren't), where they winter.  So these harmless birds are often poisoned or sprayed with pesticides.

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Wolves alter rivers, and do a whole lot more than we used to believe

Wolves are a very necessary and vital link in a natural ecosystem.

The common belief most of us have is that wild wolves' best and only attribute is killing things. And to a minor extent that is true.  They are, however, good for so much more, including creating bird habitat. It's  shown in this YouTube video shot at Yellowstone Park by Sustainable Man;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysa50BhXz-Q
... OR (if the video is temporarily unavailable)
search in YouTube using 'wolves Yellowstone sustainable'

 

they’re built to peck wood       Woodpeckers have thick sculls, outside of which is another shell. In between is a light shock-absorbing sponge-like layer of tiny hollow chambers between the outer shell and the skull. So, NO, they don’t get headaches when they peck.

They do NOT damage trees, although it may look like they do. The trees they peck on are already sick and dieing, attracting the bugs that Woodpeckers are after. Woodpeckers are “cavity nesters”, often living in houses or the holes they peck in unhealthy or dead trees, so they have no need for camouflage.

 

 

OWEN YOST, in addition to being a blogger, is a licensed Landscape Architect emeritus who has lived and worked in north Texas for over 30 years. He is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award of the Native Plant Society of Texas, and is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Federation of Landscape Architects, National Wildlife Federation

and the Audubon Society. His office is at Yost87@charter.net in Denton.

 

 

Selecting a birdbath that birds will actually like and use

When is a birdbath not really a birdbath?

Often what’s called a birdbath is really just a “garden ornament” that birds rarely use, and becomes a maintenance headache. In reality, anybody who can pour concrete can make what's loosely called a "birdbath". Birds, however, may not give it more than glance before going elsewhere. Address these four things when shopping for a true birdbath.

·       Depth. Most birds are afraid of deep water (they’re terrible swimmers). The water’s depth should be no more than 2 to 2½ inches unless you're trying to attract ducks.

·       Material. It shouldn’t be so light that it blows over.  Some metals or resins are good. Concrete is best, but make very sure that it’s a “dense” concrete that doesn’t harbor algae or soak up water The water freezes and expands in winter to cause cracking, and in warm weather cheap concrete provides a place for algae to grow.

·       Ease of cleaning. Birds like clean water. Algae (which grows in many birdbaths) can be eliminated in a good birdbath with regular scrubbing. Aeration from a bubbler or dripper helps too. Bleach is only called for if the algae gets a foothold.

·       Location. Place it within 3 to 5 feet of a dense shrub - an “escape route” for birds if a predator (cat?) appears. Too close and the predator can sneak up on a bird. A half-day of direct sun is good - afternoon shade is desired in north Texas.

 

 

OWEN YOST, in addition to being a blogger, is a licensed Landscape Architect emeritus who has lived and worked in north Texas for over 30 years. He is a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award of the Native Plant Society of Texas, and is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Federation of Landscape Architects, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. His office is at Yost87@charter.net in Denton.

 

Goodbye Goldfinches; parting is such sweet sorrow

 

American Goldfinch

Soon, the hordes of Goldfinches that have been sucking feeders dry will migrate north.  We’ll miss ‘em until next November.  Their favorite Nyjer thistle seed won’t keep over the summer, however. So as not to get stuck, next fall,  with a bunch of seed that's no other birds' favorite, when the last Goldfinch leaves, I suggest you keep feeding whatever Nyjer you have left...don't store it - it won't be any good in the fall.  But switch your Nyjer feeders with regular tube feeders. Mix the leftover Nyjer with Sunflower hearts or Black-oil Sunflower, which most birds prefer.  Then, when Goldfinches migrate north, other birds (Cardinals, Chickadees, Titmice, House Finches etc.) will move right in to the same feeder.

 Many of you have noticed that most of the little native sparrows and Juncos have already gone north until the fall.  But Hummingbirds will soon fill any void. (By late March, they’ll probably be here.)

 

Pick an oak, any oak          Oak trees play host to 534 species of butterflies and moths. Which is of special interest to those of us in north Texas.  Why? - we live in a region called the “Post Oak Savannah”, where oaks thrive in the environment and like to live naturally. Some of the native 0aks we can plant to attract butterflies and moths are chinkapin oak, post oak, shumard oak, bur oak, blackjack oak, sawtooth oak, overcup oak and live oak.

 

  

OWEN YOST, in addition to being a blogger, is a licensed Landscape Architect emeritus who has lived and worked in north Texas for over 30 years. He is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award of the Native Plant Society of Texas, and is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Federation of Landscape Architects, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. His office is at Yost87@charter.net in Denton.

 

 

Here's why we have so many Cardinals

Now we have Cardinals almost everywhere

In the 1800s, the Northern Cardinal (its full name) lived in North America only as far north as southern New York and west only to wooded portions of the Great Plains.  It could be seen only rarely in north Texas.

In the 21^st century, the Cardinal is almost everywhere in this country (except chunks of the West). This is largely due to their adaptability, and the large number of people who feed birds and create habitat, so the birds can survive harsh winters and hot summers.  Today, their range extends north into southern Canada, into lower elevations of the Rocky Mountains, and east to the Atlantic coast.

Since their origin, Cardinals have only lived naturally along forest edges. However, as man cleared millions of small spaces for homesites, more and more “forest edge” was created. (Basically we created lot and lots of habitat islands within the bigger forests). We even grew and stored lots of Cardinal-food such as wheat and corn within each habitat.  If humans had set out to create habitat for Cardinals, we couldn’t have done much better.

Adult Cardinals escort fledglings (just-out-of-the-nest youngsters) to the vicinity of birdfeeders. The parents bring seeds from feeders to the fledglings, but the adults soon tire of this, and the clumsy fledglings (now knowing where the feeder is) will come by themselves. This occurs in all Cardinal habitats. This “teaching by example” happens often at backyard birdbaths too.  Any birdbath deeper than 2 or 3 inches, however, is too threatening for almost all birds. 

They eat a variety of seed and, sometimes, even suet; preferring a blend that’s heavy on fresh sunflower seeds. If their finely-tuned senses tell them a seed is stale or dry, they’ll just drop it and go to another yard.

 

OWEN YOST, in addition to being a blogger, is a licensed Landscape Architect emeritus who has lived and worked in north Texas for over 30 years. He is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award of the Native Plant Society of Texas, and is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Federation of Landscape Architects, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. His office is at Yost87@charter.net in Denton.

Calcium sason is coming up fast; how to get eggshells.ready.

In egg-laying season (coming up real soon!) female birds need extra calcium so their bodies can produce eggs, not robbing their own bodies' of calcium. Sometimes they get extra calcium from eating paint chips (particularly the light colors). Sometimes they get it when you put out egg shells (after making breakfast). Sometimes they get it from the extra calcium added to many types of suet. Some people add very small pieces to bird food, but it's a lot of extra work. If female birds don’t get the extra calcium they need at this time of year, their bodies take it from the birds’ own bones, weakening them.

We’ll save eggshells for the birds; chicken eggs are fine.  We break them into small flakes (no bigger than a dime), rinse, and cook them for about 10 minutes at 350 (to kill bacteria). Or you could microwave them on high for just under a minute. Then we just set them outside on an old plate.

 

Leave tree stumps for birds         About this time of year, dead trees all over north Texas are in the sights of chainsaws. They may be unsightly, but those dead trees are perfect homes for birds, as they have been for centuries.

Cavity-nesting birds in north Texas (such as woodpeckers, Tufted Titmice, Chickadees, Bluebirds and Wrens) need places to nest. Here’s what we do at our house:

If we cut down a tree, we’ll leave a tall stump, called a “snag” – anywhere between 6 ft. and 20 ft. tall.  This way, the tree is in much less danger of blowing over, and many bird species still have places to build homes. For instance, a family of Red-bellied Woodpeckers is raising little ones, right now, in a snag we “made” last year.

Birds of all species (even a Cooper’s Hawk once) have a perch and can scan from atop the taller snags. Also, we have “posts” on which to fasten birdfeeders and such.

 

OWEN YOST, in addition to being a blogger, is a licensed Landscape Architect emeritus who has lived and worked in north Texas for over 30 years. He is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award of the Native Plant Society of Texas, and is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Federation of Landscape Architects, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. His office is at Yost87@charter.net in Denton.

 

This winter has been hard on north Texas birds

 

 



Yellow-throated Warbler

A Texas winter is comparatively mild. But just think how difficult it would be if you weighed an ounce or two, and that nearby field that used to be full of plants for you to munch on, is now a concrete parking lot.

Many birds have stayed in north Texas all winter. Many others have migrated to this area. Unfortunately, many birds succumb to even our winter weather.  Without a doubt, birds need your help to make it through to the end of a Texas winter, and recover from it.

To see what kind of help they need, take stock of your backyard as it is. Do you offer birds a variety of foods, shelter from winds and rain, and a usable water source? Are your birdfeeders in need of repair and/or replacement? Do you give your birds the high-calorie foods that they need to survive? ...and recover from the winter?  I suggest you refurbish your yard’s “bird appeal” now, and don't leave it all to mother nature to do when it warms up. Especially since we humans have eliminated much of the birds' living and eating places; turning them into parking lots, antiseptic housing developments, shopping malls etc.

 

To help them make it to the end of winter, and to recover to a healthy status quickly in the spring...I suggest you; 

1       Feed ‘em

Trees, shrubs, and other plants that used to be full of fruit and seed in the summer and fall are now bare. Insects and worms are mostly gone. Finding food in the winter can be particularly challenging for birds.  In a perverse way, however, winter’s paucity is good news for bird watchers. When food is harder to find, birds will zero in on your feeders. If your feeders are stocked with high-energy foods, such as suet and oil-rich sunflower, your birds will thank you by visiting often.

When a bird eats fresh suet and seeds that are high in fat and oil content, they convert it to caloric energy. All birds absolutely need a steady, dependable supply of this to stay warm. And if our winter left some birds sickly, lots of good food is what they need most to recover quickly.

 

2      Water ‘em

Don’t forget that birds, like all animals, need water the whole year-. It’s crucial as the weather changes.  Not just for drinking!  Bathing helps them preserve body heat, which they do by “fluffing up” their feathers and trapping tiny pockets of air. They can’t do this with dirty feathers, so they have to bathe frequently. Offering water in all kinds of weather is certainly more important to birds than offering it in the summer only. Also, if you keep your birdbath open for business throughout the year, it will attract some birds that do not regularly come to your feeders

 

3      Shelter ‘em

Plenty of fresh food and water will go a long way to help birds survive bad weather. But wild birds also require a third ingredient to survive - shelter. This means several things;  a place to escape from the chilling winds, to get out of freezing rain, or a dry place to hide from predators like cats. Putting up roosting boxes or nests will help, since most yards don’t have an adequate variety of vegetation (particularly natives) or other natural shelter.  Birds will retreat to the boxes you give them and huddle together during bad weather, chilly nights and spring storms.

 

4      Give ‘em nest material

Birds need nesting material, like short pieces of yarn, dead plant stems etc. Make them available to entice birds to nest in your yard.

 

Before the need arises, put up a birdhouse or two. Besides giving shelter, birdhouses have an added benefit: by putting them up now, you increase the likelihood that birds will stay in your yard and raise families in the spring since they’ve seen your generosity and have developed a familiarity with the surroundings.  After all, they lived here in Texas long before we humans did.

 

OWEN YOST, in addition to being a blogger, is a licensed Landscape Architect emeritus who has lived and worked in north Texas for over 30 years. He is a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award of the Native Plant Society of Texas, and is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Federation of Landscape Architects, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. His office is at Yost87@charter.net in Denton.