Where in the world did those green parrots come from?

 

Monk Parakeet

For several years, Denton has been home to groups of totally wild Monk Parakeets. They’re in several places in northeast Denton, and their range is slowly expanding to other parts of north Texas. It’s the most widespread parakeet (it's actually a parrot) in the country, and the only species that builds a large, communal nest (some weighing up to several hundred pounds). First-time viewers often think it's someone's pet that escaped. But it’s not native to the U.S., and probably escaped from a broken crate (or similar) when it was smuggled into a port somewhere (nobody knows for sure)  Actually, the only two parrot species native to this country are both extinct.

 

Pipevine Swallowtail

Yes we have no bananas       Butterflies love spoiled bananas – don’t ask me why. They also go for mushy fruit like over-ripe pears and peaches. (but don’t leave them outside too long or you may have other visitors). This is what becomes of fruit if nature takes its course – animals eat some and the rest nourishes the soil.

 

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.

    

We need more owls around here

     North Texans are often surprised to learn that they have owls as neighbors. It's true, but there are fewer owls around than a decade ago. Our common owls range from the ±10” Screech Owl, through the mid-sized Barn Owl, to the large Great-horned Owl.

Barn Owl

Owls hunt at night, and feed on animals also active at night, including large insects and many species of rodents. An owl is one of the best rodent-control creatures on earth. One adult Barn Owl eats about 90g. of food a night – the equivalent of two rats.  A breeding pair and their chicks can eat about 3000 rats per year. Where rodents have been displaced by recent construction, owls (particularly Barn Owls) eat well.

     Unfortunately, the large, dead trees they like to nest in are frequently cut down and natural tree cavities are filled in, so good nesting sites can be hard to find.  Man-made nest boxes can help alleviate the problem. They can be put almost anywhere – even on the wall of a house. It should be in shade most of the day and, especially in Texas, shouldn’t face the hot, west sun.

Believe it or not I've been asked if owl droppings (“pellets”) carry disease. These are the undigestible bits and pieces of its prey, such as bones. According to the CDC, they transmit no known disease. Consequently there is no health reason for any preventive sanitation.

There's no 100% sure way to attract owls to your yard. Providing a good habitat, nest material and a nesting place are the best things you can do.
Since owls fly quietly at night, you may never know that they’re around, so they’re very good neighbors.

Great horned Owl (western)

 

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.

 

Instead of raking it all up, a little plant debris attracts birds to your yard

 

Brown Thrasher

Birds like picking through plant debris

Most folks just rake it all up (dead weeds, dead leaves and twigs etc.) Among all that plant debris however, are thousands of tiny, totally harmless bugs. Many north Texas birds love to thrash and pick through this plant debris to dine on the bugs, or find nest material.
     You’ll see this behavior in most warblers, Juncos, Thrashers, the true sparrows and such – and sometimes Cardinals, Titmice and Chickadees (any bird that eats insects - which is over 90% of them). If the plant debris is totally raked up, however, they’ll quickly go elsewhere. Sure, I clean it up where it's unsightly or in the way, but I leave patches of natural debris where birds are apt to find it and go through it .                                                                           

 

A “pond” and a “wetland” aren’t the same

There once was a natural wetland in Southlake that was a favorite of birdwatchers. Birds too – around 21 species of duck visited it yearly, and many lived there. They visited the wetland because it had a natural shoreline, natural vegetation and such. A recent development filled it in (some thought it was “unsightly”) and it was replaced with a man-made pond. It held the same amount of water, but gone were the things that attracted birds, including migratory birds. This past year, just four species of duck came by (a natural wetland in a neighboring town still had throngs of birds, plus lots of birdwatchers and hikers).

 

 

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.

Save America's only temperate rainforest from logging: theTongass National Forest

There is logging going on in one of our national forests; the Tongass National Forest in Alaska's southeastern region - at least a million acres of old-growth trees and wildlife in a totally natural environment. The activity is very questionable, but legally exploits a loophole in the law.

The Forest Service just began a program to phase out logging of the Tongass' huge, old growth trees, and the logging roads that go with them. Most of the trees are several centuries old. But the program, as proposed,  could take as long as 15 years. (a lot of damage can be done in 15  years)

The Tongass is a rare rainforest in a temperate climate. America's only one! Right now, much of the Tongass has already been logged and roaded (essentially ruined for several hundred years). Tell the National Forest Service or your congressman to speed up the program, or there may be nothing left worth saving 15 years from now.

 

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.

 

How to avoid feeding bigger "bully birds" at your feeder

Great-tailed Grackles

Starling

 Most large “bully” birds, such as Crows and Grackles, are in urbanized areas with parking lots, stores, busy roads and such. They're excellent scavengers, and shouldn't be using your birdfeeder as a food source.

 In a home environment, they can be discouraged by using a weight-sensitive feeder. Some oif these “squirrel-resistant” birdfeeders can adjust. So when anything heavier than a few ounces sits in front of a seed port, the port closes. (Most “good” birds weigh less than 2 ounces.) Often, the feeder’s “tipping point” can be adjusted if, for instance, you like Blue Jays – which weigh about 5 or 6 ounces, but don’t want Grackles, which are about 8 ounces.

 
 

Searching for bats at night       You and your kids can look for bats in the dark of night – when they’re flying around hunting bugs. Simply fasten a piece of tracing paper over a normal flashlight. The light will then be dim enough not to be seen by bats – who can only see bright lights. (If you fasten the paper with a rubber band, make sure it doesn’t get left on the ground. Birds, and lots of other animals, can mistake it for a worm and will eat it.) Bats can detect objects very accurately in the dark, and won’t ever fly into you.

 

 

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.

 

 

Compost tea - a free, effective, natural fertilizer anyone can make.

Compost tea is totally free, and mimics the way nature fertilizes plants, except the manufacturing process can take just a few days - not a few decades. Compost tea is a watery solution that's very similar to the process of decomposing leaves and rainwater. I've used it with for years with great results!

The only material it requires is brown, decomposing organic matter (such as leaves), plain water, and a tiny bit of liquid horticultural molasses (you can add other stuff, but it's not essential). Aerate it, and the naturally-found micro-organisms slowly chew up the organic matter, creating a potent tea-like liquid. This liquid fertilizer can be sprayed or poured on plants.

 

Dyeing nectar with red food coloring causes DNA damage to Hummingbirds

Broad-billed Hummingbird

 Hummingbirds and butterflies love clear nectar. Food coloring (red or any other color) has never, in all recorded history, been proven to be effective. It's just a fable, augmented by a few anecdotes. In fact it’s genetically harmful. It’s been proven via several well-documented studies to mess up the DNA of newborns.

 

On hot days, red food coloring probably will introduce some tiny bits of mold or bacteria, which will rapidly multiply in our Texas heat and ruin your whole batch of nectar. Result: Hummingbirds will look somewhere else for nectar.

 

Seeing the world through a bird’s eyes    It would certainly look a lot different. Besides seeing all the colors of the rainbow, scientists tell us that many birds can see into the ultra-violet spectrum, too. (as a kid I learned that the rainbow humans see is “Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet”.  Therefore, birds can see what’s beyond violet; ultraviolet.)

Human birdwatchers of all abilities often have difficulty telling male birds apart from females of the same species. However, research using ultraviolet light shows that males and females frequently have radically different markings that we can’t see. An extreme example from north Texas is the Brown Creeper. The Brown Creeper itself, however, has no problem at all.

Additionally, ultraviolet vision can also help birds in finding food. Research with Kestrels has shown that they can see trails of rodent urine; known to reflect ultraviolet light. I’m not suggesting this as a method, but I’m sure you can come up with many other colorful alternatives.

 

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.