Woodpeckers are attracted by a challenge

If you've put up house for any of our local Woodpeckers, remember that they want a bit of a challenge so they can achieve a sense of accomplishment. It's part of their mating ritual.

Try adding a mild barrier to the entrance hole, such as putting a piece of cardboard, or thin piece of wood, with a 1" hole in it, over the real hole (which should be about 2" depending on species), so they can enlarge it themselves to the proper size.

Just make sure the real hole is somewhat obvious or the Woodpecker may ignore the birdhouse entirely.The smaller "dummy" hole also keeps Starlings from taking over.

Here in north Texas the most common Woodpecker species are the Downy, Hairy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers (shown here). Other species sometimes live here, but are not as common, or are only here in the winter.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

There's hardly any activity at seed feeders about now. That's totally normal.


This is breeding season. Birds of almost all species are primarily concerned with feeding their young right now; and the developing birds eat only insects (with just a few exceptions) until they "fledge" from the nest. Seeds are indigestible to their undeveloped digestive systems.

How caterpillars and butterflies defend themselves

Everyone knows that caterpillars become butterflies. And birds eat caterpillars and butterflies.  After all, they ARE insects!

They've developed a defense mechanism, however. Particularly the Monarch butterfly we see here in north Texas. When the larve of the Monarch eats some of its host plant, the butterfly-to-be also ingests a bit of the plants' toxin. The Monarchs are immune to it, but this makes eating the Monarch poisonous to any pedator, including birds.

The host plant is commonly called Butterfly Weed; technically any species of Aesclepias is an ideal host, which includes Milkweed. Consider putting some in your yard to attract Monarchs.

Look again!!

Maybe some folks don't know that climate change is real, but birds certainly do. Now its impact on birds has been proven. A 40-year study by the Audubon Society pinpoints the effects of climate change on various birds. In just 40 years, the centerpoint of the Purple Finches' range has moved 433 miles to the north.  Boreal Chickadee, 279 miles north.  Downy Woodpecker, 29 miles north. What's more, Audubon's findings are that it takes about 35 years for a bird species to adjust to a new locale.

In a way these birds are fortunate. They happen to have suitable habitat and food sources to the north, so they can move. Birds that don't (Meadowlarks for example) face starvation and extinction.

Dickcissels - meet "progress"

Dickcissel (male)

Dickcissels

The colorful, melodious Dickcissel (pronounced "dik-sizzle") lives from central Texas all the way north through Minnesota and North Dakota.  But not in Denton, although it used to be abundant here. Ten or fifteen years ago the birds were abundant in the Denton area. The epicenter seemed to be the Rayzor Ranch, at University & I-35, where thousands of them lived in the tall grass, amid the Longhorns. That's all gone now, and the only Dickcissels are a few found in fields on the outskirts of town.

They are late migrators, arriving (if at all) in late April from their winter homes in Central and northern South America.  Here, during breeding season, they feed on both insects and seeds, and make nests amid tall prairie grasses (over a dozen grass species are suitable, bluestem and indiangrass among them).

Dickcissel (male)

The male looks a bit like a small Meadowlark. If you've seen one, remember the moment and think about the price of progress.

If you control insects with ladybugs (and lots of us do) I recommend that you release them in your yard at dusk.  Why? The domestic varieties want, instinctively, to return to their place of birth - often the foothills of the Rockies. They don't fly at night, so by releasing them at dusk, they'll stay around long enough to lay lots of eggs; and they won't get eaten by hungry birds.

Asian ladybugs began to be imported several years ago. They want to get in your house, and can be a nuisance. I recommend you not buy them! If the merchant where you shop doesn't know where they're from, shop elsewhere.


This past October 9th I ran a pucture of a brownish native plant asking "is this plant really dead?" It wasn't.  It had gone into dormancy in August, due to our extreme heat. It's a Wafer Ash, and it greened up just fine about two weeks ago.

Believe it or not, Hummingbird nests can expand as they grow

Hummingbird nests expand in size to snugly fit the occupants. Of course, the nest never gets "large" since the occupants themselves never get very large.  The nest starts out quite tiny, as shown in the picture to the left. 

The nests are built largely with strands from spider webs, which stretch. The Hummingbirds avoid getting it stuck all over themselves by selecting only certain strands. Specific strands of the web, those that are structural, are non-sticky (unlike most of the web). Hummingbirds know which is which.

They do use the sticky strands for the outside of the nest. To this they can stick tiny bits of lichen or bark to camouflage the nest.



Unwanted animals, including neighborhood dogs, often get into storage bins, bird nests, trash cans and so on. A low-cost remedy is plain old household ammonia.    Inexpensive!

Just soak a rag in some ordinary ammonia and fasten it nearby. Raccoons, dogs, squirrels, cats, rats etc. hate the smell and won't stick around. Birds, which have a very, very poor sense of smell, have no idea it's there.

Controlling Fire Ants safely without synthetic chemicals

Fire Ant mound

Fire ants, an imported plague, are hurriedly building mounds about now. I control them naturally instead of putting chemical poisons around. I'm certainly no entomologist but this homemade solution has always worked well for us.

quickly stick something (and
remove it) into the center
of the mound before pouring

I use a mixture of 40% orange oil, 40% compost tea and 20% liquid molasses. Shake. (Then it needs to sit for about a half-day to blend completely)   Mix about 8 ounces of this mixture with a gallon of water. Then I drench the ants' mound with it, making sure it soaks deep into the ground and doesn't just run off.

This stuff won't harm pets, children or birds. If your nursery doesn't stock these safe, natural ingredients, you might want to reconsider shopping there. 

Yes, birds eat ants. Fire Ants, however, are a relatively new introduction to their world.  It may take a few hundred years of evolution before they can handle Fire Ants.


Birdseed gets blamed a lot for killing grass. The truth, however, is that there is absolutely nothing in birdseed that kills grass (Scott's/Miracle-Grow had put something in theirs that poisons birds, but they got caught and stopped). But any birdseed killing grass is a total myth!

Grass sometimes dies beneath a birdfeeder when the accumulation of empty seed hulls gets so thick that it acts like a mulch - preventing sunlight from reaching the grass. Result; the grass dies.

Cowbirds don't do it intentionally

Red-winged Blackbird (l.) and
Brown-headed Cowbird (r.). Females

The Brown-headed Cowbird is found in 48 states; open country more than urban environments. The female (shown here) chooses the nest of another bird species. The Cowbird hatchling emerges sooner and is larger, than most other species. It will often shove unhatched eggs out of the nest.

The Cowbird is not intentionally being mean; it is in survival mode. For centuries, it followed herds of wild buffalo and cattle, eating the insects stirred up (hence the name "cow"bird). There was no way the female could incubate her eggs in her own nest, while the herd moved on. So it developed the practice of using other birds' nests.


Cowbirds avoid "parasitizing" the nests of House Finches. Why?? Most baby birds, including Cowbirds, are fed easily-digested insects by their parents. Not House Finches.  House Finches are one of the few birds that feed seeds to their nestlings. Baby Cowbirds cannot handle the all-seed diet.

a very common bird you'll rarely see / Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

It's one of the most common birds in the US - found in every state but Hawaii and North Dakota. It lives in large areas of Canada and Mexico too. But it's not really a "backyard bird". To see one, go for a drive in the country - Red-tailed Hawks commonly sit on fenceposts (trees, signs & phonepoles too).

Or you could check out the streaming "nestcam" of a RTHawk nest in New York, at
www.allaboutbirds.org/cornellhawks  As I write this, the female has laid two eggs, but who knows what has happened since!

On a recent trip to Austin, we saw 5 just between Denton and Ft. Worth, alongside I-35W. There were probably several more we didn't spot, or were flying overhead. A full-grown Red-tailed Hawk might weigh up to 3 lb., so they're hard to miss.

W. Asher Yost & Owen Yost

              On a personal note, Nancy and I were just down in Austin, seeing my (second) grandson for the first time. Beautiful boy and his   wonderful brother Carson.

Oh yes, we saw my son Creighton and his wonderful wife Lindsay too. And Lauren was a huge help.

                                          LIFE IS GOOD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!