Three rat poison marketers ignore STOP order

Three companies have refused to comply with a government order to stop selling or modify certain super-toxic rat poisons that can harm children, birds, pets and so on.  Most companies have acted responsibly and paid attention to the safety ruling from 2008.

Lola (rt.) killed by rat poison

This indiscriminate poison has killed many, many birds - primarily those that hunt rodents. A similar rat poison killed Lola, the mate of New York's famous Pale Male, a Red-tailed Hawk.

The three companies, pointed out by the American Bird Conservancy, are Spectrum Brands (makers of HotShot & Spectracide), Reckitt Benckisser (makes d-Con, also makes Lysol, French's Mustard & Woolite), and Liphatech (makes Generation).

Red Admiral

I don't know about you, but I'm seeing a lot of these Red Admirals in my north Texas yard.

A variety of food = a variety of birds

Platform feeder

Birds, especially migrating birds, will eat a wide variety of foods. Sure, they have favorites, like you and me, but you shouldn't hesitate to put out "unconventional" food if you're in a pinch.  Birds are likely to consume it if their favorite isn't conveniently available.

For instance, Woodpeckers' favorites are suet and nuts; but they will experiment with berries. Tufted Titmice will try nut pieces. Wrens often experiment with suet. Robins will try millet.

If you put a variety of foods out in your landscape, there's no telling what birds will stop by, but you are likely to have something for everyone.


The smallest bird in the world? The Bee Hummingbird lives in the Sierra Maestra Mountains of Cuba. It actually is about the size of a bee. This same forest is said to be home to a close cousin of the elusive Ivory-billed Woodpecker, which was re-discovered living in an Arkansas wetlands.

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.