"Bird Poop" of north Texas

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

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.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

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.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

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.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

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.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

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.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Avoid putting birdhouses near birdfeeders

Both are good – necessities to most birds – but a very common misstep is putting a birdhouse near a birdfeeder. Feeders should be in very visible locations. When a bird sees it and it’s safe, they fly to the feeder and often eat neaerbny. Consequently, there can be a lot of activity near a feeder.

On the other hand, a birdhouse (sometimes called a nestbox) should be in a somewhat secretive, almost hidden place. This is where incubation takes place, and baby birds are raised. Lots of activity and high visibility are big negatives. A few species (like Wrens and Swallows) don’t mind this, but most avoid nesting near a high-activity area.

The main thing that prospective bird parents look for is the availability of insects. After all, almost all nestling birds eat insects – not seed. So a nearby birdfeeder is definitely not a bonus.

Tufted Titmouse

Titmice’s high-protein diet

One of north Texas’ most common birds is the Tufted Titmouse. Primarily these medium-sized, mostly gray birds eat seeds. But about 40% of their diet is ants, beetles, wasps, insect eggs, spiders, bees and their favorite - caterpillars. If you spray your whole yard with bug poison forget about having Titmice or many other species of birds.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

trees are the "anchor" of your landscape's look

When I started my formal education in Landscape Architecture last century (really!) my professor gave me some advice we can all use. “If you only have a modest bit of money to spend for a landscape design,” he told me “spend most of it on a large tree to serve as an anchor to the landscape design.”

Mexican Plum

In design terminology, a large tree is the “formgiver” that landscapes often crave. It’s the anchor around which all other landscape elements revolve. In everyday terms, trees can reduce your heating and air conditioning costs considerably. Trees help clean the air. Trees add beauty and color. Trees provide shelter from the rain and sun. Trees can be home to many different kinds of wildlife including birds. At the top of most lists, also, is that trees add considerable value to your home.

To that list I’d add that trees let us live. In one year, two healthy mature trees produce roughly the amount of oxygen breathed in by the average adult during that same year (Think of that the next time a tree is cut down).

Choosing the right tree for your north Texas yard is a decision not to be made hastily. Here are six guidelines to help you make the right choice;

MATURE SIZE – To the amazement of some, trees grow bigger every year. A large tree is called a “canopy” tree. Examples for the north Texas area are pecan, bur oak, cedar elm and green ash. Small decorative trees are called "understory” trees. They include redbud, Mexican plum and yaupon holly. Make sure the tree you select has a size that won’t have you cutting it back every year.

SHAPE – A mature tree has a very distinct shape. It may be tall & thin, spreading, oval, or several other shapes. Of course, a new, young tree (whatever the species) looks something like a stick. But this will certainly change. Also look at a tree’s branching habit. Some trees (magnolia for instance) have branches near the ground. Others (like cedar elm and most oaks) branch about eye-level.

COLOR – Sure, every tree is green at some time. But you may want one that’s perpetually green – or “evergreen”. Several species have vibrant fall color (like sweetgum, blackjack oak and persimmon). Maybe you want nice flowers?

DRAINAGE – All trees need good drainage (3 or 4 hours after a heavy rain, no water should still be puddled there). A few kinds can take poor drainage, but none thrive in it. So choose a location where water doesn’t stand.

Good drainage is particularly important during the first few years a tree spends in the ground – when it needs water frequently. After that, especially if you’ve planted a native tree like redbud, pecan, red oak, juniper etc., it should be watered only in extreme and prolonged drought. So avoid planting a tree in the middle of your lawn, which you’ll probably water frequently. Frequent watering stunts a tree's growth.

LIGHT – There’s not a tree alive that doesn’t need light. Different species, however, do best in differing light conditions. If you plant a species that likes full sun, in dappled shade, it may live. But it won’t grow much, and will look sickly all the time.

Printed tags on trees often say “full sun” or “partial shade”, but add your own common sense. Remember that the tag was a probably written by someone who lives somewhere else – where “full sun” means something other than what it means in Texas.

CARE – Most trees native to north Texas demand very little maintenance from you. Just the occasional fertilization (Maybe none, depending on your soil), perhaps a pruning of a branch that’s hanging over a sidewalk, or an occasional light watering (necessary in a drought only). Native trees have evolved to withstand most insects and diseases, thrive in our poor soil and require very little water.

Faddish, aggressively marketed, non-native trees (like austree and royal paulonia), on the other hand, often require a lot of ongoing, expensive care.

Why am I telling you this now? Since we’re in “the south”, an ideal time to plant any tree is right now, when it's dormant – up until spring. So get busy!