Native plants & beautiful video on bird migration

Birds, and their ancestors going back thousands and thousands of years have

depended on the area’s plants.  These natural, native plants are what they’re used to.  Planting native plants in your yard is a great way to attract north Texas birds.   It’s also a great way to help them get through their daily lives.

WHY?    The plants that grow here naturally have synchronized with the entire environment, including our birds. The plants do all the things they do (flower, go to seed, make nectar, wither etc.) at exactly the right times for our native birds to make use of them. (Or maybe the birds have adapted to the plants’ timing.) Whatever it is, it took many, many centuries for the plants and birds to evolve and get synchronized.

A non-native plant may look nice to you and me, but to a north Texas bird it may as well be a chunk of concrete – of almost no value in his daily life. So he may just fly off to another yard.

My advice, if you like birds, is to ask if a plant is "native" before putting it in your yard.  (There are thousands of native plant species)

 

A friend sent me a beautiful. informative video on birds' migration across the Gulf of Mexico. I've put the web address here:  http://gulfcrossingmovie.com   It's not short, but well worth the time spent watching.

If that address doesn't work on your computer, try the youtube version at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e20qNjdcSUk

 

 

Birds prefer NATURAL nest material

 

Texas birds are attracted to places where they can easily get materials for making nests.  More and more, however, the fields and forests where they used to find it have turned into shopping centers and parking lots. So offering good nest material is almost as important as putting out fresh food.

The materials that birds use for nest-building can be almost anything that’s somewhat small, stringy and lightweight. Also, many nests are cemented together with mud, so it’s a good idea to have water and/or mud nearby. (It doesn’t have to be very conspicuous, or even in your own yard – birds will find it!) It’s not uncommon for a bird to make over a thousand trips with beaks-full of mud, twigs, grasses, leaves or whatever, just before nesting season (which varies with species, but is typically in spring).

One of the most popular natural materials is fur. We have two large dogs that seem to shed 365 days a year. Often we’ll comb them and save the fur. Then we put it in a container, such as a wire suet basket, and hang it from a branch.

Over the next few days we’ll see chickadees, cardinals, titmice, jays and many others pull out strands of the dog fur to take to their nests in nearby trees. Weeks later, if we’re lucky enough spot a nest, we’ll carefully inspect it and find several tiny eggs nestled in the dogs' fur. In the wild, this might be fur from foxes, bobcats, coyotes, goats, raccoons, cougars or even bears – but it’s 100% natural.  

Given a choice, however, wild birds often choose natural nesting material from plants. Most Texas birds look for tall, native grasses for nesting material. If you really want birds to nest in your yard, leave an area in tall grass (at least a foot), letting it stand through the winter. Robins, mockingbirds, several kinds of sparrows, meadowlarks, wrens, flycatchers and bluebirds use grasses enthusiastically. Some favorites are bluestem, indiangrass, muhly and gramma.  I’m certainly not talking about a typical north Texas lawn (usually bermudagrass or St. Augustine mowed to less than 2 inches). This type of lawn is a very uninviting and sterile habitat for almost all birds, who need tall, dense vegetation that they can flee to quickly when a predator appears.

Many lawns are also “treated” with pesticides, weed killers and chemical fertilizers, which can end up harming wildlife – or at least causing birds to go elsewhere.  (Remember DDT ?) Birds' nests are usually composed of bits of dead leaves and lots of small twigs, too.  So if you clean up your yard too meticulously, you may be depriving nearby birds of the natural nest material they seek and prefer.

Wild birds often use other plant items for nesting, too. Thin strips of bark from many types of trees native to the Denton area often end up in nests.  Young trees (like redbud, red cedar, eve’s necklace, roughleaf dogwood or cedar elm) are preferred by birds. Small chips of bark (from almost any tree, but oaks are a favorite) are often used to cushion the bottom of nests.

I’ve tried to put together a list of possible nesting material. It turns out, however, that almost anything is a candidate. And since birds were here in north Texas thousands of years before humans, the more natural a material is, the more likely it is to be recognized by the area’s birds and used in a nest.

 

 

Bringing the Passenger Pigeon back from extinction ?!

 

Once, not so long ago, the Passenger Pigeon was one of the most abundant birds in North America. There were billions of them. Now they're gone. Extinct.  Due to rampant hunting, and development of its habitat, the only people who have ever seen a live one are now over 90.

However, science has reached the point where it’s (theoretically) possible

Passenger Pigeon

to bring extinct species back from the finality of extinction. In the Passenger Pigeon’s case, it involves identifying the genetic “bits” that make it a real Passenger Pigeon - creating a “genome” from DNA found in museum specimens. Next, synthesize the DNA fragments that make the bird unique. Then the modified DNA fragments are exchanged, in place of the corresponding fragments, in the genome of the common Rock Pigeon (a close cousin). The new “stem cells”, converted into “germ cells” are put into the eggs of a Rock Pigeon (I apologize in advance to all true scientists, who may see this explanation as vastly oversimplified). Then breed the result(s).

Then, the result is a true Passenger Pigeon.  Or is it?

Assuming that it can be done, should it be done? Several scientists think that, if the specie’s extinction was caused mostly by mankind, we have the responsibility to “re-create” it. That’s good for the Passenger Pigeon, but bad for things like the sabre-toothed tiger.

 Would we want a 'Jurassic Park' of Wooly Mammoths and flesh-eating birds, anyway? 

 

Are you paying for weeds!?      A recent university study examined ten popular brands of birdseed and found that half of them contained seeds of at least six species of weeds. SO, not only are you paying good money for the weed seeds, but they’re likely to sprout and spread in your yard; and wild birds rarely eat them. Personally I have no absolute proof of the following opinion, but I'd bet good money that the cheaper birdseed brands contain the most weed seeds. 

 

What you can do about the diminishing number of Monarch butterflies

Monarch butterfly

The N.Y. Times reports that the number of Monarch butterflies at their central-Mexico winter home is down about 59 percent – the lowest since record-keeping began almost 20 years ago. There are now only one-fifteenth as many as there were in 1997.

      All the Monarch butterflies in the world spend winters in a fir forest in the mountains of central Mexico – in the state of Michoacan. They come from all over Mexico, U.S. and Canada, driven by an inherited urge; it is almost impossible for  a specific butterfly to be in the forests of Michoacán for two successive years since they have such a short life span. Their migration is purely genetic.

     They cluster together by the thousands.   The area covered by the butterflies is measured each year. This past winter the "butterfly zone” covered 2.93 acres. That’s down from the previous winter’s 7.14 acres, and the high (in 1996-7) of 44 acres (18.19 hectares in metric). This is the third straight year of declines – the lowest since records began being kept in 1993-4.

     Conservationists blame climate conditions and agricultural practices. These primarily occur is the U.S. and Canada. Both contribute heavily to the steep decline in milkweed plant. Like all butterflies, there is a specific host plant on which they can lay eggs, and on which the offspring can feed and grow to maturity. Milkweed is  

the Monarch’s host plant (technically in the “Asclepiadaceae” family which in north Texas includes Asclepias Tuberosa, commonly known as butterfly weed, butterfly milkweed or orange milkweed)  The butterfly weed [unfair name, I know] is either orange or red, is native to Texas, and is a perennial flower about 2-3 feet tall at maturity.   

       Other main causes for the Monarch’s decline are climate-related: heat and drought. Unusually hot, dry weather can kill eggs, meaning fewer adult monarchs. For the ones that can reach adulthood, unusual cold, lack of water and lack of tree cover in Mexico mean they’re less likely to survive the winter.

       The biggest reason for the population decline, however, is the liberal use of pesticides and herbicides by farmers and homeowners, especially ones containing glyphosate. Glyphosate is a manufactured chemical found in many pesticides and herbicides; but predominantly in Round-Up. It kills all vegetation and all insects (including butterflies). It’s an artificial chemical found at a great many stores. It’s probably on most garage shelves right now.

     

   Illegal logging in the protected reserve contributes a little, but such logging has been greatly reduced by increased enforcement and alternative development programs.
 



Asclepias tuberosa

    My advice, if you want to help turn the Monarch decline around, is to do two things this and every year. First, plant a mass of butterfly weed on your property. Not only will it be good for Monarchs, it’s VERY attractive. Second, avoid liberal use of pesticides and herbicides, especially ones containing the chemical glyphosate, such as Round-Up.  These are things YOU can do right now, not broad long-term problems like drought and land-use – which you have very little control over.


 
Just last week we were fortunate enough to see a wild turkey in our yard;

wild turkey

strolling casually down the boardwalk through a natural area. Have you seen anything interesting lately?

A natural, safe fire ant control that WORKS

Most birds have learned, over the years, to eat ants. But not imported fire

ants – which are a relatively recent introduction to Texas. Maybe in a 15 or 20 generations, birds will learn how to get rid of ("eat") them. For now, though, I control fire ants by soaking the mound thoroughly with a liquid compost solution. I’m certainly no entomologist, but this homemade, non-poisonous solution works for me.  

I use a mixture of 40% orange oil, 40% compost tea and 20% liquid horticultural molasses (mixed thoroughly).  Then I mix about a half cup of this with one gallon of water, and saturate the whole fire ant mound with it (or a part of the mixture, depending on the size of the mound).  The ingredients cost considerably less than the poisonous stuff you buy in a store, and it works.

It doesn't poison them; it dissolves their exoskeleton. It takes about half an hour before the fire ants have all met their maker. Several days later I’ll add beneficial nematodes to the soil, to control them long term.

 

Black-chinned Hummingbirds

Hungry Hummingbirds     Hummingbirds have an extremely high rate of metabolism, and need to maintain their energy throughout the day. So they feed about 5 to 8 times per day.  When feeding, they actually lap nectar with tongues that are almost twice as long as their beaks (they don’t suck it). They lap incredibly fast - about 13 times per second.

 


 

Sometimes the Capistrano Swallows are a bit off

 

Cliff Swallow

You’ve probably heard of “the swallows returning to Capistrano”, like clockwork.  It was made famous in a '40s song.  St. Joseph's Day is the magic date for them to arrive at the old mission in California, and roost.  However, recent observations have them returning precisely on the stipulated day only twice. Once it was one day early. In 1993 they appeared three days early. In 2002 they arrived a whole week ahead of time, and in 1997 they were 10 days late. Nowadays, very few roost there at all.

 

The Cliff Swallows are affected by headwinds, tailwinds, and all the other intricacies of changing weather patterns in their migratory flight from South America. Also by the character of local land development. Not by superstition or faith. Very recently, the bulk of the swallows have not been roosting there at all, preferring nearby sites including highway underpasses and a high school. You see, development in the vicinity of the mission has changed the scenery very much. San Juan Capistrano used to be in the country; now the area is very "suburban".


Many Goldfinches have left north Texas by now, but some remain here. They'll head north sometime soon, and return again next fall. My advice is to leave your thistle (or "nyger") feeder up a little longer to let these stragglers eat. Hang a feeder next to it filled with sunflower seed (I prefer black-oil sunflower). The remaining Goldfinches will always have something to eat; sunflower if and when the thistle is gone; and our year-'round birds (Cardinals, Chickadees etc.) will continue to eat sunflower too.

Incidentally, the small black seed known as thistle (or "Nyger") is the only birdseed that does not stay viable for the following year.

 

How to attract Indigo Buntings to your north Texas yard

Indigo Bunting (male)

Before long, the Indigo Bunting will arrive in north Texas (early April), having spent fall and winter in southern Central America and Cuba.  Unlike most songbirds, the male Indigo Bunting often carols at mid-day. He's proclaiming his territory. He will sing his way from the bottom of a tree to the top, going up branch-by-branch until reaching the top.

Since all buntings eat insects primarily, they avoid yards that use insecticides liberally. Actually, the influx of "yards" helps the population grow.



Painted Bunting (male)

They prefer the edges of landscaped areas (thick vegetation on one side, open area on the other). Since a "yard" has four edges, buntings have more habitat to live in. (Of course this doesn't apply if there's a huge concentration of contiguous yards, or a busy thorofare in front). So there are certainly more buntings around now than in pre-Columbian days, even the colorful Painted Bunting.

To attract them, make sure you have at least one birdbath. In warm weather, a birdbath is a must!  Also, a mass of seed-laden native prairie grasses (like bluestem, or muhlygrass) should be planted. Since buntings occasionally eat seed, have at least one feeder available. And don't overdo the insecticides!

A key reason why birds prefer native plants Many birds eat bugs. Also, almost all birds feed bugs to their babies. Without bugs around, birds will simply go elsewhere, or starve. (They normally keep insect populations in control naturally). Many of the non-native “bug-free” plants sold are impossible for our insects to digest. (That's why they're insect-free). So no birds, in search of bugs, will hang around them. These include privet, Bradford pear, nandina and English ivy. Don't buy them! They have other "downsides" too. If you want to attract birds to your yard – plant native plants. Only! Birds will then be around to chow down on any bug overpopulation.