The trifecta !! Fire Ant control that's effective, safe and inexpensive.

Butchered crape myrtles

   As I write this, birds eat anxiously, and hardly a thought is given to the regular spring happenings. Spring will be here very soon, however. It’ll bring the nice stuff like flowers and warm days. But it will also bring fire ants.

Fire ant mounds erupt in unexpected and inconvenient places each spring. So, many homeowners rush to a store and buy anything that promises to kill fire ants (ANYTHING!), not realizing that it also damages/kills pets, children and wildlife (including birds). It’s poison!!

Instead, I mix up a natural, homemade mixture - one that’s very effective, safe and inexpensive: it costs about a tenth of the brand-name stuff on store shelves. 

 

I make a batch of the ”base” every year or so from ingredients sold at most hardware stores. What's more, it works....safely!.

I suggest a mixture of about 40% compost tea, 30% orange oil and 30% liquid horticultural molasses (mixed thoroughly). You can mix up a batch of this “base” now and keep it ready. When the time comes to eradicate a mound I take half a cup of this mixture, mix it with one gallon of water, and saturate the fire ant mound with it. Pour slowly to saturate the mound, and let it soak in – not run off. (I use a stick to quickly break through the mound’s crust.)

This doesn’t poison anything. Instead it instantly dissolves insects’ exoskeletons. In about 5 minutes there’s no ant activity at all. A few days later, I’ll add beneficial nematodes to the soil to control fire ants long term.

 

Why would you pay somebody   Pay to make a mess of your car?  Slash the upholstery, pound dents in the metal etc.? Same for butchering your crape myrtles.

 

There is absolutely NO proof that it does any good. Just the opposite in fact. Butchering can weaken the plant (since a lot of nutrition goes to heal the wounds) so the plant may get infested with bugs, get some disease, or simply die. That's why dozens and dozens of horticultarists and botanical organizations don't recommend butchering. Typically they don't suggest cutting any growth that's thicker than a pencil.

 

The only people butchering benefits is the person doing the butchering.

 

Owen Yost, in addition to blogging, is a Landscape Architect emeritus from here, who‘s worked in north Texas for over 30 years.  He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Society of Landscape Architects, the National BirdFeeding Society, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Native Plant Society of Texas. His design office is at northwestern68@yahoo.com

It sounds like it'd hurt!

 

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Most woodpeckers have barbed-edged tips on their tongues. Until now, it was thought this was for spearing a favorite food – grubs. But researchers have shown that woodpeckers use their extremely sticky saliva and the barbed tongue in combination to “grab” grubs and other morsels without piercing the skin. (In north Texas we have Downy, Hairy, Red-bellied, Red-headed, Pileated Woodpeckers, plus a few others)

         Nematodes aren’t always “bad guys”  Beneficial nematodes are exactly as the name implies; beneficial to humans but the enemy of over 200 kinds of nasty things; insects with any part of its life-cycle underground.  That includes fleas, cutworms, sod webworms, fungal gnats and white grubs. Plus, the nematodes aren’t the least bit harmful to humans, pets or wildlife (including birds)

For years we’ve used the beneficial nematodes at our home to control fleas naturally where we have our dogs, and we’ve never had a problem with either fleas or sick birds. We know for sure, and they’re easy to apply.

         A “nematode” is actually a family of microscopic, naturally-occurring worms, containing well over 1000 species. Some are good; some are bad. Many stores sell the beneficial nematodes, along with domestic, insect-eating, bird-friendly ladybugs.

Owen Yost, in addition to blogging, is a Landscape Architect emeritus from here, who‘s worked in north Texas for over 30 years.  He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Society of Landscape Architects, the National BirdFeeding Society, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Native Plant Society of Texas. His design office is at northwestern68@yahoo.com

Now's the time to be gathering natural nesting material

 

Texas birds seek material for making nests, and are attracted to places where they can easily get the nesting materials.  More and more, however, the fields and forests where they got it in past years have become shopping centers, parking lots and subdivisions. So offering nest material for the birds is almost as enticing to them 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, most 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, pine needles, grasses, leaves or whatever, just before nesting season.

      One of the most popular natural materials is fur. We have a golden retriever that sheds 365 days a year. Often we’ll comb her and save the fur. Then we put it in a container, such as a wire suet basket, hanging it from a branch. Over the next few days  chickadees, cardinals, titmice, jays and many others pull out strands of the golden fur to take to their nest sites in nearby trees. Weeks later, if we’re lucky enough spot a nest, we’ll carefully inspect it and find several tiny eggs nestled gently in golden fur.

       In the wild, this might be fur from deer, foxes, bobcats, coyotes, moose, raccoons or even bears – but it’s 100% natural. If you don’t have a long-haired dog, try horsehair or even hair clippings from hairdressers or barbers. Some ready-made items are sold in stores. One made from sheep’s wool has the advantage of being water repellant.

 Given a choice, however, wild birds often choose natural nesting material from plants. Many Texas birds look for dead, 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, several kinds of sparrows, meadowlarks, red-winged blackbirds, flycatchers and bluebirds use grasses enthusiastically. Some favorites are bluestem, indiangrass, muhly and gramma.  I’m certainly not talking about a typical lawn (with bermudagrass or St. Augustine mowed to less than 2 inches.) This type of lawn is a very unattractive and sterile habitat for almost all birds, who need the safety of 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 ?)

 Wild birds often use other plant items for nesting, too. Thin strips of bark from many types of trees native to north Texas often end up in birdnests.  Thin bark stripped from 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 used to cushion the bottom of nests. 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 used in a bird’s nest.

  TEN PERCENT!!!!      On average, just about 10% of a bird’s diet is food from feeders. The bulk of their food is natural seed, berries, insects, fruit etc. Of course, there’s more activity at your feeders when food is scarce or hidden by snow or ice.  And, since birds weigh so little and have a high metabolism rate, they have to eat daily - particularly in cool or rainy weather.

 

Owen Yost, in addition to blogging, is a Landscape Architect emeritus from here, who‘s worked in north Texas for over 30 years.  He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Society of Landscape Architects, the National BirdFeeding Society, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Native Plant Society of Texas. His design office is at northwestern68@yahoo.com

Robins aren’t a harbinger of a Texas spring. No way!

American Robin

 

            Unlike up north, robins are here all year. There have been several reports lately of large flocks of robins all over Denton County, several even in adjoining counties. They are generally feeding on the ground, hopefully finding worms and grubs near the soil’s surface. Often they pick a berry bush clean. Very occasionally, robins visit feeders to sample seed, fruit and suet, according to Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology.

They’ve been around here all winter, but are a little easier to spot now since they’re gradually getting more orange. The robins from up north spend the winter around here too, but their ranks will thin out as some of them head back north with the spring warmth. The ones that stay around here are just easier to spot due to their springtime activity such as flock feeding.

 

Bats are coming too!         Not ‘til early spring, which gives you time to get ready for their arrival. They weigh just about half-an-once, but eat lots and lots of mosquitoes (about 3000 to 5000 a night) – and they’re returning. They rid the nights of pesky bugs and avoid humans as much as possible. They do both through “echo-location”, which is like radar, except faster.

 

Owen Yost, in addition to blogging, is a Landscape Architect emeritus from here, who‘s worked in north Texas for over 30 years.  He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Society of Landscape Architects, the National BirdFeeding Society, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Native Plant Society of Texas. His design office is at northwestern68@yahoo.com

“But north Texas chickadees have a black cap”

 

Carolina Chickadee

Yes…but they aren’t called ‘black-capped chickadees”. The species of chickadee in this area is the almost identical ‘Carolina chickadee’. Even though it has a black cap it’s not what some people think. Actually, there are seven separate chickadee species in North America in all, and not one of them cares at all if you call it by the wrong name.

WHY HOLLOW?

Almost all birds have hollow bones. It helps enable flight by reducing their weight.   An exception is Penguins – who don’t fly anyway (and would have difficulty swimming with hollow bones).

 

Owen Yost, in addition to blogging, is a Landscape Architect emeritus from here, who‘s worked in north Texas for over 30 years.  He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Society of Landscape Architects, the National BirdFeeding Society, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Native Plant Society of Texas. His design office is at northwestern68@yahoo.com

BIG AND DIVERSE!

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Dark-eyed Junco

Cedar Waxwing

The Lone Star state is home to more kinds of birds than any other state in the union. Over 600 species live here!  That includes the beautiful Cedar Waxwing, whose first-of-season local sighting was east of Denton. It also includes the Golden-crowned Kinglet, sighted by friends near Northlakes Park. And an American Woodcock, in a friend’s yard south of here. This is mainly because Texas takes in so many ecological zones. Many of these birds can be seen around Denton County, because this area includes several of these zones. We even have cold & snow – when the birds are exceptionally active, fighting through the weather and trying to get warm. At these times, birds are especially grateful for the high-energy seeds (and such) you provide.



Great-crested Flycatcher

 

A Real Pane.    Research has proven what I strongly suspected – it’s OK for you to put feeders directly on or near windows. In the study feeders directly on, or within 3 ft., of a window resulted in NO bird deaths from flying into a window. It seems that the real “danger zone” is when feeders are 3 to 5 ft. from a window, especially a reflective one.

 

 Owen Yost, in addition to blogging, is a Landscape Architect emeritus from here, who‘s worked in north Texas for over 30 years.  He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Society of Landscape Architects, the National BirdFeeding Society, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Native Plant Society of Texas. His design office is at northwestern68@yahoo.com

What our birds eat hints at what species they are

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·       Birds are always busy finding food and eating. Particularly in cooler

weather.   Birds burn energy very quickly – in fact, the smaller the bird, the faster

they burn it. Thus smaller birds need to eat much more often. Each type of bird

has a particular way of locating and taking their food.

 

Mother Nature solves the overwhelming demand, and possible competition, for

food within the avian kingdom by having different species eat at unique times of

the day and night, at different depths of water, at varying heights in the

trees, and even at different places within trees and shrubs.

      Some birds will feed on their own. Most hawks and eagles are solitary hunters.

Other birds of the same species or even different species will group together

to seek out a meal. Think of the large groups of robins, grackles, and

sparrows you may easily spy, dining on the insects and seeds in neighborhoods.

Some birds learn that it pays to get help from other kinds of animals. If you live near farmland,

look for Cattle Egrets near grazing cattle who will gobble up multitudes of insects

stirred up by the cows. Other birds will eat off insects from other animals, such as

deer, who are relieved to be rid of the bugs.

    Sometimes birds will band together for safety since there are more eyes looking

for predators.  Flocks of terns can be

seen diving and confusing the school of fish, thus allowing the flock to catch

more fish! Other species, such as stilts and avocets, may form huge formations

and beat the water with their beaks, causing the very confused fish and even

bugs to come to the surface, allowing all of the birds to more easily catch a meal

and fill their stomachs. Groups of White Pelicans will drive fish into more shallow

water by beating their wings in the water while swimming.

 

      Birders often identify bird species by their beaks, which dictate what and where they eat. 



  

Northern Cardinal's heavy/strong beak tells you it's a seed eater

The Red-breasted Nuthatch (with a narrow beak) eats insects while going DOWN a tree trunk

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·       Owen Yost, in addition to blogging, is a Landscape Architect emeritus from here, who‘s worked in north Texas for over 30 years.  He is a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), International Society of Landscape Architects, the National BirdFeeding Society, National Wildlife Federation and the Audubon Society. He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Native Plant Society of Texas. His design office is at northwestern68@yahoo.com