I’ll See You in Health

Anyone who watches the Colbert Report knows this line and the antics of its host.  Yet, let’s be serious.  Part of our health is living in a healthy environment, especially our own backyard.  What is a healthy backyard?

Any yard attractive to birds, bats, bees and butterflies would be considered healthy.  To accomplish that would mean reducing the use of pesticides, conserving water and protecting water quality.  It would require planting native plants, removing invasives and limiting lawns.

Down to specifics: how does one accomplish the above?  This author doubts that many have the budget to accomplish wholesale transformation, and that’s fine.  Even if it takes a few years to effect, one can enjoy the different stages.  This author would suggest targeting one family of birds in approaching this task—hummingbirds. We are fascinated but these tiny dynamos anyway.  If you work to attract these, you will also facilitate the attraction of bees and butterflies.  You see, the plants that attract hummers attract bees and butterflies!  One of my favorite wildlife specialists often states, “If you want hummingbirds, think lasagna”.  Lasagna is a dish of many layers and flavors. Your hummingbird garden would be layers of different heights, colors, and flowers blooming at various times of the year.  Plant trumpet shape flowers but also flowers that have flat disked shaped flowers.  Together these flowers provide nectar and attract insects hummers find edible.  It is important to provide nectar and protein sources.  Hummers need a protein source especially during the raising of a brood.

Hummers need cover and shelter.  To that end, think about planting in the space available trees, shrubs and vines to which the birds can retreat.  Cross Vine and Jasmine followed by Mexican Plum, Mountain Laurel, and Redbud in the understory and Oaks, Pines and Pecans in the canopy again achieves the lasagna theme.

 

Feeders can add to sources of food for wildlife and will provide grand time for viewing the antics of the birds.  Find brands that offer lifetime warranties and clean them regularly.  After all, think about your desire to dine at a clean plate.  So do the birds.  The experience will be wonderful.

Sources of clean water are a must.  Birdbaths should be shallow and with sides of gentle slope.  Keep the water fresh and moving, if possible.  Clean your birdbath with regularity and change the water to keep it free of unwanted dirt and algae.  If one adds a wiggler or a drip system, this is most attractive to a variety of birds.  Misters are great, especially in hot summer months.   Birds will play in the mist and your plans benefit as well.  If you have a pond, move water by way of a pump and waterfall.

In healthy yard, you have provided the means by which birds, bees, butterflies and other wildlife live and flourish.  You have contributed to lessening population decline of many species.  You’ve reconnected to nature.  Of course, you must realize, your health, too, is the beneficiary of a healthy back yard.

Pine Warbler

This Pine Warbler joins the American Goldfinches and Chipping Sparrows coming to my Finch Flocker these days.  Pine Warblers don't always occupy pine forests but will appear in mixed woodlands as well.  They frequently join other flocks as this one did.  It is one of my favorite species.

Thar Be Gold

 “Thar be gold in them thar hills!”,  So sayeth pirate legend.  Pirates plundered for gold.  The Spanish search for El Dorado, the City of Gold.  Stories abound of buried treasure.  Yet, I stand at my back window, sipping my morning coffee at daybreak, starring at my feeders.  Goldfinches swarm it. 

 

Lincoln and Chipping Sparrows and red Northern Cardinal feed below.  Tufted Titmice and Carolina Chickadee cling to the sunflower feeder.  Red Bellied Woodpecker, Carolina Wren and Orange Crowned Warbler visit the peanut feeder.  Ah, and a Pine warbler joins the ground feeding.  Thar be my gold!

Christmas is for the Birds

 

Christmas is for the Birds

Dec 7, 2013

 

I know, Pun is the lowest form of humor, but we love it.  We love birds, too.  Here are a couple of feeders to help you attract the birds you love to your neck of the woods.

 

 Droll Yankees A6RP Ring Pull Tube Feeder

 

  Droll Yankees  8” Finch Flocker

 

Find one to fit your needs and make someone’s holiday grand.

 

Visit us at www.kingbirdfeeders.com for quality binoculars, spotting scopes, bird feeders, bird houses, field guides, and gear.

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Feed the Birds This Fall

 

Feed the Birds

Especially During Fall Migration

 

Millions of birds of many species, big and small, are on their way to their winter grounds.  We can help many along the way by offering food and water on their route.  The journey is long and arduous.  We help the birds and in return get a show not equaled.

 

Droll Yankees A6RP Tube Feeder

Droll Yankees Finch Flocker

March Migration Madness

March Migration Madness

March 15, 2012, 2012

Hummingbirds are in Texas. Ruby Throats have crossed the Gulf and migrated through Mexico. It's time to get the feeders up! We have some great ones at www.kingbirdfeeders.com.

Droll Yankees Little Flyer-4

Ruby Prism Feeder

Droll Yankees Happy 8 Hummingbird Feeder

Fun for Peanuts

If you are looking for a way to extend the fun in your own backyard and you want to do it for peanuts, then I recommend getting a peanut feeder. 

When starting to feed the birds I always recommend using black oil sunflower seed or BOSS as it is known.  This is a highly nutritious food that attracts a variety of birds.  Feeding just one type of food in a particular feeder eliminates the considerable spillage and waste associated with mixes.

Downy Photographed by Roy Smallwood

Yet, if you would like to see a few more unusual species then you need to expand your feeders and feed.  Thus, get yourself a peanut feeder and fill it with cracked, shelled peanuts.  You’ll have the enjoyment of Downy Woodpeckers and Red Bellied Woodpeckers, but also Orange Crowned Warblers, Pine Siskins, perhaps Pine warblers, and more.

Anticipation

 

It’s that time of year in which I anticipate the arrival of Pine Siskins and American Goldfinches. The goldfinches arrive in their more drab plumage to be sure.  However, as time progresses, one can watch the molting to their more impressive brighter colors.

It is for precisely the opposite reason I enjoy the siskins.  There is only a hint of any color on the wings of siskins.  Such a lack of color often leads to many dismissals of these bird as just more sparrows.  Look closely and it makes considerable difference.

We must get the thistle/Nyjer feeders out, cleaned and full of seed, of course.

Still Soaring

Still Soaring

Kingbirdfeeders.com continues to bring you quality products and the best service.

Droll Yankees Feeders

Made in America; Lifetime Guarantee. Easy clean and easy fill models.  Sunflower feeders, Peanut feeders, squirrel proof feeders.  Learn More.

Vortex Optics:

Binoculars and Spotting Scopes

Quality design, excellent optics, terrific performance even in low light conditions.  Unconditional and unlimited warranty.  Learn More.

Visit us at www.kingbirdfeeders.com for quality binoculars, spotting scopes, bird feeders, bird houses, field guides, and gear.

Drought’s Imperative

The drought drags on.  In Central Texas, we have broken a record and have now counted 70 days of triple digit weather.  The stock ponds do not exist, and the surrounding lakes are at 45 percent capacity.  The land is parched.  None of this is news to us who endure it.

The consequence to wildlife is severe.  There is little or no natural food available.  While migration of our avian friends has begun, speculation is that possibly many birds will simply pass this region by, opting for a chance at better fair along the coast.  Those of you who are feeding need to continue feeding; many should consider taking up feeding.  Those who are may be the difference in so many visitors’ journeys.  And you may well be rewarded by some fantastic (perhaps, unusual) sightings.

Keep your feeders full and clean.  Fill them daily.  A clean feeder deters the spread of disease among of avian friends.  They are under severe stress. Therefore, let us not add to their plight with the spread of disease.  For an easy cleaning feeder, please examine the one above.  It is the latest innovation from Droll Yankees—part of their “ring pull” series.  The central rod pulls out releasing the ports so the entire cylinder can be easily cleaned with a bottle brush.  Reassembly is just as easy.

Same should be said for your birdbaths.  Water is a key attractant to all wildlife in good times but is imperative now.  It is the only substitute for this drought. Clean water will be a life saver.

Hummingbirds are Headed North!

Photograph by Karen Gerow Arquette

John reports they’re in Central Texas:  Mary Ann says they’re in South Carolina.  They’re on the border of New Mexico.  They’re on the way to your place.

Ruby Prism Feeder

Ah, Nuts!

Wonderful visitors show up at peanut feeders.

Pine Warbler

Downy Woodpecker

Carolina Wren

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Titmice and other birds will visit, too.

Consider adding a peanut feeder to your yard and see what fun you can have. 

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Enjoying Birding

What can one do that is relatively inexpensive, helps you get away from the worries of the day, gets you outdoors, enables you to get some exercise, can be done alone or in a group, and provides you with lasting memories and good conversation? That is one heck of a question! Or is it a multitude of questions?

Birding, that’s the answer.

Let’s face it. This is cheap entertainment. First, all you really need to get started is a bird feeder or two and some seed or nectar. This is it, if what you hope to do is watch the birds that come to your own backyard. Hours of watching intently or on the spur of the moment can be had for pennies a day.

Of course, once you have enjoyed and learned about the birds in your yard, you’ll probably start noticing birds everywhere. It is just like buying a new car. Once you have bought the car, you start noticing that model on every road you travel. Once, you’ve noticed the birds in your backyard, you’ll notice them on your morning walk through the neighborhood, at the park, driving down the highway, in the fields on the edge of town, down at the river where you fish—everywhere.

So the next step is to get a good pair of binoculars, a field guide and your local checklist. And there is no stopping you. Your friends will start to ask you, the burgeoning expert, just what was that bird they saw the other day.

What is a good pair of binoculars going to cost you? One can spend any amount on binoculars. Consider that one will probably be using these for a number of years. Consider that you want a pair of binoculars through which you can actually tell the colors on the wings, or belly or tail. Consider that you want a pair that enables the identification of the bird. Consider that old birders never die; their eyesight just “ain’t as good as it used to be”. Therefore, do not buy a cheap pair of binoculars! Invest enough in your binocular to keep you satisfied with your purchase for many years. Here, look at it this way: if you bought a Vortex Diamondback and you knew that you were going to use these over the next ten years (a lifetime warranty not withstanding), the cost would be barely more than a nickel a day. Similarly, if you bought a Vortex Viper it would be about 14 cents per day. See, I told you this was an inexpensive proposition.

Lastly, investigate the local Audubon Society in your area. Find out when and where they meet. Once you start attending their meetings, you’ll learn of places all around you where there are wonderful and exciting birds to see. Then you will have new friends and a community with whom to share all this. That is more than satisfactory, that’s great!

Birding is the answer, yep!