For The Birds

Is there no end to bad punny blog titles? I believe the answer to that is yes. But I hope you paid close attention to the question, as it was quite tricky. 

Anyhoo, yes. Birds. Very important part of the garden. And life. And beauty. And entertainment. And to irritate Mr. Jefferies. He loves to come out the back door and peremptorily bark and chase even the phantom birds that might be on the pin oak enjoying their suet and fruit and meat. And when the huge crows fly by, he anxiously looks up in the sky out of the corner of his eye. Something in his DNA says, "Um. WTF?" As I said, entertainment. But if one of them even TRIES to swoop down and take him for breakfast, I'm getting a shotgun. I'm not kidding.

I love the birds. I especially loved the little brown sparrows that used to come along and melt my heart by picking up Vincent's (my dear departed Bichon Frise) hair off the grass when I cut it. And I especially love hummingbirds. And I especially love the little black birds with yellow beaks (I don't really know what they are) that come along in droves and walk like little British regiments in formation, Hoovering all along my lawn, quickly eating (I assume) hundreds and thousands of insects. 

When the economy was better, all my neighbors covered their lawns with chemicals, but we've always used either no lawn fertilizer, or organic, and those armies of black birdies would come to our lawn and nobody else's. I rest my case about organic. Now the economy is tight, and nobody around here is spending the money to buy their Scott's (or whatever) poison fertilizer, so the birds are branching out a little to their yards, too. But they are still here, and they are really adorable and fascinating when they do their thing like that. Wish I could get a picture -- or better yet, a video -- of them when they are in action. It's really quite something to see.

Hummers eat loads of bugs, and so do the other birds, so they help the garden. I want to have them here. I have lots of natural food for them -- I have pine trees from which they eat pine nuts; I have lots of seedy-headed flowers such as black-eyed Susans and Echinacea and sunflowers later in the season, I have nectar-giving flowers for the hummingbirds. I feed suet cakes now year-round. The birds love it. I used to feed seed, but had problems with it attracting rodents, so I gave that up. I find that the suet cakes attract a much wider variety of birds than my seed feeders ever did, too. In the suet baskets, I also put meat trimmings and stale bread and fruit. It's fun. And I need another hobby. There is always room for one more hobby.

Suet cake.

I'm hoping to attract Orioles back to my yard. I haven't seen one in a few years, but used to have them. They like oranges and other fruits.

 This one had steak trimmings in it, but not for long. It was very popular with the meat-eaters.

And water -- birds need water. The little birds love the water shallow. The robins and other large birds like it to be a bit deeper. So I have fashioned little water stations all around my yard, and it's wonderful to watch the chickadees and goldfinches stop for drinks up near my vegetable garden as soon as I refill their little puddles, and it's almost even better to watch the mama robins take their daily elaborate baths in the deep birdbath in the front of the house.

This one is flat and shallow and holds only 2 cups of water. The wee birds drink from it.

This is a deeper one. The robins have bathed in this for about five years now. 

Just an old saute pan I found in the basement, with a rock in the middle for little guys to step on for taking a drink or having a bath.

An aluminum lid turned upside-down. This is everybody's favorite, including Mr. Jefferies' for a drink when A. Alpha is spending too long outside without taking a break to go inside where his regular water bowl is. I keep this one impeccably clean, because he does like to drink from it.

Comments

[Joan in Reno]

Little black birds with yellow beaks? Sounds like starlings, which I hate with a passion. These English imports are aggressive and crowd local birds out of all the best nesting and feeding spots. They fly in large flocks and leave their little presents all over everything. They are a shiny black and have small brown spots on their feathers that wear off later in the season.

[Carole]

We have several bird feeders out and I enjoy watching them. I just saw an oriole yesterday, in fact!

[CindyCindy]

I adore feeding the birds. I feed all kinds of seeds and suet. I have noticed the past year that the suet is being eaten more than other seeds (all except thistle). For the water in our habitat? We have a 1500 gallon naturalized pond with fish. It goes from a few inches deep to about 3'. BTW, I'll be right there to help pull the weeds;-P

[Bev]

I love birds as well!

[gayle]

Love the birds! My grandfather used to tell me all about them - he knew quite a lot - so I should know more about them than I do.
My favorites to watch, after hummingbirds, are swallows as they swoop and spin - eating lots and lots of nasty little bugs!

[margene]

Today I am on my patio and the birds are all around me sounding their calls. It's quite a morning chorus of chirps and songs. There couldn't be a more enchanting sound.

[Joannah]

Add me to the Fans Of Birds list. However, I do agree about the Starlings. I don't feel the love for them!

[Natalie]

I love this post - hummingbirds are my favorite and i get excited every year when I see the first one zooming through our yard.

I have what may be a silly question on the meat trimmings you use in your baskets - are they cooked?

[Becky in VT]

Birdwatching and gardening really go hand-in-hand don't they? I took (and highly recommend if you want to learn a lot of birds quickly) ornithology at UVM (more adults audited that class then any other I've seen)

As others have said I believe your black birds with yellow beaks are European Starlings.

I love the water choices you have available for the birds, clearly they do too!

[mary lou]

our young redtailed hawks tried to bathe in the smallish birdbath we have sort of dug in to a flower bed area. It was hilarious, watching them flop over from one side to another, trying to get wet enough. I must remember to put in something a bit larger for them this year.

[Patty]

So inspiring Norma! I'm going to put more water out this weekend. The Oriole's have arrived again this year. Love listening to the chatter.

[Kim]

Great post!!

Our yard here is full of birds....tons of robins, bluejays, finches, chickadess and others. My favorite thing to do this time of year is to grab a book or knitting after dinner and just sit watching and listening to them.

I've often thought about adding watering spots for them as well, but I worry about mosquitoes here....:(

[Mary K. in Rockport]

We have lots of neighborhood cats in our yard, and I'm afraid the birds would come to a sad end if I put out a birdbath. Cats have that ruthless streak.

[Ruby]

The little black birds sound more like juncos (sparrow size) than starlings.....they're ground feeders and travel in flocks. They have a slate gray head and chest with a white belly that to me looks like they've been dipped in a little saucer of milk!

[Norma]

Hmmm. I know they are not juncos, because I have those, too, and know what they are. I really don't think they are starlings, either, because they are quiet, little sweet well-mannered birds, and from what I read, starlings are loud, boisterous things. They come from time to time and move along in the grass [we cut our grass longer than most suburbanites (in accordance with organic methods), and that may be another reason they like it] and quietly eat bugs, and then fly away without even a peep that I can discern.

[Kathy Sue]

You have inspired me to put out water for my birds. I used to put out feeders full of shelled sunflowers-they all loved it, but they would go through 3 pounds a day, so I quit. And the "little presents" were out of control! Now I just feed the hummers and the rest dine in the grass. I even had an orange oriole this spring. Love the extra garden!!

[marianne]

My favourite time of the day is first thing in the morning, taking my coffee outdoors and walking through the back yard, filling up the watering holes and watching and listening to my little feathered friends.
I want to shrink myself and build a tiny cottage in your backyard and live there.

[Kym]

Attracting birds is one of my "favorite things" about gardening! They add so much to the landscape.

[Cookie]

Awwwwwwwwwwwwww...

I saw a million hummers this morning and thought of you. ;^)

[knitrageous]

wow u like birds :D we bought my nan some doves and they were beautiful until they mixed with pigeons and now theyr all scrawny. thats all you get pretty much on the UK costline. Pigeons. Oh, and Seagulls (read: food-stealing-everywhere-crapping evil) haha

[Kell]

What innovative and abundant water features/baths. Do you do something to ward off mosquito larvae later in the season? ~ksp

[elizabeth a airhart]

bbc bird finder came up with
black birds doutful try audubon

i have been reading a lovely book

a contemplation upon flowers
garden plants in myth and literture
bobby ward timber press

[Betsy]

In the past week, we have watched baby bluebirds and then baby mockingbirds being TAUGHT how to take a bath by their parents in the bath we have right outside our office windows...what a hoot...and who knew that baby birds had to be taught to take a bath (but when you see them trying to do it in the mulch and not in the bath and then being seemingly afraid to get in the water and having to be coaxed, it is a rip...).

Seems to be a good year for birds but we are seeing even less bees than last year...should be think about becoming beekeepers, Norma?

[Kayten]

Starlings are noisy when nesting, but I find them highly entertaining around the yard. Many of them are speckled. They have the ability to talk, like parrots. How little are they? Could they be grackles, which are a bluish-black?

[evalyn]

Shiney black birds small but look like miniature crows with yellow beaks are starlings. They do have a pretty song, and are mimics (cats, other bird calls) but try not to encourage them too much or you soon won't have any other kind of bird in the area.

[Bobbie]

Put some leftover yarn or roving (natural fibers only, of course!) in that empty suet cage - the nest builders will love it!