How to attract screech owls to your woodland wildlife gardens

What do screech-owls sound like? Where do they live?

A screech owl peers out of its home in our garden in the evening just as the sun sets.

I know they’re here. I’ve heard them. Many times.

And now, a few years later, I’ve finally seen one in the garden. I suspect they’ve been around all this time but they are not all that easy to see. Sundown and sunset are the most likely times to see them, but even then their natural camouflage makes them almost impossible to spot.

Plenty of nights when I take our dog Holly out before bedtime, we’ve heard them calling out – screeching, if you will. It’s a little eerie at times when you are not expecting it, but it’s music to my ears now that I can identify the call. (Link to screech owl vocalizing.)

It’s not exactly a screech, more a whinny like a horse and trilling, but it could be mistaken for a Screech if you’re alone in the middle of the night in a forest.

Eastern Screech owls are not large.

Many people even mistake the robin-sized nocturnal woodland owl with short ear-tufts and yellow eyes, for fledgling Great Horned owls when they notice them in their neighbourhood. Not that they are easy to notice in the first place. Not only do they blend into the forest, their nocturnal habits make them a rare sighting if you are not making a conscious effort to find them.

These small owls, however, can be more common in your neighbourhood than most may realize.

Screech owls are wonderful little birds to have in your yard. By putting up a specialized house for them, you may be able to attract them into your yard. In these images you can see both the red and grey versions of the owls.

Where do screech owls live?

The Eastern Screech Owl, a common species found east of the Rockies, can be spotted in a variety of habitats including woods, suburbs, and parks. These adaptable birds are not picky when it comes to their living arrangements and can even be found nesting in larger backyard nest boxes.

Their ability to blend seamlessly into their surroundings makes them difficult to spot during the day, so it’s best to listen for their distinctive calls at night.

Geographically, the Eastern Screech Owl’s range extends from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic coast, covering a vast area from southern Canada down to Florida and southern Texas.

In fact, these adorable little nightbirds are quite common throughout Eastern United States as far south as Florida, including parts of southern and central Ontario into Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

One of our screech owl boxes installed on a mature pine just waiting for its first homeowners.

Although these little guys are still widespread and fairly common, they are gradually declining in parts of their range. If there is good news in climate change, it is that the Screech owl is slowly expanding its range farther into Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan and even into Alberta.

In Canada, this species is a year-round resident, with the majority of the population concentrated in southern Ontario.

Whether it’s in the dense woods, the quiet suburbs, or the bustling parks, the Eastern Screech-Owl has managed to adapt and thrive in a wide range of environments. So keep your eyes peeled and your ears tuned in as you never know when you might catch a glimpse or hear the haunting call of these elusive birds.

The North American Breeding Bird Survey estimated that between 1966 and 2015, the number of Screech owls increased in Canada, but declined in the United States. But of the estimated 900,000 global breeding population, 95 per cent live in the U.S., 4 per cent in Mexico and a mere 1 per cent in Canada.

Cool facts about Screech Owls

1. Screech Owls are the smallest owls in North America

2. In some parts of the U.S. including Texas, Screech owls use small blind snakes to keep their nests free of insects while they are raising their young. A study showed that owls that brought these small snakes (more like a worm than a snake) into the nesting area had fewer insects like ants, termites or larvae. Researchers found that the snakes proved beneficial to the young owls who were found to have fewer health problems and a better chance of survival. (Click here if you want more information about the collaboration between the owls and snakes.)

3. The tips of flight feathers of the Screech Owl are serrated and, as a result, their flight is almost silent and allows them to swoop down on unsuspecting prey.

4. Screech owls have such an acute sense of hearing they can find small mammals such as mice under very heavy snow or vegetation. This makes them successful hunters in all seasons.

5. Their large eyes give them excellent eye sight at night, but because of the position in the front of their heads they are able to move their heads 270 degrees in either direction. This gives them the ability to see in an almost complete 360 degrees.

6. During the day, Screech owls conceal themselves in trees, their plumage camouflaging them against the bark. If they feel extremely threatened, they will make themselves appear very thin, squint their eyes and sway back and forth to imitate the natural movements of a branch in the wind.

7. Owls represent wisdom in early Indian folklore

8. These owls were considered protectors in ancient Greece mythology and accompanied Greek armies to war.

If you are looking for Screech Owls, natural woodlands with an open understory are an excellent place to start, and a woodland garden rich in native plants and trees can be the perfect spot for a couple of screech owls to call home.

The abundance of native plants and trees will help attract insects which form a large part of the Screech owls’ prey made up of small mammals, birds and reptiles.

You’ll also find Screech owls in the small woodlots around farms where the hunting is good for field mice – one of their favourite prey.

They generally favour deciduous or mixed woods with plenty of open ground for hunting. Wooded areas along streams and rivers also provide prime habitats for these owls. Suburban yards and city parks can be ideal places for them to take up residence provided there are large trees and nesting cavities.

Unfortunately, homeowners remove many of the owls’ natural nesting holes when they remove dead snags from their yards. Thankfully, nesting boxes have taken over where natural nesting holes have been removed.

Nesting boxes are said to be part of their success story and expansion of the owls’ range.

I recently picked up two large home-made boxes (see photo above) which have been installed about 15 feet up in two trees in our woodland garden. One of the boxes found a home in our mature Austrian Pine.

Owl boxes, although on the large side compared to traditional blue bird boxes, are available at some specialized wild bird stores as well as through Amazon. JCs wildlife screech owl box is even featured in this you tube video and comes highly recommended.

It’s never too early to get your boxes out to give the owls an opportunity to discover them.

Screech owls are secondary inhabitants of nesting sites so they are always on the lookout for a new home.

They can often be found nesting in former woodpecker or squirrel tree cavities. Breeding season for Eastern Screech Owls is generally around mid April, but it can range from mid March through to mid May.

The elaborate courtship ritual begins with the male enticing the female by calling from a variety of branches until they are close. This is followed by what can only be described as a scene out of a 1980s disco hall with the male bobbing and swivelling his head and entire body as he slowly winks at the female. If the female ignores him he takes his dance moves to an even higher level, if she accepts, they touch bills and begin preening each other. Pairs pretty much mate for life.

When do Screech owls nest

The nestling period is between 26-30 days and incubation can be between 27-34 days. The hatchlings are born with eyes closed and covered in white down.

When on the nest, the female remains in the nest except for brief excursions at dawn and dusk.

The male provides the female and nestlings with all the food, while the female rips and tears it into small bits for the babies.

Both parents provide food for young owls, who leave the nest about 4 weeks after hatching.

Their diets vary from small animals, including birds and mammals as well as earthworms, insects, and pond inhabitants like tadpoles, frogs and lizards where available. Rats, mice and squirrels, moles and even rabbits are on their lists as well a birds including birds as large as jays, grouse doves and woodpeckers. They’ve even been known to cache extra food in tree holes, when prey is plentiful in the area.

Adults tend to remain near their breeding areas year-round, where the males defend small territories around nest sites. Breeding territories range from 4 to 6 hectares (10-15 acres in wooded suburban areas. Territories are much larger (200 acres) in open rural areas.

Captive Screech owls can live up to 20 years, while wild birds live much shorter lives. Predators include larger owls such as the Great Horned Owl, minks, weasels, raccoons, skunks, snakes, crows and Blue Jays.

Where to install your owl nest box

The nesting boxes need to be installed in large mature trees between 6-30 feet high. They should be mounted in an area that affords a clear flight path in and out of the box as well as nearby branches where the fledglings can make their way to after immediately leaving the nest. Mounting the box in a southerly direction is ideal but an easterly or western exposure has also proven successful. A northern exposure is not advised.

It helps to have an uncluttered understory for the owls to successfully hunt.

---

Author Profile: Vic MacBournie is a former journalist and author/owner of the award-winning website Ferns & Feathers. He writes about his woodland wildlife garden that he has created over the past 25 years and enjoys sharing his garden photography with readers.

Five of the best backyard birding books

Tips to attract more birds to your backyard

Winters can be hard on us, but have you ever wondered what our feathered friends go through when the temperatures drop and snow covers the ground and their normal sources of food?

For birds and other wildlife, winter is a difficult time and finding a reliable source of food often becomes a matter of life and death.

As more and more native plants disappear, bird feeders become more and more important to backyard birds.

In our garden, many of the traditional backyard birds are already busy stockpiling sunflower seeds in every nook and cranny they can find, whether its tree bark or tucked between crevices in garden benches and other secret backyard hideouts known only to them.

How successful we are in attracting birds and wildlife depends on many factors. Thankfully, many of these factors are within our control.

Blue Jay getting a little drink at the bird bath.

Providing habitat for our feathered friends, for example, is an ongoing project created over time. There are steps, however, we can take immediately to provide a safe haven for our woodland wildlife. A brush pile (click here for earlier post) is one such addition that will help bring in a greater variety of birds including owls and other predators (click for earlier post on attracting owls) that will begin to see it as a source of food in the form of mice and other small critters that call it home.

If you are looking to purchase one of these books, or any Gardening or birding book for that matter, be sure to check out the incredible selection and prices at alibris books.

A naturalized garden is an excellent way to entice birds through natural food sources. Here, a goldfinch feeds on sunflower seeds.

Native plants that include berries and fruit will attract fruit-eating birds and mammals that may not be attracted to our bird feeders. Please take a moment to read my complete story on using native plants in our garden

Winter is also the ideal time to learn more about helping out the wildlife that either call our gardens home or visit it on their neighbourhood rounds. The following are five of the best books available for backyard bird watchers and those who want to attract more of them to our yards. They are conveniently linked to Amazon, but many can be found or ordered through your local bookseller.

Alibris is an umbrella group of independent booksellers from the U.S. and the U.K. that provide exceptional deals on used books and music. Be sure to Also check Alibris for great prices on new and used books.

1) All About Backyard Birds: Eastern and Central regions.

Available in paperback new and used.

Most birders are familiar with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s excellent birding website and handy app on their smartphone. In fact, I doubt there are many serious birders who are not using the handy birding app to help us identify unusual birds in our garden either by sight and unusual markings, or through their many songs and calls. This book is based on that website, which has had more that 14 million unique users to date.

It’s perfect for a new birder, young and old.

The highly regarded book, published in 2017, has an impressive has a very positive rating with 60 on-line ratings.

The publisher notes that the book: “delivers best-in-class content and proven user-friendly formats. Each regional version – eastern/central North America and western North America – provides 120 of the most popular species and is filled with beautiful illustrations by Pedro Fernandes. With charts, maps, and other bird identification tools, All About Backyard Birds offers beginner birders the ideal way to start birding.”

The book also includes a tutorial for the MERLIN app (available for free on line) already being used by more than 1 million birders.

A portion of the net proceeds for the sale of the book goes directly to the Cornell Lab to support projects, including children’s educational and community programs.

2) National Geographic Backyard Guide to the Birds of North America, 2nd Edition.

Available in paperback both new and used for very reasonable prices.

This is another top notch general source for backyard birders, and it’s hard to go wrong with any product from National Geographic. For travellers, at least in North America, this guide offers an excellent source of information.

The publisher writes: “This comprehensive and beloved guide reveals the most ubiquitous and remarkable species of North American birds, clearly organized by family and paired with identification tips, behaviour, vocal descriptions, and more. The new edition features a "Backyard Basics" section from the world's most prolific birdwatcher, Noah Strycker, with tips on attracting and feeding your favourite birds and creating bird-friendly landscapes. Also included are updated descriptions of 150 common North American species, paired with comprehensive range maps, as well as lush indentification artwork and bite-sized facts. With new contributions from Strycker and a modern redesign, the second edition of this perennial favourite will appeal to new and experienced bird enthusiasts alike.

3) The Backyard Bird Feeder’s Bible: The A-to-Z Guide To Feeders, Seed Mixes, Projects And Treats.

Available in both hardcover and paperback both new and used formats.

Rodale has always been a strong publisher when it comes to gardening books. I have a number of them that I go back to on a regular basis. In fact, Landscaping with Nature, Using Nature’s Designs to Plan Your Yard by Jeff Fox published by Rodale Press, was my go-to book for planning and designing much of my woodland gardening book going back at least ten years ago. The book explains the fine details of creating a natural garden right down to using classical music to place large boulders in your garden. It’s proven to be a very valuable resource.

The author of the Backyard Bird Feeder’s Bible, Sally Roth, will help guide backyard birders to focus on which foods attract which birds, hints on choosing and maintaining feeders and the best native fruit-bearing trees, flowers and shrubs to plant to attract birds.

The publisher writes: Pull up a chair next to the window looking out on your bird feeder and join author Sally Roth in an informative, inspirational, and often light-hearted look at the foods, feeders, and plants that invite birds to visit your feeding station.”

The author shares a lifetime’s worth of bird-feeding experience including how to identify birds at your feeder, and what foods are best for certain birds. She also includes tips on improving the attraction of your garden to birds.

4) National Wildlife Federation: Attracting Birds, Butterflies, and Other Backyard Wildlife, Expanded Second Edition.

Another outstanding book by the highly regarded National Wildlife Federation. It’s available in both Kindle and paperback forms, new and used for a very reasonable price.

If you are not familiar with the National Wildlife Federation, it is the largest U.S. nonprofit conservation organization, with 6 million members and 51 state affiliated organizations.

This book takes backyard birding to another level by urging readers to – not unlike this blog – create a backyard that is more nature-friendly by providing habitats for local wildlife, not just birds. The book includes 17 step-by-step projects that brings the entire family back to nature with easy projects. The book explores wildlife-friendly practices and how to attract backyard pollinators.

The reward from following the many ideas in the book is not only a more wildlife-friendly yard, is a blueprint for getting your garden certified by the National Wildlife Federation’s Garden for Wildlife program by following the certification application checklist that is included in the book. A worthwhile investment in its own right and one that our garden qualified for a number of years ago.

The publisher writes: Your backyard can come alive by creating an environment with plants and spaces that attract nature’s most interesting and friendly creatures! Colourful butterflies, uplifting songbirds, and lively toads can enhance your personal garden space, giving pleasure to nature lovers of all ages.”

“Author David Mizejewski, a naturalist with the National Wildlife Federation, presents simple plans for reintroducing native plants that birds, butterflies, and a whole host of critters can't resist.

5) The Humane Gardener: Nurturing a Backyard Habitat for Wildlife (How to Create a Sustainable and Ethical Garden the Promotes Native Wildlfie , Plants, and Biodiversity.

Nancy Lawson’s the Humane Gardener is a must for any gardener who cares about attracting wildlife to their backyard, whether its birds, mammals or creepy crawlies. Her new book Wildscape is another book serious natural gardeners will want to add to this list.

Click on the link for my complete review of her book The Humane Gardener. Click on this link for my review of her book Wildscape.

Available in Kindle format and hardcover both new and used at a very reasonable price.

The book follows much the same philosophy as this woodland garden blog: one that focuses on a “practical guide for the gardener who hopes to create a backyard in harmony with nature.”

The author, Nancy Lawson, examines why and how to welcome wildlife to your backyard through profiles of home gardeners as well as interviews with scientists and horticulturalists.

The book includes information on planting for wildlife by choosing native plants, providing proper habitats for animals as well as birds, bees and butterflies and encouraging natural processes and evolution in your garden.

Finally she explores the “humane gardener,” who she describes as someone who attracts wildlife and peacefully resolve conflicts with all the creatures that may inhabit your garden. The humane gardener, she concludes, “is someone who sees the garden as a meeting place for all creature, not a territory to be defended.”

Isn’t that the way we all want to garden?

Author Profile: Vic MacBournie is a former journalist and author/owner of Ferns & Feathers. He writes about his woodland wildlife garden that he has created over the past 25 years and shares his photography with readers.

How to attract Blue Jays and are they mean birds?

A blue Jay taking advantage of a bird bath. Their territorial habits have resulted in them being unfairly labelled as mean birds.

Blue Jays rebound after severe hit from West Nile

They’re loud, arrogant, boisterous bullies, and some may even consider them mean. But most bird lovers are happy when they see them at the feeders or, better yet, nesting in their backyard.

Not everyone, however.

Like some family members, blue jays arrive, make a lot of noise, steal all your food, hang out for longer than you want them sometimes and then leave without as much as a thank you.

Blue Jays have returned to our backyards after a couple of lean years caused by a multitude of deaths resulting from West Nile disease that hit Blue Jays hard.

And nothing could make me happier.

If you are looking to attract Blue Jays to your yard, take a minute to check out my post on my two favourite Blue Jay feeders.

Back when West Nile emerged in the late 1990s into the 2000s, dead crows and blue jays provided early warning of the outbreak. In the year 2007, research by the journal Nature warned that populations of seven species of birds, including robins, blue jays and crows showed “dramatic decline” across the continent since West Nile emerged in the U.S. in 1999. The research compared 26 years of bird breeding surveys to arrive at the results. The report stated that the disease, primarily an avian virus spread by mosquito bites, killed hundreds of thousands of crows and jays.

The virus targeted seven species – American crow, blue jay, tufted titmouse, American robin, house wren, chickadee and Eastern bluebird. Only the blue jay and house wren were able to bounce back in 2005.

Six Blue Jays raid the bird feeder especially the seed cylinder which is, without a doubt, their favourite. For more on the seed cylinder, see an earlier blog post on my 5 best bird buys.

Earlier this summer I had nine – count’em nine – blue jays on my birdfeeder at once. A few more in the trees scattered throughout our woodland and another making itself at home in one of the birdbaths.

Then they spotted an owl way up in a tree and all hell broke loose for about five minutes until the owl flew off into some denser foliage.

One thing I can honestly say is that there is never a dull moment with these guys around.

And people love to see their colourful plumage in their backyards. These intelligent and adaptable birds that grow to about a foot long will feed on pretty much anything in our backyard landscapes, but are certainly very happy helping themselves at our bird feeders.

Blue Jay in crab apple. Blue Jays are very territorial birds that has resulted in a reputation for being a “mean” bird.

Are Blue Jays mean birds?

Blue Jays have gained a reputation in many circles for being mean birds, not only around the bird feeders but in their natural surroundings.

This reputation is probably the result of their loud rambunctious vocals as well as the the fact that they can be very territorial during nesting season and even around a bird feeder or bird bath.

At the bird feeder you will often find them visiting as a family group in large numbers. Their sheer size, rambunctious attitude and loud calls often force smaller, more timid birds to move on, leaving the feed for the Blue Jays to feast on all on their own.

Blue Jays’ long, sharp beaks also make them a formidable foe against even larger woodpeckers at our cylinder feeders.

It’s not hard to see how they have earned the reputation for being mean birds.

But most of their aggressive nature is the result of four factors:

• Protecting their nest

• Protecting a food source which includes a bird feeder

• Protecting their fledglings either on the nest or near the nest

• Protecting their flock when resting (bathing/feeding)

Yes, blue jays are territorial but they have to be to protect themselves.

Their aggressive approach to any raptor that decides to come into their territory is another example of how “mean” these birds can appear. Blue jays fear raptors but will – together with crows – aggressively harass a hawk or owl that wanders into their area, not backing off until the raptor moves on.

But Blue Jays have earned the reputation of being “mean” birds for more than just their bravado around the feeders and when raptors appear near their nests.

Blue Jays can seem downright mean in our eyes when they aggressively protect their nests and even bird feeders. They’ve even been know to attack humans who get too close to their babies on their nests. You may not realize you have invaded their territory and just think the birds are being extremely aggressive.

Blue Jays can also be very aggressive toward garden snakes, which is another reason they have earned a bad reputation.

Blue Jays are also known to eat other birds’ babies as well as frogs, which probably has not helped their reputations.

Blue jays have full repertoire of calls and sounds

These guys are not limited to their ear piercing raucous calls of jay, Jay, jay. Their repertoire includes a variety of musical sounds and they can apparently do a remarkably realistic imitation of the scream of a Red-shouldered Hawk. They’ve also been known to try to imitate humans on ocassion.

Often times I hear odd sounds and expect to see a rare bird emerge from the tree, only to find that the unusual sounds are from a blue jay. They can certainly communicate in a number of voices.

Blue Jays are among our more colourful and boisterous backyard birds.

What Blue Jays eat

The birds are omnivorous, with vegetables, fruits and berries making up more than 70 per cent of their diet, including beechnuts, acorns, seeds, grain and, of course, a variety of berries and small fruits like service berries and dogwood berries.

They can be seen foraging in trees and shrubs as well as on the ground. Their large, strong beaks allow them to pound open hard nuts and seeds like acorns, which they harvest and store in holes in the ground for later use.

Needless to say they help plant many an oak tree in our forests and our own backyard landscapes.

Being opportunists, as summer progresses, they also like to feast on caterpillars, beetles and grasshoppers, but they’ll also eat snails, spiders other birds’ eggs, small rodents like mice, frogs, baby birds and carrion.

Just a reminder that using native plants and trees in our backyard landscape designs, including oak, dogwood, serviceberries and chokecherries are always a good idea.

Where Blue Jays nest

Both Blue Jay parents take part in feeding the nestlings who spend about 17-21 days in the nest before going out on their own. Blue Jay eggs, between 3-7, are greenish or buff, sometimes pale blue, spotted with hints of brown and gray. Incubation is about 16-18 days.

Look for nests anywhere from about eight feet to as high as 50 feet above the ground, made up of twigs, grass, weeds, bark strips and moss. They can be quite messy often lined with rootlets combined with paper, old rags, string and other debris found in urban areas.

Their range is large, stretching north well into eastern Canada and as far west as Alberta and down south to Florida. Although they are common at our bird feeders year round, many do migrate during the day further south.

They are in the same family as Crows and Magpies and are found throughout eastern oak and pine forests where they breed in deciduous or mixed woods and is often quite common in heavily wooded suburbs or parks.

Climate change is increasing the blue Jays’ range farther north in Canada, but, at the same time, spring heat waves are diminishing their range slightly because of the heat threatening young nestlings in hotter parts of both the U.S. and Canada.

Bird feeders for sale: Cashing in on Kijiji and other on-line sellers

Nuthatch on Wild Birds Unlimited feeder.

When it comes to bird feeders for sale, my best deals have come courtesy of on-line purchases.

Sure, there are some good buys from on-line sellers like Amazon, Wayfair and Gardener’s Supply Co., but my best buys are local purchases courtesy of Kijiji, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace and other local on-line garage sale type sites.

It may take a little more effort to find these items on places like Kijiji and Craigslist and arrange for pickup, but anyone who is starting out in backyard bird feeding and are looking to save a lot of money getting started, would benefit from spending time regularly checking for items on Kijiji, Craigslist, other on-line garage sales and even local thrift stores.

It’s not unlike creating a woodland garden, time and patience is key to your success.

(For more on creating a budget-friendly garden check out my story here.)

If you are looking to set up a bird-feeding station, be sure to check out Setting up a Bird Feeding Station.

My latest Kijiji purchases are two excellent bird feeders – one a top-of-the-line Wild Birds Unlimited recycled plastic hopper feeder in perfect condition and the other a brand new three-tube copper-look feeder still in its original box. Both set me back less than $35 Cdn. – $19 for the Wild Birds Unlimited hopper and $15 for the copper feeder.

New from nature stores or birding stores, these feeders are double and triple the costs you pay on these on-line sites. I’ve even seen entire bird feeding stations with poles, hooks and feeders sell on these on-line sites for pennies on the dollar. I suspect it’s the result of people who try feeding the birds only to find that they are not interested or that the seed on the ground is attracting unwanted critters.

But we know how to deal with that problem. Check out my post for more on keeping mice and rats away from your feeders.

If you are looking to add to your arsenal of bird feeders on a budget, be sure to check out sites like Kijiji and Craig’s List regularly. These on-line sites are to birders, what thrift stores are to home decorators.

The Wild Birds’ Feeder alone, which has a lifetime guarantee, is more than $120 Cdn. brand new and worth every penny.

These are just the latest of a wealth of bird feeders, bird houses and other bird related products available on sites like kijiji that discerning shoppers can purchase at a fraction of the cost of buying new.

A Carolina wren on top of one of my favourite Kijiji purchases, a rustic bird house and feeder.

I strongly recommend purchasing the recycled resin bird feeders rather than wood ones. Take a moment to check out my full post on Why we should buy recycled resin feeders.

Kijiji, Facebook marketplace and Craigslist are really just on-line garage sales people use to sell items they no longer have a use for anymore. There are others as well. Many neighbourhoods have their own on-line marketplace where similar deals can be found. Local thrift stores are also good places to visit regularly to pick up garden and bird products on a budget.

These are perfect places to cash in on homeowners who, for some reason, have decided that feeding the birds is no longer something they are interested in continuing.

Maybe it’s the mess that bird feeding can create, the critters it may attract, or the expense of purchasing food that mostly goes to feed the local squirrel population that makes the sellers decide that this bird feeding hobby is not for them. Whatever it is, if you are willing to wait and check the listings regularly, there are often lots of choice available for those of us who have committed to feeding the birds.

In just the last year, I have purchased two bird feeders, two screech owl houses, a rustic bird house/feeder and three bird baths from sellers on Kijiji. I could have bought a lot more if I really wanted, but that’s a pretty impressive haul as it is.

In fact, these on-line garage sales are the first place I go whenever I’m looking to make a purchase. Although birding supplies seem to be in abundance, I have picked up everything from a large water pond container, and complete bubbling rock system (including the bubbling rock), to a nice little native White Pine tree from sellers.

Outside of gardening circles, other purchases include ipods, audio equipment, cameras, camera equipment, car parts and a truckload of square-cut blue flagstone that became an integral part of our garden structure.

A woodpecker at the Wild Birds Unlimited recycled plastic feeder.

A WBU classic hopper bird feeder for under $20

Back to my latest buy. If you are not familiar with Wild Birds Unlimited recycled plastic hopper feeders, you should definitely check them out. They are among the best feeders you can purchase and there were actually two of these feeders available on Kijiji recently when I looked.

These high-end feeders and similar ones are not impossible to find because of what I wrote earlier about new birding enthusiasts who lose their enthusiasm for one reason or another.

There are many reasons people decide to no longer feed birds. The couple I bought the feeder from told me they were moving and would not have a yard to feed birds any longer.

Without a doubt Wild Birds Unlimited products are among the best available. Products from nature and bird stores tend to be top notch but good buys are available on home made bird houses and bird feeders as well.

To make it even better, the heavy-duty, high-quality feeders made from recycled plastic are actually helping the environment by recycling plastic bottles.

In the words of Wild Birds Unlimited: “Imagine a wood-free bird feeder that actually looks like wood! Our EcoTough® Classic won’t crack, fade or rot and has a lifetime guarantee. The Classic has curved ends so you can see birds feeding on both sides at the same time. Perch drains allow seed to drop out of the feeder for ground-feeding birds to eat, and angled perches let empty seed hulls be blown away by the wind. The removable screen bottom is treated with EcoClean® Antimicrobial Product Protection, providing 24/7 product protection. EcoTough® feeders and houses are environmentally friendly, high quality products that are made from recycled plastic milk jugs. These feeders and houses prevent used milk jugs from making their way into our landfills.

To check out Wild Birds Unlimited feeders go to their website here.

Triple-tube feeder delivers for a variety of birds

Anyone who is a regular Costco shopper knows to grab the deal while you can because it will not likely be there on your next visit.

That’s exactly what happened to me when I passed on a beautiful triple feeder several years ago. On my next visit to Costco, I strolled through the doors – cash in hand and eager to buy – only to discover that model was sold out and replaced by a similar looking feeder, but one that sported only a large, single feeder tube. I bought that one and have used it for years. Unfortunately, it’s beginning to show its age and it’s almost time for a replacement.

So, when I saw the triple tube feeder, still in the original box for a fraction of the cost of the original, I snapped it up.

Who says you can never get a second chance?

The triple-tube feeder really delivers when it comes to attracting a variety of birds.

Unlike the single-tube feeder that can deliver only a single food source, the triple tube can provide, for example, a finch blend, a tube of highly desirable black-oil sunflower and maybe a general no-mess blend. The mix can change depending on the season and, of course, during migration when white prosso millet can be offered in one of the tubes to attract Indigo Buntings.

The result is a greater variety of backyard garden birds.

And isn’t that what it’s all about.

While I get great enjoyment from my bird feeding stations, providing natural food sources to our feathered friends is always the goal we should aspire to in our gardens. I have written a comprehensive post on feeding birds naturally. You can read about it here.

More gardening on a budget links

DIY moss garden

Proven Winners Idea Book

Ten money-saving tips for the weekend gardener

Window boxes on a budget

DIY Bark Butter feeder for Woodpeckers

DIY reflection pond for photography

Click & Grow is ideal for Native Plants from seed

Nature’s DIY garden art

DIY solar drip for bird bath

Remove your turf and save money

DIY succulent planter

Hiring students to get your garden in shape

• As an affiliate marketer with Amazon or other marketing companies, I earn money from qualifying purchases.

Do NOT cut down that dead or dying tree

Create your own “wildlife tree” in the backyard

A tree growing beautifully in your woodland is wonderful, but to birds, bugs and other backyard critters a dead or dying tree is even better.

If you have a dead or dying tree in your yard (often referred to as a “snag”) consider doing everything possible NOT to cut it down. These trees are just too important to the local wildlife to cut down for no reason than it has succumbed to the ravages of time or disease. The dead tree will quickly become a magnet for important birds, insects, and microbial fungi that might not already be present in your woodland garden.

Woodpeckers, warblers and other insect eating birds will find the dead tree irresistible and over time use it as a resource for food and possibly a home to raise their young. Depending on where you live, small mammals like raccoons, skunks, martens and even porcupines might decide to take up residence in your “wildlife tree.”

This Pileated Woodpecker was photographed working on a dying tree in a back corner of the yard.

The snags can even become more important in winter where birds that depend on insects for survival look to the snag as a source for insect, larvae and other potential food sources. During winter, birds, bats and other small animals will often roost behind the loose bark and large cracks in the wood for both warmth and shelter.

Studies show that in areas of the United States West of the Cascade Mts, 39 species of birds and 14 species of mammals depend on tree cavities for survival. Similar numbers (39 bird species and 23 mammal species) East of the Cascade Mountains depend on snags. (USDA Forest Service)

The wildlife tree is the perfect “snag” with vines beginning to climb up the trunk and natural nesting cavities.

Of course, if the dead or dying tree poses a significant danger to either individuals or your home, steps should be taken to ensure the situation is made safe. This does not, however, automatically mean that the tree needs to be cut down.

There are options to save many of these trees that we will discuss later in this article.

Unfortunately, most snag or “wildlife trees” are too quickly cut down by homeowners, city parks and even within urban forested areas for fear of injury.

These trees are too often cut down without much thought, if any, to their wildlife value or of the potential options that could save all or most of the trees to live on as an important wildlife tree.

Many of our backyard animals depend on snags for both nesting and living accommodations as well as foraging for food.

Why preserve a dead or dying tree?

The dead trees, especially larger ones, provide optimal habitat for woodpeckers and other primary cavity nesters. In fact, large snags from mature trees are critical for big birds such as Pileated woodpeckers that require more available internal space for raising their young.

Woodpeckers such as the Pileated or Northern flicker actually create several new cavities in dead and dying trees per year. Many of the cavities are started by the woodpeckers for possible use in future years, but in the meantime, are often used by smaller bird species.

The woodpeckers will often start the cavities in areas of the tree that is weakened and then leave to allow nature to finish a lot of the hard work.

Fungus eventually invades the cavity and softens the wood over time. The following year, the birds may return to continue hollowing out the cavity’s internal wood, which has now become softer and easier to excavate.

Wildlife tree

Can’t you just imagine a large eagle sitting atop this old snag scouting the area for its next dinner? It’s more likely home to an owl along with a host of smaller birds, bugs and other critters.

Woodpeckers, in turn, create habitat for more than 80 other species of secondary cavity nesters, including American kestrels, a host of owls from the diminutive Screech owl to Barn owls, Barred owls and even Great Horned owls, swallows including the tree swallow and purple martins, bluebirds and a host of wrens, chickadees and nuthatches.

Owl box on pine snag

A screech owl box on this dying fully mature pine tree provides and opportunity to attract the diminutive little predator even if you do not have a large enough dead tree in your yard.

What do all these birds have in common?

They are primarily carnivorous or insect-eating birds that will help to naturally control mice, rats and insects in your garden. Without them, your garden can easily get out of ecological balance. In fact, many urban gardens, where dead or dying trees no longer exist, are overrun with mice and rats and skunks in part because of a lack of nesting cavities in the area for higher predators. Great Horned Owls, for example prey on skunks.

If your area has few if any natural snags, it may be the perfect time to look into installing screech owl boxes that provide nesting opportunities for these small, but highly efficient mice and rat controllers. If attracting screech owls sounds interesting, check out my full article on installing screech owl boxes in your garden, go here.

Even small snags are vital to wildlife

This American Bittern was attracted to this fallen snag in a pond. A dead or dying tree, whether it is standing or fallen over, can attract an amazing variety of birds, animals and insects.

Smaller snags, particularly if the wood is beginning to break down and becoming soft, provide the opportunity for smaller birds such as chickadees to make tiny cavities in dead wood as small as 4-inches in diameter.

So, even if a smaller tree dies in a corner of your garden think twice before removing it. This is the perfect opportunity to grow a vine up the snag or plant a native berry producing shrub in front of it not only to hide it from view but to provide an abundance of natural food to inhabitants of the snag.

Snags as nesting sites and foraging habitat

This small DIY snag is the result of burying a branch into the ground and allowing the woodpeckers, nuthatches and chickadees to go to town on it. Eventually it will rot and I’ll replace it with another.

Although many gardeners will recognize the benefit of the snag providing nesting habitat for a variety of birds and mammals, don’t overlook the foraging opportunities these same snags provide.

The dead and dying trees’ wood softens as fungus begins to take over the once dense woody interior of the tree. This soft wood, which can also exist on dead branches on live trees, provides habitat for a host of insects and other potential prey items for birds.

You might be surprised just how many invertebrates depend on dead and dying trees.

A close inspection would likely include a host of beetles, spiders, various ants, millipedes, earwigs, earthworms as well as possibly salamanders and toads on the ground beneath the tree living under the decaying bark and branches that often fall from the tree.

This snag continues to show life in another part of the tree, providing needed cover for birds and animals that are using it for habitat.

Some of the best trees for snags

• Large trees provide the most habitat resources for birds both small and large

• Conifers such as cedar, fir larch, and pine make excellent snags because they rot slowly and can remain standing longer.

• Snags of more than 12 inches in diameter and about 15 feet tall are perfect hunting perches for larger raptors.

Brush Piles

A red squirrel enjoys the bounty provided by the woodpile that can help to take the place of a snag. If you are limbing a dead tree, consider using the branches to create a wood pile. Eventually the rotting branches will create a similar benefit to wildlife that the standing dead snag would provide.

Create your own DIY snags

If your property has no dead or dying trees, you could create your own either by killing an undesirable tree in your yard, or better still by burying a large branch in an appropriate area of your yard.

Maybe a neighbour is cutting down a large tree and the tree service has no problem dropping off a large branch to your home. By simply digging a hole and burying it in the ground, you could create many of the benefits a traditional snag would bring to the yard.

I doubt you would get a pileated woodpecker making it’s home there, but you will attract woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees and other insect-eating birds to the yard.

If the branch is big enough, you may be able to get nuthatches or other small birds using it to raise their young.

You might want to drill some large holes in the branch to get the process started.

Snags in our yard

In our bckyard, we have a large natural snag in a corner of the yard that most visitors would be hard pressed to see unless they walked back to the more wilder area of the yard. Judging by the holes bored into it, I’m sure it is and has been home to several smaller birds.

Last year, a Pileated woodpecker was working the snag foraging for insects. I heard it before I saw it. In fact, I had to walk to the back of the yard to see the massive woodpecker at the snag.

In another area of the garden near the bird feeder, I have buried a mid-sized branch in the ground for birds to use both as a perch as well as a snag.

By drilling holes in the branch and filling them with suet and WBU bark butter, the DIY snag is regularly visited by a host of woodpeckers, nuthatches and chickadees as well as the perfect high perch for red squirrels watching for the neighbourhood fox.

If you want to take DIY snag creation to a higher level, consider wrapping a rope tightly around a large branch to cut off its nutrients from the main trunk. In time the branch will die off creating a form of snag on the tree. (I would not recommend this procedure on your favourite tree).

Smaller DIY snags can be easily made from large branches that can be drilled out, filled with suet or Bark Butter, and hung from a nearby tree. For my story on building your own hanging DIY suet feeder, check out my story here.

We have created a large DIY snag branch on a very mature crab apple tree at the back of the property. For the most part, the dead branch is hidden by the still living branches, but still provides many of the benefits attracting insects that are eventually food for the backyard birds.

In our yard, we have also created a large wood pile that can take the place of a snag by providing small animals with a relatively safe habitat as well as a good foraging location for birds. For more on building a brush or wood pile, check out my full story here.

By wrapping a rope around a branch of one of our crab apple trees we are able to create a snag in a living tree. By doing this, you can create a snag where ever you choose.

Managing snags in your landscape

There is no question that a large dead or dying tree can pose a risk to life and property if not dealt with properly.

If a snag threatens the safety of a patio or play area for example, consider moving them to a safer area if possible. If that is not possible, reducing the potential damage that could be caused by the snag falling over is certainly a consideration. By removing the larger branches and using them in a woodpile for example, you keep the benefits of the dead wood without the dangers.

If the snag is a large, mature tree and poses too much danger to leave it as it is, have a tree company remove the dangerous branches and cut the tree down in size so that if it did fall, it would not hit anything and, its reduced size would pose little danger.

How long can a dead tree remain standing?

It’s also important to remember that a dead tree can stand for many years before it topples to the earth. In fact, depending on the size and type of tree, it’s likely that the dead tree will still be standing long after we are gone.

Finally, if you are concerned about a tree on your property that might be dying or has already passed, contact a local tree specialist for their expertise.

Just remember that a lot of these “tree experts” are not only in the business of making their livelihood from removing trees, they also do not want to be responsible for any chance of injuries or property damage resulting from a falling tree that they did not remove.

Common sense is always the best approach, but keep in mind there are alternatives to complete removal and they are almost always a lot less expensive.

While I get great enjoyment from my bird feeding stations, providing natural food sources to our feathered friends is always the goal we should aspire to in our gardens. I have written a comprehensive post on feeding birds naturally. You can read about it here.

How to attract colourful backyard birds (Cardinals, Bluejays, Goldfinches)

What they eat and how to attract them

A Goldfinch stops by the birdbath to get a drink in the early evening.

When it comes to birds, everyone loves a little colour in their backyards. That’s why the Cardinal, Blue Jay and Goldfinch are among the most desirable birds in our woodland wildlife gardens.

The Cardinal, Blue Jay and Goldfinch are among the easiest, seed-eating backyard birds to attract to your feeders providing you are giving them their favourite foods. Add natural sources of food from berries to insects, nesting habitat, and, of course, a reliable water source and you will create plenty of colour in your backyard.

While I get great enjoyment from my bird feeding stations, providing natural food sources to our feathered friends is always the goal we should aspire to in our gardens. I have written a comprehensive post on feeding birds naturally. You can read about it here.

This image shows the subtle colour of a Goldfinch in winter during a snowstorm.

Of course these three stunners are not the only colourful birds we can attract to our backyards. My favourite colourful additions to the garden is the incredibly colourful Indigo bunting and the orange and black combination of the Baltimore Oriole. These two highly sought after and extremely colourful birds are more difficult to attract to your backyard feeders so I have tackled those in separate articles. (See my earlier stories on attracting Indigo Buntings and Orioles to your garden.)

To read my article on how the Goldfinch gets its stunning colour and how to attract them with native plants? Click here.

In this post, we’ll take a look at the Cardinal, Blue Jay and and Goldfinch: what they eat, where they nest and what little extras we can do to attract them to our backyards.

A male cardinal in a crabapple tree in spring.

Cardinals: everyone’s favourite backyard bird

It’s hard not to fall in love with Cardinals. Their cheerful persistent songs, the male cardinal’s bright red coat of feathers standing out in the landscape, and the buff-coloured female just as beautiful in her muted colours especially after a fresh snowfall.

These are year-round birds in our area and a regular at the feeders spring, summer, winter and fall.

A sure way to keep them around is to always have a supply of black-oil sunflower seeds in the feeders.

I use a no-mess blend of cracked sunflower seed from Wild Birds Unlimited.

Cardinals’ powerful jaws, and curved beaks give them the ability to easily open larger, harder seeds with great ease. They will readily take to not only both types of sunflower seed, but peanut pieces and safflower.

Cardinals are actually one of the few birds who seem tho really enjoy safflower seed. In fact, I have a separate feeder filled with safflower aimed primarily at attracting cardinals.

Cardinals will readily eat from most feeders, but consider providing them with a large platform feeder as well.

Although most of us know the cardinal as a regular visitor to our backyard feeders, seeds are not their only source of food. Like most birds, Cardinals rely on a steady supply of caterpillars and insects in early spring and summer during the mating season and to raise their young.

Host plants for butterfly larvae – including milkweed, coneflowers, goldenrod, black-eyed Susan aster, and lupines – will encourage cardinals into your yard and provide them with sources of protein to raise their young.

Cardinals are also attracted to fruit bearing plants, especially red fruit-bearing plants. The male cardinal actually gets its bright red coat from the carotenoid pigments in the red fruit. Serviceberry is a cardinal magnet in our garden but so too are are the berries of sumac and dogwoods. The red berries of the native Flowering dogwoods are favourites but not the raspberry-type fruit of the Cornus Kousa which is actually eaten by few if any birds.

(If you are considering planting a Serviceberry, be sure to check out my earlier article on this native tree and shrub here.)

The breeding season for the Northern male Cardinal runs from as early as March through to September. The nest, which is often found in dense shrubbery or in branches of smaller trees anywhere from 1-15 feet off the ground, is made up of twigs, bark strips bits of roots and even paper. It is often lined with vines, grass and hair.

Because they are not cavity dwelling birds, they are not attracted to a bird house.

They do, however, enjoy using backyard bird baths. Look for one that is two- to three-inches deep.

A blue jay shows off its stunning colours.

How about those Blue jays?

These guys might be considered bullies at the bird feeder but their incredible colour is just too good for most of us not to attract them to our backyard feeders.

And there isn’t a nut they cannot crack.

Start with a good helping of shelled or unshelled peanuts in a platform feeder and you’ll likely get your share of Blue jays in short order.

Their long, strong black bills are built for cracking open the hardest of nuts. In the forest, it comes in handy making short order of even tough nuts like acorns.

At our feeders, peanuts, large striped sunflower seeds, black oil sunflower seeds and the condensed seed cylinders (wild Birds Unlimited) favoured by Blue Jays and woodpeckers are guaranteed to attract them to your feeders.

Blue Jays are also attracted to corn, grains and suet at our feeders.

If you are looking to feed them naturally, acorns (from the oak tree) are an excellent source of food. Beechnuts (from beech trees) are also among their favourites.

While they are most often seen at our feeders, insects are still an important part of their diets including grasshoppers and caterpillars. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology reports that the stomach contents of Blue Jays studied over the course of a year showed that they contained about 22 per cent insects, with the remainder being acorns, nuts, fruits and grains.

We can’t overlook the fact that blue jays have been known to raid the nests of other birds and eat both the eggs and or the nestlings. If this is something that disturbs you, attracting Blue Jays may not be right for you.

Blue Jays nest from March through July in an open cup of twigs, grass, and sometimes mud, lined with rootlets. The nests are often in the crotch or thick outer branches of coniferous or deciduous trees. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology reports that Blue Jays often set up their nest in all types of forests but most often near oak trees on forest edges. They are quick to nest in both urban and suburban areas where both Oak trees and bird feeders are often in abundance.

Be sure to provide them with a reliable water source as well. A large, deep bird bath (3 inches at its deepest) will be a good source for your local Blue Jays.

Goldfinches at the bird bath with a solar-powered DIY dripper.

Goldfinches: Add a touch of tropical to your backyard

It’s not hard to think of the Goldfinch when Harry Belafonte sings about the Yellow Bird up high in banana tree.

One look at the male or female American Goldfinches in their finest colours is a reminder of how beautiful our local backyard birds are throughout most of the United States and Canada. No need to travel to tropical regions to see colourful birds and hear their lovely song.

More and more of our American Goldfinches remain here year round helped along by numerous bird feeders and seeds from our flower beds and roadside weeds.

These primarily seed-eating birds are drawn to Niger seeds at our feeders. Be sure to provide the small, black seeds in special feeders designed to allow access to the tiny beaks of the finches. Also available are finch socks filled with Niger that are easily hung from trees or a hook at the feeders.

In nature, Goldfinches eat mostly seeds, especially those in the daisy family. Although they do eat some small insects in summer as well as spring buds, bark from twigs, and maple sap, they always come back to seeds.

It’s not uncommon to see them foraging along fence lines in weedy areas gathering the seeds of thistle, grasses and the seeds from elm, birch and alder trees. Consider leaving an area in your garden to grow wild if you want to add a natural feeding source for Goldfinches as well as other birds that depend on these areas as a food and nesting area.

Audubon reports that Goldfinches are late season nesters, timing their nestlings just as daisy-like flowers begin producing seeds.

Nesting occurs mostly during late summer between July and August in deciduous shrubs or trees usually less than 30 feet above the ground. The nest is a compact cup of plant fibres, spiderwebs and plant down.

Goldfinches will readily come to bird baths. Consider a small, shallow one (depth 1-2 inches) for these diminutive colourful birds.

As an affiliate marketer with Amazon or other marketing companies, I earn money from qualifying purchases.

Green Giant cedars: Fast growing arborvitae ideal for privacy

Green Giant arborvitae create year-round privacy fast

Is there room anymore in our gardens for big? Big trees, big shrubs, big boulders – BIG, Bold colour and plantings.

Well, make room for the Green Giant. Thuya Green Giant, Green Giant Arborvitae, call it what you wish. These are big, bold evergreens in your garden and we all need more of these type of statements in our woodland gardens.

Want privacy? This is how you get it. And not just in the summer. Green Giants provide year-round privacy and they do it quickly. There is no need to wait years to eliminate that eyesore or bothersome neighbour.

It seems like everything is miniaturized in garden centres these days, aimed more at timid gardeners who have been convinced that their properties are too small to handle any larger-sized trees, plants and shrubs.

Well, Green Giants are here to prove that big and bold is beautiful. If there was a bean stock, Thuya Green Giant would outgrow it and look fantastic doing it.

Let’s take a closer look at these evergreens – also known as Green Giant Arborvitae – that grow big fast, provide the perfect evergreen screen when you need it in a hurry, have a beautiful dense deep green colour and a natural loose habit that allows them to fit into a natural woodland setting. They are shelter for wildlife during our cold winters, a nesting spot for birds in spring and summer and best of all, deer leave them alone. That’s not all, Green Giants are not bothered by insects or disease and can stand up to most adverse weather situations.

A cedar deer don’t like

Yes, you read that right. A cedar that deer, including those all around our property, will not devour in a day.

Thuja Green Giants (Thuja Standishii Plicata ‘Green Giant’) did not earn their names from being timid.

These things can grow to enormous heights (40-60 ft) with a width of between 12-20 ft. And they don’t waste time doing it putting on 3 to 5 feet of growth a season when they’re happy.

These pyramidal shaped cedars grow in zones 5-7 and are an excellent disease-free substitute for other plants like Western Red Cedar or Leyland Cypress. Spring growth emerges a fresh lighter green and winter colour is a darker, bronzer shade.

These Green Giants form the perfect natural privacy screen between our neighbours and us, creating a wall of soft evergreen that even the birds enjoy.

They can grow happily in full sun to partial shade, in acidic or alkaline soil and are not fussy about whether it’s sandy or heavy clay.

So, in other words, these things will grow just about anywhere, in any soil conditions.

Use them as a specimen tree and let them be free to grow into their natural shape in your yard, or plant them together every 5 to 6 feet to create a privacy barrier to your property from neighbours, unsightly objects and busy streets. Their dense foliage will go a long way to not only block out the view but reduce noise and act as a possible wind-break.

Your choice to grow as a specimen or a privacy screen, but I always lean to allowing a tree to grow into its natural shape.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Green Giants on our property

In fact, the pictures above show the 8 Green Giants my neighbour and I planted between our properties last summer.

The results are impressive.

We chose the Green Giants to replace an unsightly, overgrown deciduous hedge that had long past its prime. They were planted close together (about 6 feet) and staggered them to give the foliage more room to grow and spread out.

The result is stunning. The growth rate is spectacular.

The original 5-foot cedars grew two to three feet the first year we planted them and they are already forming a solid screen between us.

I’m hoping we can grow them more as large specimens with minimum pruning but time will dictate that. If they get too big width-wise, we could always remove a couple to give them more room to grow naturally.

This spring, I have noticed that the birds have discovered it and I think are beginning to take up residence in their lovely dense foliage.

Of particular note to those looking to save some money. Two of the eight trees we planted were much smaller than the other six trees. The nursery ran out of the larger trees, so we purchased two of the smaller, less expensive cedars.

Buy small and save big on Green Giants

As an experiment, we put them up front where they will receive more direct evening sun than the larger specimens. We expected the smaller ones to perform better than the larger specimens and eventually catch up to the point where it would be hard to recognize any real difference between them.

We were shocked to see the smaller cedars almost catch up to their larger neighbours in one season of growth. I imagine that by the end of the second year, it will be hard to distinguish between the smaller cedars and the larger ones.

So, if you are looking to save money as well as make the planting procedure much easier with the smaller root balls, consider going with the smaller versions of the cedars at the nursery. The growth rate is so strong on these trees that you will not have to wait long before they begin filling in and meeting your goals.

Emerald cedars vs Green Giants

I am going to go out on a limb here and just say it – why are so many gardeners choosing Emerald Green cedars (Thuja occidentalis ‘Smaragd’) over Green Giants or other, more natural looking, cedars?

I believe it all goes back to what the nurseries are offering and the push toward a smaller-scaled landscape because (in my mind) it certainly is not because Emerald Green cedars are nice.

They may look nice on the nursery lot with their bright green foliage but, to my eye, they don’t look appropriate in most landscapes. Hardy to zone 3b and growing to a height of only 12 feet with a spread of only about 4 feet, I can see why homeowners are originally attracted to these trees.

But the narrowness and upright, extremely dense foliage and brighter green colour just gives these a far too stiff and formal look to my liking. They work fine in a more formal setting, but I really don’t think they belong in a more natural setting and certainly not in a woodland garden.

My biggest problem with them is that, because the growth is so tight, the branches don’t intermingle well together and when they do, they often die off because of a lack of sun. The result, if any pruning is done to them, are ugly brown dead areas.

Is it obvious that I don’t like them much?

Just to add to my dislike, these things don’t live long at all averaging only about 30 years.

Consider the Black cedar or white cedars if deer are not an issue

My first choice in cedars is by far Black cedars (Thuja occidentalis ‘Nigra’). These are very much like Green Giants but are described as a selection of a native North American species. The Black cedars’ natural foliage that is a dense, dark and green with a little bit of a dusty-green look is even nicer than the Green Giants’ also impressive foliage.

A friend of mine recently put in a row of the black cedars along a fence and the result is stunning.

Black cedars grow fast to about 20 feet with a 7 foot spread, but not as quickly as Green Giants. The Nigra takes a pruning well and likes at least some sun over the course of the day.

The only reason my neighbour and I chose Green Giants over Black cedars is the fact that deer would have devastated the Black cedars within a week of planting them.

Following black cedars, our native swamp cedars, (Thuja Occidentalis) commonly known as the Arbor Vitae, Arborvitae, Eastern Arborvitae, Eastern White-cedar, Northern White Cedar, Northern White-cedar, Swamp-cedar, would be my next choice. These are often sold at the nurseries in spring as bare rooted cedars. They look spindly and not very attractive upon purchase, but are very cheap, grow fast and eventually thicken up to create an almost impenetrable privacy wall or impressive specimens. Under the right conditions, these are also very long lived.

These white cedars are perfect, accept they are high on the list of favourite food for our local deer population.

Again, Green Giants are of no interest to deer. My neighbour and I went through an entire winter where the deer left our Green Giants alone, and we did not even spray them with any deer repellent.

Impressive to say the least.

Why don’t I like Emerald Green cedars. They grow too tightly, too slowly and don’t provide the privacy that Green Giants or other more ‘loose-growing cedars’ can provide homeowners. In addition, their bright green foliage stands out in the landscape too much, in my mind. Rather than forming a perfect dark background, the Emeralds want to take centre stage.

Their biggest problem, as I mentioned earlier, is that because of their tight growth habit, if they begin to grow together like we want them to so they provide privacy, they will die off where they touch because of a lack of sun. If enough space is left between them to allow for their mature growth, they fail to provide the wall of privacy that the homeowner originally bought them for.

I know that landscapers are using them a lot and nurseries are pushing them to homeowners as the perfect hedging material, but consider their drawbacks before you go ahead and plant them.

One of our neighbours has them along their driveway, and every year they have to wrap them in burlap to stop the deer from snacking on them as well as protect them from cold winds. That’s not something I’m interested in doing, but if you are okay with it, by all means plant them.

Many homeowners like Emerald cedars, I happen to not be one of them. I’m definitely biased, so if you like them, plant them.

Green Giants are far from perfect

This is not to say that Green Giants are the perfect tree.

Anything that grows as fast as Green Giants come with their own problems. Silver maples, poplars and birch trees are good examples of fast-growing trees that, although they have their benefits, also come with big problems.

The faster a tree grows, generally the weaker its wood.

Why does that matter?

It matters most in severe weather when heavy snows or high winds can snap branches off. Whether they hit your home or just leave the trees unsightly, it’s never a good thing to have branches breaking on your trees.

In the case of cedars, it’s not uncommon for the tree branches to split resulting in either complete destruction of the tree or severe disfiguring.

This winter we did have a severe late winter snowstorm that left our cedars bent over by the heavy snow. I went out with a broom to clear some of the snow knowing that the trees can suffer damage in these situations. Turned out that they bounced back immediately and came through the storm with flying colours.

Another problem with fast growing trees is that they tend not to have long lives. Green Giants are given about a 40-year life span. I’m sure that in the right conditions they can live much longer but on average that is what you can expect.

The sheer size of these fast-growing trees is obviously a problem for some people. If you are young, you might want to consider the full mature height of these trees. They get large and can take up a lot of room if they are allowed to grow naturally. That can be a good or bad thing depending on the size of your yard and how you plan to use the tree(s) in your landscape.

My neighbour and I are, let’s say well past being called ‘young’ so having a fast-growing tree is perfect for us.

Let’s just say we are not too worried about either outliving the trees or about them getting to big in our lifetime. Your situation might be different. If so, a different type of tree might be a better choice, but don’t immediately write off a fast growing tree like the Green Giants.

If you need a quick cover that looks great, it’s hard to beat the vigour and beauty of the Green Giant cedar.

As an affiliate marketer with Amazon or other marketing companies, I earn money from qualifying purchases.

How to attract Orioles with oranges, jelly and insects

Go natural: Provide insects and berries for Orioles

I’m sitting in my home office in the middle of May with a light dusting of snow on the ground watching Baltimore Orioles working one of the orange halves I left out on the feeder for them

Last year, I remember as many as seven swarming the feeder. They were feasting on oranges and nectar from a commercial feeder that I had put out for them to catch their attention as they migrated back to their more northern summer breeding grounds here in Canada, from winters in Mexico, Central and South America.

If you want to attract Orioles and keep them around year round, you’ll have to make sure your Woodland provides them with everything they need so they decide to call it home. That includes an upper tree canopy where they often build their nests.

While I get great enjoyment from my bird feeding stations, providing natural food sources to our feathered friends is always the goal we should aspire to in our gardens. I have written a comprehensive post on feeding birds naturally. You can read about it here.

Orioles live in open woodlands particularly those with deciduous trees and lots of insects.

Oranges will go a long way to entice Orioles to visit your yard in spring, but grape jelly, nectar (in the same 4 to 1 ratio of water and sugar used to attract hummingbirds) provided in commercial feeders and berries in your garden from native trees and shrubs will help to convince the birds to stay around all summer. Don’t forget to provide an abundance of insects, including meal worms, which is the main food of Orioles when feeding their nestlings and throughout the remainder of the summer.

A male oriole works an orange half on the top of an Oriole feeder filled with the same sugar water mixture used for hummingbird feeders.

Here in Southern Ontario and Eastern United States we are limited to the Baltimore and orchard orioles. There are actually nine orioles throughout the United States, but only five are common.

The Bullock’s is found throughout Western Canada and the United States.

Once you’ve got them, and providing you give them the requirements they need, they often return year after year to raise their young.

More on what are the best Oriole feeders here.

Spring migration troubles 2021

Of Note: In the spring of 2021 many homeowners who normally have had Baltimore Orioles in their gardens are reporting that the birds either did not show up or appeared for only a day or two and moved on never to be seen again. I usually have a large number of orioles in the garden throughout the summer raising their young. This year, although a few passed through, none stayed around for more than a day or two. I have seen similar reports of decreases in Baltimore Oriole numbers throughout southern Ontario into northeastern U.S.

There appears to be no obvious reason for this concerning turn of events. A late cold spell that ripped through the Great Lakes area right around migration time brought freezing temperatures, including heavy snow, which may have resulted in fewer birds surviving migration or more birds choosing to nest further south. I will try to update this page if there is any more news on the plight of the Orioles.

A young Oriole enjoys a bath in one of our on-ground water sources that happens to be a concrete antler belonging to our concrete moose named Bruce (as in Springsteen) the moose.

It wasn’t too long ago when our Woodland garden was completely devoid of Orioles. Not that they weren’t around. People regularly talked about seeing them in the Conservation area surrounding us. I just never saw them in my garden.

Then I got serious about enticing these beautifully coloured birds into our garden.

Oriole nests are elaborate sac-shaped works of art

Now, they are not only here regularly in the spring and throughout the summer, a pair have even nested in a large maple at the front of our property. I don’t always find their nests, but I often see the young birds with their parents.

Orioles can take up to 12 days to build their elaborate, pendulous sac-shaped nests on the ends of branches in tall trees often in more open areas. Their nests are unique when it comes to North American birds’ nests.

In spring, the female oriole build’s her nest with thin, intertwined fibers that form what might seem like a delicate pouch but, in fact, can hold up to seven eggs.

By putting out oranges early in spring, we can attract orioles to our yards. Once we have them coming to our yards we can add grape jelly to keep them coming back.

For more information on how orioles build their nest check out audubon’s highly informative article on their site here.

Last year, a mother brought her entire brood to our on-ground water source where they had a great time splashing around in the ears of our concrete moose.

All it took to get them here originally was a couple of oranges cut in half and placed in areas where the Orioles are likely to see them. Now our neighbours have joined in to the excitement and put orange slices around their yard as well.

Once you have them, it’s time to add grape jelly to your yard. It has to be basic grape jelly, not a jam. You can buy special oriole jelly in plastic bottles at many good bird stores, but just buy a good grape jelly. I like to use Welch’s grape jelly, but any no-name jellies should be fine. Mix it with a little water and the Orioles will lap it up often choosing the jelly over the orange halves.

Orioles are attracted to the colour orange, so many of today’s feeders use the colour to catch the bird’s attention.

One trick that I like to use is after the orioles are finished with the orange half, I fill it with jelly. They seem to appreciate my effort. It’s a constant exchange of old oranges with new ones, and filling the spent oranges with grape jelly.

Five cool facts about orioles

• Orioles are in the same family as blackbirds and meadowlarks and are most often seen perched at the tops of trees or flitting through the upper foliage looking for insects.

• Their chatter is quite distinctive as is their call. Once you have heard it, you are unlikely to forget it.

• Watch your peas. Orioles enjoy fresh or frozen or dried peas

• Orioles live up to 11 years in the wild and longer in captivity.

• Female orioles become a deeper orange every time they molt. Older females can be almost as bright as their male counterparts

• Orioles got their names from the black and orange of Lord Baltimore’s family crest, which is similar to the family’s crest

• the Baltimore oriole is Maryland’s state bird

• Orioles have distinct alarm calls to warn of predators, but will not hesitate to mob and harass predators that threaten or come near nests.

Oriole feeders have come a long way

Many modern feeders will provide areas to mount oranges as well as cavities to put the jelly into. Some feeders also offer the Orioles several choices, including jelly, orange halves and nectar.

Some, such as the Birds Choice Flower Oriole Bird Feeder include a reservoir to hold grape jelly as well as places to mount orange halves. Look for feeders that also provide perches for several of the birds to comfortably and safely perch while they are eating. It’s not uncommon to have several at your feeders at once.

The nectar that is used for orioles is the same as the nectar used for hummingbirds. It should be made the same way – 4 parts of water to one part of sugar.

I like to boil my water first and then measure out the 4:1 ratio. The boiling water helps to dissolve the sugar more perfectly and seems to keep my feeders’ nectar clear longer. Remember to let it cool to room temperature before filling your nectar feeders.

Don’t be surprised if the orioles start to feed from your hummingbird feeders. They are a regular at my feeders, even when they struggle to fit on them properly.

In saying that, however, it’s not uncommon for our hummingbirds to drink from the oriole feeder.

Orioles love moving water

Don’t underestimate the value of moving water. Although orioles get much of their water needs filled by nectar from our feeders and plants, water still plays an important part in attracting these beautiful birds. They are especially attracted to the sight and sound of moving water, whether it’s a fountain, a dripper or a bubbler. I wrote a full article about converting a dripper into a solar fountain. You can read it here.

Five of a total of seven Orioles pictured here taking advantage of our various feeders that included orange halves, home-made jelly feeders and a nectar feeder.

In summer meal worms are an excellent choice for Orioles

Finally, once you have attracted the Orioles, you will need to be prepared to change their diet as summer approaches. You may notice them using your orange and jelly feeders less and less. That’s when to start shifting what you are feeding them from oranges and jelly to meal worms, either live ones (which are ideal) or dried ones. It’s a good idea to rehydrate the dried meal worms with some water before putting them out in your feeders. Or, put them in a dish and add a little water to rehydrate them. This makes it easier for the birds to swallow them.

Both types are available at bird-feeding stores or through Amazon. Feeding meal worms will not only attract Orioles to your garden. They are the prime source of food for Bluebirds at a feeder as well as robins and other insect eating birds.

Special meal worm feeders are also available. Because squirrels are not interested in meal worms, these feeders can hang anywhere in the garden including from nearby tree branches.

The Baltimore Oriole spends its winters in florida and farther south in Central America. They migrate north to breed throughout the northeast United States and into southern parts of Canada.

Insects are the birds’ primary food source in summer

Although they are attracted to Oranges and jellies on their migration routes, their real food is a variety of insects.

The Orioles that visit our gardens are using the oranges and jelly as a quick burst of energy. By the summer, when they are raising their young, they spend much of their time foraging for insects to feed their babies. The parents will still come to the feeders for quick bursts of energy, but they may also almost disappear if they are not nesting nearby.

Besides mealworms, Orioles will also eat wasps and other insects. It is vital to avoid using pesticides in the garden to ensure a large supply of insects for these birds. During the summer, when orioles are feeding their young, insects may provide up to 90 per cent of an oriole’s diet.

Native shrubs and bushes that produce an abundance of berries are excellent food sources for these birds. Consider planting elderberries, blueberries, blackberries, serviceberries and raspberries just to name a few. I have written an entire article about the importance of serviceberries in our wildlife gardens. You can read it here.

Although oranges are their favourite fruit, they will also eat apple, peaches, bananas and berries.

Providing them with special suet mixes that include fruit pieces and berries is a good source of high energy for them.

Plant bright, but dark-coloured fruits such as mulberries, cherries and purple grapes as well as raspberries. They also like flowers that produce high quantities of nectar including vines such as trumpet vines.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you) I only endorse products I have either used, have complete confidence in, or have experience with the manufacturer. Thank you for your support.

How to attract indigo buntings to your backyard

Attracting Indigo Buntings and other insect-eating birds can be difficult

Indigo Buntings have always been one of my favourite birds, but attracting them to our backyards is not always easy.

I am lucky enough to have indigo buntings coming to our feeder several times a day. And, they are going to one very specific feeder that I have made sure to keep filled with its favourite foods.

Attract Indigo Buntings with natural food such as insects

These birds of the open woodlands will come to specific seeds in your feeder, especially during migration, but they are among the many birds we may see in our backyards that largely depend on insects, spiders, grasshoppers, aphids, beetles, cicadas and caterpillars as their main source of food during the spring and summer months.

While I get great enjoyment from my bird feeding stations, providing natural food sources to our feathered friends is always the goal we should aspire to in our gardens. I have written a comprehensive post on feeding birds naturally. You can read about it here.

So, how do we attract Indigo Buntings and other insect-eating birds, including blue birds, wrens and warblers to our yards and keep them coming back, or, better yet, convince them to call our yard their home?

A male Indigo Bunting sits among the flowers of a crabapple in spring.

To successfully attract Indigo Buntings and other primarily insect-eating birds to our yards depends on a multi-faceted approach that begins with providing them with the food they prefer at our feeders – primarily small seeds such as thistle or nyjer, and white proso millet. Sunflower chips – the type available in no-mess blends – can also attract these beautiful birds. A high quality finch mix which includes many of these favourite seeds and, of course, live or dried meal worms will keep them interested in what our feeders are providing.

Use white proso millet and bark butter to attract Indigo Buntings

In addition, I have had success with Wild Birds Unlimited soft suet nuggets known as “Bark Butter Bits” in attracting Indigo Buntings and other insect eaters.

I have found that white proso millet mixed with dried meal worms keeps indigo buntings coming back day after day.

Indigo Buntings are among the most shy birds in my garden. Even the slightest movement from a distance can send them flying off into the nearby cover of our large crabapple trees. Providing several feeding stations or, even better, a caged feeder helps to give them a better sense of security in the commotion that so often surrounds a large feeding station.

Once the feeder foods are in place, ensure there is an abundance of water in the yard and try to provide it in many different forms – from on-ground sources, to hanging bird baths in trees and other quiet areas of the garden, as well as traditional bird baths. (See my earlier story on providing water sources here.)

Once these two key ingredients (food and water) are in place, we need to focus on providing the birds with their natural food sources which includes an abundance of insects as well as berries.

Berries as a key food source: Plant blueberries and serviceberries

Indigo Buntings are drawn to many types of berries including blueberries, strawberries, serviceberries blackberries and elderberries, just to name a few. Many of these fruits could be purchased from local grocery stores and provided at feeders, but why not start now to ensure at least some of these berries are being provided naturally in our gardens?

By planting a few of these berry producers and leaving an area of your garden to go wild with wild strawberry, raspberries etc you will provide perfect habitat for a host of birds that like to dine on berries. Indigo buntings will often forage in these wild areas for seeds, bugs and berries. They can be seen flitting about through the grasses or in shrubs.

In spring, they will often even eat the buds of their favourite trees and shrubs. There is no questions that these “wild” areas provide excellent habitat for a host of insects and keep the birds returning to that corner of your yard.

These berry producers, especially serviceberries, are excellent additions to your woodland/wildlife garden. (See my earlier post on serviceberries here.)

Blueberry plants are also an easy introduction to the garden. You can grow them in containers where you can more easily control the PH levels. (Blueberries like a slightly acid soil) I have two blueberries growing in a large container and another Proven Winners’ hybrid plant that I planted this year in a raised container.

Chances are you will have to work hard to get any for yourself once the birds and garden critters have had their fill, but that’s okay. If you can’t bear the idea of giving up all your favourite fruit to the birds, cover them with a cloche to save some for yourself and offer the remainder to the birds. The critters got all the berries last year. This year, I am determined to get at least a few for myself.

Okay, so we have the feeders set up, an abundance and variety of water sources and berry producing trees and shrubs planted in the garden.

That’s an excellent start and one where many gardeners will be satisfied, but not us. Woodland/wildlife gardeners who really want to attract Indigo Buntings and other insect-eating birds to their backyards will want to take the extra steps to not only attract the birds but the insects and caterpillars that will really bring these birds to our gardens.

Immature Indigo Bunting showing its lack of complete colouring.

Insects: Provide the key ingredient to success

Now let’s talk about those insects that Indigo Buntings are so dependent on for their survival.

It goes without saying that the use of indiscriminate insecticides is not going to result in success. In fact, every effort should be made to create a pesticide-free habitat for the wildlife in your yard.

It never hurts to put up a sign in your front garden advertising that your property is a pesticide-free zone. Unfortunately, we cannot control what our neighbours do but, let’s hope they will follow our lead and reduce or eliminate the insecticides they choose to use on their properties.

Eliminating pesticides is an excellent start, but if you live in a typical suburban lot you may need to take extra steps to make your property insect-friendly.

Here are a few suggestions to increase the number of insects on your property with links to earlier posts on Ferns & Feathers.

Plant an Oak tree: If at all possible, look for an area in your yard where you can plant an oak tree. Studies show that oak trees support the greatest number of insects and caterpillars of all the trees in the forest. Without going into great detail, there is no better tree in the landscape to support a healthy insect and population. In fact, Doug Tallamy in his book Bringing Nature Home states that a “single white oak tree can provide food and shelter for as many as 22 species of tiny leaf-tying and leaf folding caterpillars.”

Go here to read my posts on oak trees.

• What tree should I plant in my yard.

• Columnar oak is perfect for small yards.

And that is just a tiny fraction of the fauna that depend on a single oak tree. In fact, the mighty oak supports 534 species of fauna, more than any other tree we can plant in our gardens. (See my earlier post here on the importance of oak trees in our landscapes.)

Create a brushpile: Pick a corner of the yard and begin adding sticks, branches and other woody cuttings from the garden to the pile. Maybe some old grasses or last year’s leaves could also find a home in the corner. You are not looking to make a compost pile (although an active compost pile is good too), you are mostly just making a place where insects can gather preferably out of the hot sun. Over time the branches will break down and create good habitat for insects and other small fauna. We have two such areas: one is a massive pile in one corner of the yard that gets added to every year. Some might describe it as an open compost pile but I never turn it, have not removed any “compost” and top it with only garden material from branches to cut grasses, leaves and old container plantings in the fall. The other is the result of pruning two large trees, where I asked the tree company to just leave the branches on the ground. This is an open brush pile and favourite playground for the chipmunks and red squirrels in our yard.

For my earlier post on building a brushpile go here.

Leave some fruit to rot: This is a great way to attract fruit flies. I use a shallow hanging bird bath which is a perfect place to put pieces of apple, watermelon, oranges for the Orioles, bananas etc. These attract all kinds of insects as well as butterflies etc. The fruits get moved to the open compost area once they begin to over ripen.

Leave your leaves in the fall: This is the singularly most important step you can take to encourage an abundance of insect life in your woodland garden. It is vital for insectivorous birds during the extremes in winter when food is scarce and in spring, when migrating birds are returning craving good sources of protein. Despite living in an area surrounded by forested Conservation lands, most of my neighbours are obsessive about picking up every last leaf on their grass and in their yards. Bags and bags of leaves are put out every fall through spring to ensure not a single leaf remains on their properties. It reminds me of how important leaving the leaves on the ground is when I look out the window in late fall, winter or early spring and see a host of birds, rummaging through the leaves looking for insects and larvae winter, spring, summer and fall. (See earlier article here.)

Mud puddles or shallow spots: Many insects, including butterflies can be drawn to shallow mud puddles where they drink and obtain much-needed minerals from the soil.

Backgrounder on the Indigo Bunting

These migratory birds (genus passerina cyanea) spend the winter primarily throughout Central America but breed throughout the eastern United States up into southern Ontario around the Great Lakes and southern parts of Quebec west to Manitoba. An interesting fact about these birds is that they migrate at night, using stars as their guiding lights.

They can often be spotted on the edge of woodlands and along rural roadways where they like to perch on telephone lines and tall trees and share their song for hours on end.

The indigo-blue males, with their striking blue heads that softens to a more cerulean colour on the body, pronounce their presence with joyful songs through the late spring and summer.

It may come as a surprise, since it is their striking colour that sets them apart in the bird world, that their jewel-like colour does not actually come from blue pigment in their feathers, but, instead, from microscopic structures in the feathers that refract and actually reflect blue light.

The males sport short conical bills that are dark on the top and a silvery-gray on the bottom.

Females, not unlike many other bird species such as cardinals and orioles, are much more subdued in colour with shades of brown and beige with hints of blue on her wings or rump.

Indigo Buntings like to nest in shrubby areas rather than high in the treetops. this is another good reason to leave some unkept shrubby areas in a corner of your garden.

Who knows, you may be able to convince a couple to nest in your yard where you can enjoy them all summer, up close and personal.

The perfect opportunity to photograph the family as they grow and prepare for their epic migration to lands far, far away.

Good luck and let me know if you have any success attracting Indigo Buntings this season.

As an affiliate marketer with Amazon or other marketing companies, I earn money from qualifying purchases.

How to attract Native Bees to your wildlife garden

Creating a lawn for native bees: Time to rethink normal

The value of our native bees can’t be underestimated, but every day, every year, every growing season they play second fiddle to those “other” bees.

Their role in the natural world could not be any more clear than their importance to native plants.

(For my article on the important role of native plants, go here.)

In a world where insects and other creepy crawlies get a bad rap, solitary bees are the Rodney Dangerfield of the Bee world.

They certainly don’t deserve that disrespect.

Our Native Bees is a stunningly beautiful book that explores the importance of North America’s endangered pollinators. it is pictured here with a WeeBeeHouse native bee home.

Considering the work native solitary bees do for us, they should actually be celebrated as one of the most important contributors to the natural world and a vital part of our agricultural economy.

Why don’t they get the respect they deserve?

Paige Embry, author of the Our Native Bees book is a true solitary bee aficionado. “It annoys her — rightly — that most people know next to nothing about the 4,000 species of native bees nesting in the ground, in trees and in the sides of our houses,” points out the New York Times, in a review of her book.

“The hardest part of getting a bee lawn into use isn’t developing the seed mix; it’s dealing with people’s vision of what a lawn should be…If we didn’t have to worry about our neighbours, I think there would be a much more diverse look.”

— Minneapolis Bee researcher

Count me among those who knew “next to nothing about the 4,000 species of native bees.”

I never really gave bees much thought even though the solitary native bees are regulars in our backyard.

After reading her book (Published by nature and garden book publishers Timber Press in 2018) and my own research, I still consider myself a novice when it comes to native bees. There is so much to learn, but Embry’s book is a good beginning for anyone wanting to explore the world of native solitary bees.

Our Native Bees: North America’s Endangered Pollinators and the Fight to Save Them is clear and concise, mixed with entertaining stories and anecdotes about author Embry’s journey into discovering North American native bees from her childhood to present day. The book is by no means a dry, complex, scientific or academic approach to protecting and attracting native bees.

It’s their story and she tells the troubled tale with the novice native bee lover in mind.

“Native bees are the poor stepchildren of the bee world,” she writes in the introduction of the book. Honey bees get all the press – the books, the movie deals – and they aren’t even from around here, coming over from Europe with the early colonists.”

She goes on to point out that in 2015 the U.S. federal government “issued a plan to restore 7 million acres of land for pollinators and more than double the research budget for them.”

Sounds great, where’s this disrespect you talk about?

The disrespect came in the name of the new program: the “National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators.”

As Embry aptly points out: “Four thousand species of native bees, not to mention certain birds, bats, flies, wasps, beetles, moths, and butterflies, reduced to ‘other pollinators.’ ”

It’s the sad tale of our native bees. But with the efforts of Embry, bee researchers and entrepreneurial dreamers who are working hard to help our native bees get the respect and recognition they deserve, there is certainly some reason to be optimistic for the 4,000 species of native bee that call North America home.

No-one is kidding themselves, however, the story of their survival is still being written and there is no guarantee it will have a fairy-tale ending.

Let’s make this clear from the beginning, Embry has nothing against honey bees.

“They dance and make honey and can be carted around by the thousands in convenient boxes, but from a pollination point of view, they aren’t super-bees. On cool, cloudy days when honey bees are home shivering in their hives, many of our native bees are out working over the flowers. Bumble bees do their special buzz pollination of tomatoes, blueberries, and various wild species…. The trusty orchard mason bees are such hard-working yet slovenly little pollen collectors that several hundred can pollinate an acre of apples that requires thousands of honey bees.”

Embry asks: “Where are the book and movie deals for these bees?”

Where indeed?

Our Native Bees book, however, is a good beginning.

The little black, 195-page gem of a book is actually written in two halves: The first half focuses on the commercial importance of native bees in the agricultural world and tells the story behind California’s massive almond industry among others; the second half explores the importance of the native bees in nature and efforts made to save them including an unlikely pairing between the future of native bees and intensive work being done at a U.S. golf course to create ideal habitat for them and other pollinators.

The Power of Bees

In her final chapter of Our Native Bees, Embry writes about the power of these extremely docile native bees. Here are a few excerpts from that chapter:

Bees have power: They have the obvious power of pollination and supplying us with many of our favourite foods. they also have an unexpected superpower – the ability to form connections and build community among people. … People come together to volunteer at bee labs or help with bee surveys. Some use vacation time to take bee classes and hunt for bees.

Bees are reselient: If we just stop kicking the bees quite so hard, we can help them – and see the results immediately. Renounce pesticides. Plant flowers that bees in your area like. Be a little slovenly in the garden; leave some old broken stems and a little bare dirt show. The bees will come.

Bees are diverse: Most people think of honey bees when they hear the word bee or, even worse, they envision a yellow jacket or some other kinds of wasp. Twenty thousand species rife with differences being reduced to either a very unusual outlier of the group or something that is not a member of the group at all.

In the first half of her book, Embry sets up the difference between imported honey bees and our native bees.

For a complete novice, when it comes to the importance of bees and their role in agriculture, I have to admit that the information Embry provided was both enlightening and fascinating.

Embry’s love affair with bees and her subsequent book actually had its roots with the the tomatoes of her Georgia childhood.

“The summertime table in my house always had a plate of sliced tomatoes on it. … When I grew up and moved away, I too, grew tomatoes…, she writes in the book.

“Some pollination happens as a result of wind just shaking the plants, but more and bigger tomatoes result with the help of bees. Not just any bee can do it, though. It wasn’t until I was nearly fifty that I learned that honey bees can’t produce those tasty red and orange globes. Tomatoes require a special kind of pollination called buzz pollination, where a bee holds onto a flower and vibrates certain muscles that shake the pollen right out of the plant.”

“If the idea of flowers growing in the grassy lawn just isn’t quite achievable yet, there’s always the golf course route. Take out some of that lawn and convert it into a home and dining hall for bees. It’s all a matter of rethinking normal.”

— Paige Embry

So, it turns out that bumble bees and other native bees are the keys to tomato pollination.

Embry goes on to devote an entire chapter to the question: “Did Greenhouse Tomatoes Kill the Last Franklin’s Bumble Bee?”

You’ll have to read the book to get the answer to that question, but it raises a concern about big agriculture and the future of our native bees.

Native versus naturalized bees

In case you were wondering what’s the difference between Native and Naturalized bees, Embry explains it in the following way: “The North American bee is one that evolved right here. The honey bees we know are not native because they came over from Europe with the early colonists. Some of those early bees escaped into the wild (they went feral), where they did quite well. Those feral bees are considered naturalized, not native.”

Native Bees’ economic value

Like many of us, I had not given much thought to how fruit and nuts get to our table and the importance of pollination to that end.

Little did I know that the pollination of massive orchards and fields were so dependent on bees and that non-native honey bees were the key pollinators. All this despite the fact our native bees are more efficient, harder workers and free for the taking if only we could figure out a way of attracting them to acres and acres of endless orchards and agricultural fields.

It should not come as a surprise that the story of our bees, both honey and native bees, are rooted in the agriculture industry and the bees’ future could very well depend on that same industry for good or bad.

Much has been written lately about the future of bees and other pollinators and how their numbers are being threatened by pesticides.

But enough of that. The agricultural story and the work being done behind the scenes is a fascinating part of the native bee story. The fact that Canadians, more specifically New Brusnwick, played a key role in their story, and not in a good way, furthers my interest in the plight of these fascinating little bees.

Native Bees’ value in our gardens

It’s in our gardens, however, where our focus lies.

Native bees have quickly become a favourite of concerned homeowners many of whom are taking actions in an attempt to save them. Even if it’s nothing more than putting up small bee habitats on their properties where the solitary bees can safely procreate and live their lives. (For my post on WeeBeeHouse native bee habitats see below)

Gardener’s Supply Company, in Burlington, Vermont also offers an impressive native bee house for readers looking to begin provding a home for native bees. Their page also includes an interesting video of the bee house in action. To view it, click here.

Best five things I learned from Our Native Bees

1) There are at least 4,000 species of native bees in North America in every shape, size and colour you can imagine.

2) Sweat bees – beautiful green iridescent native bees – get their name because some like to lick up sweat

3) Most native bees are small, live alone and do not sting either because they have no stingers or are so docile that it would take a life and death situation to get them to sting.

4) Native bees vary in size from the mighty carpenter bee (about an inch in length) to the tiny Holeopasites calliopsidis that isn’t much bigger than Roosevelt’s nose on a dime. And it’s not even the smallest native bee in the United States. That honour goes to Perdita Minima.

5) There are 20,000 species of bees worldwide that are responsible for the seeds of rebirth of three-quarters of the flowering plants in the world.

Bees in the Grass: Rethinking Normal

We all have to take a serious look at the acres of grass that dominate our urban and rural neighbourhoods. (For my post on removing lawns see below.)

Embry wastes little time advocating for a change in the way homeowners see their carpets of monoculture they call grass. She uses an example that is both shocking and encouraging.

She turns her focus to golf courses and goes into great detail about two programs at American golf courses that encourage setting aside natural areas on the golf course for native pollinators.

The first program stems from a 2002 report from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation who teamed up with the U.S. Golf Association to write a report called “Making room for Native Pollinators: How to create Habitat for Pollinator Insects on Golf Courses.”

The second program, and one she turns her attention to, is a program out of Europe, Operation Pollinator, started by Syngenta, one of the world’s largest agrochemical comanies (another name for a pesticide company).

The program started in the United Kingdom in the early 2000s after a survey of golfers revealed that what they liked most about going out for a round of golf was the nature they sometimes stumbled across in the more natural areas of the course. That, together with the desire to reduce the costs of operating a course, lead to the unexpected marriage between nature and a massive pesticide company.

By creating a natural area for pollinators, the pesticide company was able to use their expert biologists to turn perfect turf into pollinator-friendly areas. The plan cut down on the cost of pesticide while at the same time providing more nature for the golfers.

“Operation Pollinator for golf courses came to the United States in 2012, and by 2016 more than 200 golf courses in twenty-nine states had an Operation Pollinator plot. The plots range from half an acre to more than a hundred.”

To say the program has been a smashing success for native bees is a huge understatement.

This program, of course, brings us to our own lawns and gardens.

Embry asks: “What golf courses are doing with Operation Pollinator is going a step beyond just adding some flowers to the grass. They are removing turf in areas that don’t need to be grass and replacing it with flowers for pollinators. That’s one approach, and it works in some places. Sometimes, though, you want a lawn to be a lawn , a place for play, picnics, and soccer pitches. What if a lawn can be all that and a place for pollinators too?”

She goes on to talk about incorporating more clover, and the thirty-seven bee species found on clover in grass in a Minneapolis study.

This simple addition to turf allows for the soccer pitches, while still providing some native bee habitat.

From the simple addition of clover into the lawn Embry moves on to the “making of a bee lawn.”

The transformation from golf-course turf to the perfect bee lawn has been the focus of many studies and creations that has met with varied success over the years.

As one researcher at the University of Minnesota explains: “the hardest part of getting a bee lawn into use isn’t developing the seed mix; it’s dealing with people’s vision of what a lawn should be…"

“If we didn’t have to worry about our neighbours, I think there would be a much more diverse look.”

Embry goes on to explain as a possible solution: “If the idea of flowers growing in the grassy lawn just isn’t quite achievable yet, there’s always the golf course route. Take out some of that lawn and convert it into a home and dining hall for bees. It’s all a matter of rethinking normal.”

Yes, Ms Embry, it certainly is.

Thanks for shedding some light on our native bees.

As an affiliate marketer with Amazon or other marketing companies, I earn money from qualifying purchases.

Expert Tips for Attracting Birds to Your Backyard Fast

This is a guest article that Ferns & Feathers participated in and that was originally composited by Mike Cahill for Redfin blog in Seattle, Washington. To check out the original post, go here.

When trying to attract birds to your home creating a habitat that serves their basic needs is essential. Food, water, and shelter are key but aren’t the only variables you need to consider. While these satisfy their physiological needs, birds also prefer a safe space where they can socialize freely. That’s why we reached out to the birdwatching experts from Vancouver to New York to provide you with a few creative ways to attract birds to your home.

Foster a bird haven

The most effective way to attract many different species of birds to your yard is to offer a wide variety of food sources including seeds (especially black oil sunflower seeds), suet, nuts, jelly, sugar water (for hummingbirds) and fruits. Also consider installing native plants, fruit-bearing trees, and shrubs in varying degrees of density in your backyard to promote an attractive, safe habitat for the birds to forage, roost and nest in. It’s also a good idea to put out a birdbath or install a small pond garden so that the birds have someplace to bathe, cool off and grab a drink, something that is particularly important during the summer months. Lastly, make sure that you clean your feeders and birdbath periodically and keep your feeders full. Following these steps, it won’t be long before your backyard will become a bird lover's paradise! - Birdwatching N.C.

It’s important to provide multiple clean water for local birds.

This spring, consider turning your backyard space into a welcoming haven for birds! The key to attracting birds to your yard is by providing for their basic needs. Growing native plants is a great way to encourage birds to settle in your yard by offering natural food sources and shelter. In addition, you can add bird feeders with a variety of food types to entice many different species. Proving a water source is another great way to attract birds because of course, they all need water! Putting a birdbath in your backyard is an easy way to provide a place that birds can drink and bathe. A couple of other important things you can do to help out our feathered friends are to avoid using pesticides and herbicides, which are harmful to birds and also to keep cats out of your yard! Have fun birding and good luck! - Meewasin

Incorporate a variety of feeders

Get some hummingbird feeders up in various parts of your garden. Hummers can be territorial so we suggest at least 2 or 3 different feeders in different corners. Keep the feeders well stocked with a 4 to 1 dissolved mix of water to sugar. Once the birds know there is a regular supply of food they'll keep coming back. Take care to clean the feeders every day or so, and replace sugar water which ferments quickly on hot days. It's not just about feeders - get some plants on the go too. Hummers love brightly colored tubular hanging flowers rich in nectar. Reds and purples are perfect, like cardinal flowers, columbines and fuchsias. - Home Happy Gringo

---

While I get great enjoyment from my bird feeding stations, providing natural food sources to our feathered friends is always the goal we should aspire to in our gardens. I have written a comprehensive post on feeding birds naturally. You can read about it here.

---

Don’t underestimate the importance of a clean water source

Our Friends know that their own yards can serve as vital mini-sanctuaries whether you live in the rural vast expanse or eastern Oregon or an urban 'jungle'. We have a few tricks for ensuring that you are supporting the birds that may find themselves in your backyard. First things first - food is not enough. Clean, freshwater is a vital and often overlooked necessity for many birds. A resident of Burns, OR and Friends of Malheur Board Member, Rick Vetter, says, "I use a combination of water, feed, and bait to attract a variety of birds to my backyard in winter." Water can be a shallow bath or bubbler and should be cleaned regularly. Rick continues, Feed consists of 2,000 lb of cracked corn and black sunflower see in several feeders supplemented with suet and a large plastic container of skippy super crunchy peanut butter with holes for wood pegs and slots for access to the peanut butter." What about the bait you ask? Well, Rick has a unique approach to that as well. " Bait consists of California quail and Eurasian collared doves eating the feed and in turn, they attract northern goshawks, Cooper’s hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, red-tailed hawks and northern harriers that feed on them. Merlins feed on the smaller birds. - Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

Try planting local natives

Firstly, I recommend planting local native plants like the Firebush (Hamelia patens). This plant is very attractive to hummingbirds and insects, therefore attracting other birds like warblers and flycatchers. Something important to keep in mind is that this plant has a tropical and subtropical distribution. Therefore it attracts birds suited for those conditions that the plant is also well adapted for. For that reason, before planting your garden or designing your landscaping, you have to investigate the local native plants in your area. Also, another helpful and easy way to attract birds in the garden, for example, is if you have old tree trunks on your property. These dead plants can provide a suitable habitat for woodpeckers, owls and in general birds that need a cavity to nest inside. - Drake Bay Birdwatching

Planning your outdoor space with bird-friendly plants that flower at different times of the year will attract a variety of birds throughout the flowering season. By planting early bloomers you will be providing a food source for early summer migrants (or straggling fall migrants) and by planting late bloomers you will be attracting birds leaving a little later (or fall migrants arriving early). And of course, you’ll be providing for your resident birds as well! To learn how to spot some of California’s most notable birds, check out our Guide to Birding. - Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority

The most effective way to encourage a variety of birds to your yard is to plant as many native trees, shrubs and flowers as possible. These are plants that the native birds have come to know and depend on over centuries. By using more native plants in your backyard, especially those that flower profusely in spring and follow the blooms with berries, you will not only encourage birds and other fauna to visit your yard, you will also encourage them to stay in your yard and call it home. - Ferns & Feathers

Install a moving water feature

A simple, cheap, clean and effective way to attract birds to your garden is to install a moving water feature. Place a floating solar-powered water pump in the middle of your birdbath, surrounded by small rocks to keep it in place and to act as perches. Alternatively, if you want to DIY it, you can make your own "spring" out of a large plastic bucket with a lid (eg paint bucket) and a small solar-powered pump. Paint or decorate it to your taste, punch holes in the lid for the tubing and drainage back into the bucket, and place small rocks or stones on the lid to give it a more natural feel. The moving water ensures that it is oxygenated and stays clean for longer than still water, and it attracts the bird's eye more readily. - Birding in Spain

Originally published on Redfin

How to attract nuthatches to your woodland garden

How did nuthatches get their name

Who doesn’t love a nuthatch?

These perky little birds – as cute as a chickadee and at least as busy – have developed a real fan-club following from bird lovers. Whether it’s the white-breasted (Sitta carolinensis), or the red-breasted (Sitta canadensis) these lovable little birds characterized by large heads, short tails and strong bills have become welcome visitors to our backyard landscapes and bird feeders in parts of Canada and the United States through to Mexico.

Their constant flitting from bird feeder to the nearest tree in our woodland gardens has earned them more than a growing fan base, it’s also a big part of how they earned their unusual names.

While Nuthatches are racing to and fro, they are actually taking seeds and “nuts” from the feeder and stuffing them into any crevice they can find in tree bark. Later, they return to hack away (or “hatch”) at the seeds with their small, pointy bills. And thus, their common name was born – by combining one of their favourite foods the “nut,” with their method or retrieving it “hatching.”

And so, we have the Nuthatch.

Red-Breasted Nuthatch in Pine tree.

Friendly enough to eat out of your hand

Maybe these little birds with their blue-grey back and white undersides have gained a following because, after a little practise, they are one of the birds that will readily eat out of your hand. Maybe it’s just because they always seem so darn busy – like a wind-up toy that never unwinds.

It does not take long to realize that Nuthatches have a wide assortment of whistles, trills and calls in their repertoires. Their breeding songs are simple and often identical to their contact calls. Cornell School of Ornithology has excellent recordings of the red-breasted Nuthatch various sounds. You can listen to them here.

Red-breasted nuthatch in winter storm.

How to attract Nuthatches to your feeders

They are certainly one of the busiest birds at our feeders. Maybe because they really can’t decide what they should snack on next. They are not particularly picky, readily feasting on sunflower seeds, nuts, meal worms, as well as high-calorie suet or peanut butter.

I have also found that they are big fans of Wild Birds Unlimited’s, Bark Butter. Not surprising, since Bark Butter attracts 152 different bird species. It’s expensive stuff, but if used sparingly, it is a great addition to your bird feeding area. I use it to fill holes that I drilled into a branch hung from the feeders. This way I can keep the squirrels from getting to it before the birds devour it.

But back to Nuthatches.

White-breasted Nuthatch photographed from Tragopan blind in our woodland garden.

It would not be hard to think, considering their activity at our bird feeders, that Nuthatches were primarily seed eaters. In fact, they are primarily insectivorous eating copious amounts of insects providing a natural control where insect infestations and caterpillar outbreaks occur.

When they are not “hatching nuts” these small passerine birds forage for insects hidden under bark by climbing along tree trunks and branches often upside-down. Their acrobatics are even more pronounced as they forage headfirst down a tree looking for dinner.

Planting natural sources of seeds, such as sunflowers, black-eyed Susans, coreopsis and other seed producers as well as Oaks, Beech and Hickory trees will not only provide them with nuts but also insects and caterpillars who live on the trees and nesting sites.

While I get great enjoyment from my bird feeding stations, providing natural food sources to our feathered friends is always the goal we should aspire to in our gardens. I have written a comprehensive post on feeding birds naturally. You can read about it here.

Evergreens, including pines and cedars are favourites of nuthatches both for their seeds and ready supply of protein-rich insects and caterpillars.

---

Ten cool facts about Nuthatches

1) Nuthatches are known to be one of the noisiest birds in the spring, but grow pretty much silent when breeding.

2) There are 24 different species of nuthatches in the world.

3) Most nuthatches are highly sedentary, seldom moving far from where they were originally hatched.

4) They have been called mud dabbler and mud stopper because of their habit of putting mud around the entrance hole to its nest.

5 Studies have shown that large gardens with oak trees provide the best habitat for nuthatches. This is not surprising considering the importance of the oak tree to hundreds of insects, caterpillars and pupae – the prime food source of Nuthatches.

6) Thanks to the growing use of bird feeders, Nuthatches have been able to expand their habitat.

7) Nuthatch pairs are strongly territorial partially because they have stored so much food throughout their territory.

8) The Nuthatch is able to move both up and down a tree looking for bugs or seeds.

9) Although dimunitive in size, these birds can be bold and aggressive at the bird feeder if larger birds try to intimidate them.

10) Their numbers fluctuate widely anually depending on the severity of winter and the availability of seed.

Where Nuthatches live

These cavity-nesting birds are happy to move into former woodpecker holes. It’s always a good idea to leave older trees and snags to give birds natural places to nest, but Nuthatches will also use bird houses if necessary.

“Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go….

-Stephen King

The nuthatch in winter storm.

Most of the species are non-migratory and live year-round in their habitat although some red-breasted nuthatches living farther north will migrate to warmer regions during the winter.

Did you know

Did you know that the Nuthatch rarely sleeps in the same cavity two nights in a row? And that when it leaves its secret resting place in the morning that it carries away its droppings in its beak? It may be done for the sake of cleanliness, but the main reason is to remove andy sign of the bird’s presence, so a predator cannot tell that this is one of the nuthatch’s secret roosting spots.

Nuthatches far and wide

Although we are familiar with the North American white- and red-breasted nuthatches that live basically from southern Canada into Mexico, there are many others spread out around the world including the Corsican and Chinese nuthatches, which are related to the red-breasted nuthatch, but have separate breeding ranges. They are similar in habitat preference, appearance and song.

In addition, the Eurasian, chestnut-vented, Kashmir and chestnut -bellied nuthatches form another superspecies and replace each other geographically across Asia.

In fact, there are close to 30 different Nuthatches spread out around the world.

Nuthatches are, for the most part, small compact birds with short legs, compressed wings and square 12-feathered tails. They can vary in size from the large giant nuthatch and 195 mm or 7.7 inches to the tiny brown-headed nuthatch and pygmy nuthatch that both come in at 100 mm or 3.9 inches in length and a mere 10 grams or 0.35 oz.

If you love backyard birds, don’t forget to sign up for my free backyard bird newsletter. You can sign up by going to the bottom of the home page and use the form. The second newsletter will be coming out in early December. Thanks

This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you)

Attract birds all winter with DIY heated birdbath

Build a heated birdbath and photo studio for the birds

Winter is a great time to focus on attracting birds to your backyard.

The cold temperatures, often freezing overnight, make it difficult for our backyard birds – especially when it comes to obtaining water. Even those of us who are vigilant about keeping our feeders full, too often underestimate the importance of a reliable water source.

We are lucky enough to live near a small, fast-flowing stream that provides emergency water sources to all our neighbourhood birds. However, I like to make their lives a little easier by ensuring a reliable water source in the garden. Not only does it make their lives a little easier, it attracts a wide variety of birds including many that may not regularly visit the feeders.

For my other posts on bird baths, check out adding water to your garden and a DIY solar drip conversion.

Why water is critical for birds especially in winter

Water is critical to birds in the heat of the summer and even more important in the winter when traditional water sources are frozen over, including ponds and puddles. Bathing is an important part of a bird’s feather maintenance. Wetting the feathers in a bird bath helps to loosen dirt and makes feathers easier to preen. When preening, birds carefully rearrange the feathers and spread oil from the preen gland so they remain waterproof and trap an insulating layer of air underneath to keep them warm. That’s vital in a Southern Ontario winter where temperatures and wind chills can reach a bone chilling -30 C. and beyond and stay that way for days.

A cardinal stops for a drink among the stones in the heated bird bath and outdoor photo studio refection pond.

Birds lack sweat glands, so they traditionally need less water than mammals. They do, however, lose water both through respiration and in their droppings. Many insectivorous birds get most of their water from their food, but seed-eating birds have a dry diet and they need to drink several times a day.

The appeal of a reliable water source may even be a stronger draw to birds than a well-stocked feeder, especially if there is no other reliable water source in the area.

Attract birds to your heated bird bath

The heated bird bath ready for winter.

If you set up your heated bird bath in a separate area to where you normally have your bird bath, or your heated bird bath is entirely new to your garden, don’t be surprised if it takes a while for the birds to discover and be comfortable using it.

To encourage birds to use your heated birdbath be sure to set it up, like any bird bath, in a safe area of the garden. Cover for your birds in case of attack is just as important in winter as it is in the summer.

Include perches above the bird bath to allow the birds to come down and check out the bird bath from a short distance. Include stones or landing spots inside the bird bath where smaller birds can either drink from or wade into the water slowly.

Finally, place a feeder nearby to attract birds and make them feel safe in the area. The combination of food and a reliable water source in winter will certainly encourage them to use the heated bird bath.

Build your own photo studio for the birds

With this in mind, I set about creating both a reliable water source and a backyard photo studio and reflection pond. In fact, I’m in the process of building two: one large reflecting pool and a smaller heated pool that will be the main source of water in the yard when the temperatures turn to freezing.

Let’s first deal with the smaller one. The larger reflection pond will be discussed in a later post.

Our DIY project started with a round, medium-size black plastic basin that I picked up from a local nursery for just over $10.00. It’s a couple inches deep, so it’s perfect for small- and medium-sized birds to use safely. Larger birds, like jays and robins, will not hesitate to create havoc in the bath as they splash about, but we’re all good with their daily antics.

This bird bath is quickly becoming the gathering place for our backyard birds.

It sits on a concrete bench just outside our family room French door where I can easily monitor the water levels. At the same time, it’s close enough that I can use it to capture photographs of our feathered friends enjoying a bath. And, I can do it from the warmth of our family room.

Cute little Carolina Wren taking advantage of the heated bird bath to get water during winter.

An electric heater from Wild Birds Unlimited was carefully placed in the bird bath and hidden with a thick layer of pea gravel and a few larger river rocks to give the birds a landing spot. A birch branch across the back will help to stabilize the bird bath in case a large bird or animal decides to use it as their personal bath tub. It also creates a lovely background for the birds using the feeder. A few other branches help to hide the edge of the plastic tray, give it a little more stability and add to its natural appearance.

The heater, buried in pea gravel, will keep the bird bath ice-free in the coldest temperatures but remain hidden under the gravel. I’m expecting the heated pea gravel to also play a role in helping to keep the water ice-free, but adding a pitcher of hot water on particularly cold mornings will keep the water open. The pea gravel also provides birds with a gradual slope into the water much like a sandy beach. This allows birds of all sizes to enter the water to a comfortable depth, and put them in a position that creates good photographic opportunities.

Although the goal was to create a reflection pond that doubles as a heated bird bath, the round plastic dish comes up a bit short to capture perfect reflections of the birds on a regular basis. It will work nicely for a small bird on the pea gravel, but the reflection will likely fall just short for a larger bird like a blue jay or cardinal. I can certainly live with that, since the real reflection pond will be in another part of the garden.

More on that later. Stay tuned for an historical hack that will form the basis of the larger reflection pond. You won’t want to miss that.

Five tips to attract hummingbirds to our woodland gardens

Going native and eliminating insecticides are key to success

Just as our hummingbirds prepare to make their arduous journey south to Central America and Mexico for the winter, I thought it was a good time to look at ways we can attract more of these favourite little entertainers back to our yards next year.

For those unable to attract hummingbirds, these tips will go a long way to bring success next year.

Depending on where you live, it can take time to get our local hummingbirds to find our yards and put it on their daily rounds for the entire summer.

Here are five ways we can attract and keep hummingbirds coming back:

Have feeders ready in early spring

1) Have your feeders cleaned and ready to go early in the spring and get them out in the garden before not after you see your first hummingbird. It’s a good idea to track the hummingbird migration on line so you can be prepared for the day they fly through your area. Hummingbirds migrate during the day when nectar sources from flowers are available. Flying low, using tail winds to help them move quickly allows hummingbirds to travel as much as 23 miles in a single day. Tracking the fast-moving band can be challenging and to some degree dependant on local circumstances such as food sources and wind direction.

A native Cardinal flower provides the perfect feeding spot for this female hummingbird.

There are many good websites that will help. Facebook groups can prove to be excellent local sources of information, but there are specific websites that make it their business to track the bands on a more global level. Hummingbirdcentral.com is one that does an excellent job tracking not just the Ruby-throated hummingbird popular in both the U.S., and most of Canada, but also the Black-chinned, Rufous, Broad-tailed, Calliope, Anna’s and Allen’s hummingbirds.

Get your feeders out early in areas of your yard that make them easy for the migrating hummingbirds to see. Rather than filling them completely with your homemade food source at 4 parts of water to one part sugar, maybe fill the feeders halfway until you begin seeing them at your feeders. Then you can fill them fully and keep them filled and cleaned regularly all summer. If you are in a colder climate, try putting a hanging basket of brightly-coloured flowers near the feeders to catch their eye. We have had hummingbirds at our front door checking out fake spring flowers on our wreath long before I realized they were back in town.

Plant both annual and perennial native flowers

2) Ensure you have plenty of annual and perennial flowers in your gardens to provide natural sources of nectar for the hummingbirds and try to have at least some in bloom as early in the spring as possible. Hummingbirds take advantage of everything from flowering shrubs, vines and understory trees to provide them with everything from food, shelter, shade and security. They rely on brightly coloured flowers to find food and are particularly attracted to red tubular flowers like the native Cardinal flower, but any brightly-coloured flower that are tubular will hold nectar. Consider planting native columbines for early spring blooms as well as bee balms, daylilies, lupines foxgloves and hollyhocks. Don’t forget to add lots of annuals that may be available in bloom in early spring if they are greenhouse grown.

Here is a short list of important flowers you should consider for your garden:

Beard tongue (Penstemon), Bee balm (Monarda), Butterfly bush (Buddleia), Catmint (Nepaeta) Clove pink (Dianthus), Columbine (Aquilegia), Corla bells (Heuchera), Daylily (Hemerocallis), Larkspur (Delphinium), Deseert candle (Yucca), Iris (Iris), Flowering tobacco (Nicotiana Alata), Foxglowve (Digitalis), Lily (Lilium), Pentas (Pentas), Petunia (Petunia), Pincushion flower (Scabiosa), Red-hot poker (kniphofia), Scarlet sage (Salvia splenens), Scarlet trumpet honeysuckle Lonicera sempervirens), Summer phlox (Phlox paniculata), Verbena (Verbena), Weigela (Weigela).

Create a shallow, reliable water source

3) Prepare a small water source early in spring to get them accustomed to using it throughout the summer. Although hummingbirds get most of their water from nectar sources both naturally and from our feeders, they do enjoy bathing in either very shallow water or, even better, in a fine mist. A gentle continuous spray from a nozzle or a sprinkler hose will get the job done. There are also commercial misters that are available. In nature, hummingbirds will use water falling from leaves during spring and summer rains to keep their feathers in top condition. A mister or gentle sprinkler spraying on leaves will create a similar situation for the birds. For more, check out my earlier post on providing water for the birds in your garden.

Give hummingbirds a place to rest

4) Provide your Hummingbirds with perches either natural ones in the form of small branches from trees and shrubs or commercially available ones designed specifically for them. Hummingbirds use perches as a base to defend their food sources, hunt insects or just as a resting spot. Males will often use the perches as a spot to vocalize in the spring to attract a mate. These branches are often very thin to accommodate the birds very small feet. If your garden lacks good landing spots, you could use thin wires, like the ones on hanging baskets. For more information on perches, check out my earlier post on hummingbird perches.

Stay away from insecticides

5) Do not use insecticides in your garden. This is probably at least as important as providing the birds with artificial feeders. Nectar provides Hummingbirds with quick energy to sustain their high energy needs, but many people might not realize that Hummingbirds depend on insects to provide them with much-needed protein and various minerals in their diets. They prey on very small flying insects, such as mosquitoes, aphids, mites, gnats, leafhoppers, flying ants and parasitic wasps.

Ultimately though, their favourite food source are spiders, specifically the daddy long legs spiders. Some estimates even have spiders representing between 60 and 80 per cent of their diet. Hummingbirds are known to use their exceptional vision to find prey, and their hovering ability and agility to capture them. Not only to they prey on spiders and other insects that get caught in their webs, Hummingbirds use spider silk that form the web to provide the foundation and glue to make nests in the breeding season.

Hummers catch insects while in flight. If you take the time to really watch your Hummers in the garden, you will notice them dashing into vegetation or flitting back and forth, flying quickly and snatching tiny insects where they swallow them whole.

if your garden is devoid of insects because you or your neighbour regularly spray it with insecticides, don’t expect to be able to maintain a healthy group of hummingbirds. In fact, if you want to encourage hummingbirds, it is important to focus on using as many native plants trees and shrubs as your garden can accommodate. For more on the importance of using natives in the garden, please check out my recent post (here) on the importance of using native plants in our garden.

• This page contains affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you) I try to only endorse products I have either used, have complete confidence in, or have experience with the manufacturer. Thank you for your support. This blog would not be possible without your continued support.