Don't Forget the Birds in Your Garden!

Make sure to include bird feeding and bird watching in your list of wintertime gardening activities. It's a myth that if you start feeding the birds in your backyard, you'll make them dependent on humans for food.

During the mid to late winter, natural food sources dwindle. Birds must work harder and fly longer to find sources of food. That's why backyard bird feeding helps local bird populations. It provides food at a time of year when birds really need a helping hand.

A few tips from the University of Maine's Cooperative Extension website regarding feeding backyard birds...

• Choose different types of feeders if you plan to hang more than one. Tray feeders, like the one above, are great for birds who peck their seed from the ground. Tube feeders provide perches for smaller birds like finches and sparrows to find seed. Suet block feeders support insect-eaters like woodpeckers and flickers. A variety of feeders will help the most birds, but even one feeder is appreciated.
• Keep feeders clean. Make sure to scrub them thoroughly before you put them away for the season. A mild bleach and water solution can be used to disinfect them.
• Add a variety of seeds to tube and other seed feeders. Black oil sunflower seeds appeal to many species of birds. A songbird mix provides a wide variety of seeds.
• Grow your own! Next year, add a row of sunflowers to your garden. The seeds are enjoyed during the blooming season but you can also dry the seeds to add to feeders during the winter. You can even dry the flower heads on the stalk, then hang them upside down from the stem in a tree to feed birds.
• Keep squirrels from feeders by hanging feeders on a thin wire between two trees. Squirrels can jump up to 20 feet, but a thin wire makes it difficult for them to reach a feeder. Squirrel baffles, or plastic shelves above and below the feeder, can also challenge squirrels and deter them from enjoying a banquet at your feeder.
• Place meal worms out for those birds who need an insect treat now and again. You can just place them on a tray for the birds.
• Make your own feeder. Take a stale bagel, smear it with peanut butter, press it into seeds and hang it with a cord from a tree. Instant bird and yes, squirrel feeder.

These and other backyard birding tips may be found on the University of Maine Cooperative Extension website.

What's Eating My Sunflower?

Yesterday morning, I went outside to take a look at my sunflowers and saw that many of them appeared damaged. The petals were pulled off and scattered on the ground. The central disk, full of beautiful flowers ready to be fertilized into seeds, was half chewed away. What could be causing this?

My sunflowers are planted in two spots in the garden. The first section of sunflowers flanks a southern-facing wall of my home. Deer don't venture that close to the house, and neither do squirrels. The other section of sunflowers is in my vegetable garden, which is fenced off and so far (knock wood) the deer haven't found it yet. So what's eating my sunflowers?

Channeling my inner Sherlock Holmes, I decided to visit the garden again later this morning. Very quickly the culprit was revealed: the American Goldfinch.

This little bird, about the size of the sparrow, loves seeds. Flocks of goldfinch are descending on my sunflowers. Without waiting for the seeds to form, or perhaps enjoying the nascent seeds developing amidst the sunflowers, they're pulling the petals off and pecking with their sharp beaks at the sunflowers.  My flowers look like this:

Sunflower pecked apart by visiting goldfinches.

You know, as far as problems go, this is one problem I actually don't mind having. Yes, my sunflowers look bedraggled. Yes, the seeds I carefully dry and store to feed the birds in the winter are already consumed. Well, at least they're going to their intended customers! I normally dry the sunflower heads and hang them up among the trees on my property for the wintertime birds, but if they want to eat them now....well, what's a gardener to do?

It just goes to show you that not every "problem" with your flowers is caused by insects or by diseases. Sometimes animals and birds leave their mark on your garden, too. You can scare birds away with various devices, but even my cat, chattering away at the goldfinches from behind the safety of the windows, doesn't deter the hungry birds. I'll just chalk this one up to the birds and let them enjoy the feast!