Attention Bird Gardening Enthusiasts

self | February 12, 2005 | sweetliberty

[sweetliberty]

With Spring just around the corner, at least here in the southeast, it's time to think about spending more time outdoors and making our yards and porches more pleasant places to be. FReepers have such a wide variety of interests and talents, I thought it might be fun and educational to do a thread for bird and garden enthusiasts. I see a fair amount of discussion on some of the threads about gardening and landscaping, but not too much that is specific to gardening for the birds.

I've pretty much always had a bird feeder or two around, and that number has grown since I moved into a place last summer that has a big yard. I have a fair variety of birds and I have begun to think about developing it specifically to attract more species, not only for the enjoyment of watching the birds, but also to control natural pests that are prevalent in this part of the country, without resorting to pesticides. I know that the right combination of flora can discourage certain pests and also attract birds that will help keep the pest population down. I would love to hear from FReepers who are experienced at creating such a balance. I think it would also be fun to have a place to share our experiences as we develop them. I know there's lots of links out there with useful information and I make use of them from time to time, but it's just not the same as having discussions on a forum where we have experts on everything. And I don't know of any place else on the web so animated by wit, along with wisdom, on just about any topic.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Here's a picture of the nest:

You can see how close it is to underside of the eaves. It is amazing to see them swoop in there. I think that is why some of the babies land up staying on the roof once they come out. That seems to be a tricky manuvere:) If you look close you can see very very fine lines hanging from the nest. That is hairs from the manes and trails of my horses:).

Becky

[sweetliberty]

I don't have a clue how a live cam works.

Agitator said something awhile back about having a moose cam, but then he has enough equipment, and computer smarts, to do all that cool stuff.

[GodBlessUSA]

The nest looks as though it's up there without support of a ledge. Is it hanging independently? That's neat your can see your horses hair. They sure are protected in there. That is amazing they have to get out of that nest to learn to fly. I can't believe the way birds can build those nests.

I had a Robin nest last year on top of an Arbor. Unfortunately, it wasn't a good location and not a happy ending due to a predator. It was such a let down after watching them build a nest, have eggs, sit on the eggs and then feed them. They worked so hard.

[texaslil]

don't know about zone 9, Katieanna. I'm zone 7 in TX. I plant mine in the fall. They usually take longer than 7-10 days, but come up during the warmer spells we have during the winter. In the beginning, you may not notice them. They look like weeds! They stay close to the ground in the cold, but really make a spurt of growth when spring finally comes. Seems they need that cool, slow start. Good luck. Regard, Judith vinson in TX.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Yes, it hangs independently. We had another over on the other wall of the house, and we did knock it down, it was actually very hard to get it off, that mud really sticks and dries hard.

I always leave the brushings off my horses laying in the yard. Several times I've found small nests that have their winter coat hair lining them.

Becky

[malakhi]

How's the things doing that you and your kids started indoors? Anything growing yet?

Everything has sprouted, and the morning glories are really going to town! Several inches high already, and starting to bud out the next set of leaves.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Do you have a fence to put them on?

All the morning glories on the arbor in this picture came fro 4 seeds. They do grow fast and big:)

Becky

[malakhi]

Do you have a fence to put them on?

I have a purchase in mind. There is a metal-wire corner plant stand I am going to put in the kitchen. The morning glories are welcome to take it over, if they can continue to thrive indoors. I'm a good three months plus away from any outdoor planting. :o(

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

That would be cool in the house. Let me know if they work.

Becky

[malakhi]

Will do. My main concern is that they might not have enough light. But at my old house, they did pretty well on the east side of the house, where they were in shade half the day. We'll see how this little experiment works out.

[Mrs.Nooseman]

I am sorry I didn't reply earlier,but I just got home from work.

The only reason we have a blue heron and king fishers in the neighborhood is ,that we have a small creek right around the corner and they like to hang around.

Just the other day the blue heron flew over our house,fairly low.They are magnificent birds.

[katieanna]

Oh my goodness! All that from 4 seeds?? Beautiful.

[katieanna]

Thanks friend for the heads up about weeds because I'd sure pull em!! Peace.

[Conservababe]

I had barn swallows build a huge nest on my fieldstone in my entry porch. I did enjoy watching them but I will discourage them this year if they come back. They made one big poopy mess. LOL

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Yeah, they do leave a mess:)

Becky

[Conservababe]

Missouri is fertile ground for histoplasmosis, a fungal lung disease. In fact, I had a radiologist once tell me that most adults in the Ohio valley had some degree of this disease to show up on chest x-rays.

Birds don't carry histoplasmosis, but their poop is a mecca of a breeding ground. That is why we can't tolerate the grackles who roost by the hundreds once they have settled in a neighborhood. And that poop mildly alarmed me since it was right beside my front door.

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

HHHMMMMMM....never heard of it. Since this nest is right above the front door, I try to sweep/hose it off everyday....It only really got bad when the babies had hatched. And they are only in the nest for a short period.

Becky

[Conservababe]

Oh, you probably don't have to be worried of histo if you are in Oklahoma. That is great that you can see the horse hairs in the nest. I think I'm going to find my old mop strands in some around here. LOL

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

Thanks again for this thread.

It has inspired me to get out and get the leaves out of my garden to start getting it ready for planting. My husband gave me some garden statuary for valentines, so I got that set out, altho I'll probably move it around 100's of times:)

Becky

[MamaTexan]

We had those at our old house.

Bold little birds :)

(And it doesn't matter if it gets knocked down or not, if they like the spot, they'll rebuild!)