Posted on 03/05/2005 8:07:37 AM PST by sweetliberty
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As it turned out, the previous thread on this topic generated a lot of interest and several people recommended doing it as a regular thread, so here is the second installment.
How you go about creating a bird sanctuary in your yard, or outdoor space, will depend on a number of givens, some which can modified, and others over which you have no control. One of these is geographical location or climate zone. If you live in the Colorado Rockies, you are not going to attract Cardinals, no matter how many black oil sunflower seeds you put out, and if you're on a beach in Florida, it's a pretty safe bet that there will be no snow buntings visiting your yard, the cornucopia of insects notwithstanding. Of course, if global warming keeps encroaching on us, we may soon find Alaska overrun with Parrots and Flamingos, but, I digress.
Within any given area, there are a variety of habitats, so no matter what your specific location, it is possible to vastly increase the types and numbers of birds in your immediate environment by modifying your habitat to make it more bird friendly to a wider array of birds native to your region.
Another "given" is your available space. If you live in a cottage in the woods by a stream, you will obviously have a lot more options available to you than if you live in an urban apartment with nothing more than a small porch or balcony. Of course, I think the majority of us live somewhere between those extremes. The point is, even if you have nothing more than a porch, you can still make it bird friendly, thereby increasing your enjoyment of these highly entertaining creatures. If you don't even have so much as a porch, I would suggest moving!
The purpose of this thread is to share ideas for maximizing our outdoor spaces to make them appealing to birds and butterflies, to share our experiences and knowledge or expertise, photos and resources. The discussion is pretty free-flowing and may expand to include gardening, landscaping and related topics. The direction the thread takes will really be up to the FReepers who post on it. We can focus on a different topic every week or two, or just keep it open and casual, updating the thread periodically. The main thing is that we learn and have fun.
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Last year was the first time her birthday occurred since she had passed away and I was feeling sort of blue as the day approached. Early on the morning of her birthday I got a cup of coffee and sat down to watch the day break in backyard. A quick movement immediately caught my eye and to my surprise and delight a hummingbird was flitting around the bright red flowers of my Texas sage bush.
I had never seen a hummer in this area this early in the spring!! I could hardly believe my eyes and my heart smiled as it recognized this very special greeting that had been sent to celebrate mom's birthday.
This year, as mid-April approached, I hoped my early hummer would arrive again to help me celebrate mom's birthday. For weeks I prepared the yard with special blooming plants in anticipation of his arrival ... but the day came and went without a sign of him. I watched all day and, as the sun set, I felt a sort of longing disappointed. But, even so, I glad I had done so much to prepare my yard for him ... it looked beautiful and would be there for him when he finally did show up.
This morning I glanced at the TV as I passed thru the family room I noticed that what looked like white smoke was coming from the Vatican smoke stack and I stopped to see if a new pope had been named. As it became clear that there was some confusion surrounding the smoke I decided to sit down and watch to see what was going on. As any who watched today knows the smoke went on for what seemed like ages without the bells ringing so that even though the smoked looked white, you couldn't be sure.
I had things that needed tending to but I decided to watch the TV report instead. I had dearly loved Pope John Paul and was very curious to see who the church would chose to succeed him. My mother was a devote Catholic who loved John Paul with all her heart and I had thought many times how sad it would have made her to see John Paul pass away. My prayer has been that, instead, she rejoices in his presence in heaven.
My TV sits in directly front of a large window that looks out into my backyard and in anticipation of my early hummer I'd hung a hummingbird feeder just outside the window so that you can see it as you are watching TV. Well, as the bells began to ring at the Vatican I wondered if it wasn't just the normal hourly chiming and, I swear this true, at the very moment they announced on TV that the bells were indeed ringing for the the new pope, a hummingbird appeared at my feeder!!!
I am so glad to pinged me to share this wonderful experience..
I am so glad YOU pinged me ..I meant to say!
That's a touching account you gave on the timely Hummingbird visit. I can empathize: my mother introduced me to the wonders of birds when I was young too and is definitely a unique part of our relationship I'll always recall warmly.
It's always rewarding when you realize that your planning and hard work yields such a delightful return, isn't it? And yes, this Hummingbirds visit, was most certainly, special.
I appreciate your ping to your special post! This is incredible and has to be from your Mom to you! It must be difficult missing your Mother and your close relationship you shared together. I have to think your Mom must be telling you she's still with you and is happy. How comforting this is!
For any who missed it, please read post #621 where Zacs Mom gives a wonderful and touching account of a humminbird visitation.
The hummers are gems among birds, as magnificent in their own way as the high soaring Eagles. Even as I'm typing this I'm watching one of my little guys outside the window. They seem to be showing up earlier each morning. There is this one that makes the rounds of the feeders. Seems he may be trying to stake a claim on all of them. There have been a few minor altercations already. The Goldfinches are a bit annoyed about the Hummingbird feeder that appeared between the two finch feeders. Apparently the hummer who wanted it there did not clear it with the finches. I may have to add another finch feeder as well. Those little rascals are really getting scrappy over the feeders, and even though they will snack at all the other feeders, they prefer the thistle seed as their staple.
I am happy to report that the fat little Bluebird I mentioned the other day has taken to visitng every evening. I don't know where he's nesting, but he takes his evening bath in my front yard.
I have missed a lot the past few days. I've been up to my ears in legal documents and crises. I've been putting in some long hours and work has been especially stressful, so even more than usual, the birds are bright spots in my days.
I hope everyone will have a delightful day, full of chirps and twitters and the flutter of feathers Gotta run for now.
I'm still waiting for them to arrive.
Becky
Fantastic pictures.
I'm so glad you shared It. At the risk of sounding corny, it brought a tear to my eye.
My Mom's been gone for about 5 years now. She wasn't a 'nature person' in the sense that she had bird/squirrel feeders, but boy, did that woman love PLANTS!!
I swear, she could plant a rock and make it grow. LOL!
A hummingbird update:
The black-chins left just as a ruby-throat showed up. I'm going to keep an ear out for what I suspect to be a 'food' signal to the other hummingbirds.
It's nice here in central Texas. Cloudy, but cool. The windows are open, and with no city noise, I can hear any hummingbirds flying around the house.
If the buzzing pattern starts again, I'm going to try to catch them in the act!
(Thanks for the *PING*, sweetliberty!):)
I'm suffering from MAJOR yard envy!! :)
The fields here are still full of wildflowers, and we're getting our annual crop of small worms (inchworms/caterpillars) that hang off the trees.
The birds really haven't been interested in the feeders much with all that protein hanging around.
I have seen a couple of new, wren type birds that are brown with yellow bellies.... they're very fast, so I haven't manged to get any pictures!
With it's bright yellow coloring, beautifully contrasted with black and the most incredible red coloring on it's head, it was stunning. I called to mom to quick come see this fabulous visitor in our yard. When mom saw it she agreed that it was indeed a most beautiful and unusual creature. 'What is it?" I asked...."What kind of a bird is that?"
I knew all about robins and chick-a-dees and sparrows and wrens and china pheasants and barn swallows and crows and owls....these birds were a normal part of the landscape in which I lived and played. But this! This was something very different ~ very exotic....like some bizzare canary or something like I'd only seen in picture books of far off places.
Mom simply said, "Hmmmm" and disappeared into her bedroom for a few moment. When she reappeared she handed me a very old copy of a field guide book of birds. "Here you go." she said. "You tell me what kind of a bird it is." she said as she went back to the kitchen.
I remember like it was yesterday the amazement I felt as I opened that old guide....it was filled with small colorful drawings of hundreds of different kinds of birds. I'd never dreamed that there were so many different kinds of birds out there! Page after page my eyes scanned the images - partly looking to find a picture of the beautiful bird in my yard, but partly just looking at all of the incredibly different birds.
At last I spotted it! A Western Tanager! I eagerly read all the information about this fantastic bird and called mom back to the room to tell her all about it. Mom was duly impressed and handed me a small pencil. "Put an X by the picture and see what other birds you can find and identify." she said. As she went back to her baking I place a tiny X next to the tanager drawing and when I turn my eyes toward the window I knew I would never look at the world quite the same again. From that day forward whenever my eyes look outside they were on a mission....a mission to spot any bird that might be present and once spotted, identifiy it and marks it's image with a tiny X in that old field guide.
Though I now have grandchildren who are older than I was that special day but I still search for birds and I still mark that old field guide. Until mom passed away she was always the first to hear my report of any new bird I'd managed to spot. (ps - after years of camping with their grammy, two of my grandchildren are becoming quite the birders, as well! I pray that in the years to come their hearts will ...as mine does now ... smile with the memories of our shared enjoyment of natures feathered beauties.)
Really wonderful pictures. Your yard looks beautiful.
This past Christmas, when my grandson was here, he was fascinated with the bright "red birds" that scrambled for the feeders against the blanket of snow. He'd never seen a Cardinal. He will be here again this summer. Perhaps I will encourage him to learn the names of the birds too. Thanks for the reminder. Your mom sounds like she was a wise and loving woman.
That is beautiful!
Has anybody else noticed that the variety and numbers of birds varies from time to time? It seems strange to me. One kind of bird will be prevalent one day, and the next day, be all but gone, only to return days later. I've noticed this with several of them. I knew the finches did this, but I've seen it with the Chickadees, Titmice, Nuthatches, Mockingbirds, Robins and even the Bluejays and Cardinals to some extent.
These hummers are so funny. There is one who isn't content to "possess" one feeder; he wants the whole group of three. He goes out of his way to pick a fight with others that approach, and he will actually sit on top of the pole like a sentinel and wait for another bird to approach, then go after him.
LOL!
They DO get vicious. Sometimes you can hear the *thump* of the midair collision.
It's one of our favorite summer events...The Hummer Wars!
LOL! You'd think they'd impale each other.
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