When my son was little, he had a collection of frogs in a tank in his bedroom (no less), and I had to go to the pet store a couple times a week to purchase these disgusting little black worms to feed them.

You'd put some of the squirming mass on the tip of your finger and the frogs would literally jump at your hand to eat them.

Yuck.

You can see why I am not a fan of mealworms, despite how much birds love them.

Mealworms are dessert for birds, and like kids, the birds like dessert best. But unlike cookies, cake and pie, mealworms are a vital part of a bird's summer diet as he beefs up for migration in the fall.

Continue reading "Candy for the birds" »

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Birds in the garden
        

The seed bird feeders have been put away for the summer -- the free lunch is over and I am counting on my flying friends to eat the insects in my gardens and clean the seed heads.

And in their place are my hummingbird feeders.

I have never been fond of the ubiquitous red-and-yellow plastic models. But when I saw this pressed glass feeders, I thought I'd try to attract these little "flying jewels," a name given to them by Spanish explorers, to my garden.

Hummingbirds have an incredibly high metabolism and their appetite isn't satisfied with the nectar they find in the garden, so the brightly colored sugar water in feeders should bring some around.

Continue reading "Hummingbird season" »

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Birds in the garden
        

Photos by Karen Jackson

Continue reading "Wordless Wednesday: Bird Watching" »

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Categories: Birds in the garden
        

Fern, over at Life on the Balcony, has written an easy how-to for making your own modest little bird bath.

It is the perfect size for a balcony, or for that naked spot in the garden, or tucked in under a crepe myrtle.

I am not sure the birds actually appreciate the more elaborate ablutions we provide for them.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Birds in the garden
        

In addition to food sources, convenient perching opportunities will make your yard more hospitable to hummingbirds, since they spend around 80% of their time sitting on twigs, leaf stems, clotheslines, etc., between feeding forays and sorties against trespassing rivals.

Hummingbirds.net offers this list of plants than can attract hummingbirds throughout the growing season. And if you plant with sequential blooming in mind, you should always have something in the garden to catch the attention of a hummingbird.

Trees and Shrubs
Azalea
Butterfly Bush (Buddleia)
Cape Honeysuckle
Flame Acanthus
Flowering Quince
Lantana
Manzanita
Mimosa
Red Buckeye
Tree Tobacco
Turk's Cap
Weigela

Vines
Coral Honeysuckle
Cypress Vine
Morning Glory
Scarlet Runner Bean
Trumpet Creeper

Continue reading "More on hummingbirds" »

Posted by Susan Reimer at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Birds in the garden
        

I have been waiting for the hummingbirds to arrive.

Hummingbirds, I think, are the ultimate blessing from nature on a gardener's efforts. 

My birdbaths look like the neighborhood baby pool. And the butterflies are in danger of bumping into each other.

But I have had only the rare hummingbird stop by.

I have planted this spring with hummingbirds in mind. They have no sense of smell, but are attracted to bright color. And they are such ravenous eaters that it is estimated that no new source of food will go uninvestigated by hummingbirds for long.

 Since hummingbirds feed by sight on regularly-followed routes - called traplining - their inquisitive nature will quickly lead them to investigate any possible new source of food.

Hummingbirds like more than nectar. They love insects, too. So I am careful not to use any chemicals that will eliminate that food source, or contaminate it.

Continue reading "Hoping for hummingbirds" »

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Birds in the garden
        

Photo credit: Project FeederWatch/Jennifer Taggart

It is apparently not enough just to feed the birds in the winter.

Now we have to count them, too.

Project FeederWatch, the subject of my garden column today in The Baltimore Sun, has been underway since November and continues until April.

And The Great Backyard Bird Count is scheduled for the weekend of Feb. 12-15.

The problem for Garden Variety is telling the difference between all those little brown birds that hit her birdfeeder every morning like it was free pizza day in the high school cafeteria.

My colleague, Meredith Cohn, wrote in The Baltimore Sun about all the high-tech help for birders and how this might be contributing to an increased interest in the activity.

I don't know about you, but the finches and the sparrows all look like little brown smudges to me.

Here is some help, in the way of more pictures, from David Bonter, who coordinates Project FeederWatch, for Cornell University.

Continue reading "Bird counting" »

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Birds in the garden
        

Abigail Alfano, of Franklinton, La., decided that she wanted to get closer to the 20 to 30 hummingbirds that were swarming around her feeder.

She succeeded. And the wonderful photographs of her hand-feeding the birds can be seen at her and husband Sam's Web site. She also describes her patient approach with the birds.

Of course, everybody out there thought the pictures were faked. The Alfanos discuss that on the site, too. And they have copywrited the pictures because somebody else used one of them to win a contest!!!

I'd love to be able to share one of the pictures here, but that's against the rules. You have to visit the site.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Birds in the garden