The Uncaged Bird - Ready for Spring!


sac said:

I still haven't seen any hummers, but my feeder is not in a spot that I see randomly, so it is possible that they have come.  Next nice day that I'm home (hopefully sometime during the next week), I'll have to 'set up shop' (i.e. bring out my laptop) on my porch where the flowers and feeders are and do my work there for a day or two and see what I see.

I have my feeders in front of windows that I sit in front of.  That's the only way I see the little suckers -- they flit by so quickly, if you blink, you miss them. Unfortunately I don't have hummers like other people I know -- where groups of them perch and feed all at one time.



Morganna said:



mumstheword said:

@morganna

Here are pics of my new bird/bee/butterfly garden with the bird houses, and another pic of bird houses in the front (with a butterfly house).  I also put my old mailbox on top of the sprinkler cover for birds to use.  So far, nada.

Its so pretty. I read something about placement. I'll look for it. Maybe they are too close to the house? Let me dig around. As for butterflies, my go to shrub is butterfly bush. I have several and they love them.

I do have 2 butterfly bushes on the side of the house, along with 2 rose of sharon bushes (which the friggin deer are nibbling on, despite having deer repellent on them) and 2 azalea bushes (the only 2 plants that survived the previous owner's neglect of that side of the house).  I want to get some annual flowers to put in pots in between the perennials.  I also have a bee house on the other side of the house -- I'm desperately trying to attract bees to the neighborhood.



mumstheword said:



Morganna said:



mumstheword said:

@morganna

Here are pics of my new bird/bee/butterfly garden with the bird houses, and another pic of bird houses in the front (with a butterfly house).  I also put my old mailbox on top of the sprinkler cover for birds to use.  So far, nada.

Its so pretty. I read something about placement. I'll look for it. Maybe they are too close to the house? Let me dig around. As for butterflies, my go to shrub is butterfly bush. I have several and they love them.

I do have 2 butterfly bushes on the side of the house, along with 2 rose of sharon bushes (which the friggin deer are nibbling on, despite having deer repellent on them) and 2 azalea bushes (the only 2 plants that survived the previous owner's neglect of that side of the house).  I want to get some annual flowers to put in pots in between the perennials.  I also have a bee house on the other side of the house -- I'm desperately trying to attract bees to the neighborhood.

I have a similar challenge because of the deer and the voracious but adorable woodchucks. I was so happy with my success luring goldfinch with the coneflowers that I planted, but the critters are nibbling at them. However I'm having my first success with growing crocosmia and I see buds. They are supposed to appeal to hummers. Slow going with the lobelia cardinalis, another lure. I had to order the online and they are living but not clearly growing much. Hummers love columbines and the deer ignore them so they are reliable although they will stop blooming soon but come back easily and self seed. For those who want to buy coneflowers they should be for sale soon.


Yeah, I'm wondering if my set up is too close to the house as well. No hummingbirds yet. Also, does its location with regard to the sun make a difference? That position gets morning to early afternoon sun this time of year. More flowers to arrive later in the season but the butterfly bush and cone flowers are getting there.


You all plant much too close to human activity than I would.  Here, we're encouraged to plant our attractor borders and hang trays, nests etc in areas with less activity/traffic so that a more natural 'pastorale' effect convinces the birds and butterflies that this is indeed a safe environment. (We're also encouraged to use permaculture principles for micro-environment planning, building that truer mini landscape)


In other, really exciting news: we found my Australian bird book! Australian Birds by Donald and Molly Trounson. 

I'm excited to report that a quick scan has confirmed we have hardhead ducks! These just look like brown ducks - except at dusk, when you hear their kerk-kerk calls. (Now I know what that noise is!) We also have water-whistler ducks! They actually make calls that sound like whistles, at dusk or occasionally dawn - sometimes like someone's trying to learn a penny-whistle, sometimes like someone's trying to croakily whistle and giving up, sometimes like a whistling kettle. These are brown ducks I see swimming and diving most of the day. 

There are black marsh-hens, looking a bit like stumpy black swans. They're constantly swimming near the water lilies, diving near the roots for snails, grubs, stems etc. 

We have grey teal ducks, as I've mentioned before, with the teal shining on their wings more than on their heads and necks. And apart from the osprey, there's a good chance that white sea eagles are hanging about in the nearby scrubland because we're close enough to the beach.

I've learnt that the Australian jabiru is different to the South American: the South American is shorter,  and has a different coloured bill (I believe ours has more red, on legs and bill). Also apparently our Australian pelicans are different: palest pink, slimline bills. Apparently there was quite a stir when they were first described (1700s?).


@joanne, I'm going to have to look up permaculture principles.

@bikefixed, I have my feeders all close to the house, for 2 reasons, viewing and ease of filling feeders when the snow piles up!

I have the bird houses further away as I read that they look for something that appears protected and as joanne suggested further from human activity. For that reason I don't have the houses too near the feeders.

Sun shouldn't matter that much. My feeders are in the shade.

One thing that I believe worked as a clear invitation, was the addition of a birdbath. I have 3 and a fountain but even one brought me a great deal of action.


permaculture is relatively easy: the basic principles are what's known as 'companion planting'. You plant things that grow together well in nature, and are 'best friends' because they help each other by nourishing roots or providing the kind of shade, distracting/discouraging  pests, etc. Some plants are natural enemies and you just don't put them close together. (From memory, roses and garlic are wonderful friends!) 

I think there are lists you can find online, for most areas; or you can just check with a good nursery. 


https://permaculturenews.org/2...

Try this; I'm not sure which hemisphere it was written for. I'm currently rushing to get ready for work cheese



Re being too close - In my travels to many varied destinations that put out nectar for hummingbirds and seeds/fruit for other birds, the feeders are practically within touching distance of the people and the birds come in droves. 


I saw 2! One after the other at about 8:15.


I'm trying to get their hours down. This morning one stopped by at 7 and I'm noticing that nobody is sipping nectar from the petunias, right next to the feeder as they did last year going from feeder to flower. Maybe the Humzinger which I'm using this year, is so appealing and comfortable that they are skipping the flowers and preferring to belly up to the bar.


I finally got one of them sitting and sipping from my newest feeder.  It took them about a week to find it/use it/learn to stand on the perch.  This feeder uses a replaceable water bottle (Aquafina works best) which is very easy to replace.



mumstheword said:

I finally got one of them sitting and sipping from my newest feeder.  It took them about a week to find it/use it/learn to stand on the perch.  This feeder uses a replaceable water bottle (Aquafina works best) which is very easy to replace.

That is wonderful! I'm not familiar with that feeder.


The permaculture concept is very interesting to me.  In my property there are trees hundreds of years old, they form these symbiotic relationships with other native trees from the region, and sometimes they are so closely bound, that they grow around each other, so that two different sets of leaves appear to be growing out of one tree.  I will take a picture tomorrow and post them.  

I read that the espino is the first to grow after a fire.  This tree is spiny and extremely slow growing, and it gives protection to other trees from the sun.  I live in the base of a ravine where there are many large, old trees, but in the hills that surround me, you only see the espino.

The espino is heavy, dense, and it burns at high temperatures.  The firemen during the forest fires told me that the espinos explode.  I had a dead espino which I cut down, and it is very difficult burning it in the hearth or on the grill, but when it does, it is wonderful, because it raises the temperature of the house and it burns all night long.  On the grill it sears the meat.

There are rodents in this valley, who eat everything, including trees, but they don't touch the espino.  The branches of the espino drape, because the wood is so heavy, and because they have spines, people avoid them as well.  So they become the protector of all sorts of other native trees in this very punishing environment.

The most famous of all the trees in the valley is the Palma Chilena which grow to be over a thousand years old.  They also grow slowly and they don't burn easily in forest fires.

There is a permaculture community attached to a school in the south of Chile, and I have been looking at their programs.  They teach building with materials from the environment (adobe), they cultivate water through land management, and they practice other very interesting ideas that border on sustainability, environmental protection and homesteading.  I am interested in hearing what you find on this subject and birds.  By the way, we have had no dead raptors, none, since they covered the electric posts in the Reserve, and because hunting is not allowed, we have tons of birds.  That also means that I have no figs, just a fig tree, because the birds ate all the fruit.  And I planted some grass seed I had, and I don't have one blade of grass where I seeded either.


seems to me, you need to make a scarecrow in a glittering beaded outfit to keep the birds off your crops! cheese

Edited to add: 

It's just on sunset. About 15 mins ago I saw the cutest flock of ducks in the lake, at the far bank. Three adults and about four or five ducklings slowly paddling across the house across from us (either trawling for early dinner scraps from Mr Neighbour or harvesting lake insects). 

They're maned ducks, also known as wood ducks - you can tell by their longer, dark necks. The ducklings don't have these yet. They were in the classic duckling trail - sweet! They have a distinctive mmwarp call around this time of day. I'd have taken a pic but the contrast was too good with only a phone camera; here's a pic from the Internet. 


Here it is:  http://www.collectionsetc.com/...

Morganna said:



mumstheword said:

I finally got one of them sitting and sipping from my newest feeder.  It took them about a week to find it/use it/learn to stand on the perch.  This feeder uses a replaceable water bottle (Aquafina works best) which is very easy to replace.

That is wonderful! I'm not familiar with that feeder.



The first picture is an espino several hundred years old sheltering a peumo; I also have a group of three trees wrapped around each other with the espino as the dominant tree in my yard.  

Often times the trees are not wrapped around each other, but simply living next to one another, for example, a quebracho and a peumo (photo). But some trees such as the quillay, which is the tallest, does not allow any trees around it.  

I had never seen this before, and it blew my mind!  Every large tree in my property has one of these relationships.  Apparently, it's what trees do when they are left on their own without man there to interfere.  



mumstheword said:

Here it is:  http://www.collectionsetc.com/...
Morganna said:



mumstheword said:

I finally got one of them sitting and sipping from my newest feeder.  It took them about a week to find it/use it/learn to stand on the perch.  This feeder uses a replaceable water bottle (Aquafina works best) which is very easy to replace.

That is wonderful! I'm not familiar with that feeder.

Thanks, that is interesting. An ingenious idea.



Copihue said:

This is an espino several hundred years old sheltering a peumo.  There is a group of three trees wrapped around each other, the espino is the dominant tree, in my yard.  Often times the trees are not wrapped around each other, but simply living next to one another, for example, a quebracho and a peumo.  Some trees on the other hand, the quillay is the tallest, and it does not allow any trees around it.  I had never seen this before, and it blew my mind!  Every large tree in my property has one of these relationships.  Apparently, it's what trees do when they are left on their own without man there to interfere.  

That is fascinating. Glad to hear you lobbied to save all of those raptors. We are still lobbying here for some animal protection. I'm sure you get my drift!


Copihue, Wikipedia has an informative entry on the espino tree - it's French relative is related to the hawthorn tree but can grow taller than the hedge varieties we usually think of. 

In Chile they're often used for erosion control! An important plant indeed. Also very good for attracting bees. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...


am very excited - managed to get a short video on the iPad, of some Pacific black ducks looking for breakfast outside our house. 

We had some leftover spinach leaves so D decided to feed them to the ducks this morning. They swam so fast over to him, I couldn't get the iPad cover out of the way fast enough! But they're not used to his shape and got a bit nervous... I shot another few seconds of one who stayed in the water lilies, happily diving among the roots.

You'll notice we seem to have two varieties: red beaks and striped. Not sure if this is gender marking, or species. 

I've also attached a still of the view to our right, this morning - like glass! The lake is as close to our balcony as the width of our house. (Oh no! The pix are upside down!)


I can't work how to attach the videos. LOL


joanne said:

I can't work how to attach the videos. LOL

You need to upload them first to a video sharing site - like YouTube or similar.


ahh! That's explains a lot. And ain't gonna happen. Oh well! 


Blue Jays are taking over.


Blue Jay cool facts from Cornell Lab of Ornithology

This common, large songbird is familiar to many people, with its perky crest; blue, white, and black plumage; and noisy calls. Blue Jays are known for their intelligence and complex social systems with tight family bonds. Their fondness for acorns is credited with helping spread oak trees after the last glacial period.



Morganna said:

Blue Jay cool facts from Cornell Lab of Ornithology

This common, large songbird is familiar to many people, with its perky crest; blue, white, and black plumage; and noisy calls. Blue Jays are known for their intelligence and complex social systems with tight family bonds. Their fondness for acorns is credited with helping spread oak trees after the last glacial period.

And they're vicious!  When I was a kid one nested in the pine tree next to our front steps and attacked us several times whenever we came near the steps. That summer we used the back door!




mumstheword said:



Morganna said:

Blue Jay cool facts from Cornell Lab of Ornithology

This common, large songbird is familiar to many people, with its perky crest; blue, white, and black plumage; and noisy calls. Blue Jays are known for their intelligence and complex social systems with tight family bonds. Their fondness for acorns is credited with helping spread oak trees after the last glacial period.

And they're vicious!  When I was a kid one nested in the pine tree next to our front steps and attacked us several times whenever we came near the steps. That summer we used the back door!

Well that must have been disconcerting! This group is so used to me going in and out and replenishing the feeder that they must have decided that I'm more use to them alive.



Morganna said:



mumstheword said:



Morganna said:

Blue Jay cool facts from Cornell Lab of Ornithology

This common, large songbird is familiar to many people, with its perky crest; blue, white, and black plumage; and noisy calls. Blue Jays are known for their intelligence and complex social systems with tight family bonds. Their fondness for acorns is credited with helping spread oak trees after the last glacial period.

And they're vicious!  When I was a kid one nested in the pine tree next to our front steps and attacked us several times whenever we came near the steps. That summer we used the back door!

Well that must have been disconcerting! This group is so used to me going in and out and replenishing the feeder that they must have decided that I'm more use to them alive.

Lucky you!  They attacked my sister's head, which we used as an excuse for years for her odd behavior!  LOL!


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