Backyard tip of the week: Here's another reminder to save your cut Christmas tree for the birds for a while before you take it to the town garage for recycling. As previously mentioned, just find a good spot in your yard to stand the tree up, if possible, or lay it down in an appropriate area. The birds will be able to use your spent Christmas tree for cover all winter long and you can even spread some sunflower seed on it and around it as a way to help them through the cold weather. Take it a step further and hang some homemade pine cone bird treats on the tree. Viola, you've provided food for your feathered friends, helped the environment, and made a nice decoration all at the same time. Try it, the birds are sure to love it!
Backyard sightings for last week: Including northern cardinals, dark-eyed juncos, chipping sparrows and white-throated sparrows. Carolina wrens, house wrens, eastern goldfinches, house finches, purple finches. Red-bellied and downy woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatches, the tufted titmice, black-capped chickadees, blue-jays, mourning doves, American crows, European starlings, a few grey squirrels, some white-tailed deer and a not so friendly neighborhood red-tailed hawk!
Cool sightings of the week: While visiting relatives for the holidays this past week, I took a trip to my aunt Elizabeth's farm where she keeps a very big cow, a brown mare, and a friendly donkey along with her dogs and cats. My aunt is a fan of the birds and she has several bird feeders in her backyard. Her avian offerings consist of black-oiled sunflower, thistle, and shelled peanuts. In her yard, she also has a flag pole with a circular structure that looks like two tiers of UFO's mounted on it somewhat low to the ground. The UFO's are actually gourds which are then raised up the pole during the season when purple martins are active and the birds will use them for housing. My aunt doesn't have a lot of feeders, but she does have a good deal of habitat for the birds to enjoy. And, we found that the birds do enjoy it, including at least seven male cardinals who were all spotted near the feeders at the same time. It was very cool!
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