Backyard tip of the week: It's that time of year when you might consider further use for your cut Christmas tree once you're ready to dispose of it. You can help nature by recycling your tree. Just find a good spot in your yard to stand it up, if possible, or just 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, and white-throated sparrows. Carolina 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: A neat idea struck me on Monday of this week. I soon undertook a fun project in the backyard and when I was done, one of the bird feeders had been wired with it's own string of Christmas lights! The big ones, like we used to have when I was a boy. Once I plugged them in, the frosted red, blue, green, white and orange bulbs brought back childhood memories of hopeful Christmas mornings of many years ago, and the lights seemed right at home in the backyard. I watched excitedly as my feathered friends immediately adapted to their newly adorned bird feeder, then snapped a few photos, and put them in a new 'Holiday Photos' gallery at BackyardTV.com. Either way, taking action on a fun idea this week paid off with interest as the evening grew dark and the newly lighted feeder shined brilliantly through the yard. It was very cool!
© 2008 BackyardTV.com