Birds in the Garden
It is every gardeners delight to see birds and butterflies in their yards and outdoor spaces. One of the best ways to encourage helpful birds, generally called “song birds”, to your out door spaces is by putting out bird houses for them to nest in. The houses need to be designed to be used by having the right shape and hole size and mounted in a safe place. Planting flowers and shrubs that the birds like and having water available also helps. Healthy bird populations indicate a healthy environment. Helping our feathered friends by creating a welcoming habitat helps support their populations in general. Watching birds nest and raise families is a wonderful experience for young and old alike and in the process of rearing the fledglings the birds eat thousand of insect pests so all benefit by their presence.
Generally I feel it is better to let the birds find their natural foods and I only put food out in the snowy winter periods, when finding food becomes much harder. However many people enjoy the bird feeders year round as they become a hub of activity. It should be noted that putting bird seed in a bird house meant for nesting does not attract birds to use it for nesting! The design and location of the house are the best attracters.
A bird neighborhood can be created by mounting houses several feet apart. It is very interesting to watch several different species nest so close. I have found that Tree Swallows and Wrens will actually feed each others young! Species will often fight off another bird of their own species but are tolerant of different species, if they are not competing for the same house---thus putting a number of houses out solves this problem! In the picture below you will see that Wrens, Tree Swallows and Blue birds all nested together, the Tree Swallows raised two clutches!
Enjoy the wonderful world of birds and help them by creating inviting and natural habitats for them!
About Toads
The keeping of pet toads in gardens and homes reaches back to the earliest of times. Toads were used as effective control of unwanted insects and spiders in houses as well as gardens.One toad will eat an average of 10,000 bugs a month, including earwigs, ants, slugs, cutworms, squash and rose beetles, flies and spiders. In addition to this useful fact, they also have some great qualities that lend themselves to being a part of the garden and yard.
Toads are what you might call a “home body”, they live in one place all their lives, as long as their basic needs for shelter and water are met. They hibernate in the ground in the cold months, emerge in the Spring to find a pond for mating and then retreat to their “home “ and live contentedly through the Summer and Fall. During this time they do not live in the water, but need it to periodically soak in to absorb water through their skin. Toads do not drink through their mouths, but absorb moisture through their skin. The come out after sunset to find food. They can also be seen in the daytime however, sitting in their little pond or a shady spot. Toads are known to respond to human kindness. It has been documented that they can detect differences in human voice and actually learn to come when called if they are fed. They can live as long as 30 yrs. Over many years of doing art shows and talking to people about toads, I heard numerous stories of personal experience that verified such claims, though in the beginning I was admittedly skeptical! It is truly a subject for a little book!
Toads in the past have been common even in what seems like dry places. Their numbers have decreased by loss of habitat and other causes. If you are fortunate though,you will hear their melodious chortling call in the Spring and see them come out at dusk to hunt for snails, slugs and many other bugs. The best way to encourage them is to create a nice habitat. This would include a shady house or two, a small toad “pond” which could be shallow, such as a 12” pot dish in the ground, or something larger and some nice shady areas and stone work is also nice. I have found many times that if I put out a Toad House, make a small pond and wait, a toad will come, and often more than one! Toads in the garden are a wonderful experience and great for the environment. They would be discouraged or harmed by herbicides or pesticides. It’s much healthier to work with nature and use natural pest controls such as birds and toads for pest control and mulch and dense planting to control weeds.
Chipmunks
Over the years I have found that chipmunks also nest in the birdhouses. They build a nest of soft grass and bring food back to the young, who stay in the nest until they are ready to go out into the big world. They also come back the nest and continue to live in the house a long time. They will use houses with multiple entries and of large size also.
While I have seen squirrels do destructive things to nesting birds such as steal the eggs, over 20 yrs. I have not seen chipmunks do anything but use the houses and collect birdseed. My solution to the competition for the houses is to just provide enough houses for everyone. I have seen that if Tree Swallows or Blue birds want a house that a chipmunk is around, they “harass” the chipmunks and they are the ones that move somewhere else. So over the years I have made houses for chipmunks as well as birds. All the birdhouses can be used for chipmunks except the smallest wren houses, I feel the chipmunks like something a little bigger. If you are interested in Chipmunk houses, please contact us.
