June 27, 1997
This One�s For the Birds!
Gardening With the WiId Neighbors
Last week I promised special links for bird watchers and bird wannabe watchers and there are some great ones at the end of this article! Some offer landscaping tips to help you attract more birds to your yarden and some provide tips for better general bird watching
The links for birdsongs can be slow to load, but are really fun. I need to spend some time with these because while I recognize some bird calls, I have no idea which birds they come from. Maybe you'll be surprised by some of these too!
I especially hope the links to information on how to make your yarden plantings more �bird friendly� will be helpful. My best personal tip is that birds like �edges� and �mixed plantings� as in spots where lawn merges to shrubbery or shrubbery merges to woodsy or meadow merges to perennial garden -- lots of spots to nest, hide, find food and serve as observation posts!
My other major tip is to minimize chemical use in the yarden so that there are lots of safe foods available for the birds.
One other �no-brainer� tip is to set out a shallow pan of clean fresh water for them. Birds seem to like to be able to perch a little ways away in order to scope out the safety of the situation, and then flit on over to the water. This probably makes a lot of sense in those little bird brains!
I must admit to being a mere bird watcher as opposed to a serious birder. I am hard pressed to name more than a dozen birds in my garden, meadow or woods. But I do enjoy watching them. I give them my own creative identifying names like �the little brown ones that hop� or �those nasty red ones who keep fighting with each other�!
We have an official field guide, but I�d usually rather watch the real thing than spend time looking them up. The exception to this is special occasions like the day I saw a real, honest-to-goodness wild turkey out my kitchen window. I had to look it up to reassure myself that it was indeed a turkey. Wild turkeys are HUGE, in case you�ve never seen one before either!
I have some extra-favorite birds, too. I like the cardinals who nest in the big rhododendron by my kitchen door, and I like the robins who nest in the honeysuckle growing on the �tuteur� in the garden.
The thieving orioles are fun to watch while they steal berries from the serviceberry tree and I can't help but duck and flinch every time a turkey buzzard vulture flaps overhead on its way up to ride the thermals over the hill behind us. Every once in a while a clumsy and bony-legged heron flies over, maybe on its way to an old quarry pond nearby.
I can always tell when a weather change is coming because of the way the geese fly by. And in early spring I know winter is truly ending when I see flocks of robins outside my dining room window. Groups of bluebirds �finialize� in the garden right about that time, too. By that I mean they come in groups and sit on every plain post top in the garden! And just about dandelion time there are hordes of little yellow birds, goldfinches or warblers maybe, who decorate the trees like yellow blossoms and hop along the lawn like, well, moving dandelion flowers! And of course, the hummingbirds show up around Mother�s Day and during summer we hear the owl in the middle of the night....
Why are people so fascinated by birds? Somehow I doubt it �s because we find their beady little eyes attractive! Is there a child alive who hasn�t wished for the ability to fly?
SPECIAL LINKS FOR BIRDERS AND WANNABE BIRDERS
Bird Attracting Plants for the Home Landscape looks at food, cover and nesting sites thanks to Delaware Cooperative Extension
Landscaping for Birds an excellent overview, provided by the Baltimore Bird Club
Attracting Birds with Garden Plants offers a Pacific Northwest Perspective from Northwest News
Backyard Birding is an excellent compendium provided by the Baltimore Bird Club
The Central Park Birdwatcher something special for the city folks!
Birding Links comprehensive list of links including international sites, by Christopher Hayes
Selected Birdsongs from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology
MORE Birdsong Links
KOOKABURRA and More Birdsongs from Australian National Botanic Gardens
ENJOY!
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The Wildflower Site As Introduced by Lady Bird Johnson
The National Wildflower Research Center is building a site to offer not only information about their own work, but also to serve as a compendium of information about native plants, as well public gardens, organizations and web sites oriented toward native plants. Please help them update their calendar and listings!
National Wildlife Federation
Get the scoop on gardening for wildlife in the Backyard Habitat Program! Schoolyard and Workplace Habitat Programs are now available, too! This is a wide-ranging site, with offerings as diverse as programs suitable for classroom use to alerts for action on current issues and calendars of events of special interest.
A MODERN HERBAL
Modern -- NOT! Fantastic -- YES! classic herbal with lots of wonderfully entertaining lore going way back. Written in England in 1931 by Mrs. M. Grieve. Be sure to read (hypertext) editor E. Greenwood's intro. Includes both common name and word search capabilities.
Welcome to the Forest! How Sharp Are your Eyes?
National Geographic wows us again! This is an almost surreal but very informative interactive habitat exploration. Enjoy!
!!!FROGLAND!!! She morphs -- and other cool stuff!
I hesitated about listing this site, but only because I couldn't categorize it.
It epitomizes the potential of what's available on the WEB, and yet the topic (Frogs, in case you haven't guessed) isn't necessarily of interest to all gardeners.
Well, frogs are an indicator of environmental health and as such should be of interest to all of us, along with toads and other hyper-sensitive critters.
But for gardening buffs who would like to know if they're hearing a bullfrog (or WHAT!), this site might help. And for all of us who thought the only sound frogs make is like a bullfrog well... we NEED this site.
This is a "MUST VISIT" in many senses of the word. It pushes the entertainment envelope AND is informative in terms of real technical information. Sort of the way I wish school could be.
You NEED to SEE it. (The designer morphs herself into a frog on demand.) And HEAR it. (This takes a while and can scare you late at night if you forget you clicked for sound.) And PLAY with it. The graphics and design are gorgeous, regardless of whether or not you like frogs.... As the lady says, she had to kiss a lot of ... whatevers...and since she did it, you don't have to!
If I were a movie review pair, I'd give this a TEN!
And if you're wondering how to take care of a PET FROG, that's here, too!
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Eco-Gardens
