Tag Archives: Wildlife in the Garden

Backyard Birds: Brown Creeper

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Brown Creeper:  This tiny woodland bird eats mostly insects, but in winter at a backyard feeder they will eat suet, peanut butter, and occasionally sunflower seeds and corn. During the breeding season, Brown Creepers eat a long list of insects and their larvae. This includes stinkbugs, fruit flies, gnats, beetles, weevils, bark beetle, butterflies, moths, lacewings, caddisflies, scale insects, leafhoppers, katydids, flat-bugs, plant lice, ants, and sawflies along with spiders, spider eggs. Brown creepers are found throughout Oregon in forested areas. They use large conifer forests for foraging and breeding, but they need dead trees for nesting, because they build a hammock-like nest behind a flap of dead bark.

 

Photo credit: Mdf, CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia

Backyard Birds at the Feeder

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Dark-eyed Junco is a common bird found in Oregon at bird feeders. Juncos are primarily seed-eaters, with seeds making up 75% of their year-round diet. At feeders they eat millet, hulled sunflower seeds, nyjar seeds and cracked corn. During the breeding season, Juncos also eat beetles, moths, butterflies, caterpillars, ants, wasps, and flies. Their habitat includes conifer and pine forests, deciduous forests of aspen, cottonwood, oak, maple, and hickory and during the winter they can be seen in open woodlands, in fields, along roadsides, and in parks and gardens.

Photo by: DKRKaynor, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Firewise Plant: Lonicera ciliosa

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Plant Name: Lonicera ciliosa

Common names:  Western Trumpet Honeysuckle, Orange Honeysuckle, Climbing Honeysuckle

Plant Type: Twining vine, twigs hollow

Plant Height: 10-30 ft

Plant Width:  10-inch +

Bloom Time: Late Spring

Flower Color:  Orange/Red

Exposure: Full Sun to Part Shade

Soil Requirements: Organically Rich, Well-Drained, Moist Soil.

Water Needs: Moderate

Fire Resistant:  YES; Zone 1 – Plant 30’+ From Structure.

Attributes: Not Fragrant; Pollinated by the Rufous Hummingbird, Attracts Hummingbirds; Orange-Red Berries Attractive to Wildlife. Native range: British Columbia South to California, East to Montana and Utah.

Uses: Covering Fence or Trellis.

Note: Prone to Aphids, Powdery Mildew

Oregon Native or Naturalized in Oregon:  Yes

 USDA Hardiness Zone:  5

Resource: https://landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/lonicera-ciliosa

Providing water for birds in winter

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From the National Wildlife Federation  https://blog.nwf.org/2014/12/dont-forget-water-for-birds-in-winter/

Here are some tips for easily—and safely—providing water for wildlife during the cold months:

Dark Eyed Junco
  1. Before the cold sets in, replace delicate solar or fountain birdbaths with sturdier, winter-ready water features. Because ice can cause cracks and leaks, concrete baths should be stored or covered in winter.
  2. Place baths in a sunny area to make them more visible to birds and to help keep the water liquid.
  3. While birds are unlikely to submerge themselves in very cold weather, you can help them stay dry and drink more easily by adding several stones to the bath or placing a few sticks on top that the animals can use as perches.
  4. Even during winter, birdbaths (as well as feeders) should be cleaned regularly.
  5. To keep water from freezing, consider adding an immersion-style water heater. More recent models will turn off if the water in the bath dries up.
  6. If using a heater, add a ground-fault interrupted circuit (available at hardware stores) to prevent electric shorts. Check that cords and outlets are sheltered from snow or ice buildup.
  7. As a homemade alternative to a heater, place a light bulb in a flower pot and put a small water basin on top of the pot.
  8. A simpler option—particularly if you have no outdoor electric outlet—is to buy several heavy-duty plant saucers that will not be cracked by ice and replace frozen baths with fresh ones each morning.
  9. Avoid adding glycerin to a birdbath as antifreeze; if birds ingest too much, it can dangerously elevate their blood-sugar levels. Glycerin solutions also may mat birds feathers, decreasing insulation at a time when the animals need it most.

Posted by: Carlotta Lucas,

Photo by: Jocelyn Anderson, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Seed Planting

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A nice gathering of garden club members met in N. Mountain Park’s greenhouse last Tuesday for a seed planting workshop. Their focus was planting containers of native wildflower seeds, so that by May 11th these wildflower pollinator plants would be ready to sell at the club’s annual plant sale.