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Your bird feeder is important all year round for the survival of those who have learned to depend on it for survival and food for their young. Leave it up all summer, you may be surprised at all the visitors.
Bread is NOT a healthy food for any animals. It fills them with empty calories with no nutritional value. This leaves the animals susceptible to disease, nutritional deficiencies, and with little saliva, young birds can die from the bread impacting in the crop. Try using bird seed, dry cat food or dry dog food. DO NOT throw this in water, as it supports botulism bacteria growth, which kills wildlife.
Many birds are killed or injured flying into windows. This occurs because the bird sees it's reflection in the window. Put plastic CLINGS on the OUTSIDE of window to break up the reflection, or put a light and turn it on on the inside of the window. This way the bird can see the window rather than your yard.
All animals need fresh water all year round. In winter, use a garbage can lid filled with hot water. They will really appreciate it.
NEVER use sandpaper on perches for your pet bird. This can cause foot infections and even death. Use something soft like bungie cords, they are cheap and easier to clean. If you need help keeping the birds nail trimmed, call your local pet store, or Veterinarian.
DON'T GET RID OF THAT LEFT OVER CHRISTMAS TREE!!
If you're like me, you still have trouble deciding between a real or artificial Christmas tree. On the one hand, who can bear the thought of cutting down a different beautiful tree year after year. Conversely, plastic production can often be quite a polluting process. I used to be a proponent of fake trees. I just didn't think we should be killing perfectly healthy tree just for some holiday tradition that only lasted a few weeks. I have learned a little since then, and I have done a complete turn-around. We should use real trees at Christmas time. Most Christmas trees are growing on farms for anywhere from 7 to 15 years. For that time, the farms create a fantastic low-level cover area for many bird species. Large areas of coniferous trees are good protection against the elements in Winter, and can provide food sources all year round for many species of birds. Still, it is a shame to let that real Christmas tree go to waste after the holidays. Here are some ideas for using your Christmas tree to benefit local wildlife instead of just tossing it.
There are a number of ways you can help your local feathered neighbors simply by placing the tree in your yard. A snowy yard can be especially helpful, and a heaping mound of snow can make a good temporary base to hold the tree up. In the December issue of BIRD WATCHER'S DIGEST, Kathy Piper described these useful ideas for using your tree:
1. Brush piles can be made by cutting all the limbs off the tree, and cutting the trunk into a few short sections. The trunk sections are laid parallel on the ground, and the branches are laid on top perpendicular to the trunk sections. Optimally, it should be about 5 feet high, but every little bit helps. These brush piles can be used by wrens, towhees, juncos, and sparrows (not to mention rabbits and squirrels).
2. As described earlier, you can provide adequate cover by simply placing the tree upright in your yard. If there is no snow, you may want to use ropes and stakes to hold it. Lashing it to a pole driven in the ground also works. Lastly, you can just dig a hole and burry the base of the trunk.
3. By the natural calendar, the Winter season is not only celebrated at Christmas time. If you would like to make the standing tree look more attractive in the yard, it can be decorated with things that will provide food for wildlife. Things such as popcorn, fruits, berries, raisins, or apple slices make great Winter foods for hungry animals. Want to keep the squirrels from eating all the sunflower seeds out of your bird feeder? How could they resist a peanut and sunflower covered tree strategically placed away from the feeder?
4. Lastly, you can make suet logs out of sections of the trunk. Cut it into sections about one foot long. Drill one inch diameter holes angled slightly upward a few inches apart up the section. Fill these holes with suet or any homemade mixture you have come up with. Then just hang them up all
over the yard. If you want to ad-lib some sort of perch on the side to make it easier for some birds, by all means do so.
I hope these ideas prove very helpful to you and your resident wildlife over the long, cold Winter months yet to come. I can guarantee that a Christmas tree in your yard will not go wasted or unused. It will be especially helpful if you do not have a lot of cover for animals in your yard already, which if often the problem with homes in urban areas. Keep in mind that nothing in nature is ever wasted. In the spring when you're looking at nothing but a bare skeleton of an evergreen in your yard, take comfort in the fact that you have provided continuous shelter for the birds, a little natural soil fertilizer from the needles, and maybe even some much needed nesting material in the early Spring.
Tim Simon
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