Attract birds to your garden including hummingbirds, goldfinches
If attracting birds to your landscape is an important part of your gardening activities, this is an exciting time in most neighborhoods.
Until about 10 years ago, caracaras only lived and bred south of San Antonio down near the Rio Grande. (VW Pics/Jon G. Fuller/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Do you hear bold clucking up in the tallest trees in your neighborhood? The clucking will often turn out to be new caracara (Mexican eagle) residents including one or more maturing youngsters. Until about 10 years ago, caracaras only lived and bred south of San Antonio down near the Rio Grande. They are a boldly colored black-and-white hawk the size of black vultures that also are scavengers. In addition to their breeding area expansion, you will also see them join with the vultures in eating carcasses of deer and other animals that have been killed by automobiles. They are credited with being the most accomplished scavenger at doing the initial tearing apart of fresh carcasses. In addition to the distinctive clucking and accomplished meat cutting, the caracaras are often seen running and bouncing up over the tall grass in fields.
A hummingbird searches for nectar from a plant in downtown San Antonio in July. (Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News)
Hummingbirds are tiny and generally consume plant nectar rather than raw meat, but their activities right now are considered by most gardeners at least as exciting as the new resident caracaras. The hummingbirds we are experiencing in our gardens are migrant black-chins, ruby-throats, and even a few rufous hummingbirds on their way south. In addition to the zinnias, porter weed, fall asters, firebush, salvias and lantanas from which they are consuming nectar, they are also competing with each other for the sugar water in our hummingbird feeders. If you don't have a hummingbird feeder in place, it will be worth it to mix 4 parts water by volume with 1 part sugar and put a feeder in place. The competing migrants will entertain you, and chances are relatively good that one of the rufous hummingbirds will stay for most of the winter.
Lesser goldfinches
Another small bird species that I believe is worthy of attention is the lesser goldfinch. They are a resident species in our communities that are interesting, decorative and easy to attract. The males are boldly black and golden with the females being less showy but still offering pleasant coloring. Lesser goldfinches are seed eaters that reside in small flocks that are loyal to a landscape if there is plenty of seed available. Offer plantings of annual sunflower and coreopsis and you can expect them to be faithful year-round residents, especially if you sweeten the pot with some nyjer seed in a bird feeder every winter.
Purple martins seem to favor environments that offer low cut lawns and open areas rather than dense cover. (Bruce Bennett/Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Things to do this week in the garden
- Leaves are starting to fall from some deciduous species of shade trees. The leaves can be left to decompose on the lawn or placed in the compost pile. To speed up the decomposition of the leaves, they can be mowed. Do not waste the valuable leaves by disposing of them in the garbage.
- It is not too early to prepare for protecting cold-sensitive plants from freezing weather. Have an agricultural fiber ready to cover relatively cold tolerant plants like cyclamen and primula. More cold-sensitive plants such as limes and lemons will need a tentlike structure and a heat source to protect them from temps below 28 degrees. Move bougainvillea, oriental hibiscus, porter weed and other cold-sensitive plants in containers into a shelter.
- If you have planted cabbage, Brussels sprouts and other greens protect them from cabbage loopers with a Bt product such as Dipel or Thuricide. Protect your primula and pansies from slugs and snails with a slug and snail bait.
- Combat scale insects on fruit trees, holly and other susceptible plants with horticultural oil beginning about Nov. 1.
In my neighborhood, maintaining a loyal flock of purple martins is proving to be more difficult than satisfying the goldfinches. For several years now, we have not been able to attract any of the old or new breeders that we once provided housing for. After talking with more successful purple martin landlords in other neighborhoods, we concluded that our emphasis on shade trees, shrubs and ground covers - now dominating the landscape - has boosted most bird populations but not purple martins. The martins seem to favor environments that offer low cut lawns and open areas rather than dense cover. Their feeding preference is to sweep through the open-air harvesting flying insects. I will continue to look for a compromise option to attract at least some purple martins, along with a more bird-attracting dense landscape. Please also let me know if you have any ideas, thank you.
