Ace of Spades: The way to a bird’s heart is through its stomach

February 08, 2008 11:38 am

— Here are some garden and bird tips gardeners and birders have shared with me over the years.
To keep ants out of your humming bird feeders, hang the feeder on a 15-pound test weight fish line. Attach the line to the tree with a metal ring or hook; just don’t let the line or feeder touch the tree trunk or any leaves from the tree.
I grow sunflowers to feed the birds. I cut off the sunflower heads and let them dry in a garage or elsewhere. When winter comes I set the whole head in the crevice of a tree. Birds and squirrels will like the dessert during winter.
Last year I put a new plant near the bird feeder and birdbath. I had put a heavyweight tomato cage over the plant. Even though the plant froze and dried up, little birds kept roosting on the tomato cage even throughout the winter season.
Hummingbirds will use thistle seeds or dandelion fluff seeds to line their nests during their nesting season.
Hummingbirds are attracted to morning glories, four-o’clocks, orange-red gladiola, perennial sweet peas, Turk’s cap lily, as well as other tube flowers. Many hummingbirds and butterflies are attracted to red and other bright colors.
Butterflies are attracted to Mexican sunflowers, marigolds, periwinkle, lantana, cosmos, morning glories and impatient. The Black Swallowtail butterfly also likes parsley plants.
While the birdhouse gourd is still growing, scratch in a name with a ballpoint pen. As the gourd grows, the scratched-in name will also enlarge. Once the gourd is completely cured, cut a hole for a personalized birdhouse. Do not paint these gourds, just leave them natural. It may take to the second year before you attract any birds to the gourd feeder.
If you have goldfinches at the feeders, a couple of their favorites seeds are the Montana bluets, zinnias and blazing star flower heads. This is the reason in not clipping the spent flower heads too early in the fall.
The male goldfinch is gray in color at this time. In March, the male birds will begin to turn back to the bright yellow.

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