409 Bird-Friendly Gardening

Show Transcript

409 bird Friendly gardening TRANSCRIPT

BIRD-FRIENDLY GARDENING

Farmer Fred:

Today we talk with Jen McGuinness, she’s the author and photographer of the book, “Bird-Friendly Gardening.” We cover topics such as the best range of plant sizes for a  bird habitat, the value of a backyard water feature to attract birds, birds and window collisions - and how to prevent them,  the value of native plants in supporting bird populations, and also tips for doing your own bird photography.

Today, it’s Episode 409,  Bird Friendly Gardening. We’re podcasting from Barking Dog Studios, here in the beautiful abutilon jungle in Suburban Purgatory. It’s the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. Let’s go!

Farmer Fred:

 Providing food, nesting habit, water, and a toxin-free environment for the thousands of bird species that call North America home is more important than ever.

 Hundreds of these bird species are in population decline or at risk of extinction. Whether they're permanent residents, seasonal guests, or maybe they're just passing through during migration, providing birds with the resources they need in a home-based habitat garden is an important part of the solution no matter where in North America you might call home. 

And a lot of it is detailed right here in this book, “Bird-Friendly Gardening”. It's by garden writer Jen McGuinness, who is also the author of another garden book called Microfood Gardening, and she's the power behind the force of the website FrauZinnie.com… that’s FrauZinnie as in “Mrs. Zinnia”.  

BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS

Farmer Fred:

Jen McGuinness champions organic and wildlife friendly gardening. She brings a background in journalism, communications and storytelling to her work, and she’s a photographer, too. And Jen was telling me that she was just out taking pictures of birds. I would like to start with that. How do you take pictures of birds, Jen?

Jen McGuinness:

 Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me on your show. And yeah, I do have a lot of birds that come to my garden because I've made it, bird friendly. So I do sit out there. I don't quite sit inside like one of those hides, but I will kind of blend in with the shrubbery and just wait out certain birds. There's a good variety that come here in my Connecticut garden to visit. Today it was the coneflowers. they were like the most popular. The goldfinch were eating those and I had some cardinals come by, so it was it was great. And i do i have some Canon camera gear so i definitely love to just sit out there when i have time, when i'm not working, and just take some snaps of the birds visiting the gardens. 

Farmer Fred:

So you're using a camera versus using a phone.

Jen McGuinness:

Yes, definitely. I have a long lens. So the one I use is, if I remember correctly, a 200 to 400. But you have to use it when it's pretty bright out because of the way the aperture is. Now I'm getting too dorky and nerdy about camera gear, but it does the trick. That's all that matters.

Farmer Fred:

 Do you use a tripod?

Jen McGuinness:

 No, for the most part, I don't. I usually do use a tripod, though, if I'm going to use the video setting on my camera, just because if I don’t it'll pick up every little quiver. So I will use the tripod for video. But for still shots, I tend to move around a lot. So I don't like the tripod holding me back.

Farmer Fred:

 The photography in the book, Bird Friendly Gardening, is phenomenal. And in fact, you won an award for all the photos, didn't you?

Jen McGuinness:

  So it placed in the Garden Communications awards competition in the silver laurels, in the media awards. So like an overall book award, which was absolutely amazing and made my entire summer. So that was great.

Farmer Fred:

 Well, congratulations on that.

Jen McGuinness:

 Thank you.

CONVERTING LAWNS TO BIRD-FRIENDLY PLANTS

Farmer Fred:

 What I really like, too, is now you're gardening in Connecticut. You and your husband bought a home there. And one of the first things you did was rip out your lawn. Good for you. But I would think back east, ripping out a lawn is not as common an occurrence as it would be here in California.

Jen McGuinness:

 Right. Yeah. I was definitely viewed as, you know, who moved into our neighborhood? What is happening here? laughter, Over time, they've gotten used to me. Now they actually stop by and they ask me questions about the yard. And like funny thing, we had like a tag sale (garage sale) earlier this year and people were more interested in going into the garden and walking around than  looking at the stuff I had at the tag sale. So I was like, oh, this is like a good compliment if they're going right into the garden. But yeah, like it's starting to get a little more popular out here in the Northeast where people are carving up their lawns more, putting in more native plants, more garden spaces. So, lawn is still pretty much king, but we have some good pockets of gardening, and gardens popping up there around the state.

Farmer Fred:

 In defense of lawns in the east, it does rain there in the summertime.

Jen McGuinness:

 You know, usually it does, but this year, oh man, the lack of rain is  really testing our patience. We're not getting as much rain as possible. So everything is looking a little crispy at the moment.

ALL GARDENING IS LOCAL

Farmer Fred:

 I mentioned you're in zone 6B, USDA zone 6B. We are recording this in early September, after Labor Day. And I know that in a lot of the country, Labor Day kind of marks the transition from summer into fall. Whereas here in California, the transition into fall is usually marked by Halloween, a month and a half later. So does it feel like fall there now?

Jen McGuinness:

 Yeah, it's definitely, you know, like the lack of daylight, I would say like we're losing so much light at the end of the day now. The sun sets at  around 730, which I hate because  I love the sunshine. But yeah, the air is a little bit crisper, even though we still get hot during the day. And a lot of plants that are starting to show up for the fall, like the Joe Pye weed is blooming, the asters are getting ready. So, you know, all those visual  cues are happening to help bring in the season.

Farmer Fred:

 Have the leaves started falling from the trees yet?

Jen McGuinness:

 You know, we've had a few drop, but I think it's more because of the drought. It's definitely not because of the fall colors yet. We still have probably four or five more weeks until that really gets underway.

Farmer Fred:

 So what is your usual first frost date and your last frost date?

Jen McGuinness:

 Usually, late October is our first frost. And then the last frost they say is the last week of April, but everyone pretty much just uses Mother's Day as the safe zone to put things out. Because even though we are supposed to be frost free at that point, we usually get like at least one kicker, you know, so everyone's just treats  Mother's Day as the safe zone.

WATER FEATURES TO ATTRACT BIRDS

Farmer Fred:

 That is a very good idea. Well, let's dive into the book, Bird-Friendly Gardening. And of course, I love to attract birds myself as well. And one thing I've discovered over the years is if you have a water feature in your yard, especially with the sound of moving water, it's amazing how many birds find it. And providing fresh water for birds is a great habit to get into, isn't it?

Jen McGuinness:

Yes, actually, it's one of the main things that will help attract them to your garden is that water source, especially here in the Northeast in the wintertime, when all our natural sources of water are frozen over, having a heated birdbath will definitely bring in the birds. That's how I actually had my first bluebird show up in my garden because they just happened to be flying overhead and they saw that there was some water available for them to drink. 

But you're right, that sound of the moving water, that will bring them in. And yeah, you can put your birdbath at different heights to attract different birds. It's definitely a sure thing, definitely. And one of the most important things about including water in your garden is just making sure that you keep it clean and you keep it fresh. You don't want to leave those birdbaths out and let them get stagnant.

Farmer Fred:

Also, the placement of it is important for a lot of reasons. From a selfish standpoint, we like to put the water features that are going to attract birds within sight of the kitchen window so that you can watch them all day and into the evening and all the birds that come to it. Another good reason for where you place that bird bath is, well…cats. You know, cats kind of like to stalk out birds, especially at bird baths.

Jen McGuinness:

 Yeah, unfortunately, that is the case everywhere. So you want to make sure you have those bird baths in a spot where the birds can see the predators coming. Having shrubs or trees nearby, like between six to ten feet, is ideal because it'll give birds a chance to escape. And that's also true for avoiding hawks, too. If you have hawks in your area, having cover for the smaller birds to evacuate into is also very helpful.

Farmer Fred:

I remember one time in our birdbath with moving water, which is only two inches deep, as you recommend in the book, a hawk landed in it and was just sitting in the water. And it  took up the whole birdbath! I asked him, what are you doing there?

Jen McGuinness:

 That's awesome.

Farmer Fred:

 But getting back to the subject at hand, how do you clean a birdbath?

Jen McGuinness:

I usually try to refresh the water, especially in the summertime. Every day. I use like a bristle brush to scrub it. And that's the inside part. And, you know, different bird baths,  have primarily concrete interiors, but there's different surfaces that some are easier to clean than others. But I scrub it really well and then fill it with fresh water. About, say like every three to four days, I'll do the vinegar mixture to clean the birdbath, and that's nine parts water to one part vinegar. So you use that to scrub really well and then rinse it out, dump it out, rinse it out, and then refill it. So that's what I use just to keep it from getting mucky, you know. And there's also a bleach ratio too. I tend not to need to use the bleach one, I think, because I just clean it so regularly. So I just, I use the vinegar one. I find it easier.

Farmer Fred:

[10:12] Yeah, especially if you have a recirculating pump, moving that water around in it, and you want to clean it. If you use too harsh of a bleach, you could damage that pump.

Jen McGuinness:

[10:23] Yeah, that's a great point. So you definitely, you're undertaking a lot there.

Farmer Fred:

[10:28] And sometimes that's a bit of a chore to, you know, empty out all the water, scrub it, and then refill it. How often do you have to do that?

Jen McGuinness:

[10:37] Well, I usually do like every couple of days, like three to four. I have one of those solar pumps. So it's pretty small. And I usually, you know, scrub that really well. And I blast it with the hose with like, you know, just like a shower setting. I'll push the water through it. So my setup isn't that complicated. It sounds like you have a more complicated one with the recirculating system with your fountain.

Farmer Fred:

[11:02] Yes, with the pump buried beneath the water that you have to dig for and run a sump pump to pump all the water out.

Jen McGuinness:

[11:12] Wow. Yeah. So you definitely you're more complicated than I am.

BIRDS VS. CATS

Farmer Fred:

 I mentioned at the start that there are hundreds of bird species in population decline or at risk of extinction. How much is the cat responsible for that?

Jen McGuinness:

 Oh, a good amount, actually. And let me just, I want to make sure I give you the right stats. So the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that an average of 2.4 billion birds are killed by cats every year. So that's a very large percentage. So obviously, if you can keep your cats indoors, that would be a big help to  save the birds. And, birds have a lot of things up against them to begin with between the migration, all the risks they encounter there. So anything we can do to just make their lives a little easier, keeping cats indoors is one of them.

Farmer Fred:

 And also the placement of other plants or shrubs nearby can either dissuade cats or provide an escape route for the birds, too. So you don't really want to bury that fountain or birdbath in a jungle to give the cat a hiding place. But I would think you would want some nearby shrubs or trees to allow the bird to escape to.

Jen McGuinness:

[12:37] Yeah, exactly. Birds will not really go to a birdbath that's, like, wide open in the middle of a lawn. And that's because they don't have something that they can flee into quickly. So you want, like, a good compromise, right? You want something about, like, five to eight feet away from the birdbath. so they can escape. And at the same time, like you just mentioned, cats are very, very talented at hiding. So if you can make the plants around your birdbath lower, that will be ideal also. You don't want overgrown plants right up against the birdbath that obscures the ground. So that leveled effect would help. We have like lower plants underneath the birdbath and then expanding out into your yard where you get a little bit taller plants.

BIRDS VS. WINDOWS

Farmer Fred:

 All right. All right, so clean water attracts a lot of birds, so keep the birdbath clean and have that water feature where you can enjoy it and watch all the birds that come in. One noise that most homeowners get very familiar with is the thunk of a bird hitting a picture window. And when that happens, you know exactly what's happened. You know it's a bird plowing into the window, because it didn't, I don't know, what it saw or didn't see. What is the deal with window strikes?

Jen McGuinness:

] Yeah, so windows, especially at different times of the day, are really good at reflecting the outside environment, whether that be trees or just open sky. And birds don't have the ability to tell that that's a reflective glass. So they'll keep flying towards it thinking, oh, this is perfect. You know, it's an escape route. And then they'll hit the glass. So one thing you can do to help minimize that from happening is treating your windows with either decals or like a sticker tape. Or you can even paint the windows. But the trick to it is that you have to have it fairly close together as a pattern. Like if you take one of those hawk decals and stick it in the middle of your picture window, that's not going to do the trick. You need like several for it to actually help the bird see. And a lot of them are like UV decals that help reflect the light because the birds can see more UV than we can. So that's another way to help. So that's during the day how you can help them. But they also are challenged at night too. So you want to close your curtains at the night so that way they don't think that that's still a path that they can fly towards. And then those bright lights at night also cause a problem, especially like in the cities during migration season where the lights kind of disoriented the birds and they can have more window strikes then as well.

Farmer Fred:

 Unfortunately, you can't use sounds or smells to prevent collisions. But aren't there some commercial glass products available to help prevent collisions?

Jen McGuinness:

 Yeah, there are actually some companies now that are making bird-safe glass. And they're, I think, using it in Chicago for a few buildings. So, with new buildings going up, if people choose bird-safe glass, that's another way just to help prevent those window strikes.

Farmer Fred:

 And I would think, too, having maybe screens on the outside. And you have one idea in your book as well about hanging cords in front of the glass on the outside.

Jen McGuinness:

 Yeah, if you have the space for it, that is helpful, too, because, again, it breaks up that reflective quality of the glass. And you also mentioned the screens. That's another great way because it just gives a slight different color. You just want to minimize  the clearness of the glass, basically.

BIRD FEEDERS

Farmer Fred:

 Let's talk about feeding birds. Or I think in my neighborhood, it's more about feeding squirrels because it seems like they get the bird seed first. But you can grow your own bird seed, can't you?

Jen McGuinness:

You can, yeah. There's a lot of plants that birds will eat the seeds from. The most popular ones that are like easy to grow are sunflowers. Kindergartners can do that. And that's an awesome way to bring birds into your garden. If you manage to, get the seeds harvested before it's squirrel finds on his course. And then coneflowers are another great perennial that you can grow for the bird seed. Just like today in my garden, the goldfinches were going after the coneflowers. So in my case, like I just leave them standing. I don't actually harvest it to put in a feeder, but I'll leave it up and then they'll come and eat it throughout the fall and winter.

Farmer Fred:

 There is a plant we can grow here in USDA Zone 9. It’s a very odd-looking plant, but it's one of my favorites because I like odd-looking plants. It's called the Tower of Jewels. It's an Echium, an Echium wildprettii, and it's a biennial. And for the first year, it just looks like Cousin Itt. It's a little green blob that sits on the ground. But the second year, it sends up a five-foot, six-foot stalk with just beautiful, red, jewel-like flowers all along the stalk. And they last for the longest time in the spring. And then when the flowers die off, the seeds remain. And so all the little birds, the finches especially, love to just attach themselves to that stalk and pick off the seeds.

Jen McGuinness:

 That's so cool. I just put it into Google to see what you were talking about. And that's a really neat plant. That's awesome.

Farmer Fred:

 Yeah. And it self-sews. So if you plant it once, you will have it forever. It's more of a warm season plant as far as its habitat. I know it does well here in USDA Zone 9, but it's certainly it attracts the attention of a lot of people that go by.

Jen McGuinness:

 Yeah, yeah. It's quite the statement piece, it looks like.

Farmer Fred:

 But certainly just growing sunflowers throughout the summer and watching the birds hit the heads this time of year is wonderful.

Jen McGuinness:

 Absolutely. Yeah. And there's other varieties of coneflowers too that the birds will go after, like narrow leaf coneflower. There's so many in the Rubeckia family that they will be attracted to also. So, you know, it's just scratching the surface. And in the book, there's a lot of plants that are listed that provide food to the birds. Yeah, we should point that out.

Farmer Fred:

That there are all sorts of charts and lists of plants that attract birds for a variety of situations that you can get into. And we'll be talking a little bit about that as well. Besides seeds, you can grow fruit for your birds.  I know that's why they like my blueberries. But besides that, so my option is, all right, I'll just grow enough for all of us. And have a serious conversation with the robins come May about who gets there first.

Jen McGuinness:

 Yes, yes. In our garden, I'm usually competing with the robins and the catbirds. And I know they're ripe because as soon as they start frequenting the bush, I'm like, oh, okay. It's blueberry season now. And I have to say, they usually, it's like a 75-25 split here. And they are on the 75% side of the blueberries harvested.

Farmer Fred:

 Well, that's right. And that's why maybe I'm getting into the habit now of trimming my plants back fairly severely after harvest to allow me to put a hoop and netting over it to protect more for myself. But I don't mind having the conversations, especially with the robins in the spring, who insist that those berries are theirs. The blueberries are theirs. They will sit on the fence right behind the blueberries and stare at me while I'm lecturing them and they just squawk back at me like, OK, let's have this discussion.

Jen McGuinness:

 They're like, obviously, you're mistaken, sir. Yes.

Farmer Fred:

But there are plants that produce berries that I can say, “okay, go ahead, those are yours.” When we had acreage, I would plant a lot of those, things like manzanita, toyon, pyracantha, to name three, that produce small berries that they love. Now, especially with the toyon, which has the common name Christmas Berry, it has the unique aspect here of producing the berries at Christmastime. And it's an evergreen plant. So it's good shelter as well as being a restaurant. So it's kind of like Howard Johnson's Restaurant and Motel all in one for the small birds to go after those small berries. And you mentioned in the book one of my favorite low-growing berry-producing plants. It's a low-growing manzanita, the bear berry, the Arctostaphylos uva ursi. Which is just a wonderful little plant.

Jen McGuinness:

That is a great one. And yeah, if you can include that in your garden plans, it's a fabulous one. Usually that one goes into the very colder USDA zones too. So that's awesome that you're able to grow it in your garden out there.

Farmer Fred:

 What are some of the berry producing plants that the birds flock to back there in Connecticut?

Jen McGuinness:

 A big one is our spice bush that is actually starting to set berries now. And that will attract a lot of the birds that are migrating through. So that's a great stopover plant. The cardinals also like that one as well. We plant a lot of elderberries. Those are very popular with the birds. And then behind my fence, back where it's kind of like a wooded area, I actually let pokeweed grow, which is a weed, but it'll bring to the birds. So I leave it back there for them. And right now, you know, nobody's bothering it. The birds love it. So I'll let that slide, too.

Farmer Fred:

 And for those who don't know, pokeweed is a poisonous plant that can take over a yard because of those berries that can, of course, germinate. And it gets fairly tall. It's really a gorgeous plant, the pokeweed, with those purple berries and the red stem. And it's just gorgeous. But it's a noxious weed. But, yeah, it's amazing how birds can enjoy poisonous plants, and we have to watch out for them. And you mentioned one in your book I found surprising that a lot of birds like, and that's poison oak.

Jen McGuinness:

 Yeah. Yeah. And actually right now, like poison ivy is another one that they go after. And my neighbor has a lot of poison ivy on her tree and it's spreading throughout the neighborhood because the birds love the berries and our neighborhood loves birds. So we're, we're dealing with that right now too. But yeah, if you remove the fact that it's not a great plant to have in your garden, it's a great native to feed the birds. That's one of those like catch 22s, right?

Farmer Fred:

Well, you're using it as a back 40 plant and that's perfectly fine. Right.

Jen McGuinness:

There you go. Yeah. And then there's other plants that we put in, like the highbush cranberries. That's a popular one that does have a nice white flower in the springtime, and choke cherries. That’s another one that's really popular out here. And those are good for like the moist areas. But again, that's another one where the birds can eat the fruit, but not the people.

Farmer Fred:

 It's one thing to grow food for the birds, like those berry-producing plants. So is it necessary, really, for using bird feeders to provide supplemental food?

Jen McGuinness:

 So technically, no. Bird feeders are great because it helps people connect with the birds, but they won't need your feeder in the wintertime to survive. And if you plant a lot of these native plants that are providing the cover the shelter the food like the berries in the wintertime you're going to naturally attract them in because they're going to be searching for those food sources. So bird feeding with the seeds is really more for us. And a lot of  citizen science projects have popped up too to help monitor bird populations, One of them is Project Feeder Watch, which starts, I believe, in November and it runs through April. So that's a great way where you can track the birds coming to your garden. So technically, no, you don't need to put out a bird feeder, but a lot of people have been feeding birds and it seems to be increasing in popularity.

Farmer Fred:

 Birds aren't the neatest of eaters. They drop a lot of seed and whatever else you may be putting into a bird feeder, making it very easy for squirrels and rats to get to it. I hear a lot of complaints from some of my listeners about trying to find a squirrel proof bird feeder. Is there such a thing?

Jen McGuinness:

 You know, there's some that come really close. I'm not sure if we found the perfect one yet. I try to use seeds that are shell-less just to minimize the debris that'll be

on the bottom underneath the feeder, just to help keep everything cleaner. But yeah, I still feel like the squirrels are just so smart that they do figure out a way to get to the feeders. A lot of it is about placement. So if you put your feeder in a spot where a squirrel can't throw himself onto it, launch himself from like an arbor or a tree or a bush, that will help you a lot. And there's, you know, some feeders where they will close the openings when the squirrel does land on it. But for the perfect one, I don't have one yet.

Farmer Fred:

 I'm sure we've all seen the videos of cats or of squirrels running obstacle courses and managing to get to the food.

Jen McGuinness:

 Yes. Yeah. They're very clever. And every time you try there, it's, you can see they're just basically saying, “okay, challenge accepted. I'm going to do this.”

Farmer Fred:

 What are the best fillers for bird feeders? Is it still cracked corn, millet, and milo?

Jen McGuinness:

 I kind of stay away from the filler seeds, to be honest. And I was trying to think of one that was acceptable in my mind. But I find that the ratios are usually off when you do the seed blends. It's so heavy on the Milo as opposed to the black oil sunflower seed. So what I do is I usually buy the straight-up safflower or the straight-up sunflower seed. Yeah, I would say I kind of stick to the single varieties.

Farmer Fred:

 Have you tried some interesting feeders like mealworm feeders?

Jen McGuinness:

 Yes, yes. The bluebirds love them. Have you had luck with them out there?

Farmer Fred:

 I've never tried one.

Jen McGuinness:

 Oh, yeah, you should give it a shot. Some people,  put the live mealworms in. You can buy dried mealworms if raising insects isn't really your thing. That's what I tend to do. I get like a dried bag of mealworms that they sell for chickens, and I'll put those out and it will track the bluebirds. And Carolina wrens here also love it.

Farmer Fred:

There are ground feeding birds. What is the best mix for a ground feeding bird?

Jen McGuinness:

 So that would be like your sparrows, your morning doves. And they will do more of like you were saying before, would like the millet. They can do cracked corn, but they will also eat other seeds, too. Like, if you only have black oil sunflower.

Farmer Fred:

 They'll eat that as well. Yeah, I'm always amazed at birds that can fly that would still prefer to eat close to the ground, like the juncos.

Jen McGuinness:

 Yeah, it's funny how they will feed on the ground and they won't go up to the feeders as much. And you're right, I really don't see juncos going to the feeders. I guess that's also similar, though, to how certain birds will nest on the ground. Some will nest on shrubs. So it's just like those individual preferences.

LANDSCAPING TO ATTRACT BIRDS

Farmer Fred:

 We talked in the beginning about how you tore out your lawn and put in plants. Was that because the backyard is too shady and that was the only spot you had sun was in the front?

Jen McGuinness:

That was part of the reason. I did take out lawn in the back too. I was going for both at the same time. In my backyard, I have black walnut trees, which are a great native plant, but it really limits what you can grow around the tree because they put a toxin into the ground to minimize competition with other plants. So there's a bunch of plants that have either evolved with the black walnut. They're like native plants that can tolerate that plant toxin, or you learn the hard way, ones that can't, like hydrangeas or lilacs. They don't make it. So in my front yard, I was able to plant plants that are more susceptible to black walnuts. So that was kind of what started the front yard, but then it took on its own character. I was growing food, and then I started growing more plants to bring in the pollinators. And that's when I noticed that like, hey, it's not just the bees and the butterflies showing up, it's the birds too. And then over time, I would say now it's definitely more of like a bird slash pollinator garden in the front garden.

Farmer Fred:

We mentioned that you have a lot of charts in the book for suggested plants to attract birds for your particular gardening situation. And a lot of gardeners have more shade than they used to have. Well, plants grow and that's why you have more shade. What are some plants for, say, a shady patio that can attract the birds and the plants will do well in the shade?

Jen McGuinness:

 Oh, so there's a lot to choose from. You can do red bearberry. That's what we mentioned before. That was a plant with berries that does well in the shade. Red columbine is a great plant that brings in the hummingbirds with those red flowers. I grow a lot of zigzag goldenrod (Solida