Songbirds - Garden Plants and Gardening Forum

Constance · 04-26-2008, 04:37 PM

It seems to me that gardens and songbirds go together. Does anyone else here enjoy watching the birds?

Mindy · 04-28-2008, 07:08 PM

Most definitly!

Mountaingarden · 05-01-2008, 10:14 AM

I always include feeders, birdbaths and bird houses as part of my gardens. I'm getting snow today, so I have loads of juncos and chipping sparrows at my feeders.

Constance · 05-02-2008, 10:45 AM

Because we live in the country, close to the river bottoms and a state wildlife refuge, we see a lot of birds at our feeder or just hanging out in the woods around our house.
Right now, Jenny wren is nesting in one of the birdhouses, the Carolina wrens are nesting out front in the flowering crab, and we have Rufus Sided Towhees in the cedar trees. These are the nests I've seen, but we have around 8 pair of cardinals that feed here all the time, plus titmice, chickadees, assorted finches, red-bellied woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, flickers, catbirds, brown thrushes, and more, including a pair of red-tail hawks that perch high in the top of our oak trees and hunt the surrounding fields for mice.

We get plenty of other wildlife, too...some more desirable than others. The deer are so used to us, that last year, one doe raised her baby practically in our back yard. It was so sweet to watch her resting in the honeysuckle, nibbling a bit here and there while she nursed her fawn.
The wild turkeys and red foxes are cool. The groundhogs are cute, but there's a reason while they're called ground HOGS! They love lettuce and green beans.
The raccoons are cute too, and fun to watch, as long as they stay out of the garbage. The possums are, well, possums. We don't often see the coyotes, but we hear them. Talk about a creepy sound when they start yipping...it sounds like a bunch of banshees!
There are a lot of rat snakes and chicken snakes around, as well, but we co-exist with them, as they do keep down the rodent population. Unfortunately, they also like baby squirrels, but the squirrel population doesn't seem to have suffered.

smgardener · 06-30-2008, 10:12 PM

We have hummingbirds -- which are wonderful -- but we're not using feeders -- supposedly those aren't so great for the hummingbirds.

04-26-2008, 04:37 PM	#1
Constance Green Gardener Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: southern Illinois Posts: 26	Songbirds It seems to me that gardens and songbirds go together. Does anyone else here enjoy watching the birds?

05-01-2008, 10:14 AM	#3
Mountaingarden Green Gardener Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Clark, CO Posts: 7	Definitely I always include feeders, birdbaths and bird houses as part of my gardens. I'm getting snow today, so I have loads of juncos and chipping sparrows at my feeders.

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04-28-2008, 07:08 PM	#2
Mindy Green Gardener Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Erie PA Posts: 7	Most definitly!

05-02-2008, 10:45 AM	#4
Constance Green Gardener Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: southern Illinois Posts: 26	Because we live in the country, close to the river bottoms and a state wildlife refuge, we see a lot of birds at our feeder or just hanging out in the woods around our house. Right now, Jenny wren is nesting in one of the birdhouses, the Carolina wrens are nesting out front in the flowering crab, and we have Rufus Sided Towhees in the cedar trees. These are the nests I've seen, but we have around 8 pair of cardinals that feed here all the time, plus titmice, chickadees, assorted finches, red-bellied woodpeckers, downy woodpeckers, flickers, catbirds, brown thrushes, and more, including a pair of red-tail hawks that perch high in the top of our oak trees and hunt the surrounding fields for mice. We get plenty of other wildlife, too...some more desirable than others. The deer are so used to us, that last year, one doe raised her baby practically in our back yard. It was so sweet to watch her resting in the honeysuckle, nibbling a bit here and there while she nursed her fawn. The wild turkeys and red foxes are cool. The groundhogs are cute, but there's a reason while they're called ground HOGS! They love lettuce and green beans. The raccoons are cute too, and fun to watch, as long as they stay out of the garbage. The possums are, well, possums. We don't often see the coyotes, but we hear them. Talk about a creepy sound when they start yipping...it sounds like a bunch of banshees! There are a lot of rat snakes and chicken snakes around, as well, but we co-exist with them, as they do keep down the rodent population. Unfortunately, they also like baby squirrels, but the squirrel population doesn't seem to have suffered.

06-30-2008, 10:12 PM	#5
smgardener Grounds Keeper Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 132 Blog Entries: 9 Images: 10	We have hummingbirds -- which are wonderful -- but we're not using feeders -- supposedly those aren't so great for the hummingbirds.