Showing posts sorted by date for query for the birds. Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query for the birds. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Climate Action Shoreline: Interview with a Local Naturalist

Friday, March 10, 2023

By Diane Lobaugh

I love being involved in my neighborhood and city. There are so many good people that live and work and are growing up here. A city or community flourishes with good folks in government, but also with a lot of people, of all ages and backgrounds, that look out for their neighborhoods, schools, trees, people, streams, gardens, and wildlife.

This month I interviewed a wonderful woman who lives here in Shoreline, whose life is discovering and teaching about our natural world.


Julie Luthy photo by Diane Lobaugh

Meet Julie Luthy
. Julie has always been a naturalist and shares her love of the outdoors with people all around her. I met Julie through a mutual friend who knew about her work in our community. Julie became part of Climate Action Shoreline and helped write our brochure on daily climate actions.

“I encourage people to go outside and slow down, looking and listening carefully. Nature is dynamic and to notice the changes is a gift we give ourselves and to those we share it with.”

What lives in a tide pool?
Photo by Julie Luthy
Julie was born and raised in Wisconsin. She worked for nature centers, national parks and forests in Washington, Wisconsin, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Alaska. 

She moved to Washington State to work in Olympic National Park and attend WWU where she received a master’s degree in environmental education. She fell in love with the Northwest and has built her life here.

In Washington Julie has worked in city parks and schools. She currently works with preschoolers through 5th graders in and outside of schools. 

She loves leading students on walking field trips so they can learn about their own neighborhoods and can connect with what lives around them, their parks and streams and forests. 

Julie gives her students homework but not a due date. She says: “For the rest of your life I want you to notice plants blooming, worm castings, birds singing.”

Julie also teaches parents and teachers, encouraging us to slow down with children, and to share in their excitement of discovery. This will in turn encourage more close observation and can develop into a lifelong relationship with nature.

Local heron photo by Diane Lobaugh

Julie understands that young people need to feel a connection to the earth before we can ask them to save it. 

She says to let them love it first. And it is not necessary to know the names of everything we see. We can get outside, stop and listen, notice and start asking questions together. Who ate the seeds out of this cone? Who is that singing?

As a scientist Julie asks her students lots of questions and encourages them to notice and think. She asks her youngest students: what do worms, and potato bugs need to survive?

With 5th graders Julie explains the difference between weather and climate. And discusses global climate change, and the science behind it. 

She talks about watershed runoff, the wetlands around us and why we see changes. Julie asks her students what may be causing the changes. Her students work in groups to develop an environmentally friendly community. 

She asks them what they can do, today, to preserve the wetlands or protect the insects or not pollute the air. She also shares the climate action brochure to bring home.

Native Douglas squirrel photo by Julie Lothy
I love thinking about the many lives that Julie has touched, including mine. 

I imagine the circle of preschoolers watching Julie light up as she talks about potato bugs and how snake jaws work and how much she loves a Douglas squirrel that lives in her backyard.

Julie lives not too far from one of her schools, just through the trees. The teacher sometimes tells her students that Julie lives over there, pointing to the trees. 

Julie could read on their faces that they thought maybe she lives in the forest. I think she does… the land, the trees, the air and rain and plants and insects are her neighbors, her home.

Thank you, Julie. I am glad that we will see you in the neighborhood.

Diane Lobaugh (with Julie's help)
~~~
Past Shoreline Area News articles based on the pamphlet from Climate Action Shoreline: Start Over Every Sunday, Fossil Fuel Free Friday, Supportive Saturday, What is Climate?, Thinking about our World Community, Ending war is a climate issue. View them here



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Senate passes Salomon bill to protect marine shoreline habitats

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Sen. Jesse Salomon
OLYMPIA – Legislation to help protect shoreline habitats in Washington passed the Senate with bipartisan support Tuesday.

Senate Bill 5104, sponsored by Sen. Jesse Salomon (D-32), (and co-sponsored by Sen. Derek Stanford (D-1) directs the state Department of Ecology (DOE) to conduct a survey of Puget Sound marine shorelines using new technology to better determine where to prioritize habitat restoration and protection actions.

By June 30, 2024, the bill requires DOE to conduct and maintain a baseline survey of Puget Sound marine shorelines using new technology to capture 360-degree on-the-water imagery. The on-the-water view would be similar to Google street view, with private information blurred. 

This data will be used to address limitations, help identify restoration sites and structures in bad condition, assist with orca recovery and assess shoreline changes over time.

“Washington is one of the most beautiful states in our nation, and we need to do everything we can to protect our ecosystems. An accurate and up-to-date shoreline survey will help us determine how to prioritize protection and restoration of our shorelines,” Salomon said. 
“We need to address the current information gaps in order to understand where critical habitat exists, where development exists and where restoration needs to happen.”

The survey to document and map existing shoreline conditions, structures and structure conditions must be completed by June 2025. The information from the surveys will be available to the public and incorporated into state geographic information system mapping and updated on a regular two-year cycle. 

The survey includes Puget Sound shorelines and related inland marine waters, including the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Hood Canal and the San Juan Islands.

“We are quickly running out of time in the race to save Puget Sound,” said Amy Carey from Sound Action. 
“Without baseline surveys, recovery and nearshore protection efforts have been missing a critical tool in the fight. This bill will change that, giving shoreline planners, nonprofits and other stakeholders the up-to-date information they need to recover the marine food web — including forage fish, marine birds, salmon and the endangered Southern Resident orcas.”

This bill is now headed to the House for consideration.



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For the Birds: Cold Is Here - Will You Help Our Birds?

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Black-capped Chickadee keeping warm by
creating an insulating air barrier. Photo by Craig Kerns
By Christine Southwick

Cold and snow are hard on birds, especially since much of their native dense habitats have been destroyed by development, making it hard for them to find shelter, food, and water.

Trees, especially tall evergreens, give them places to hunker down during cold and windy weather. 

Trees are usually the first to feel the cut of progress, followed by diversion of water.

Over three billion birds have vanished in North America, mostly due to habitat loss. 

Habitat can mean the difference between life and death.

If you see a bird all fluffed up, it is trying to stay warm by creating warm air pockets around its body with its feathers.

We need to help birds (and other pollinators and wildlife) by providing food, shelter, and usable water, especially during cold weather.

Varied Thrush getting fast energy from suet.
Photo by Christine Southwick
Suet provides the fastest calories for needed warmth.

Suet and good quality seeds can provide that margin between survival and death.

Feeders offer quick, certain sources of calories, allowing birds to conserve their calories for warmth, not expending energy searching for their next meal.

Watch your feeders for clumping of seeds during damp weather.

If seeds clump, throw the seed out and wash the feeders with 10% bleach, rinse well, and dry before filling (a second feeder would be helpful); during times of fog and heavy moisture only filling feeders half full will help keep the seeds from molding. 

Yes, it’s more work, but the birds are worth it.

Spotted Towhee and Song Sparrow eating seed
below feeder. Photo by Christine Southwick
If you feed hummingbirds, winter is an important time to feed them. 

Anna’s Hummingbirds eat more bugs than any other North American hummingbird, but freezing temperatures kill the bugs, so nectar is very important. 

They need lots of quick energy early in the morning, and late into the evening. 

A feeder heater or an incandescent light near a feeder will allow them to come whenever they want to, especially for a much-needed early visit.

Fox Sparrow using much needed liquid water
maintained by bird bath heater.
 Photo by Christine Southwick
Water is hard to find since so many creeks and rivulets have been buried or diverted into drainpipes.

For liquid water, invest in a birdbath warmer.

Give our birds a fighting chance. 

Create shelter, with evergreen shrubs and trees, and safe places for them to nestle down (Don’t poison their habitat with pesticides).

Provide liquid water and food especially during the winter, and they will reward you with bubbly songs and bug elimination the rest of the year.

Bonus article: A simple 7 ways to help birds www.3billionbirds.org 


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An Afternoon of Poetry and Tea at Dunn Gardens with Seattle-born poet Mary Pinard

Friday, February 24, 2023

Cozy up with a cup of tea for a late winter poetry reading in Ed’s Cottage in Dunn Gardens on Thursday, March 9, 2023 from 1-3pm. 

Dunn Gardens are just south of 145th and west of Greenwood at 13533 Northshire Rd NW, Seattle 98177

We’ll have a fire in the dining room, the tea brewing, and cocoa apple cake for you to enjoy while listening to the poems of Mary Pinard. 

Come early or stay late to see early signs of spring in the Gardens. Poet Mary Pinard is visiting from Boston, where she regularly visits Olmsted parks in the area.

Mary Pinard is the author of two books of poetry, Portal (2014), and Ghost Heart (2022), which won the 2021 Ex Ophidia Press Prize for Poetry. Her play, Heart/Roots County, was published by Volland Press during the summer of 2022. 

Over the last 15 years, she has collaborated with several visual artists and musicians in the Boston area, where her poems have been variously incised in glass (“Fragment House,” Slocum River Reserve, Dartmouth, MA), shaped in wire (“Lineage,” Old Frog Pond Farm, Harvard, MA), adhered to an exhibit wall (“Breaking Prairie,” Hollister Gallery, Babson College), and set to music (“On the Wing: A Celebration of Birds in Words and Music,” performed at several New England venues).

She teaches literature and poetry courses in the Arts and Humanities Division at Babson College, where she has been a member of the faculty since 1990. She was born and raised in Seattle. For more information visit her website: https://marypinard.com/

Cost: Members: $5, Not-yet-members: $10

Information and tickets here: https://dunngardens.org/event/poetry-tea-with-mary-pinard/


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Gloria's Birds: Sometimes only a bite will do,

Monday, February 20, 2023

Photo copyright Gloria Z. Nagler

thought Ted the Trumpeter Swan as he expressed his irritation at Sid for getting too close...
 
Photo copyright Gloria Z. Nagler

(No swans were hurt, and Sid moved on. At Lake Washington the other day.)

--Gloria Z. Nagler


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Gloria Nagler photo featured in The Seattle Times

Thursday, February 16, 2023

Stealth seagull. Photo copyright Gloria Z. Nagler

Not for the first time, a photo by Gloria Nagler has been selected for publication in The Seattle Times Pacific Magazine. 

Readers will know that Gloria's photos of birds and insects and her charming captions appear several times a week on our pages.





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For the Birds: A Winter Warbler, if you plant for them

Saturday, February 4, 2023

Yellow-rumped Warbler in winter plumage.
Photo by Peggy Bartleson
By Christine Southwick

Hearing an unfamiliar “chip” from several birds, I stopped what I was doing and looked around. 

Imagine my surprise and delight to spot several Yellow-rumped Warblers flying out for bugs and using my suet feeders. 

Hocking for bugs, these little somewhat winter-drab warblers were moving around from tree branch to bush branch, and back, occasionally catching a bug on the wing. 

What a show, after I finally focused my binoculars on a couple. 

I also used the Merlin app to ID their chipping calls to confirm my identification.

Our area has two forms of the Yellow-rumped Warbler: the mostly year-round Audubon Yellow-rumped Warbler, and the mostly passing-through in the winter-time Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warbler. 

Photo by Yukari Yoshioka at Grace Cole Park
in Lake Forest Park
The Audubon form has a yellow throat, and the Myrtle form has a white throat (easiest distinguisher)

Warblers have two distinct plumages, called “alternate plumage”. 

This adaptation provides them with bright breeding plumage in the spring, and a duller easier-to-hide winter plumage when there is less foliage in which to conceal their yellow markings.

In the spring these brownish warblers with their colored throats and some white on their wings (Audubons usually have more than Myrtles), turn into smart-looking black, charcoal gray with white patches, and bright yellow rumps (which are often hard to see in the winter plumage).

Photo by Yukari Yoshioka at Grace Cole Park
 in Lake Forest Park
Because of their ability to feast on a wide variety of food, these yellow-rumped seem to be holding their own, population-wise, if we humans don’t poison all the bugs they eat.

They eat spruce budworm, bark beetles, weevils, aphids, caterpillars and other larvae. 

In the winter they eat bugs, fruits and berries like juniper and dogwood berries, including being the only birds that can digest wax myrtle berries. 

This is one of the reasons these warblers can stay so much farther north than most other warblers.

Bird baths during the summer
Photo by Chris Southwick
During winter times they also eat weed seeds, and come to feeders that have sunflower seeds, small fruits like raisins and blueberries, peanut butter, and suet.

Pesticides and herbicides are bad for the earth, our own breathing, and for all the birds and amphibians that rely on bugs to survive. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s eBird Trends has found a sharp decline in American Robins, which rely on ground bugs and worms.
 
Plant native shrubs for the birds, especially warblers like these yellow-rumped, and put out suet and seeds. Add some liquid water, and your yard will be a welcome oasis year round.



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Gloria's Birds: Hocus pocus -- First there is a bill, then there is none!

Thursday, February 2, 2023

Now you see it
Photo by Gloria Z. Nagler

Now you don't!
Photo by Gloria Z. Nagler
And what a bill! Longer than the bird itself. I'm often moved by how hard birds like this Wilson's Snipe work for their daily sustenance.

--Gloria Z. Nagler


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Backyard Birds: The Tweet

Saturday, January 21, 2023

 
Photo by Jan Hansen

You don't need an app for this Tweet!






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Gloria's Birds: The three pals showed up eagerly for ballet auditions...

Friday, January 13, 2023

Photo copyright Gloria Z. Nagler
 
Swan Lake would be opening soon!

(Well, maybe Ring-billed Gull Lake, eh?)

--Gloria Z. Nagler



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Gloria's Birds: Hey gang, git over here!

Thursday, January 5, 2023

 
Photo copyright Gloria Z. Nagler

Photog's doin' complimentary portraits for any boid wid a crest!
(Sally the Steller's Jay, putting on her version of a Chicago accent to please photog, a native thereof:)

--Gloria Z. Nagler



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Gloria's Birds: He liked to croon Auld Lang Syne on New Year's Eve...

Saturday, December 31, 2022

 
Photo copyright Gloria Z. Nagler

(Willie the American Wigeon fancied himself a ringer for ol' Blue Eyes... except Willie would be ol' Blue Beak:)

--Gloria Z. Nagler



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For the Birds: Hummers need winter nectar

Sunday, December 25, 2022

Feeder under eave with trouble light keeping it
 and the area warm Photo by Craig Kerns
By Christine Southwick

When the winter cold temperatures start making the hummingbird feeders freeze up, it is time for extra attention. 

Because of their high metabolism hummingbirds always have a thin margin between adequate nutrition and starvation, especially when insects are scarce.

“Anna's hummingbirds eat more insects than any other North American hummingbird, and this may help them in bad weather. 
"It is thought that Anna's hummingbirds are able to spend the winter so far north because they eat more insects and spiders than most hummingbirds.”  kids.sandiegozoo.org/animals/annas-hummingbird 

As long as there are no cats, putting a feeder
under shelter can keep nectar warmer.
Photo by Elaine Chuang
Anna’s are able to eat spiders and bugs wedged in crevices to supplement their instant nectar shots. These little smarties know where to look, but ice makes it hard to get to them.

To help conserve their energy, Anna’s Hummingbirds are able to down-shift their metabolism by entering “torpor” where heart rate and body temperature are reduced to a bare minimum of about 40 beats per minute (down from 400) and body temp about 48F (down from 107F).

Many other hummingbird species do this, like the ones in the Andes.

When temperatures get below 30 degrees people with hummingbird feeders need to keep them from freezing. 

One way is to bring them in at night, but Anna’s feed very early in the morning, often before sunrise, because our long northern nights make it too long to wait any longer, so you need to put them out early, early. 

Rotating a couple of feeders throughout the day works but requires diligence.

Anna's Hummer on covered
heated feeder. Photo by Mary
Another way to keep the feeders from freezing is to put the feeder under an eave and shine an incandescent light near it to keep the feeder area warm, or one can buy a hummingbird feeder heater.

Adding a baffle over a feeder will keep the snow and ice off the feeder ports, protect the hummers, and keep the feeder a little warmer during the cold. 

Hand warmers and incandescent Christmas light work marginally, but not down into the teens.

It is important to clean your feeders about once a week during cold weather.

Keep the nectar solution at four-parts water to one-part cane sugar. Don’t believe the myth that the ratio should be changed in cold weather.

These little bundles of energy bring us delight as we watch them zipping around. Help keep them alive by keeping their nectar liquid during cold spells.



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Help count birds for science during Audubon’s Annual Christmas Bird Count on Saturday, December 17, 2022

Friday, December 9, 2022

The Pilchuck Audubon Society invites birdwatchers and nature enthusiasts to participate in the longest running community science survey – the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC). 

On Saturday, December 17, 2022 birders and bird-enthusiasts will take part in this century-long project once again.

“Over the past few years we’ve made an effort to increase the number of people counting the birds in their yards and at their feeders. This is really important as so much of our count area consists of residential areas. 
"To get the full picture of how many birds we have and of which species, we need to survey more than just our parks,” says Brian Zinke, Executive Director of the Pilchuck Audubon Society.

Birders of all ages are welcome to contribute to this fun, nationwide community science project, which provides scientists and conservationists with a crucial snapshot of our native bird populations during the winter months.


Areas 1 and 9S are in King county

The Edmonds/South Snohomish County CBC is performed in a count circle with a diameter of 15 miles that is centered near Martha Lake in Lynnwood. This circle includes south Snohomish cities (but not Woodway), part of north Shoreline, and a large portion of Lake Forest Park.

In 2021, 101 people participated by counting birds in their yards at 71 locations. This was in addition to the 96 people who participated on field teams surveying our parks, greenbelts, and other places birds congregate. The yard counters detected 3,039 birds belonging to 49 species. This accounted for 11% of the birds detected on the count.

The yard counters found 100% of the Band-tailed Pigeons, 71% of the Anna’s Hummingbirds, 80% of the Hairy Woodpeckers, 52% of the Chestnut-backed Chickadees, and 73% of the Townsend’s Warblers. 

Overall, the yard counters had a significant positive impact on the success of the count. Complete results of the 2021 Edmonds/South County CBC can be found on the Pilchuck Audubon website.

To participate by counting birds in your yard and/or at your feeders, please confirm that you live within the count circle using the zoomable map on the Pilchuck Audubon website

If you’d like to participate or have questions, please contact Brian Zinke at director@pilchuckaudubon.org.

Each year, the National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count mobilizes over 75,000 volunteer bird counters in more than 2,500 locations across the Western Hemisphere. 

The Audubon Christmas Bird Count utilizes the power of volunteers to track the health of bird populations at a scale that scientists could never accomplish alone. 

Data compiled in the South Snohomish and Northern King County area will record every individual bird and bird species seen in a specified area, contributing to a vast community science network that continues a tradition stretching back more than 100 years.

To date, over 200 peer-reviewed articles have resulted from analysis done with Christmas Bird Count data. Bird-related community science efforts are also critical to understanding how birds are responding to a changing climate. 

This documentation is what enabled Audubon scientists to discover that 314 species of North American birds are threatened by climate change as reported in Audubon’s groundbreaking Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink. The tradition of counting birds combined with modern technology and mapping is enabling researchers to make discoveries that were not possible in earlier decades.

For photos of local birds, check the For the Birds columns of Christine Southwick.


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For the Birds: Tiny Bug-eating Birds

Thursday, December 8, 2022

Female bushtit
Photo by Craig Kerns
By Christine Southwick

Have you seen a group of small birds darting from one bush to the next toward your suet feeder?

Consider yourself lucky (and also a good steward of a healthy yard). You have Bushtits!

Bushtits are tiny, weighing only 0.18-0.21 ounces (about 2 pennies) making them one of the smallest passerines (perching birds) in North America.

These little guys only live in the west where there are shrubs, bushes, and open tree canopy.

Male Bushtit fluffed up to stay warm
Photo by Craig Kerns
This makes sense when you realize that they eat insects found on shrubs, flowers, tree leaves and needles, really anywhere that bugs like to hide, including blackberries. 

Their acrobatic positions while finding their food are fun to watch as they often cling upside-down like chickadees do.

These diminutive balls of fluff fly in small flocks, usually darting one or two at a time from one bush to another with members on both sides making contact chatter, almost as if the wide-open spaces between branches are too daunting without flock support.

Small bushtit flock eating suet
Photo by Elaine Chuang
Bushtits eat those tiny scale insects that like flowering currants and other plants, plus aphids and leafhoppers, even spiders - a bug-eating reason to protect these gregarious spritely birds.

Their tail is almost half the length of their body, and this proportion results in a high rate of body heat loss, so in cold weather they must eat about 80% of their weight a day. 

Freezing weather kills the bugs they need, so offering them suet is vitally important.

Bushtits sleep together for warmth, and in the summer they will sleep in their unusual foot-long pendant-hanging nests made of lichen and held together by spider webbing lined with feathers, hanging from a branch.

Flock eating much needed suet during cold spell
Photo by L. Topinka
I have not yet found one of their nests in my yard, but I know a nest has to be nearby because every summer I have a nesting pair eating in my yard, the only time that Bushtits don’t fly in a flock.

Bushtits often come to a favorite feeding area about the same each day. I usually miss “my” flock since it usually eats about noon in my yard, and I don’t hear their soft calls unless I am outside. 

In the winter they may also fly with chickadees, probably because more eyes find more food.

Hang a suet feeder where you can see it—the ones with a cage around it will let more Bushtits eat at the same time. 

You and the Bushtits will be glad you did.



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Bog Whisperer: Snow birds of Shoreline

Monday, December 5, 2022

Photo by Martin De Grazia
The snow, ice, and cold weather gave Bog Whisperer Martin De Grazia a chance to see the Bog Birds in different ways.

For example, this flock of geese, unconcerned about the snow on their backs - and they're not even Snow Geese!

Photo by Martin De Grazia
The Bog is actually quite shallow and often freezes over in cold weather. The crows don't usually spend time on lakes, so this is a novelty for them (and us!) They seem to be co-existing just fine with the killdeer in the background, who look a little puzzled at the icy footing.

Photo by Martin De Grazia
The heron sits in his usual tree, unperturbed by the snow clinging to the bark. I have to admit that when I first looked at the photo in a thumbnail version, I didn't see the bird. Even now, his feathers look much like the bark of his tree.

Martin says that the otters love the ice, swimming under it and popping up through the thin crust. Their dens have underwater entrances, so they are quite comfortable in this weather.

Ronald Bog is between I-5 and Meridian Ave N, with the entrance to the park on N 175th.

--Diane Hettrick



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Cormorants at the Bog

Saturday, November 26, 2022

 
Photo by Martin De Grazia

Suddenly Ronald Bog seems to be full of birds. Maybe it's the rain and change of weather. These are cormorants. We have a lot in the area. Besides the Bog there is a cormorant nesting tree by Echo Lake. Cormorants are often seen at Lake Washington and Puget Sound.

Christine Southwick wrote an article about them in her For the Birds column which we previously published: Cormorants, the Fishing Birds.

--Diane Hettrick



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Garden Guy: Autumn tasks in the garden

Monday, November 14, 2022

Photo courtesy simplysmartgardening.com
By Bruce Bennett

I don’t usually write Tasks-of-the-Month type articles. But, with this year’s unusual weather, more questions concerning tasks for the end of our most recent gardening season have been asked of me and we shall follow that path of discussion this month. 

My short answer to most inquiries for the last two months has been, “Yes, gardening for this season is nearly over AND there are still several tasks which can be completed now in order to make your initial spring gardening efforts easier to manage.

First, clean-up garden debris. This is especially true for a vegetable garden. The remnants of herbaceous plants, leaves, stalks, etc., should be removed and added to the compost pile. If the plant was diseased or infested, put it in the yard waste container for removal. Our home compost piles simply do not generate enough of their own heat to destroy all overwintering insects and pathogens. After cleaning the beds, spread some (1”-3”) of compost on the area and let it fuel next spring’s growth. Time permitting, digging-in this amendment will help to loosen the soil for next planting cycle.

Leave the seed heads for the birds
Photo courtesy extension.unh.edu
In the perennial beds, leave the stems of flowers in the garden as well as some leaf litter on the ground. The stems and leaves provide habitat for overwintering beneficial insects, amphibians and reptiles. Again, if there were issues with disease, this plant debris should be thrown away. 

Also, remember to leave the seed heads of grasses and perennials for your winter birds (think Echinacea and berry-bearing plants). Sanitation is always the best and least costly way to reduce next year’s disease problems.

For soil-level planting beds, now would be good time to edge beds. The rain will have softened the soil to make the job easier. Doing it now, in the slow-season, will alleviate the chore from the busy springtime. When the weather warms again, all that will need to be done is a final bed early-season clean-up and, if needed, the addition of a fresh layer of mulch and, I suppose, the addition of some new plantings you saw at the NW Flower and Garden Show. When edging, use a square tipped shovel. This will give you a nice, clean cut.

Bulbs can still be planted
Photo courtesy americanmeadows.com
Remember to take advantage of end-of-season sales that may still be going on in favorite garden centers. Seeds may have a lower germination rate, but will still grow quite nicely. 

In our USDA Zone 8, bulbs can still be planted. Inspect them for firmness before planting. Do not allow them to touch when in the ground. Crocus, alliums, tulips and hyacinths are especially easy to survive a late fall planting. Same spring color impacts with a smaller outlay of cash.

Because our ground hardly ever freezes or does so to a very shallow depth, shrubs and trees can still be planted and actually do better than if planted in spring. Roots have a longer bit of time to develop before stressful weather affects them. Remember not to install the plant any deeper in the ground than it was in its growing container. 

If planting an individual specimen, backfill with the native soil that you took out of the hole. However, if you are planting an entire bed with multiple plants, adding a couple of inches of topdressing compost to the bed and working it in as plants are installed is an easy initial slow-release fertilizer process. 

Keep these newly planted perennials, shrubs and trees watered until the winter rains take over the skies. Often, the death of an autumn- planted shrub or tree is due to our lack of watering, not problems with the plant itself. A general rule of thumb is that the plant needs one inch of water per week, either through rainfall, or garden hose.

Cover your fish pond with netting
Photo courtesy pondexperts.ca
If you have a garden pond that contains fish and water plants, covering the area with netting may be a good task autumn. 

The netting will keep leaves out of the water as well as also keeping blue herons and raccoons from a robust smorgasbord. Once the pond lilies and other plant cover is gone, there is little to protect the fish. Think about adding a tarp over just a portion of the pond.

Hopefully, all your tender plants have been dug up. If not, elephant ears, cannas, callas, etc. should be dug up and stored in a cool, dry location for the winter. 

Tropical plants, like hibiscus, citrus, Norfolk Island pine, and other houseplants should be inside by the end September. 

When bringing them in for the winter, check them for insects. Mealy bugs, aphids and scale like to come in where it’s warm. Particularly check in the leaf axils, stems of the plants and surface of the planting mix. Use an insecticidal soap or an all-seasons oil spray for houseplants before bringing them in. Once they are inside, check them, at least, monthly.

Keep a garden journal
Photo by thisismygarden.com
And in your down time this November, make notes as to what was successful in the garden and what was a failure. Determine whether the failures were due to weather, bad placement, or just improper care. 

Question the successes – did the plants do well because of the rain? Or the sun? Or the attention given to those particular plants? This will help in planning for next year’s garden, whether it’s the vegetable garden, perennial garden, containers, or shrubs and trees. 

Keeping a garden journal becomes a great tool throughout the gardening season in those successes and failures. It is the first reference book used when ordering seeds and choosing plants for next season’s garden.∂∂∂ƒSo there’s lots that still needs to be done before calling the garden season over. 

Outside chores abound, from planting, edging, cutting back and turning compost, to preparing for indoor gardening – growing holiday plants and forcing bulbs. 

Preparing for the holiday decorations becomes a "top of the list" as we approach the end of the month. Enjoy all things gardening, grow plants and enjoy the month of Thanksgiving! Happy gardening all!

Garden Guy Bruce Bennett
Contributing columnist, Bruce Bennett, is a Master Gardener, garden designer and lecturer. 

If you have questions concerning this article and your own landscape or care to suggest a gardening topic for a future column, contact Bruce at gardenguy4u@gmail.com.



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For the Birds: Tipsy Birds?

Monday, November 7, 2022

American Robin eating old berries Fermented? maybe....
Photo by Craig Kerns
By Christine Southwick

Have you ever seen a drunken robin or two, or perhaps a flock of impaired Cedar Waxwings? Quite comical. They wobble, they weave, they lay down, sometimes they hang upside down. And they sing off-key. As long as no loose cats find them, and said birds don’t fly into windows, the birds recover well.

A result of our wet spring was the loss of many early fruits. I had lots of serviceberry and crabapple fruits set, only to die from all the wet. And then the long hot dry spell caused the blackberries (which many people try to eliminate, but which local and migrating birds depend upon) to shrivel up and dry out. Fruits that robins, juncos, song sparrows, towhees, chickadees, wrens, and nuthatches depend upon are hard to find now. 

Band-tailed Pigeons eating berries while upside down--who knew?
Photo by Craig Kerns

The birds may eat any fruit they find. Mountain Ash, which bloomed a little later here, seem to have had successful crops. What fruits are still hanging could become fermented, especially after the first frost, so watch for drunken birds. Apples may also be suspect.

The main reason that our local birds delayed nesting this last spring was that the wet cold weather resulted in few bugs, especially very few caterpillars.

Fox Sparrows come to our milder winter area, and find
delectables in the leaves. Photo by Craig Kerns
This had a snowball effect-late babies, combined with the dry heat and smoke meant that parent birds were still tending some of their young into September, which meant they were catching bugs for their young and not coming to the feeders as often, which also caused the adults to change (molt) their feathers later, traditionally a time when they don’t come to the feeders much. 

People kept asking why their birds weren’t coming to their feeders and suet; now that the rains have arrived, they are back.

Female Anna's hummingbird drinking much needed
 nectar during cold weather. Photo by Craig Kerns
Backyard birds depend upon bugs all year long to survive. Baby birds are fed instant-energy caterpillars, spiders, mosquitoes, and other available bugs. Without these bugs many birds, especially the young ones, would die. 

With winter coming, spiders and other delectables are found under leaves, so keep some leaves on the ground for hungry birds. 

Bugs are best but suet can help fill in the void.

Sudden cold weather (for this area) means that you should put out suet now, for instant warming energy, keep the seed in your feeders dry, and keep your hummingbird feeders clean and liquid.

And watch for those tipsy birds…



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Gloria's Birds: Gisele had a sure-fire remedy for a crowded freeway...a flyover!

Thursday, November 3, 2022

 
Photo copyright Gloria Z. Nagler

(Limited, of course, to creatures with wings:). The other Canada Geese were running from a sudden influx of "outsider" geese. Gisele was evidently too anxious to go with the flow, so she hopped a coupla times and then took flight. Funny how much the other animals are like us, eh?)

On the shores of Lake Washington the other day.

--Gloria Z. Nagler



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