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

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: Fall Is a Time of Change for Birds

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

American Robin eating mountain ash berries
(easy yard tree) Photo by Craig Kerns
By Chris Southwick

Gone are the Osprey and the warblers; incoming are the Snow Geese and other wintering birds.

Early last week our neighborhood was filled with the sounds of several different species arriving from the north to stay for their winter season. 

Incoming Dark-eyed Juncos and American Robins were both heard in numbers. 

Resident chickadees, Spotted Towhees, and Song Sparrows, even Red-breasted Nuthatches and Northern Flickers greeted these seasonal residents with a mix of contact calls.

Fox Sparrow use leaves to uncover bugs.
Preferred winter shelter is a blackberry thicket.
Photo by Craig Kerns
The robins we see in the summer have mostly flown further south, replaced by these northern birds. 

Many of the juncos we see in the winter also flew from the boreal forests in Canada to enjoy our milder winters, adding to our resident junco population. 

In eastern parts of the US, juncos are called “Snow Birds” because they are only present in the wintertime there.

There’s a noticeable change in bird sounds; our year-round birds have switched from territorial songs to mostly contact, “Here I am” calls. 

 Our resident Bewick’s Wrens are still 

You can help our wintering birds by providing food, water, and shelter.

Save leaves and seed heads. Keep a thickness of leaves somewhere in your yard. These can still be neat (or not), but they do make a difference.

Dark-eyed Junco drinking water, a vital
commodity. Photo by Craig Kerns
Leave a patch of flower heads for the juncos and sparrows which prefer seeds and keep some of your leaves on the ground where bug-eaters like towhees, Fox Sparrows, and wrens can find the bug meals they need.

Fresh water is always needed and will draw many birds. 

Shelter, like varying heights of shrubs, bushes, and trees help protect from inclement weather, and offer escape routes from predators. 

A small brush pile is a welcome retreat, and even a small patch of blackberries offers perfect winter protection.

Red-shafted Northern Flicker, male, using much
needed tree for shelter and nesting.
Photo by Craig Kerns
Another helpful action that you can do to save birds—dim outside lights. 

Birds mostly migrate at night for safety from predators, and bright lights often confuse them, causing them to fly into windows, circle large towers of lights, and generally get exhausted and die. 

Smaller wattage, non-bright white, and lighting pointing downward helps.

And something else to look forward to: 

Snow Geese should arrive from Wrangel Island, Russia, to the Skagit farm area in late October. Add some Tundra Swans. 




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For the Birds: Bird Food – or Not

Friday, July 3, 2020

American Goldfinches on black-oil sunflower seeds
Photo by Christine Southwick
By Christine Southwick

People sometimes ask me what foods to feed birds. I also tell them what not to offer.

Do you have shrubs and trees for your birds to rest, feed, and evade predators? Is your yard mostly open, mixed shading, or heavily shaded with branches? This will determine the answer to the next question.

Which birds do you have, and which birds do you hope to invite?

The universal food for the most species of local birds is black oil sunflower seeds, unshelled or shelled.

Seed mixes draw in other species and will add extra nutrients that can help spring nesting birds and winter-time survival. They often need different feeders, but variety provides more places to feed.

Hairy Woodpecker female juvenile
(aged by red on top of head)
Photo by Craig Kerns

I always provide suet, year-round to help the birds with high protein food. Suet will bring in woodpeckers, plus you will be able to watch chickadees and Red-breasted Nuthatches cling to the suet holders while chomping away. 

In the summer one can buy suet that is no-melt.

There is also suet that has hot pepper that squirrels avoid.

Many people want American Goldfinches to come to their yards, and they go buy niger (thistle) seed, and then are disappointed when the goldfinches never come.

If your yard has heavy shade you probably won’t get goldfinches, no matter what food you offer.

American Goldfinches prefer open fields and shrubs but will feed from feeders that are out in the open, once they find it.

 Niger seed often spoils here in the Puget Sound area, due to all the rain and damp mornings.

Cedar Waxwing on serviceberry tree
stock photo
Cedar Waxwings love Serviceberry trees, and Black-headed Grosbeaks like grape jelly and orange slices. If you put out apple slices, take out the seeds-they have cyanide.

If you want to feed the ducks feed them cracked corn, NOT bread.

Bread doesn’t provide any nutrients— it just makes ducks and birds come close to you.

Shoreline Parks (and other parks in this area) do not permit the feeding of waterfowl and other animals due to leftover food bringing in varmints - plus it is not healthy for wildlife.

House Finch on seed mix
Photo by Craig Kerns
Fruiting native shrubs and trees will bring in birds and help compensate for the major loss of suitable habitat for migrating and resident birds and these plantings help pollinators too.

Moving water will also bring in birds for much needed drinks and baths.





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Backyard Birds: Winter food for the smallest of our feathered friends

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Juvenile female Anna's Hummingbird.
Photo by Patty Hale, November 2011

By Patty Hale

When the weather outside is frightful, smart folks bundle up. The even smarter ones head inside where it is warm and dry. While you are nice and toasty, there are many who must remain out in the weather singing the refrain, “Baby, its cold outside.”

The Anna’s Hummingbird which spends the winter in our area may need to depend on humans for its survival during this time of year. Please remember to keep fresh nectar in feeders. You can bring them in overnight if the temperatures remain below freezing, but just be sure to remember to get them back outside before dawn.

It is a good idea to have a couple of extra feeders on hand to rotate, so that there is always nectar available. When it is really cold, make sure there are two full liquid feeders, just in case.

If you have hummers at your feeders now, please do not stop feeding them. These little guys can not afford the extra energy expense looking for other food sources. They will perish in the process.


 “Female Anna’s Hummingbird” in winter.
Photo by Patty Hale, December 2008

The following information from About.com should help you in your efforts.

Classic Hummingbird Nectar Recipe
  • Combine one part white sugar and four parts water.
  • Heat the solution for 1-2 minutes to help the sugar dissolve and slow fermentation.
  • Allow the solution to cool completely before filling feeders.

Nectar Recipe Tips

Do not use honey, brown sugar, molasses or artificial sugar substitutes for any hummingbird nectar recipe. Honey and molasses (brown sugar contains molasses products) are too heavy for hummingbirds to digest efficiently and can ferment more quickly, creating a mold that is fatal to hummingbirds. Sugar substitutes do not have the caloric energy that hummingbirds need for energy.

While boiling will help slow the fermentation of the nectar initially, the nectar in hummingbird feeders is contaminated as soon as it is sipped by a bird. Therefore, it is not necessary to boil the nectar once the sugar has been dissolved.

The ratio of sugar and water can be slightly adjusted, but a solution that is too sweet will be difficult for the birds to digest and one that does not contain enough sugar will not be suitable to attract hummingbirds. The 4:1 water to sugar ratio most closely approximates the sucrose levels in natural nectar.

Hummingbird nectar must be completely cool before filling feeders. Hot nectar can warp or crack both glass and plastic hummingbird feeders and warm nectar will ferment more quickly.

Unused hummingbird nectar can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week. When making your own nectar, adjust the recipe quantity to only make enough for one week to eliminate waste.

Clean hummingbird feeders at least once a week and refill them with fresh nectar.

To Dye or Not to Dye
The use of red dye in hummingbird nectar recipes is a controversial issue. In the 1970’s some red dyes were found to be toxic. Today, red dyes found in food coloring and commercial hummingbird nectar are safe for both human and animal consumption, but the color is not necessary to attract the birds.

Many hummingbird feeders have red bases, feeding ports or other accents that will attract the birds without risking the use of unessential dyes. If you want to use red to attract more hummingbirds to your feeders, consider planting red flowers nearby to help catch the birds’ attention.



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For the Birds: Birds gotta sing

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Oregon Junco nestlings about two days old
They left by seven days
Photo by K. Wennstrom


Birds gotta sing--babies gotta learn…

By Christine Southwick

When I walk in my yard I hear lots of baby birds babbling. It is not the peeping sound that they make in the nest. Fledglings start out with almost a crying, insistent, “Feed Me”. Then they go into a babbling, learning bird-talk kind of sound. Babies learn by listening and mimicking the local male(s). Studies have shown that Song Sparrow youngsters (and probably other species) who heard two competing males learned faster, and had a local dialect. Like human babies, sometimes they get their song wrong.

Spotted Towhee male with young fledgling he just fed.
Photo by Christine Southwick

There are two basic types of sounds birds make: call notes, and songs.

Call notes are usually short: chips, clicks, piks, etc., and include their alarm calls. The chips or single notes are used to maintain contact with other flock/family members — the constant chatter of a foraging flock of bushtits is an excellent example. Alarm calls are not used to defend territory.  They are used to alert the birds within their territory of impending danger: hawks, cats, corvids, humans…

Our local chickadees only have one song, but they have a variety of calls that are used to convey info: the familiar “chickadee dee dee” can be both a contact call, or if delivered rapidly and repeatedly, an alarm call. The “fee bee” one hears in the spring has to do with courting and nesting.  And they have a quiet call just before they reach the nest.

Older Spotted Towhee fledgling feeding self
Photo by Christine Southwick

Songs are longer, with repeatable notes and melodies.  These are used to defend a territory or to attract a mate. Usually only males sing, although with some North American species, like the Northern Cardinals, both males and females sing.

Amazingly, the Cedar Waxwing has no discernible song — only high call notes. At the far end of the spectrum, Gray Catbirds have approximately 400 songs.

Female Spotted Towhee calling
Photo by Christine Southwick

There are clear notes, whistles, warbles, trills, and combinations. Additionally there are differences in pitch that make some birds easier to ID than others. For me, the Olive-sided Flycatcher has a distinctive pitch that allows me to identify it just from a call note, even before its “Quick, three beers”. And volume also is important. Did you know that the Pacific Wren (AKA Winter Wren) has ten times more volume than a crowing rooster?

Recently it has been found that baby birds and baby humans share the same gene type for learning language.  Maybe that is why birds and humans are known as “singing species.” (From the mouths of babes and birds: clues to language)

Christine Southwick is a Board member of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She has completed the 40-hour class to become a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward.

For previous For the Birds columns, click the link under the Features section on the main webpage.




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For the Birds: Little Brown Jobs

Monday, May 29, 2017

Savannah Sparrow
Photo by John Riegsecker

Little Brown Jobs                                 
by Christine Southwick

In the bird world, there are lots of brown-colored birds. These birds are usually briefly seen on or near the ground, making it hard to identify them without longer observation. Consequently many people in the birding community call these birds, “little brown job-ies”, or LJB’s.

Why so many brown, either striped or spotted brown birds do you ask?

Lincoln's Sparrow Photo by Barry Ulman
Camouflage! Most of our brown birds skulk in grasses or under bushes — where they blend right into the background.

Song Sparrows are the quintessential local, year-round brown bird, and if your yard has bushes, you probably have some.

Shoreline has many others:
Savannah Sparrows, Lincoln Sparrows, House Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, Golden-crowned Sparrows, Swainson’s Thrushes, and Hermit Thrushes.

Most of these either just pass through during migration, or are commonly seen only in the summer. Our wintry-local Fox Sparrows are the darker Sooty Fox Sparrows which helps them blend into the darker brushy understory that they prefer.

Chipping Sparrow Photo by Jane Hadley

Most fledgling ground birds start out stripy-brown to help their survival odds: Spotted Towhees, Dark-eyed Juncos, White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows can all be hard to distinguish one species from another until they start getting their first-winter body feathers.

They all have stripy breasts, are smaller than robins, and don’t look like their adults.

So how does a person learn to identify one from another?

First thing to do is look at bird books. There are lots of good bird-ID books. For beginners, I recommend local regional books.

Juvie Dark-eyed Junco
Photo by Christine Southwick
It is too confusing to look for a bird that you thought you saw, and then look at the map for that bird, and find that it is usually east of the Mississippi River.


That being said, I still recommend Kaufman’s Field Guide to the Birds of North America for beginners — lots of great beginner tips.

Sibley Guide to Western Birds may be all you need for the western United States, but if you become like most birders, you will keep looking for that next book, that potentially favorite one.

There are several books about local birds, and the best place to find that book that suits you is either the Seattle Audubon store on 35th NE, or Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park.

The best lure for birds is dripping water. To keep them healthy, make sure you are not using pesticides or herbicides — poisoned bugs and plants will kill yard birds and their babies too.


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Ask the Bird Lady: Northern Flickers have taken up residence in my attic

Friday, January 20, 2017

Northern Flicker eating
suet from a feeder
Photo by Christine Southwick
Reader Melissa asks:

I have a problem and I could use some advice. The Northern Flickers have drilled holes in two of the eaves at the back of the house and they are living in the attic. They actually appear to be neat tenants and they seem to be keeping the other riff raff out, but they make a bit of noise and I'm not sure how much mess baby woodpecker's will make.

Would you just call a pest removal company?

I thought about buying two woodpecker houses and hanging them over the holes but I need a two story ladder.

Not sure what to do - I want to be humane so I think I need to do something before egg laying season....  Any thoughts?

Bird Lady Chris Southwick replies:

Thanks, Melissa for asking me. I do have a couple of suggestions.

First off, these flickers should not be eliminated. They are considered an indicator species by the National Forest Management Act, meaning that they are a bird that other species depend upon and can be watched to determine the health of a forest, and forest edges.

They are a primary cavity nester that other wildlife depend upon for their habitat needs.

First, the reason that the flickers have used the eaves is that the trees they need, their habitat, keeps shrinking.

Northern Flicker in bird bath
Photo by Christine Southwick
Every time a large tree is cut down, there are fewer places for the woodpeckers to roost and nest, and also for the smaller birds (like chickadees, wrens, bluebirds, swallows, kestrels, owls, even squirrels) that use the last years' holes for their nesting and getting out of the cold/wet winter weather.

Snags can be made out of any tree that seems dangerous, and by creating snags you can create/save nesting holes, storage areas for food, feeding perches, communication centers for birds, and many other uses that we as humans overlook.

Besides, it is easy to see fun birds, like brown creepers, nuthatches, several different woodpeckers, and other birds, on the trunk of a snag.  It is also easy to see the chickadees, wrens and other cavity nesters that take advantage of the woodpecker cavities.

So, that being said, putting up nest boxes for the flickers is a great idea. They would not be using your house if there were good alternatives. Ideally, I would put one up in the eave, blocking the hole they use the most, and fill the other hole with crumpled newspaper  (Don't ask me why, but crumpled newspaper deters all birds -- starlings, house sparrows, etc. -- I know it works).

If you can afford it, I would also put another nest box, facing the same direction as the holes in your eaves, on another close by LARGE tree.

If the tree is large enough, you could actually block both holes, and have them move into the nest box. Buy at either Wild Birds Unlimited in Lake Forest Park, or the Seattle Audubon Nature Store, or build your own (WDFW has plans).

Follow the directions, and remember to put some wood chips in the nest box (if you almost fill it up, starlings are less apt to use the box.

Here's some more info:




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For the Birds: White-crowned Sparrow—the serenader of parking lots

Monday, May 7, 2012


Puget Sound White-crowned sparrow (PSWS)
Photo by Whitney Hartshorne
By Christine Southwick

In April and May, parking lots are a place of serenading beauty:  one long note, followed by several trilled notes. The White-crowned Sparrow males are claiming territory, each loudly vying for a mate.  Since this species likes open spaces, it has adapted well to human expansion, often being heard in city centers that have trees and shrubs. In the Puget Sound area White-crowned Sparrows are here year-round.  Most are migratory, so like the American Robins, the ones we see in the summer probably are not the same ones we see in the winter.

The female will make her nest near the ground, in low shrubs, even in plants in garden nurseries.  All a seasonally monogamous pair needs is sufficient cover for the nest, and a nearby perch for observation.  The 3-5 nestlings will hop out of the nest 7-10 days after hatching, long before they can fly, since ground nests are so vulnerable to predators. Both parents feed their young, with the male often feeding them exclusively if the female sits on a second brood.

This nest was built in a Shoreline plant nursery on Aurora.
The owners sacrificed a tray of flowers so the birds would not be disturbed during nesting.
Photo by Christine Southwick

Here in the Puget Sound area, the sub-species that breeds here is named the Puget Sound White-crowned Sparrow.  You can tell it from the other subspecies by its yellow, not orange, bill, and the back pattern has blackish centers with tan edges. There is a difference in the song too, but I haven’t learned to distinguish between the Puget Sound White-crowned Sparrow and the Gambel’s with any accuracy yet. The Gambel’s White-crowned Sparrow passes through this area in the winter on its way to California. In the spring and summer, if you see a White-crowned Sparrow in western Washington, it will be a Puget Sound White-crowned Sparrow, with very few exceptions.

Parents watching over the nest
Photo by Christine Southwick
During breeding, white-crowned stay in pairs, in the winter they flock as they roam around looking for seeds in weedy patches.  This is another sparrow that has learned to use blackberry brambles for food and winter shelter.

So next time you are shopping, and you hear a long note followed by several others, look at the parking lot trees, or lamp posts.  Chances are you will spot the White-crowned Sparrow in plain view, who is serenading the area, and you will find that you step a little lighter due to music in the parking lot.

Christine Southwick is on the Board of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward, having completed their forty hour class. We're happy that she is sharing her expertise with us about the birds in our backyards.


For previous For the Birds columns, click on the link under the Features section on the main webpage.





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Gardening with Jennifer - Wildlife In The Garden: The Unsung Heroes, Part 1 - Moles

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

by Jennifer Rotermund

If you’re into wildlife gardening like I am, your garden probably includes an array of native plants that produce berries for the birds, a combination of native and non-native plants that produce flowers for a variety of bees, and you probably even have a plant or two that produce flowers specifically attractive to Hummingbirds. 

There’s at least one bird bath type contraption (or water feature) and any number and shape of bird feeders hanging from tree branches or mounted on posts or stuck to a window positioned just right for you to observe as closely as possible.

Birds - bees - bats - dragonflies - tree frogs
If it's the birds you especially love to have around, you’ve more than likely hung at least one bird house - purchased at the local specialty store, made of untreated wood, and without a landing peg, thank you very much! If bees are your thing, and you’re not already a backyard beekeeper, I’m guessing you’ve studied up on those cute little solitary Mason Bees and know when to clean out their tubes or the box they call home, when to refrigerate them and for how long, and you know just which kind of predatory wasp larvae feeds on them - and are saddened each time that happens. You love bats? There’s a rocket box near the roof line of your house, I’m sure! Lately, I’ve been fantasizing about a small pond in my back yard to keep dragonfly larvae and perhaps (if I’m lucky) encourage some nearby Pacific Treefrog to, well, stay nearby.

Then there’s the category of critters that get a bum rap because they’re known more for the destruction they cause or the havoc they wreak, rather than the benefit they provide. 

Townsend's Mole. Photo by Jerry Kirkhart.
Moles stand out for me as dominating this category. I’ve always thought moles were cute, and before I was a homeowner, I never gave them a second thought. Afterall, who has to worry about mole-hill mounds popping up through a lawn or garden bed when they’re renting a second story apartment? It was when they started to make their presence known in my own front yard that I began to take notice and was interested in becoming better acquainted with this new little neighbor of mine. 

Knowing how infamously difficult it is to rid one’s yard of moles, I set out to see if there was anything beneficial about them - plus I’ve found that its much easier to explain away my neglect to the neighbors, as long as I have an intelligent-sounding justification. 

So I was particularly interested when, at a conference on sustainable lawn care I recently attended, one of the leading local lawn care company owners ended his presentation by saying, “And then there’s the issue of moles. You won’t get rid of them, no matter what you do. So, you might as well get used to them. After all, if you have moles, it means you have good soil!”

It was that last sentence that stuck with me because it occurred to me that the connection between moles and good soil works in two ways: 1) moles are drawn in by (among other things living in the soil) earthworms! Therefore, the presence of moles means you have good life in your soil, which is very beneficial for the health of your plants, and 2) as moles tunnel through the ground, they aerate the soil, pulling organic material down and pushing important minerals up towards the surface and within reach of our plants. Happily, most moles are only interested in worms and insects - not our plants - and are continually mobile (especially in the Spring when male moles are eagerly seeking a mate). If you leave them alone (I simply rake out the unsightly little mole-hills), they’re more likely to move right on through from your yard, to your neighbor’s yard and right on down the street.

The bigger problem is not the moles themselves, but the fact that the tunnels they dig provide direct access for the critters that will eat garden plants - voles, mice, rats, and pocket gophers. But, herein lies the beauty of wildlife gardening! I could throw my hands in the air exasperated by the fact that garden-ownership means I’ll be forever chasing down, trapping, and actively ridding my yard of pests, thanks to the moles, or I could could thank the moles for the beautiful tilling work they do for my soil and for the extra food they bring in for the larger predators who are integral to the health of wildlife in our urban areas. Yes, I have moles in my yard - and I’ve seen an occasional rat or two in my backyard - but the other day, I also witnessed a Falcon (one of several natural predators of moles and other little, furry creatures in our yards) land in my apple tree about 30 feet from the kitchen window through which I watched it scour the ground for live food. 

Perhaps I’m a lazy gardener because I tend to let life be as it wants to be around my yard, but I prefer to think of myself as a gardener working to restore the balance of nature to an area where we humans have worked so hard in the past to suppress it. As far as I’m concerned, the moles are a more than welcome addition to my yard!

Jennifer Rotermund is the owner of Gaiaceous Gardens (an urban farming & wildlife gardening business with a teaching garden/urban farm and certified wildlife habitat located in Shoreline) and is certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a Habitat Steward.

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For the Birds: The Changing of the Birds

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Varied Thrush, male
The Changing 
   of the Birds
Text and photos by Christine Southwick

Fall is here. Gone are the summer birds. Not until spring will we delight in the songs of the Orange-crowned Warblers and the Yellow Warblers, nor catch the passing notes of the Olive-sided and the Willow Flycatchers.

My heart quickens to hear the first hauntingly beautiful notes of the wintering Varied Thrush. Neighborhood reports of their winter songs are starting to come in. Homeowners with enough native plants and trees generally have these lovely birds until early May.

Fox Sparrow in December with heated bath

There are other birds that come here to winter in our milder winters:

  • Dark-eyed Juncos with their startling-white outer tail feathers flashing as they dart away from intruders come southwestward from Canada and Montana;
  • Fox Sparrows that bred in higher elevations shelter in our woods with salal, or in Himalayan blackberries;
  • American Robins that are here through the winter have come from further north—while the ones that were here during the summer have flown further south.

Snow geese are just starting to arrive from Wrangel Island off the Siberian coast, and will stay in Washington until sometime in April. The Skagit and Frazer deltas with their farmed fields and the native bulrushes support the largest flocks on the West Coast.

Look carefully - it's a
White-throated Sparrow stopped for water

Some shorebirds like the Black Turnstone should be showing up soon to winter here until they leave in April for their Alaskan breeding grounds.

Song Sparrows, Spotted Towhees, Black-capped and Chestnut-backed chickadees are year-round residents. Anna Hummingbirds have become year-round residents, and some Townsend’s Warblers now stay through the winters.

Townsend's Warbler in March-one of wintering pair

Many shorebirds (e.g. Whimbrels) and land birds (e.g. White-throated Sparrow) neither winter here, nor breed in our neighborhoods — they use our resources as resting and refueling stops during migration. Migration refueling stops are as important to these birds as their destinations, and can mean the difference between life and death. Without water or the food they need, they may not have the strength to reach their destination and so fall to the ground exhausted never to go again.

Keep liquid water year round, and plant/ keep native trees and plants for shelter and for food. If you really want to help, keep fresh seed all year long. Winter food can make the difference in survival for our resident and wintering birds. Throw away any seeds that get moldy. I have baffles over all my feeders — they slow down the squirrels and keep the seeds drier.


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For the Birds: Water the Birds, not your lawn

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Chestnut-backed Chickadee cooling off. Photo by Craig Kerns

By Christine Southwick

Your dormant lawn will recover this fall — dehydrated birds may not!

It’s easy to provide water for birds, ranging from ponds, fountains and bird baths down to a plastic plant pot liner placed where you can watch it.

Wilson's Warbler bathing. Photo by Chris Southwick
All you have to do is keep the water reasonably clean, and make sure that the water doesn’t get too hot if you use a shallow bowl that sits in the sun.

Moving water, especially falling water, will attract migrants as they fly near your property and hear the welcome sound of often hard to find water.

They will veer toward your yard, stop, and fill up with much needed water, often saving their lives, especially now that many of their migration drinking stops have become dry. 

Some may even take a quick bath, allowing them to cool down, refresh and take a much-desired rest before continuing on. 

And if your yard offers food by having native plants with bird-enticing bugs or fruits, or bird feeders, many birds will add your yard to their migration rest stops both going and returning.

Evening Grosbeak drinking water. Photo by Craig Kerns
A birdbath can be as small as a plate, as long as it is in a safe location from cats and isn’t too deep. 

Birds don’t swim, so a couple of large rocks will allow them to stand, splash and drink. 

My dripper/mister drips down into two ground bird baths, around which I have a decorative metal fence on three sides to discourage wandering cats, and on the back side of this waterfall I planted salmonberries for the same reason.

Migrants like MacGillivray’s Warblers, Western Tanagers, and Swainson’s Thrushes have stopped at my water setups during many of their migrations. Resident birds use my fountains daily, year-round.

Red-breasted Nuthatch drinking at a fountain.
Photo by Craig Kerns
Fountains will attract birds because they can hear and see moving water. 

Fountains recirculate the water, which is good conservation, and offers a pleasant babbling sound. 

They are easy to set up, can be moved if you so desire, and offer beneficial and enjoyable decoration.

A small pond will often attract different birds than a bird bath, especially if there is a small moving element. 

A waterfall or pond is a major investment in work, but oh, the birds it will bring in!

Make your yard a bird magnet. Both you and the birds will be glad you did.

See previous For the Birds articles here



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Shorewood Girls upset Glacier Peak; primed for Hoopapalooza

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Shorewood's Lily Gustafson
Photo by Geoff Vlcek

The Shorewood girls basketball team defeated #8 ranked Glacier Peak Wednesday night, 59-53, in the T-Birds gym.

The win avenged an earlier defeat at the hands of the Grizzlies on December 11, by a nearly identical score of 58-53.

Shorewood benefited from a three-pronged attack, with Jalyn Hizey leading the way with 18 points. Taryn Shelley had 17, while Lily Gustafson chipped in with 13.

The Grizzlies tried their mightiest in the last two minutes to reclaim the lead and sneak out with a win, but the T-Birds kept their composure down the stretch and prevailed in the end.

"I'm really proud of the girls - they earned that one,'" said T-Birds first year Head Coach Mark Haner. "They weathered a good team's run and kept competing."

With the win, the T-Birds served notice that they aren't ready to concede the top two spots in WesCo South 3A to defending state champion Lynnwood and Glacier Peak. With the win the T-Birds are now only a game behind GP for second place.

All of which sets up perfectly for Saturday night's girls Hoopapalooza game that starts at 5pm in the SW gym. (The boys' teams finish off the day-long hoops fest at 7pm)

Shorewood topped the Scots 43-31 when the teams played at Shorecrest on December 16.

Both teams have three top scorers, all of whom offer different talents and skill-sets to help their teams.

Shorecrest's Wurrie Njadoe
Photo by Geoff Vlcek

The Shorecrest Scots feature three of the most unique (and dissimilar) players imaginable.

5' 8" Senior Wurrie Njadoe won four individual 2A state track championships last spring --- the 100 and 200 meter dashes, as well as long jump and high jump. She can outrun anybody on the court for easy lay-ins, and she appears to be on pogo sticks when it comes to skying for rebounds. She'll run track at Kansas State next year.

5' 10 senior Uju Chibuogwu brings great size and strength to the court along with a deft shooting touch from as far away as 25 feet, and court-vision that allows her to throw some of the prettiest passes known to mankind. When she is on her game, she can be unstoppable.

6' 0" sophomore Julia Strand has emerged for the Scots as a bona-fide scoring threat. The sleek forward can drive and slash her way to the basket, scoring points in a variety of creative ways, as shown by her 20 points last Friday in a loss to Lynnwood.

For the Shorewood T-Birds, the aforementioned threesome of senior Lily Gustafson and juniors Hizey and Shelley carry the scoring load.  Hizey, a former Scot, can be a deadly outside shooter who can also drive to the hoop. The 6' 2" Shelley, a WSU-recruit, can bang in the low post as well as square up and face the basket from fifteen feet.  Gustafson, at an even six-feet, has great versatility, can score from anywhere on the court, but is sometimes reluctant to shoot, preferring to pass.

--Frank Workman



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For the Birds: Save the birds - Protect their nests

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Dark-eyed Junco nest with eggs in planter box

By Christine Southwick
Photos by Craig Kerns

Many local birds are now on nests, others are just starting their nests. 

Dark-eyed Juncos, Spotted Towhees, Song Sparrows, Golden-crowned Sparrows and other sparrows make their nests on the ground, hidden in clumps of grass, bases of shrubs or ferns, brush piles, or a depression in the ground hidden from view, perhaps by a rock.

Even some warblers like the Wilson’s Warbler build their nests in clumps of tall grass behind the base of a tree or shrub (0-3 feet above the ground). 

Many other birds, not usually found in our yards, also nest on the ground -- Killdeer, MacGillivray’s Warblers, and Townsend’s Solitaires come to mind.

Red-breasted Nuthatch with bug

If you are working in your yard right now, it is vitally important that you protect birds and their nests from disturbances either by you or your dogs and cats. 

When walking your dogs, please keep them on leashes, especially in parks

Canine noses will find unseen nests and disturb and often destroy them by stepping on the eggs and even the parent. 

 For the same reason, cats must also be controlled.

Watch where you clear weeds, especially when weed-whacking. Be alert for a startled low-flying bird, or a bird making alarm calls. Stop, and maybe leave that area wilder than usual. The rewards will be great.

Black-capped Chickadee with grub

Resist the easy application of herbicides and pesticides. 

Herbicides kill weeds in your lawns and curbs plus beneficial creatures like worms, beetles and spiders. 

Pesticides kill almost all bugs, including good bugs like bees and butterflies, plus all the caterpillars and grubs that birds feed their babies. 

This puts all birds in danger of dying from those strong, deadly, labor-reducing products, and makes it harder for the parents to find enough bugs for themselves and their offspring.

A neighbor found a dead adult bird on eggs when she was cleaning out a nest box and asked me what could have caused its death. 

Since usually only healthy birds lay eggs, and this bird didn’t appear injured, I told her that bird may have eaten a bug that had been sprayed, and died from pesticide poisoning, thus killing her and her unhatched eggs.

Golden-crowned Kinglets fledged less than a week (by gape)

Save Birds -- remove weeds and bugs by hand instead.

Which would you rather have -- pristine lawns and plants that have been poisoned and that don’t supply nutrition for birds and their young?

...or yards with flying, singing birds, that are feeding their young and taking care of most of the local bugs?




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For the Birds: Feed your local wintering birds

Friday, December 21, 2012

By Christine Southwick

Bushtits in Vancouver-- photo by Lyn Topinka

Wintering birds may mostly be able to endure our cold and wet winters, but you can make their little lives easier by supplying seeds, fruits, and suet. Additionally they need drinking water, which can be hard to find during freezing temperatures.

Fox Sparrow using heated bath in my yard
Photo by Christine Southwick

Sudden drops in temperature or windy winter storms can challenge the survival of a bird without a good fat layer. At times like these, it is especially helpful to have feeders so that birds can find food quickly and easily. Black oil sunflower seeds and suet are great high-energy heat-producing calories.

See a bird all fluffed up? It’s trying to stay warm by creating air pockets with its feathers. You can help keep them warm by creating brush piles, and having evergreen bushes for them to hunker down away from the chilling winds and some of that Northwest dampness.

Sparrow eating yard Snowberry fruits
Photo by Scott Carpenter

Feeders should be filled throughout the winter, since constant rain can be just as chilling as cold. Watch for clumping, which means the seed is starting to spoil. Throw that seed out since mold can make birds sick, then wash the feeder with a 10% solution of bleach. Don’t want to wash feeders? One option is to buy cheap tube feeders, and put out less each day, so that most of it is eaten every day, or if you are too busy to fuss with daily refilling, put a squirrel baffle over the top of the feeder. That will keep most of the rain from getting into the feeders, and slow down the squirrels too. Then when the feeder starts getting dirty, throw it away, and replace with another cheapie,

Bewick's Wren nestled in porch shelter created by Christine Southwick
Photo by Christine Southwick

Remember your hummer friends too: In cold weather, full hummingbird feeders don’t freeze above 28°F. Colder than 28F, bring feeders in after dark, and put out again at first light. If it stays cold during the day, tape a hand-warmer against the bottom of the feeder, or use non-LED Christmas lights. Anna’s hummingbirds feed well into dusk, and come back at early dawn. They need to fill up to survive winter over-night, and tank up in the morning to replenish their energy levels.

So, when the days are short, and the nights are long, the wild food has been mostly consumed, and insects are scarce. Heat your bird bath, give your yard birds food, and provide shelter from winter weather, and more of your birds will live to see their next Spring.


Christine Southwick is on the Board of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward, having completed their forty hour class. We're happy that she is sharing her expertise with us about the birds in our backyards.

For previous For the Birds columns, click the link under the Features section on the main webpage.


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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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