The Birds and the Bees

Six years ago Mimi and I found out the hard way that an imbalance in your ecosystem in your yard is starkly noticeable. We had a wedding party planned in our backyard at a time of year when the mosquito population would normally be very high. We didn’t want anyone getting bothered by the pesky mosquitoes so we found an organic spray that would take care of that problem. We felt pretty good about what we were doing because the spray was made of citrus oil, rosemary oil, lemongrass oil, and Tea Tree oil. I have a backpack fogger so I went around close to the house and sprayed the underside and upper sides of the leaves on the foliage and around the doors and windows of the house. I had a good bit left over when I was finished so I went farther and farther out into the yard until I felt like everything that needed to be covered would be. The next day or two we walked outside in the evening and realized that there were no mosquitoes biting, and we had been successful in our quest. The evening of the party was perfect and with our small pond in the backyard people wondered out loud how it was that no one was getting bothered by any biting insects. I told people about our secret ingredients and we patted ourselves on the back for a jolly good show.

The week following that party we began to notice how quiet it was in our yard. When you have no insects in your yard you have no birds. I had unknowingly disrupted the flow of all the insects in our yard, including the beneficial ones. Somehow it never occurred to me that such an effect would come from our actions. We were not bird watchers at the time but we have always been bird appreciators. We love watching the bird life in our yard and it was shocking when we realized what we had done. We vowed from that point forward that we would not use insecticides and pesticides that would disrupt the flow. We would count on mother nature to take care of business.

Since that time we have purposely added plants that would attract honeybees, birds and butterflies. Since we started concentrating on those plants everything about our yard has changed. Thankfully the bird population was back within a month or so, and we breathed a sigh of relief. Our yard is perfect for birds because we have lots of large trees and a healthy understory that gives the birds a place to be birds. We began planting aquatic plants around the pond which attracted dragonflies. Dragonflies are great mosquito hunters. I believe they can do more damage to mosquitoes than even purple martins. Airborne adult dragonflies catch and eat 30 to 100 mosquitoes a day while flying, they

have a high hunting success rate using a 360° vision. The dragonfly nymphs live underwater and feed heavily on mosquito larva helping stop pests before they hatch. It’s not a complete solution for clearing all mosquitoes from an area but it certainly helps. We decided to let the dragonflies help us out.

We began adding plants that attract dragonflies such as cattails, rushes, horsetail, and iris around the shallow edges of our pond. We are beginning to prepare for adding water lilies and water hyacinths, these floating plants will allow females a safe spot to lay their eggs. Dragonflies love to rest and watch for bugs and sun themselves. We made that easier for them by pushing tall, bamboo stakes into the ground around our pond. I have also put flat rocks that are light colored near our spillway which is a place I noticed they love to gather and warm up in the sun. We also found that there are dragonfly friendly flowers such as black eyed Susan, Meadow Sage, Joe Pie weed, and Swamp milkweed. We have noticed our dragonfly population getting better every year and we’ve also noticed that we’re not swatting mosquitoes in the evening like we used to. Over the years we have added birdfeeders during the winter months just for the fun of watching some birds, but we never really got serious about keeping them year-round. We hardly ever mess around with hummingbird feeders because of the commitment it takes to keep them filled.

The beginning of this year all that changed. I really think what started it is when a friend of ours gave us a birdfeeder with a camera on it. That camera is attached to your phone so all day you get notifications when a bird is eating from that feeder. Not only does it show you a video of the bird but it identifies it and tells you everything you need to know about that bird. We really enjoyed that and wanted to add to the fun so we brought some feeders home that had not sold from the nursery and we started using some of our bird food that has been sprayed with hot pepper sauce to keep squirrels off of them. It was interesting to watch how fast the birds began coming to those feeders and hanging around, it was like a circus. Once we realized what we could do we got serious about hanging up to 12 to 15 feeders now along with three hummingbird feeders that we don’t mind changing the water out frequently.

It was early this year that Mimi decided that one way she could enjoy relaxing at home a little bit before we go to work would be to learn about birdwatching. I’m sure by now everyone has heard of the bird watching app called Merlin. Mimi goes out to our patio every morning just before the sun comes up and turns her Merlin app on. The Merlin app will listen to the birds around you and identify those birds. You might not see them but the app can hear them and you learn by sound what birds are around. We have been surprised many mornings of some of the birds that Merlin is reporting to have heard. It’s fun to be outside just before the sun comes up and be there for that first “peep” that the early bird makes. That peep starts the sounds for the day. The birds chime in and it’s amazing how many species there are in our little area.

Mimi catches up to 35 species calls per day. Mimi‘s next move was to buy a great pair of binoculars so she could see into our trees a little better. Instead of reading some news that can be very depressing these days she is studying the sounds and the sites that are happening around us whether we know it or not. I have loved watching her be thrilled by what she is seeing and feeling in our backyard. Sometimes I join her but mostly she likes to be out there alone where she can concentrate on studying the birds that are making the sounds. I don’t think she goes anywhere without her binoculars anymore, she has turned into a birder (which we used to jokingly call nerders). I can see how it would be easy to base a trip or a vacation around birding since birds are pretty much everywhere. She had her binoculars in Canada this summer and saw some birds that we never dreamed we would see. I think it will be fun to go to Costa Rica or somewhere in the tropics with bird watching on our minds. It’d be a totally different kind of trip. Being new in the birding world has us thrilled enough without having to go anywhere to find species we’ve not seen. The fall migration is happening right now through most of October. Mississippi is a primary superhighway for hundreds of birds species traveling between northern breeding grounds and southern wintering areas.

The peak, nocturnal movement typically happens from now to October when millions of birds fly south during the night, often active between 8 PM and 11 PM and again from 2 AM to 5 AM. I never thought about birds moving nocturnally. I guess it makes sense. We will have a spring migration from March to mid June with the peak in Mississippi during late April to early May. Hummingbirds migrate through Mississippi in the spring starting an early March along the coast and peak heading south between late September and mid October. Right now the adult males are departing and the main wave South is now through October for most of the state there will be some last stragglers through November 10. Mississippi is part of the winter hummingbird coast and some western species or late stragglers stay through the cold months, we will keep one clean feeder filled with fresh nectar year-round. I would love to get our yard set up with the best native plants to attract hummingbirds so that we don’t have to hang feeders anymore.

So far we have added coral honeysuckle, red buckeye, cardinal flower, trumpet creeper, and all kinds of salvias. I see them all over these plants plus they love our red yucca’s, and Gomphrena’s. I know it’s the way things work, but I’ll be a little glad to see those males heading on because they are harassing all the hummingbirds that want to have a little sip of some sugar water. They are mighty aggressive. They watch me when I change the water out and before I can even get to the door they’re back to guarding their feeders. We still have hummingbird feeders hanging, but I’m hoping that one day we can do it without. Right now I’m seeing those same plants attracting butterflies. It’s been wonderful watching those giant swallowtails, I saw one the other day that was so big. I thought it was a small bird. I have noticed that the more birds Mimi attracts in to the yard the fewer insect

and pest problems we have. I never dreamed that birds would be the fixer of some of our

biggest problems, I just never gave them a chance. Getting set up to attract birds into your yard with feeders has never been easier.

You have to try different feeders to see what you like the best or go to a reputable place that can help you find the right feeder for the right situation. We have also discovered that there are cheap bird foods out there that are mostly fillers. Those fillers mostly wind up on the ground sprouting uneaten by the birds probably fought over by the squirrels. It seems like you’re saving money on some of the grocery store bird foods when actually over half of it is going to waste. It’s good to go to a place that sells quality bird food and bird feeders where every bit of it is being eaten by the birds instead of wasted. We have a wonderful Wild Birds Unlimited in town and most of the real garden centers in town will have what you need. It’s easy enough to do a little homework and find what you’re looking for and then find a place that seems to have some birders that can offer advice on a more local level. I don’t know if it’s just me but when it comes time to buy Christmas gifts for people I always have a hard time thinking of that perfect gift.

It’s really hard to go wrong by giving someone a great bird food situation along with the Merlin app and maybe a decent pair of binoculars depending on how much you love this person. It’s really easy to set up and get started and once the hobby gets started it allows for hours of entertainment and fun for any age person. I’m hoping your September is going well and you’re getting in on some of these storms that are passing through. Remember when you’re shopping at your favorite garden center this fall to add a little something every time that will attract birds, bees, and dragonflies. You will be amazed at the difference it can make even if it is just your backyard.