Innehållsförteckning för February - March 2016 från Birds & Blooms

Our bluebird house had eggs and babies for many years. One year, there were four eggs to start, and then three were gone and the fourth had been opened. What happened? Pauline Kelly HOMEWOOD, ALABAMA Kenn and Kimberly: This sounds like the work of a house wren. While small and cute, house wrens can be hostile during nesting season. If they set up house in your yard and encounter other cavity nesters they deem too close for comfort, they’ll pierce the eggs of other species and carry them off. So we have to learn to love them in spite of their behavior. The best way to protect your bluebirds is to make sure the nest box is a fair distance away from the dense cover preferred by house wrens, and…

DID YOU KNOW? On ebird.org, you can track bird sightings in your area by species, count and date spotted. GO ONLINE FACEBOOK POLL Which bird are you most looking forward to seeing this spring? Hummingbird… 37% Baltimore oriole… 25% Eastern bluebird… 23% Rose-breasted grosbeak… 15% Check us out on Facebook to participate in other polls like this. Visit facebook.com/birdsblooms. DO YOU HAVE A CLEVER CAPTION FOR THIS PHOTO? Go to birdsandblooms.com/youdontsay. We’ll publish some of our favorites in the next issue. “you don’t say!” Portrait of a Puffball Marcia Good of Wellsville, New York, sent us this funny photo of a mourning dove. “I love watching all the backyard birds and their antics,” she says. “I took this photo when I looked out my kitchen window and saw the dove all…

220Brown-headed cowbirds deposit their eggs in other birds’ nests. Cowbird eggs have been found in nests of more than 220 other species. 26 Large birds sit on eggs, too, so their eggs have to be strong enough to withstand the weight. It takes about 26 pounds of pressure to break a swan egg. 5 A single ostrich egg can weigh as much as 5 pounds. 1/2 Rufous hummingbird eggs are ½ inch long and fit snugly in the 2-inch-wide nest, which usually holds two eggs. 40 A wood duck can lay up to 15 eggs in one nesting attempt, but a single nest may have as many as 40 eggs from more than one female. 1 Most songbirds lay one egg per day until their clutch is complete. 4 Pale…

What’s in a Name? All grosbeaks—rose-breasted, blue, black-headed, pine and evening grosbeaks—share a common characteristic: a thick, conical bill for cracking tough seeds. Although these species go by the same descriptive name, grosbeak, they belong to different families. Pine and evening grosbeaks are finches; the others are in the cardinal family. Eastern Favorite Rose-breasted grosbeaks are a welcome sign of spring in the eastern U.S. These birds prefer a leafy, wooded habitat but also show up at backyard feeders. They love sunflower seeds, but they’ll eat raw peanuts and safflower seeds, too. The male rose-breasted is dapper with his bright red chest patch. The female is striped brown and white. Southern Specialty A telltale sign you’re looking at a blue grosbeak is the cinnamoncolored wing bars. Found mainly in the…

we love this! 1 Adorable ceramic hedgehog for succulents and herbs, $12, westelm.com 2 Trio of rustic planters made from tree branches, $20, woodlandfever.etsy.com 3 Studded polygon 3D-printed vase, $22, meshcloud.etsy.com 4 Geometric succulent planters in a variety of colors, $25 each, seaandasters.etsy.com 5 Concrete planter from Vagabond Vintage, shaped like a tea cup, $8 each, mothology.com 6 Three-legged pot, hand-painted with a cute bunny, $39, beardbangs.etsy.com have you seen a great product we should know about? Send us a note via our Submission Guidelines on page 72. We’re always looking for suggestions!…

TOP 10 1 BOBO HYDRANGEA 2 SOFT SERVE FALSE CYPRESS 3 CHIQUITA CONEFLOWER 4 DWARF MONDO GRASS 5 PIXIE DWARF ALBERTA SPRUCE 6 MIGHTY MOUSE HOSTA 7 MY MONET WEIGELA 8 TINY MONSTER GERANIUM 9 SHOW OFF SUGAR BABY FORSYTHIA 10 LILAC CHIP BUTTERFLY BUSH 1 Bobo hydrangea HYDRANGEA PANICULATA ‘BOBO’, ZONES 3 TO 8 Award-winning Bobo is small in stature but big on blooms, which begin in midsummer and last up to 12 weeks. The dwarf plants grow to 3 feet and are smothered in large, creamy white flowers that mature to a blush pink. Why we love it: Space-challenged gardeners can enjoy the reliable, long-lasting beauty of hydrangeas. 2 Soft Serve false cypress CHAMAECYPARIS PISIFERA ‘DOW WHITING’, ZONES 5 TO 7 Soft Serve false cypresses are valued for…

Imagine going on a 24-hour bird-watching adventure. No sleep, meals on the run, even birding in the dark. Sounds fun, right? These daylong events are not only exciting, they directly benefit birds, the real winners in the world of competitive birding. Sure, there are winning teams and some participants get high honors for their fundraising efforts, but it’s always the birds that come out on top. Bird-watching competitions all over the country are major fundraisers for bird research and conservation. Most of the events use a version of the big-day concept (a race to see more species in 24 hours than your competitors). The rules and birding categories can vary, but there are two common goals among all the tournaments: raise as much money as possible for the birds, and…

Walking through my neighborhood last spring, I saw a flock of cedar waxwings feeding at my neighbor’s cherry tree. I stood there snapping pictures of them as they continued to chow down. I’d never been able to get this close to waxwings before. What a treat! Joyce Sorensen CLEAR LAKE, IOWA It finally happened—a bird nested in my yard! I had placed a board at the corner of our 6-foot privacy fence after I noticed a bird trying and failing to build a nest there. It took a year, but mourning doves eventually chose the site for their nest. We closely watched the nest throughout the chilly, rainy spring, convinced the eggs would succumb to the cold. But both parents would sometimes sit on the nest at the same time,…

Share your photos with us! Go to birdsandblooms.com/photo-galleries to submit your best ones. They might even be featured on our website!…

supplies l One 5-ft. 1-by-6 No. 2 common pine board l Fine-grit sandpaper l Sponge or honing paper l Carbon or tracing paper (optional) l Eight 15/8-in. galvanized deck screws l Six 2-in. galvanized finishing nails l Power drill and bits l 1¼- to 15/8-in. spade bit or hole saw l Handsaw or compound miter saw l Wood-burning kit or pen BIRDHOUSE STEP 1. Measure and cut the pine board into 5 pieces: A. 10-in. piece for front B. 10-in. piece for roof C. 7¾-in. piece for back D. 18-in. piece for sides E. 4-in. piece for floor Save the remaining scrap board for wood-burning practice. STEP 2. For sides, on D, measure and mark 8 in. along the top and 10 in. along the bottom. Draw a line connecting…

GET A free lip balm Submission Guidelines We love hearing from readers—in fact, we couldn’t publish this magazine without you! To make sharing your photos and stories even easier, we’ve created an online submission form at birdsandblooms.com/submit-your-story. Each reader whose story, photo or short item is published will receive a Birds & Blooms lip balm made by Wisconsin bees! Because of the volume of submissions, our small staff can’t acknowledge receipt of submissions, but we’ll always let you know if they’re published. By submitting material to us, you grant RDA Enthusiast Brands, LLC, its affiliates, partners and licensees worldwide use of the material without time limitation, and the right to include your name and city/state in connection with any such use. We may modify, reproduce and distribute your material in any…