Our Wildlife Companions #7: At the Feeder - Cowbird

We had a flock of european starlings come here 2 days ago.Never had them all winter.I’ve also noticed the amount of house finches has increased in the last week or so and some junkos came by too.All winter all we had here was chickadees and woodpeckers.

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

This is a sign that better days are arriving.
I have read that cowbirds lay eggs in other bird’s nest because they have to move for feeding on insects on cattles that are moving. They have to adopt this practice for survival. Common Cuckoo, is the best-known brood parasitic bird we have here. It uses crow’s nest for laying her eggs.
Sharad

-- Bagwan-- “If someone feels that they had never made a mistake in their life, then it means they have never tried a new thing in their life”.-Albert Einstein

I’ve seen huge baby cowbirds flapping their wings to beg their mother to feed them, a small, very frantic sparrow. Poor sparrow probably wondered how her baby got so big!

We have a flock of 50-70 robins looking for food among the 2-4 ft. fallen, piled snow and snow drifts (we had 20 inches of snow last Friday/Saturday and now we’re due for another 10-20 inches tonight. We’re not used to this type of snowfall and we managed to restock our groceries among the thousands of others in the area frantically trying to get their supplies, groceries, gasoline, etc., before the next storm. I admit we are whimps at this, as 6 inches is usually enough to create havoc here in zone 7, Maryland.

Back to the robins, I’m told that if they cannot find worms or grubs, they will eat holly berries, cranberries, raisins, etc. But who has cranberries and raisins out in the snow? I’m watching them invade the holly tree outside my window. We had a branch break off during the snowstorm last week and cut off the main trunk to save for woodworking. The branches with leaves & berries are out there for the birds to eat.

Did you know that if you harvest holly wood in the winter (no sap running) and dry it indoors, it will stay whitem, while if you harvest while the sap is running and leave it outside, moist, it will turn an ugly green/grey from mold? Therefore any worthwhile pure white holly wood was either dried in the winter or kiln dried quickly to prevent the mold from discoloring the wood.

-- A weed is a plant that is growing where it was not purposefully placed by human hands.

mmh, the robins also eat the small crab apples on our trees in the winter. I often see them with flocks of cedar waxwings eating the frozen berries. Holly wood sounds beautiful. Do you have any plans what you will make with it?

-- Robin, Massachusetts - "Live simply so others can simply live." M. Gandhi

Holly wood, woodworking pay a pretty penny for it! I have a tree out front that my husband has been eyeballing. I fear one day I am gonna find it “mising” and in his workshop! LOL!!!

I have crab apple trees in the back and have been watching the birds eat the frozen berries as well.

Interesting about the cowbirds MsDeb …. I do enjoy hearing about all your “critters” that come to visit your place. :-)

-- "A beautiful garden is a work of heart" -- Royal Oak, MI - Zone 5

GtandmaT, Tell Russel to get that tree before you move. :)

-- jroot

or before you sell .. good point Jroot!

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a) http://www.execulink.com/~yohan

how about a pic of that Holly tree?

-- Central northish Ontario