Birdfeeding

[ysabetwordsmith]

Today is mostly cloudy and cool. Looks like it rained a bit last night; there are small puddles in a few places.

I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I put out a fresh cake of peanut suet.

EDIT 2/26/26 -- I cut and labeled 4 more water jugs. These will hold native grasses: little bluestem, side-oats grama, northern sea oats, and switchgrass. It will be interesting to see how they do. Potted grasses tend to survive well but are more expensive. Broadcast seeding on the ground has variable results. So if I can find more and better ways to pot my own from seed, that's an improvement. Native grasses attract wildlife with food, shelter, and other resources. Many birds devour the seeds. Some butterflies, especially skippers, and other insects use native grasses as host plants. My prairie garden swarms with skippers and other butterflies in summer and into fall.










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Willow Cuttings

[ysabetwordsmith]

Yesterday we ordered two different kinds of willow cuttings. I couldn't find a new contorta willow at a reasonable price, so I'm trying these instead. It will take time for them to grow roots, but willows are the easiest plant to root -- they make their own rooting hormone, which can be used to stimulate other plant cuttings to root.  Also, willows are keystone species that support over 450 other species, especially butterfly and moth caterpillars that feed baby birds.  Some birds also like to nest in willows.  Most willows bloom very early and feed bees emerging in spring.

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Warm up

[ribirdnerd]

Thursday

Things are starting to open up again, I'm back to work. Two nice days in a row, temperatures in the upper 30's to low 40's with some melting. The feeders have been busy and yesterday a flock of 6 Wild Turkeys hung around all day.

Check out the back door at work. They had to clear the roof due to the weight of the snow, hence the huge pile!



Here's the snow pile in my driveway..my feeder cam is back there, I won't get to it for awhile!