The Best Birder Book

About a year ago I began "birding". Birding is a common term for bird watching as a hobby; birdwatching and birding are interchangeable words. It's all about people paying attention to birds in their environment. Birdwatchers can be called birders. Though the term "birder" is usually reserved for someone who is very serious about birdwatching. In practice, I'm more a birdwatcher than a birder.

Watching a hummingbird

My interest in birding began with the 2011 movie, "The Big Year". It starred Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson as fanatical birders. I liked the movie and the appealing story of a passionate group of people traversing the globe in search of unique birds. Hundreds and hundreds of different species of birds. The movie was a critical and financial failure, but it motivated me to venture into a new arena.

Arriving home from the film, I instantly began paying attention to the birds in my landscape. There were big ones and little ones. Plain ones and colorful ones. I knew the robins and doves and jays, but it wasn't long before I realized I had no clue what I was doing when it came to unfamiliar birds. Without formal training or reference material, I couldn't identify most of what I was seeing.

I researched birder books. My friend Deb recommended a few field guides of birds in my area and I followed her advice. A Field Guide is a very handy book filled with pictures and descriptions to help in identifying birds. Most are pocket-sized guides that can be taken into the field, literally.

I chose three books and decided to compare the attributes of each as I learned about birding. They are: "Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America"; "National Geographic Field Guide to Birds"; and "Birds of Colorado Field Guide" by Stan Tekiela. I discuss each book below. All of the books are written with the assumption that the reader doesn't know what kind of bird they're seeing and the field guide will help identify it.

Three field guides

"Kaufmann Field Guide to Birds of North America" is physically the largest of the field guides and doesn't fit into a jacket pocket easily, though it's fine for a day pack. It includes birds from throughout North America. This means that it has a shorebird section even when its owner resides in the Rocky Mountains. That translates into many wasted pages for an amateur birder like me.

It has a nice section in the front of the book that tells "where, when, and how to find birds." Designed for a beginning birdwatcher, this part explains just about everything you need to know about looking at birds, choosing binoculars, documenting finds, and bird conservation. It's a marvelous section for beginners, while experienced birders can skip this part and use just the reference material.

Kaufmann has the most interesting Table of Contents of the field guides. It's pictorial. The hardest part I found when using all of the field guides was in trying to find the bird I was looking at within the book. When you spot something you want to be able to identify it quickly. Kaufmann groups birds by their primary attributes and shows actual photos of these groups in its table of contents. Groups like "Chicken-like Birds", "Wading Birds", and "Typical Songbirds".

Kaufman's index

When you see a bird you look for a picture of it within these groupings in the front, then turn to the section that offers more information about it. The table of contents color-codes each group and the rest of the book has headers and tabs that match the respective color code.

When you flip to the corresponding section for any given bird, you see many more photos. The book has more than 2,000 images. Each section begins with basic identification factors of the major bird groups in that section. In successive pages you look for the photo that matches the bird you're seeing and then read about it. Generally, the book has water birds first, then large birds, and then progressively smaller birds.

Similar birds are listed together. On one page you'll have descriptions, to include the taxonomic name, of Barn Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Cave Swallow, Bank Swallow, and Northern Rough Winged Swallow. There are photos of each for comparison. One of the best attributes of this field guide is that it often displays photos of juveniles and adults, in resting, flying or nesting postures. That can make identification much easier.

A typical Kaufman page

The text for each bird describes its attributes. Characteristics of size, activity, nesting, and flight are mentioned when appropriate. It highlights distinctive coloring on wings, head, and body to help in identification. For some birds it describes their voices.

For each bird, a small map of the United States depicts its range. The range map shows migration areas and where the bird is in summer and winter. This can be very helpful because identifying birds is harder than it seems. Many look quite similar. If you have a preliminary identification and the range map matches where you are viewing the bird, it helps confirm your guess. However, if you identify a bird and it doesn't normally reside in your location, that means you should continue looking for a bird that does match.

At the end of the book, all of the hundreds of birds represented are listed in alphabetical order with a little box preceding each. When you see the bird you can check the box. This is a very effective way to keep track of your birding.

"The National Geographic Field Guide to Birds" is compact and easily fits into a jacket or your back pocket. National Geographic has many field guides available for different regions of North America. My book is the Colorado edition; field guides are available for Michigan, New York, the Carolinas, Arizona & New Mexico, and other locations.

This field guide has a brief section at the front that describes how to use the book. It explains "field marks" and shows where to look on the bird for physical identification features; places like the head, wings, and tail. It does not include any information for a beginner birder on how to bird watch.

National Geographic uses the table of contents and two indexes at the back of the book to help in bird identification. The contents page is just a list of primary bird families with no pictures; sections like "Swifts", Shrikes", and "Swallows". If you are a beginner and have no idea what kind of bird you're looking at, this is useless. For an expert this can be a quick way to turn to the appropriate section.

In the first index, birds are grouped by color. You determine the color of the bird you're looking at, look at the small thumbnail images within headings like "Mostly Black" or "Mostly Brown" or "Prominent Yellow", and then turn to the page corresponding to your guess. The second index is just an alphabetical listing of the birds in the book with a small square to check off when you see it.

Color-coded index with images

Each bird in the book is given two pages with a large photo of the bird on the first page, usually in a resting position. The heading of the second page identifies the bird's taxonomic name and general size. It begins with "Field Marks" that describes primary physical coloring. There is a color-coded, seasonal range on a small state map. Paragraphs on "Behavior", "Habitat", and "Local Sites" follow. The description concludes with "Field Notes" that describe a unique characteristic of the bird, often with another image.

Typical bird page

Similar birds are usually described on successive pages. So the American Tree Sparrow is described, you flip the page to the Chipping Sparrow, and then turn to the Vesper Sparrow next. This can be helpful in comparing similar birds to decide on your specific subject, but it's not consistent. The House Sparrow is described 40 pages later in the book, in its own section, right after the Evening Grosbeak, a totally different kind of bird.

The "Birds of Colorado Field Guide" by Stan Tekiela is slightly larger that the National Geographic book, but still pocket-sized. It has a thorough section in the beginning for beginner birdwatchers. Like National Geographic, Tekiela offers field guides for many locations throughout North America.

The first section is "Why Watch Birds in Colorado?", with very specific details about the state and how birds fit in with terrain, habitats, and weather; I assume he includes similar detail for other regional books. The guide includes sections on observation strategies, bird coloring, nest building, and migration.

The first page of the book is an index that lists birds by prominent color, like National Geographic, with similar headings like "mostly gray"or "prominent green" and directs the page for that color. There are no pictures of birds. The corner of each descriptive page corresponds to that color, so that the "mostly black" birds have a black tab on the page and the "mostly black and white" birds have pages with black and white tabs. This helps in thumbing directly to that section once you become familiar with the guide, something National Geographic lacks.

Tekiela's color-coded index

Within each color section, the pages are organized with smaller birds listed first. That can be helpful with identifying some birds because the 6-inch Black Rosy-Finch is at the beginning of the mostly-black section while the 30-inch Turkey Vulture is last. But I find it hard to differentiate between a 5-inch bird and a 6-inch bird, so you have to thumb through every page of the mostly-brown section to find the numerous types of Sparrows.

Like National Geographic, each bird gets two dedicated pages with the first page being a large photo, usually of a resting bird. When the male and female differ greatly, there is often a photo of each. The second page has the scientific name, a small range map, and descriptions of: size, the male, the female, the juvenile, nest, eggs, incubation, fledging, migration, food, and a comparison of similar birds. Helpful information about the bird's activity, song, features, or history are included in a helpful section at the bottom called "Stan's Notes". The book concludes with an alphabetical index with a check box for keeping track of identifications.

Typical Tekiela bird page

Of the three books, I found the "National Geographic Field Guide to Birds" to be both the most difficult and the easiest to use. While being the easiest to carry, it required that I have some basic understanding of the bird I was watching to be able to identify it. Many of the descriptions only included a single photograph and the subject birds were rarely in that pose. The text adequately described prominent coloring, but it was often hard to understand for a beginner (i.e, "Underparts whitish with bold dusky bars; bar on tail in males").

That being said, the primary index was color coded and had a small image of birds so I could thumb to the suggested page with a good feeling I was headed in the right direction. For a birdwatcher who wants to know what that brown bird is, this was the easiest way to find the bird in a guide. I could find the suspect bird quickly, but couldn't always be sure I was reading about the same bird.

"The Birds of Colorado Field Guide" was similarly easy to use but required looking at multiple pages once you found the appropriate color section. The information in the beginning of the book is very good and the layout of each bird's description was easy to read.

This book and the National Geographic book were very similar in their descriptions and include specific location information about where specific birds could be found in Colorado. Surprisingly they each include birds not found in the other, and don't list many birds that probably call Colorado home. For example, Tekiela has a two-page spread on the Olive-Sided Flycatcher while National Geographic has nothing; National Geographic has a brief mention of the Cordilleran Flycatcher in the Field Notes of the Western Wood-Pewee, while Tekiela has nothing. These are the only two Flycatchers mentioned in either book.

"Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America" is easy to use and has both Flycatchers described, along with many more. However, the small national range maps are difficult to read, so I can't quite tell if Hammond's Flycatcher, Dusky Flycatcher, and Gray Flycatcher reside in my part Colorado, but they are definitely birds in this state, something the other two books overlook.

Overall, I give "Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America" the best score for a beginning birder's field guide. The thousands of photos make identification relatively easy and while the birds aren't categorized by their color, the index of basic size, shape, and family is easy to use after a few tries. While it includes many birds that I will never see, it does offer the opportunity to take it on a vacation and identify birds throughout the country. Most important, while I have to wade through birds that are irrelevant it is very inclusive of birds in my region.

The specific descriptions aren't as thorough as the other books, but do include good information for identification. The front sections that talk about binoculars and bird physiology are very important for a beginner. Kaufman's was the best for me to positively identify a bird.

What I found in practical birdwatching was that no single field guide was completely adequate. While Kaufman made final identification surest, it was best to use the books in conjunction with each other for the entire process. National Geographic made initial guesswork easy, then a referral to Kaufman made it definite.

This morning I encountered a woodpecker on our big Ponderosa Pine tree as I fetched the morning paper with Lily. I looked at it closely and took a photo.

Today's woodpecker on the trunk

I began with the National Geographic field guide and, using the quick index, was able to identify it as a Downy Woodpecker within about 30 seconds. Using Stan Tekiela's guide took a few seconds longer and led me to a page for the Hairy Woodpecker; the key factor is the size of the bird, the first characteristic listed in that book. There is also a page for the Downy Woodpecker so I was able to thumb back and forth comparing the two birds and tentatively ID it as a Hairy Woodpecker. Score a point for Tekiela. Tekiela has photos of both male and female birds for each type. National Geographic only has a photo of the female Downy Woodpecker, but has a small image of a male Hairy Woodpecker in the Field Notes at the bottom of the page.

Turning to Kaufman's guide involved thumbing through quite a few pages before finding the woodpeckers, definitely more time than the other two, but only by a few seconds. It has side-by-side male and female photos of both birds. The text for Hairy Woodpecker begins: "Like a bigger version of the Downy, usually less common, requiring bigger trees." It goes on to say, "...can be told from Downy by much longer bill, larger size." The tree it was on is the biggest in the neighborhood and it had a long bill. Kaufman got straight to the most important factors and confirmed my identification. Home Run by Kaufman.

Because "National Geographic Field Guide to Birds", Colorado edition, and "Birds of Colorado Field Guide" by Stan Tekiela are so similar, there are virtually interchangeable. For a beginning birdwatcher who needs to learn about the activity, Tekiela's guide is clearly the best between these two. It has more photos, better explanations, and allows for better comparisons.

There are many other birder books on the market and many field guides. These were recommended to me and I'm comfortable in recommending them to others. When seeking a good field guide, my experience suggests that an easy, color-coded index is best.

Quick, easy-to-read descriptions are ideal. There were many times that I spotted a bird and pulled out my field guides. Often, by the time I finished reading the description, the bird was gone and I couldn't confirm identification. Becoming familiar with a favorite guide and learning to use it quickly would help in those situations.

Regardless of the guide, I suggest you get one and begin birding. It's fun, gets you outside, and keeps you active. Before you know it those little boxes in the back of the book will be checked off in great numbers.

About a year ago I began "birding". Birding is a common term for bird watching as a hobby; birdwatching and birding are interchangeable words. It's all about people paying attention to birds in their environment. Birdwatchers can be called birders. Though the term "birder" is usually reserved for someone who is very serious about birdwatching. In practice, I'm more a birdwatcher than a birder.

Watching a hummingbird

My interest in birding began with the 2011 movie, "The Big Year". It starred Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson as fanatical birders. I liked the movie and the appealing story of a passionate group of people traversing the globe in search of unique birds. Hundreds and hundreds of different species of birds. The movie was a critical and financial failure, but it motivated me to venture into a new arena.

Arriving home from the film, I instantly began paying attention to the birds in my landscape. There were big ones and little ones. Plain ones and colorful ones. I knew the robins and doves and jays, but it wasn't long before I realized I had no clue what I was doing when it came to unfamiliar birds. Without formal training or reference material, I couldn't identify most of what I was seeing.

I researched birder books. My friend Deb recommended a few field guides of birds in my area and I followed her advice. A Field Guide is a very handy book filled with pictures and descriptions to help in identifying birds. Most are pocket-sized guides that can be taken into the field, literally.

I chose three books and decided to compare the attributes of each as I learned about birding. They are: "Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America"; "National Geographic Field Guide to Birds"; and "Birds of Colorado Field Guide" by Stan Tekiela. I discuss each book below. All of the books are written with the assumption that the reader doesn't know what kind of bird they're seeing and the field guide will help identify it.

Three field guides

"Kaufmann Field Guide to Birds of North America" is physically the largest of the field guides and doesn't fit into a jacket pocket easily, though it's fine for a day pack. It includes birds from throughout North America. This means that it has a shorebird section even when its owner resides in the Rocky Mountains. That translates into many wasted pages for an amateur birder like me.

It has a nice section in the front of the book that tells "where, when, and how to find birds." Designed for a beginning birdwatcher, this part explains just about everything you need to know about looking at birds, choosing binoculars, documenting finds, and bird conservation. It's a marvelous section for beginners, while experienced birders can skip this part and use just the reference material.

Kaufmann has the most interesting Table of Contents of the field guides. It's pictorial. The hardest part I found when using all of the field guides was in trying to find the bird I was looking at within the book. When you spot something you want to be able to identify it quickly. Kaufmann groups birds by their primary attributes and shows actual photos of these groups in its table of contents. Groups like "Chicken-like Birds", "Wading Birds", and "Typical Songbirds".

Kaufman's index

When you see a bird you look for a picture of it within these groupings in the front, then turn to the section that offers more information about it. The table of contents color-codes each group and the rest of the book has headers and tabs that match the respective color code.

When you flip to the corresponding section for any given bird, you see many more photos. The book has more than 2,000 images. Each section begins with basic identification factors of the major bird groups in that section. In successive pages you look for the photo that matches the bird you're seeing and then read about it. Generally, the book has water birds first, then large birds, and then progressively smaller birds.

Similar birds are listed together. On one page you'll have descriptions, to include the taxonomic name, of Barn Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Cave Swallow, Bank Swallow, and Northern Rough Winged Swallow. There are photos of each for comparison. One of the best attributes of this field guide is that it often displays photos of juveniles and adults, in resting, flying or nesting postures. That can make identification much easier.

A typical Kaufman page

The text for each bird describes its attributes. Characteristics of size, activity, nesting, and flight are mentioned when appropriate. It highlights distinctive coloring on wings, head, and body to help in identification. For some birds it describes their voices.

For each bird, a small map of the United States depicts its range. The range map shows migration areas and where the bird is in summer and winter. This can be very helpful because identifying birds is harder than it seems. Many look quite similar. If you have a preliminary identification and the range map matches where you are viewing the bird, it helps confirm your guess. However, if you identify a bird and it doesn't normally reside in your location, that means you should continue looking for a bird that does match.

At the end of the book, all of the hundreds of birds represented are listed in alphabetical order with a little box preceding each. When you see the bird you can check the box. This is a very effective way to keep track of your birding.

"The National Geographic Field Guide to Birds" is compact and easily fits into a jacket or your back pocket. National Geographic has many field guides available for different regions of North America. My book is the Colorado edition; field guides are available for Michigan, New York, the Carolinas, Arizona & New Mexico, and other locations.

This field guide has a brief section at the front that describes how to use the book. It explains "field marks" and shows where to look on the bird for physical identification features; places like the head, wings, and tail. It does not include any information for a beginner birder on how to bird watch.

National Geographic uses the table of contents and two indexes at the back of the book to help in bird identification. The contents page is just a list of primary bird families with no pictures; sections like "Swifts", Shrikes", and "Swallows". If you are a beginner and have no idea what kind of bird you're looking at, this is useless. For an expert this can be a quick way to turn to the appropriate section.

In the first index, birds are grouped by color. You determine the color of the bird you're looking at, look at the small thumbnail images within headings like "Mostly Black" or "Mostly Brown" or "Prominent Yellow", and then turn to the page corresponding to your guess. The second index is just an alphabetical listing of the birds in the book with a small square to check off when you see it.

Color-coded index with images

Each bird in the book is given two pages with a large photo of the bird on the first page, usually in a resting position. The heading of the second page identifies the bird's taxonomic name and general size. It begins with "Field Marks" that describes primary physical coloring. There is a color-coded, seasonal range on a small state map. Paragraphs on "Behavior", "Habitat", and "Local Sites" follow. The description concludes with "Field Notes" that describe a unique characteristic of the bird, often with another image.

Typical bird page

Similar birds are usually described on successive pages. So the American Tree Sparrow is described, you flip the page to the Chipping Sparrow, and then turn to the Vesper Sparrow next. This can be helpful in comparing similar birds to decide on your specific subject, but it's not consistent. The House Sparrow is described 40 pages later in the book, in its own section, right after the Evening Grosbeak, a totally different kind of bird.

The "Birds of Colorado Field Guide" by Stan Tekiela is slightly larger that the National Geographic book, but still pocket-sized. It has a thorough section in the beginning for beginner birdwatchers. Like National Geographic, Tekiela offers field guides for many locations throughout North America.

The first section is "Why Watch Birds in Colorado?", with very specific details about the state and how birds fit in with terrain, habitats, and weather; I assume he includes similar detail for other regional books. The guide includes sections on observation strategies, bird coloring, nest building, and migration.

The first page of the book is an index that lists birds by prominent color, like National Geographic, with similar headings like "mostly gray"or "prominent green" and directs the page for that color. There are no pictures of birds. The corner of each descriptive page corresponds to that color, so that the "mostly black" birds have a black tab on the page and the "mostly black and white" birds have pages with black and white tabs. This helps in thumbing directly to that section once you become familiar with the guide, something National Geographic lacks.

Tekiela's color-coded index

Within each color section, the pages are organized with smaller birds listed first. That can be helpful with identifying some birds because the 6-inch Black Rosy-Finch is at the beginning of the mostly-black section while the 30-inch Turkey Vulture is last. But I find it hard to differentiate between a 5-inch bird and a 6-inch bird, so you have to thumb through every page of the mostly-brown section to find the numerous types of Sparrows.

Like National Geographic, each bird gets two dedicated pages with the first page being a large photo, usually of a resting bird. When the male and female differ greatly, there is often a photo of each. The second page has the scientific name, a small range map, and descriptions of: size, the male, the female, the juvenile, nest, eggs, incubation, fledging, migration, food, and a comparison of similar birds. Helpful information about the bird's activity, song, features, or history are included in a helpful section at the bottom called "Stan's Notes". The book concludes with an alphabetical index with a check box for keeping track of identifications.

Typical Tekiela bird page

Of the three books, I found the "National Geographic Field Guide to Birds" to be both the most difficult and the easiest to use. While being the easiest to carry, it required that I have some basic understanding of the bird I was watching to be able to identify it. Many of the descriptions only included a single photograph and the subject birds were rarely in that pose. The text adequately described prominent coloring, but it was often hard to understand for a beginner (i.e, "Underparts whitish with bold dusky bars; bar on tail in males").

That being said, the primary index was color coded and had a small image of birds so I could thumb to the suggested page with a good feeling I was headed in the right direction. For a birdwatcher who wants to know what that brown bird is, this was the easiest way to find the bird in a guide. I could find the suspect bird quickly, but couldn't always be sure I was reading about the same bird.

"The Birds of Colorado Field Guide" was similarly easy to use but required looking at multiple pages once you found the appropriate color section. The information in the beginning of the book is very good and the layout of each bird's description was easy to read.

This book and the National Geographic book were very similar in their descriptions and include specific location information about where specific birds could be found in Colorado. Surprisingly they each include birds not found in the other, and don't list many birds that probably call Colorado home. For example, Tekiela has a two-page spread on the Olive-Sided Flycatcher while National Geographic has nothing; National Geographic has a brief mention of the Cordilleran Flycatcher in the Field Notes of the Western Wood-Pewee, while Tekiela has nothing. These are the only two Flycatchers mentioned in either book.

"Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America" is easy to use and has both Flycatchers described, along with many more. However, the small national range maps are difficult to read, so I can't quite tell if Hammond's Flycatcher, Dusky Flycatcher, and Gray Flycatcher reside in my part Colorado, but they are definitely birds in this state, something the other two books overlook.

Overall, I give "Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America" the best score for a beginning birder's field guide. The thousands of photos make identification relatively easy and while the birds aren't categorized by their color, the index of basic size, shape, and family is easy to use after a few tries. While it includes many birds that I will never see, it does offer the opportunity to take it on a vacation and identify birds throughout the country. Most important, while I have to wade through birds that are irrelevant it is very inclusive of birds in my region.

The specific descriptions aren't as thorough as the other books, but do include good information for identification. The front sections that talk about binoculars and bird physiology are very important for a beginner. Kaufman's was the best for me to positively identify a bird.

What I found in practical birdwatching was that no single field guide was completely adequate. While Kaufman made final identification surest, it was best to use the books in conjunction with each other for the entire process. National Geographic made initial guesswork easy, then a referral to Kaufman made it definite.

This morning I encountered a woodpecker on our big Ponderosa Pine tree as I fetched the morning paper with Lily. I looked at it closely and took a photo.

Today's woodpecker on the trunk

I began with the National Geographic field guide and, using the quick index, was able to identify it as a Downy Woodpecker within about 30 seconds. Using Stan Tekiela's guide took a few seconds longer and led me to a page for the Hairy Woodpecker; the key factor is the size of the bird, the first characteristic listed in that book. There is also a page for the Downy Woodpecker so I was able to thumb back and forth comparing the two birds and tentatively ID it as a Hairy Woodpecker. Score a point for Tekiela. Tekiela has photos of both male and female birds for each type. National Geographic only has a photo of the female Downy Woodpecker, but has a small image of a male Hairy Woodpecker in the Field Notes at the bottom of the page.

Turning to Kaufman's guide involved thumbing through quite a few pages before finding the woodpeckers, definitely more time than the other two, but only by a few seconds. It has side-by-side male and female photos of both birds. The text for Hairy Woodpecker begins: "Like a bigger version of the Downy, usually less common, requiring bigger trees." It goes on to say, "...can be told from Downy by much longer bill, larger size." The tree it was on is the biggest in the neighborhood and it had a long bill. Kaufman got straight to the most important factors and confirmed my identification. Home Run by Kaufman.

Because "National Geographic Field Guide to Birds", Colorado edition, and "Birds of Colorado Field Guide" by Stan Tekiela are so similar, there are virtually interchangeable. For a beginning birdwatcher who needs to learn about the activity, Tekiela's guide is clearly the best between these two. It has more photos, better explanations, and allows for better comparisons.

There are many other birder books on the market and many field guides. These were recommended to me and I'm comfortable in recommending them to others. When seeking a good field guide, my experience suggests that an easy, color-coded index is best.

Quick, easy-to-read descriptions are ideal. There were many times that I spotted a bird and pulled out my field guides. Often, by the time I finished reading the description, the bird was gone and I couldn't confirm identification. Becoming familiar with a favorite guide and learning to use it quickly would help in those situations.

Regardless of the guide, I suggest you get one and begin birding. It's fun, gets you outside, and keeps you active. Before you know it those little boxes in the back of the book will be checked off in great numbers.

Build a Bird House

Like restless people spending a nice spring day looking for a new apartment, many active birds are searching for a new abode in the warming sun. With a little effort you can play landlord and make their search easier. Build a birdhouse.

A store-bought house my wife painted

I understand that not every gardener relishes the idea of encouraging more birds to invade their planting beds. One of the nice things about making a birdhouse is that you can design it for specific birds. You get to choose which birds move into your neighborhood and which ones have to look elsewhere.

Every bird has unique requirements when it comes to their housing. The entrance hole needs to be a certain size, the inner cavern can't be too big or too small, it has to be a certain height above the ground, the proximity to trees or grass or buildings matters. Vary any of these factors and you change the appeal of the house for different birds. By focusing on combining these attributes you can encourage favorite birds to move in.

I'll use the House Wren as an example. Wrens are pretty little song birds common to all of the Americas and can be a great benefit to gardeners. Unlike my nemesis the Magpies which seem to enjoy eating the seeds, berries, and fruit in my garden, wrens primarily eat insects, slugs, and snails. Attracting more wrens improves my pest control plan.

Wrens have very basic housing requirements. A nest made up of twigs, hair, bark, and moss, in a cavity a few meters above the ground is all they need. Building a wooden box and placing it where they can find it is all that's necessary to promote their arrival. So I made some wren bird houses.

I started with a standard wooden fence board that can be found at most big box home and garden centers. A one inch by six inch cedar plank, four feet long (1" x 6" x 4') is enough to make one house. This board will be cut into six pieces, one for each side of the box that becomes the bird house.

There are no fancy cuts or designs. The birds don't care if it matches your home decor or if it has won a design contest. They're just looking for a hole where they can make their nest. This bird house is just a wood box. You can decorate and paint it if you like, but it's not necessary.

The back of the house is 11 inches long; this is the longest piece and provides extra space to secure the bird house to a fencepost or tree. The front and two sides are eight inches long. The floor is four inches deep. The roof is 8 1/2 inches long and provides an overhang to help keep rain out. Lay out the board and mark lines at 11", 8", 8", 8", 4", and 8 1/2" for straight cuts.

On one of the wall pieces a hole is drilled about six inches from the bottom. This is the most important part of building a wren house, or any bird house. The hole needs to be 1 1/8 inch to 1 1/4 inch in diameter and it needs to be a specific height above the floor. Change the size and you change the occupant. If you cut the hole 1 1/2 inches wide you're inviting sparrows, swallows, and bluebirds. Believe it or not, 1/8 of an inch can make a big difference.

At this point you put all the pieces together to form a box. I start by nailing together the floor and one side wall. A pneumatic finish nailer makes the job faster, but finish nails and a hammer will work fine too.

One side nailed to the floor

Turn the piece over and connect the other side. Using exterior wood glue at the joints will make the house stronger.

Glue pieces before nailing

With the two sides and floor together, attach the front piece, being sure to line up and square all edges.

The front piece squares the sides

Attach the back piece allowing for an inch to 1 1/2 inch overlap at both the top and bottom. Holes drilled in this overlap is what you'll use to attach the bird house to a post or tree.

The back has holes drilled for attaching the bird house

To prevent water and moisture buildup inside the house, drill some drainage holes in the bottom. A 1/4 inch drill bit works well.

Drilling drainage holes

For extra ventilation, drill a few holes at the top of each side. After drilling the holes shake out extra sawdust from the inside of the house.

Add ventilation holes

The top piece is not nailed into position. One side or the top needs to be removable so the house can be cleaned out at the end of the season and readied for new occupants the next spring. You can make a pivoting side piece where you put pivot nails at the top of each edge and use a screw to secure the bottom. I find it easier to drill holes in the top and connect the top piece with screws so it can be removed as needed.

Screws hold the top in place

The birdhouse is complete. Mount it in a tree, under the eaves, or on a fence or wall about two to three meters high and hang out a rental sign for wrens.

The finished birdhouse

Bird houses can be made with just about any wood. Pine is cheap and available, but it tends to have sanded surfaces and the rough wood of the cedar I use actually helps baby birds get a grip and climb from the nest. If you use smooth pine, rough up the interior walls.

You don't need to put a perch at the entrance of the house. Most birds can land on the edge of the hole and climb inside without assistance.

Predators are a definite concern with bird houses. If you mount it on a pole or post you might want to attach a metal guard to prevent squirrels, raccoons, or cats from climbing up. You can also buy predator guards that fit around the entrance hole to keep the same animals from reaching in the nest; attaching another piece of wood with the same hole dimensions to double the entrance depth can work too.

You can find many guidelines and plans for birdhouses online and at the library. I found great information and plans at www. 50birds.com. Enter "how to make bird houses" on google and you'll get millions of suggestions.

If you like birds in your garden and want to attract more, consider building a bird house. It's easy, inexpensive, and encourages wildlife in your garden.

Go to www.50birds.com

Like restless people spending a nice spring day looking for a new apartment, many active birds are searching for a new abode in the warming sun. With a little effort you can play landlord and make their search easier. Build a birdhouse.

A store-bought house my wife painted

I understand that not every gardener relishes the idea of encouraging more birds to invade their planting beds. One of the nice things about making a birdhouse is that you can design it for specific birds. You get to choose which birds move into your neighborhood and which ones have to look elsewhere.

Every bird has unique requirements when it comes to their housing. The entrance hole needs to be a certain size, the inner cavern can't be too big or too small, it has to be a certain height above the ground, the proximity to trees or grass or buildings matters. Vary any of these factors and you change the appeal of the house for different birds. By focusing on combining these attributes you can encourage favorite birds to move in.

I'll use the House Wren as an example. Wrens are pretty little song birds common to all of the Americas and can be a great benefit to gardeners. Unlike my nemesis the Magpies which seem to enjoy eating the seeds, berries, and fruit in my garden, wrens primarily eat insects, slugs, and snails. Attracting more wrens improves my pest control plan.

Wrens have very basic housing requirements. A nest made up of twigs, hair, bark, and moss, in a cavity a few meters above the ground is all they need. Building a wooden box and placing it where they can find it is all that's necessary to promote their arrival. So I made some wren bird houses.

I started with a standard wooden fence board that can be found at most big box home and garden centers. A one inch by six inch cedar plank, four feet long (1" x 6" x 4') is enough to make one house. This board will be cut into six pieces, one for each side of the box that becomes the bird house.

There are no fancy cuts or designs. The birds don't care if it matches your home decor or if it has won a design contest. They're just looking for a hole where they can make their nest. This bird house is just a wood box. You can decorate and paint it if you like, but it's not necessary.

The back of the house is 11 inches long; this is the longest piece and provides extra space to secure the bird house to a fencepost or tree. The front and two sides are eight inches long. The floor is four inches deep. The roof is 8 1/2 inches long and provides an overhang to help keep rain out. Lay out the board and mark lines at 11", 8", 8", 8", 4", and 8 1/2" for straight cuts.

On one of the wall pieces a hole is drilled about six inches from the bottom. This is the most important part of building a wren house, or any bird house. The hole needs to be 1 1/8 inch to 1 1/4 inch in diameter and it needs to be a specific height above the floor. Change the size and you change the occupant. If you cut the hole 1 1/2 inches wide you're inviting sparrows, swallows, and bluebirds. Believe it or not, 1/8 of an inch can make a big difference.

At this point you put all the pieces together to form a box. I start by nailing together the floor and one side wall. A pneumatic finish nailer makes the job faster, but finish nails and a hammer will work fine too.

One side nailed to the floor

Turn the piece over and connect the other side. Using exterior wood glue at the joints will make the house stronger.

Glue pieces before nailing

With the two sides and floor together, attach the front piece, being sure to line up and square all edges.

The front piece squares the sides

Attach the back piece allowing for an inch to 1 1/2 inch overlap at both the top and bottom. Holes drilled in this overlap is what you'll use to attach the bird house to a post or tree.

The back has holes drilled for attaching the bird house

To prevent water and moisture buildup inside the house, drill some drainage holes in the bottom. A 1/4 inch drill bit works well.

Drilling drainage holes

For extra ventilation, drill a few holes at the top of each side. After drilling the holes shake out extra sawdust from the inside of the house.

Add ventilation holes

The top piece is not nailed into position. One side or the top needs to be removable so the house can be cleaned out at the end of the season and readied for new occupants the next spring. You can make a pivoting side piece where you put pivot nails at the top of each edge and use a screw to secure the bottom. I find it easier to drill holes in the top and connect the top piece with screws so it can be removed as needed.

Screws hold the top in place

The birdhouse is complete. Mount it in a tree, under the eaves, or on a fence or wall about two to three meters high and hang out a rental sign for wrens.

The finished birdhouse

Bird houses can be made with just about any wood. Pine is cheap and available, but it tends to have sanded surfaces and the rough wood of the cedar I use actually helps baby birds get a grip and climb from the nest. If you use smooth pine, rough up the interior walls.

You don't need to put a perch at the entrance of the house. Most birds can land on the edge of the hole and climb inside without assistance.

Predators are a definite concern with bird houses. If you mount it on a pole or post you might want to attach a metal guard to prevent squirrels, raccoons, or cats from climbing up. You can also buy predator guards that fit around the entrance hole to keep the same animals from reaching in the nest; attaching another piece of wood with the same hole dimensions to double the entrance depth can work too.

You can find many guidelines and plans for birdhouses online and at the library. I found great information and plans at www. 50birds.com. Enter "how to make bird houses" on google and you'll get millions of suggestions.

If you like birds in your garden and want to attract more, consider building a bird house. It's easy, inexpensive, and encourages wildlife in your garden.

Go to www.50birds.com

The Birds Are Talking

Spring is in the air. Literally. The crisp, cold silence of frigid winter mornings has been replaced by the murmurs of awakening wildlife. The sounds of spring mornings are slipping into the winter landscape. Snow crunches underfoot and visible, chilled breath still leads the way as I venture out for the daily newspaper, but the environment has changed.

A few days ago a woodpecker tapped insistently in the elderly pine tree above my head. The beetle larvae must be stirring and he was seeking a tasty, nutritious breakfast. My presence didn't deter his staccato beat. I paused in an effort to see where he was and tried unsuccessfully to recall hearing a woodpecker so active so early in the year.

Yesterday a chirping conversation floated through the crisp breeze. Two, maybe three, birds were sharing their locations or diets or political views with their friends and relatives in the neighborhood. The chilly start to the day didn't seem to affect their enthusiasm.

This morning muffled avian conversations drifted through the closed windows. The same birds, different birds, I don't know; I'm still working on improving my visual identification and verbal cues aren't in my repertoire yet. But it's been months since I heard birds singing while I was still in bed.

The wild world is waking up and the vibrant sounds and sights are heralding spring. Forget the groundhog's shadow, this is credible evidence that winter is waning. It may be a few weeks or more until I see my first Robin, a sure sign of spring, but I'm encouraged by the sounds around me.

As partial preparation for the explosion of life to come, I'm focusing on the birds. My wife and I checked out a few books on birdhouses from the library. We've dabbled in birdhouses before and she painted a few to brighten the yard last year, never expecting that any bird would ever move in.

My wife's project last year

Both of us were quite surprised when a late-season storm blew the house out of the tree it rested in. We weren't surprised by the storm, but rather by the contents of the house after it broke open upon impact with the ground. Hair, twigs, and yarn filled the space. It had been occupied.

The birdhouse stuffed with a nest

This year we'll welcome the birds with new homes all around our property. There's a lot more to birdhouses than buying a basic model at the craft store. Size of the structure, size of the hole, and location of house vary by species. I'll write more about that soon. We thought we had a little time to prepare, but based on the awakening morning cacophony the birds will be looking for new homes soon.

This is exciting. Many gardeners strive for expressive sights in their gardens. The textures and colors and shapes of plants. Shifting some of the focus to sound opens up a whole new way of enjoying a garden space. Learning to bring the voices of animals into the landscape allows another of our remarkable senses to enjoy our world.

We're lucky that we have a neighborhood that encourages the natural expression of birds. Through our efforts we hope to bring some of them a little closer to us so we can share in their communication. It begins with an awareness that they are there and that they have a voice.

It's sunny and warm today with snow and cold forecast for tomorrow. It will be some time before all of the current snow drifts have melted, especially with more flakes to come. The birds don't seem to be concerned by that so I won't be either. They've told me that spring is on the way.

They have more experience than me when it comes to seasonal preparation and expectation. The word is out in bird society that it's time to wake up and welcome spring. I'm listening.

Spring is in the air. Literally. The crisp, cold silence of frigid winter mornings has been replaced by the murmurs of awakening wildlife. The sounds of spring mornings are slipping into the winter landscape. Snow crunches underfoot and visible, chilled breath still leads the way as I venture out for the daily newspaper, but the environment has changed.

A few days ago a woodpecker tapped insistently in the elderly pine tree above my head. The beetle larvae must be stirring and he was seeking a tasty, nutritious breakfast. My presence didn't deter his staccato beat. I paused in an effort to see where he was and tried unsuccessfully to recall hearing a woodpecker so active so early in the year.

Yesterday a chirping conversation floated through the crisp breeze. Two, maybe three, birds were sharing their locations or diets or political views with their friends and relatives in the neighborhood. The chilly start to the day didn't seem to affect their enthusiasm.

This morning muffled avian conversations drifted through the closed windows. The same birds, different birds, I don't know; I'm still working on improving my visual identification and verbal cues aren't in my repertoire yet. But it's been months since I heard birds singing while I was still in bed.

The wild world is waking up and the vibrant sounds and sights are heralding spring. Forget the groundhog's shadow, this is credible evidence that winter is waning. It may be a few weeks or more until I see my first Robin, a sure sign of spring, but I'm encouraged by the sounds around me.

As partial preparation for the explosion of life to come, I'm focusing on the birds. My wife and I checked out a few books on birdhouses from the library. We've dabbled in birdhouses before and she painted a few to brighten the yard last year, never expecting that any bird would ever move in.

My wife's project last year

Both of us were quite surprised when a late-season storm blew the house out of the tree it rested in. We weren't surprised by the storm, but rather by the contents of the house after it broke open upon impact with the ground. Hair, twigs, and yarn filled the space. It had been occupied.

The birdhouse stuffed with a nest

This year we'll welcome the birds with new homes all around our property. There's a lot more to birdhouses than buying a basic model at the craft store. Size of the structure, size of the hole, and location of house vary by species. I'll write more about that soon. We thought we had a little time to prepare, but based on the awakening morning cacophony the birds will be looking for new homes soon.

This is exciting. Many gardeners strive for expressive sights in their gardens. The textures and colors and shapes of plants. Shifting some of the focus to sound opens up a whole new way of enjoying a garden space. Learning to bring the voices of animals into the landscape allows another of our remarkable senses to enjoy our world.

We're lucky that we have a neighborhood that encourages the natural expression of birds. Through our efforts we hope to bring some of them a little closer to us so we can share in their communication. It begins with an awareness that they are there and that they have a voice.

It's sunny and warm today with snow and cold forecast for tomorrow. It will be some time before all of the current snow drifts have melted, especially with more flakes to come. The birds don't seem to be concerned by that so I won't be either. They've told me that spring is on the way.

They have more experience than me when it comes to seasonal preparation and expectation. The word is out in bird society that it's time to wake up and welcome spring. I'm listening.

Beginning Bird Watching

It's not often that home gardeners can compare themselves to Steve Martin, Jack Black, or Owen Wilson. The three actors recently starred as obsessive and competitive bird watchers in the film, "The Big Year", based on the book by Mark Obmascik. My wife and I enjoyed the movie recently and as we walked out of the theater I thought, I can do that. Not the actor part, but the bird part. They portray individuals who are fanatical about bird watching, and the concept of becoming a person who not only enjoys watching birds but seeks out new ones and keeps track of the experience is oddly appealing to me.

I've written about birds in the garden and some of the ways you can attract them and support their habitats. In my opinion, a garden isn't complete without the frenzied activities of birds, insects, and other wildlife. To date my bird knowledge is quite basic with a focus on the Robins, Doves, Jays, and Magpies that are easy to identify. Often a new bird makes a stopover in my garden and often I wonder what it is.

A Broad-Tailed Hummingbird

When I wrote about birds eating seeds in my garden last winter, it took over an hour for me to find an online source that was able to identify some of them as Common Grackles, a bird with which I was totally unfamiliar. Now I'm afraid that they may have been European Starlings.

That's because I'm the proud owner of "National Geographic Field Guide to Birds," the Colorado edition. My friend Deb suggested this book and it's a great addition to my gardening library. It is filled with beautiful photos of birds that inhabit my region and includes wonderful information about their behavior, habitats, and local sites. Did you know that the Common Raven is the largest perching bird in North America and is monogamous for life? I think that's interesting.

Gardeners have an inherent interest in nature or they wouldn't venture outside to practice their hobby or passion. Bird watching can make gardening more enjoyable. The National Geographic book points out, "Looking for and identifying birds will sharpen and heighten your perceptions... and you'll find that you notice everything else more acutely -- the terrain, the season, the weather, the plant life, other animal life."

Gardeners can miss the forest for the trees. We can become so focused on individual plants that we lose sight of the greater picture and how a our plants fit into nature as a whole. Taking a step back to look at and identify birds can help us identify our role, and our garden's role, on nature's stage.

I don't know how many of the 183 birds listed in the book visit my gardens on a regular basis. The field guide can fit in my pocket and includes a small box to check off birds as I see them so I can keep track. I'll never come close to observing the 745 birds recorded by the "winner" of the bird watching challenge in "The Big Year", but I've set a personal goal of 50 by the end of next year.

The National Geographic book's assessment of heightened perception through bird watching is accurate. To see a bird you have to watch the territory that it frequents. That means looking at trees, and bushes, and flowers, and grass. I do that as a gardener already, but now it is with more focus. When I see a rustle in a tree I wonder if it's a bird or a leaf. If it's a bird I watch it's activity, but if it's a leaf I find that I'm looking closer to identify it's shape and color and health.

There's no requirement for gardeners to know more about birds than the fundamental role they play in pollination, insect control, and seed propagation. Bird watching as a specified goal is a level or two above basic gardening activity. Learning the Linnaean taxonomy of plants is a similar goal. Adding a challenge to gardening can make it more interesting, even exciting.

Winter is a good time to kindle new interests in gardening. Physical activities are lessened which makes the season ideal for an increase in mental and intellectual activities. Educating myself about birds in my garden will help increase my awareness of the habitat and landscape of my gardens and a knowledgeable gardener is a better gardener.

A White-Crowned Sparrow in winter

National Geographic has a number of field guides for bird watching in many regions of North America. They also have a book for "Complete Birds of the World." I purchased a few other bird watching guides and I'll share my experiences as I determine which ones work best for me. My efforts won't be as a competitive bird watcher but as a gardener who is interested in birds.

Of course I'll take photos when I can. Birds are fascinating to observe and as seen in these bird guides they're usually quite photogenic. This should be a fun activity to occupy my time in winter and through the next year. How about you? What will you do to keep your gardening mind active?

It's not often that home gardeners can compare themselves to Steve Martin, Jack Black, or Owen Wilson. The three actors recently starred as obsessive and competitive bird watchers in the film, "The Big Year", based on the book by Mark Obmascik. My wife and I enjoyed the movie recently and as we walked out of the theater I thought, I can do that. Not the actor part, but the bird part. They portray individuals who are fanatical about bird watching, and the concept of becoming a person who not only enjoys watching birds but seeks out new ones and keeps track of the experience is oddly appealing to me.

I've written about birds in the garden and some of the ways you can attract them and support their habitats. In my opinion, a garden isn't complete without the frenzied activities of birds, insects, and other wildlife. To date my bird knowledge is quite basic with a focus on the Robins, Doves, Jays, and Magpies that are easy to identify. Often a new bird makes a stopover in my garden and often I wonder what it is.

A Broad-Tailed Hummingbird

When I wrote about birds eating seeds in my garden last winter, it took over an hour for me to find an online source that was able to identify some of them as Common Grackles, a bird with which I was totally unfamiliar. Now I'm afraid that they may have been European Starlings.

That's because I'm the proud owner of "National Geographic Field Guide to Birds," the Colorado edition. My friend Deb suggested this book and it's a great addition to my gardening library. It is filled with beautiful photos of birds that inhabit my region and includes wonderful information about their behavior, habitats, and local sites. Did you know that the Common Raven is the largest perching bird in North America and is monogamous for life? I think that's interesting.

Gardeners have an inherent interest in nature or they wouldn't venture outside to practice their hobby or passion. Bird watching can make gardening more enjoyable. The National Geographic book points out, "Looking for and identifying birds will sharpen and heighten your perceptions... and you'll find that you notice everything else more acutely -- the terrain, the season, the weather, the plant life, other animal life."

Gardeners can miss the forest for the trees. We can become so focused on individual plants that we lose sight of the greater picture and how a our plants fit into nature as a whole. Taking a step back to look at and identify birds can help us identify our role, and our garden's role, on nature's stage.

I don't know how many of the 183 birds listed in the book visit my gardens on a regular basis. The field guide can fit in my pocket and includes a small box to check off birds as I see them so I can keep track. I'll never come close to observing the 745 birds recorded by the "winner" of the bird watching challenge in "The Big Year", but I've set a personal goal of 50 by the end of next year.

The National Geographic book's assessment of heightened perception through bird watching is accurate. To see a bird you have to watch the territory that it frequents. That means looking at trees, and bushes, and flowers, and grass. I do that as a gardener already, but now it is with more focus. When I see a rustle in a tree I wonder if it's a bird or a leaf. If it's a bird I watch it's activity, but if it's a leaf I find that I'm looking closer to identify it's shape and color and health.

There's no requirement for gardeners to know more about birds than the fundamental role they play in pollination, insect control, and seed propagation. Bird watching as a specified goal is a level or two above basic gardening activity. Learning the Linnaean taxonomy of plants is a similar goal. Adding a challenge to gardening can make it more interesting, even exciting.

Winter is a good time to kindle new interests in gardening. Physical activities are lessened which makes the season ideal for an increase in mental and intellectual activities. Educating myself about birds in my garden will help increase my awareness of the habitat and landscape of my gardens and a knowledgeable gardener is a better gardener.

A White-Crowned Sparrow in winter

National Geographic has a number of field guides for bird watching in many regions of North America. They also have a book for "Complete Birds of the World." I purchased a few other bird watching guides and I'll share my experiences as I determine which ones work best for me. My efforts won't be as a competitive bird watcher but as a gardener who is interested in birds.

Of course I'll take photos when I can. Birds are fascinating to observe and as seen in these bird guides they're usually quite photogenic. This should be a fun activity to occupy my time in winter and through the next year. How about you? What will you do to keep your gardening mind active?

Using Bird Netting

Luring birds to my garden to observe them among my flowers and trees is a major activity of mine. Watching through the kitchen window, we watch the finches and jays feeding on their respective seed as we enjoy our own food and wine. The hummingbirds bring life and vitality to the garden and we never tire of their presence. I do what I can to make them all welcome, but draw the line when it comes to my strawberries and raspberries and bird netting is the key.

Who wouldn't want to protect these strawberries

Some birds, particularly the magpies (those @*%#! magpies), enjoy a banquet in my garden. They peck tomatoes and pluck seeds. When given a chance they'll gorge themselves on every piece of ripe fruit on stem, vine, or branch. To keep them from the fruit that I prefer to eat myself, I use bird netting as a barrier.

Bird netting is simply a plastic or fiber mesh net that is spread over a plant for the purpose of preventing access by birds. The openings in common nets are typically 5/8 or 3/4 of an inch square, too small for any bird's body to penetrate. It is very effective and very economical for typical bird pests. Heavy duty netting of 1" or 2" squares is more expensive, but will stand up to larger, heavier, and persistent birds.

A simple plastic, metal, or wood frame is necessary to drape the netting over. If you lay the netting directly on the plants you want to protect, the birds will be able to stand on it and peck through the openings, even the small ones. When supported by a frame, the netting acts as an efficient obstacle.

For low plants the frame just needs to be higher than the plants. In my strawberry bed I bent five-feet long sections of black PVC tubing between the sides; the ends of the tubing are inserted over 18-inch long pieces of metal rebar sunk into the soil. A length of bird netting covers the entire bed from end to end. It's important that all the sides are enclosed. I use 3-inch metal garden staples to hold the netting flush with the ground.

Bird netting over the strawberries

The birds will still desire the fruit and may try to get it even when they see the netting, but when they meet the resistance of the netting they'll eventually give up. They can be persistent though and are smart enough to find gaps. I've discovered birds on the inside of the netting; they found a way in but not a way out. That's why it's important to have all edges secured flush to the soil or mulch surface.

The white PVC pipe that I used to make mini greenhouses is ideally suited to support bird netting (see my blog, "Extending Your Growing Season with Mini Geenhouses"). In early spring it supports plastic sheets to warm the bed, in late summer it supports bird netting to protect your harvest, in the fall it supports plastic again to extend the season.

Taller or vining plants need larger framing. For my raspberries I built a barrier of metal fenceposts and four-feet high fencing. This is a strong frame primarily to keep the deer out, but it serves a secondary purpose of supporting bird netting over the top. The deer will eat the tips of the raspberries before the flowers develop and the birds will eat the fruit so both have to be dealt with. It's a fully enclosed box that I can open but the birds and deer can't.

Raspberries are safe with fencing and netting

Bird netting is ideal for birds and is well suited for keeping other garden pests at bay as well. Last year I planted young apple and cherry trees and was actually surprised when I found their tips eaten by deer. This year when I added a new plum tree I was prepared. I buried the end of a 10'-long PVC pipe next to the tree at planting. It supports bird netting that fully encloses the tree like a dainty parasol. Around the base is a ring of 4' metal fencing to which the net is attached. I'm not worried about birds at this point because the tree isn't producing fruit, but this has proven effective against deer. The fencing is occasionally pushed out of place, apparently by a deer trying to move it away, but the light, plastic netting has kept the young branches from being eaten. When the tree is bigger, netting will protect the fruit.

The plum tree bird netting in place

On my deck I wrapped a piece of netting around a tomato plant in a pot. My Yellow Lab, Lily, was fond of pulling off the green tomatoes to play with (see my blog, "Dogs and Tomatoes"). The netting now keeps her away from the tomatoes, allowing them time to ripen. Netting is also effective against cats, squirrels, and other small animals.

Bird netting comes in a variety of sizes for easy and varied uses. Gardener's Supply Company offers netting of 7' x 7' and 14' x 14' that can easily be thrown over a small fruit tree or a good-size garden plot. I use a roll 7' x 100' that I purchased from a major home improvement store; it is easily cut to fit garden beds and different size hoops. You can also find bird netting of 14' x 100' or 50' x 50' or even 30' x 500' online.

At some point I imagine a roof of netting over my entire garden. I've seen similar setups by other gardeners. A fully enclosed garden may seem extreme and sterile but insects can still get through the netting for pollination and it allows sun and rain in. I'm getting annoyed at the number of tomatoes, beans, squash, and corn that fall prey to birds, especially those @*%#! magpies, and a single roof of netting seems like a nice plan.

For now I cover a few of the beds and trees. I could cover the tomatoes but the indeterminate varieties grow tall and beyond the confines of the bed. I've tried netting before but the tomato vines grow through it and become a tangled mess. That makes harvesting the ripe tomatoes quite difficult. I know selective pruning and a very large net support system can solve the problem, but I'm not ready to put that much effort into the solution.

For garden beds with compact and controlled plantings, bird netting can easily protect the fruit until ready for human harvest. It lasts for years and can be reused. I try to label the netting when I roll it up at the end of the season so I know which bed it is cut to fit. A roll 100' feet long is enough to cover about eight of my beds, allowing for overlap on the ends.

I don't put netting over my flower beds or bushes. I want the hummingbirds to feed on the flower nectar and don't mind birds eating stray seeds. They rarely damage any of those beds. If the deer become too much of a nuisance it may be necessary to shelter some plants, but I don't have that concern yet. For birds, unless you're trying to protect a prized flower or plant, netting is seldom needed outside a vegetable garden.

If you have a bird problem, or any other large garden pest, and haven't tried bird netting, consider it. For little cost and effort your problem could be solved.

Luring birds to my garden to observe them among my flowers and trees is a major activity of mine. Watching through the kitchen window, we watch the finches and jays feeding on their respective seed as we enjoy our own food and wine. The hummingbirds bring life and vitality to the garden and we never tire of their presence. I do what I can to make them all welcome, but draw the line when it comes to my strawberries and raspberries and bird netting is the key.

Who wouldn't want to protect these strawberries

Some birds, particularly the magpies (those @*%#! magpies), enjoy a banquet in my garden. They peck tomatoes and pluck seeds. When given a chance they'll gorge themselves on every piece of ripe fruit on stem, vine, or branch. To keep them from the fruit that I prefer to eat myself, I use bird netting as a barrier.

Bird netting is simply a plastic or fiber mesh net that is spread over a plant for the purpose of preventing access by birds. The openings in common nets are typically 5/8 or 3/4 of an inch square, too small for any bird's body to penetrate. It is very effective and very economical for typical bird pests. Heavy duty netting of 1" or 2" squares is more expensive, but will stand up to larger, heavier, and persistent birds.

A simple plastic, metal, or wood frame is necessary to drape the netting over. If you lay the netting directly on the plants you want to protect, the birds will be able to stand on it and peck through the openings, even the small ones. When supported by a frame, the netting acts as an efficient obstacle.

For low plants the frame just needs to be higher than the plants. In my strawberry bed I bent five-feet long sections of black PVC tubing between the sides; the ends of the tubing are inserted over 18-inch long pieces of metal rebar sunk into the soil. A length of bird netting covers the entire bed from end to end. It's important that all the sides are enclosed. I use 3-inch metal garden staples to hold the netting flush with the ground.

Bird netting over the strawberries

The birds will still desire the fruit and may try to get it even when they see the netting, but when they meet the resistance of the netting they'll eventually give up. They can be persistent though and are smart enough to find gaps. I've discovered birds on the inside of the netting; they found a way in but not a way out. That's why it's important to have all edges secured flush to the soil or mulch surface.

The white PVC pipe that I used to make mini greenhouses is ideally suited to support bird netting (see my blog, "Extending Your Growing Season with Mini Geenhouses"). In early spring it supports plastic sheets to warm the bed, in late summer it supports bird netting to protect your harvest, in the fall it supports plastic again to extend the season.

Taller or vining plants need larger framing. For my raspberries I built a barrier of metal fenceposts and four-feet high fencing. This is a strong frame primarily to keep the deer out, but it serves a secondary purpose of supporting bird netting over the top. The deer will eat the tips of the raspberries before the flowers develop and the birds will eat the fruit so both have to be dealt with. It's a fully enclosed box that I can open but the birds and deer can't.

Raspberries are safe with fencing and netting

Bird netting is ideal for birds and is well suited for keeping other garden pests at bay as well. Last year I planted young apple and cherry trees and was actually surprised when I found their tips eaten by deer. This year when I added a new plum tree I was prepared. I buried the end of a 10'-long PVC pipe next to the tree at planting. It supports bird netting that fully encloses the tree like a dainty parasol. Around the base is a ring of 4' metal fencing to which the net is attached. I'm not worried about birds at this point because the tree isn't producing fruit, but this has proven effective against deer. The fencing is occasionally pushed out of place, apparently by a deer trying to move it away, but the light, plastic netting has kept the young branches from being eaten. When the tree is bigger, netting will protect the fruit.

The plum tree bird netting in place

On my deck I wrapped a piece of netting around a tomato plant in a pot. My Yellow Lab, Lily, was fond of pulling off the green tomatoes to play with (see my blog, "Dogs and Tomatoes"). The netting now keeps her away from the tomatoes, allowing them time to ripen. Netting is also effective against cats, squirrels, and other small animals.

Bird netting comes in a variety of sizes for easy and varied uses. Gardener's Supply Company offers netting of 7' x 7' and 14' x 14' that can easily be thrown over a small fruit tree or a good-size garden plot. I use a roll 7' x 100' that I purchased from a major home improvement store; it is easily cut to fit garden beds and different size hoops. You can also find bird netting of 14' x 100' or 50' x 50' or even 30' x 500' online.

At some point I imagine a roof of netting over my entire garden. I've seen similar setups by other gardeners. A fully enclosed garden may seem extreme and sterile but insects can still get through the netting for pollination and it allows sun and rain in. I'm getting annoyed at the number of tomatoes, beans, squash, and corn that fall prey to birds, especially those @*%#! magpies, and a single roof of netting seems like a nice plan.

For now I cover a few of the beds and trees. I could cover the tomatoes but the indeterminate varieties grow tall and beyond the confines of the bed. I've tried netting before but the tomato vines grow through it and become a tangled mess. That makes harvesting the ripe tomatoes quite difficult. I know selective pruning and a very large net support system can solve the problem, but I'm not ready to put that much effort into the solution.

For garden beds with compact and controlled plantings, bird netting can easily protect the fruit until ready for human harvest. It lasts for years and can be reused. I try to label the netting when I roll it up at the end of the season so I know which bed it is cut to fit. A roll 100' feet long is enough to cover about eight of my beds, allowing for overlap on the ends.

I don't put netting over my flower beds or bushes. I want the hummingbirds to feed on the flower nectar and don't mind birds eating stray seeds. They rarely damage any of those beds. If the deer become too much of a nuisance it may be necessary to shelter some plants, but I don't have that concern yet. For birds, unless you're trying to protect a prized flower or plant, netting is seldom needed outside a vegetable garden.

If you have a bird problem, or any other large garden pest, and haven't tried bird netting, consider it. For little cost and effort your problem could be solved.

Hummingbird Photos

Hummingbirds are familiar visitors to my gardens. I've written about them before and will again because I, like most gardeners, find them fascinating. And like so many, I've wanted to photograph the tiny creatures in flight to preserve the image that we find so appealing. That desire is a daunting task because of their fast profile and hesitancy to sit still for a portrait.

The key, not surprisingly, is patience. Often when I saw the birds cavorting near the feeder, I would run inside for the camera and return expecting a quick photograph. It isn't surprising that the hummingbirds were off patrolling another part of their realm by that time. With no photo opportunity I would turn my attention to another section of my garden.

This past weekend I finally achieved my goal. I spotted a small female perched in the branches of the Ponderosa pine tree that holds our primary feeder. This time I quietly backpedaled to the house and softly approached after quickly retrieving the camera.

A hummingbird watching me warily

She was still in the tree, though staying on the opposite side from my position. I resolved to stay put, as frozen as possible, straining to blend in to the the landscape as though I was a permanent fixture. Tentatively, after a lengthy wait, she flew to closer branches, still wary of the new garden statue. It was about 15 minutes before she hovered in front of the feeder.

I snapped a picture. Then another and another. The statue was slowly moving its arms but she didn't seem to mind as she slurped her tongue into the nectar. I lowered the camera to adjust the shutter speed hoping to freeze the wings in mid-flap when her more colorful mate appeared. His arrival sent her away and the flash of unexpected iridescence caused me to raise the camera a little too quickly. He was gone. I froze and waited another 10 minutes or so, but neither returned.

The crowning achievement

Anxious to see the results, I loaded the photos on my computer and was thrilled and amazed to find a few spectacular images. No longer reliant on National Geographic or Audubon magazines, there were hummingbirds from my garden now in my photo library.

Over the course of two days I was able to take a number of pictures of hummingbirds in the trees, at the feeder, and resting on the wire fence. I used a standard Canon digital camera with a zoom feature, nothing fancy. Any birds beyond about six or eight feet away tended to be out of focus or too fuzzy once I enlarged the image. And the images need to be enlarged to see the birds; they are pretty tiny after all.

A different bird on day two

The excitement of catching such a thrilling sight on film (or pixels as it is) is invigorating. With a telephoto lens, tripod, and lots of patience I could achieve magazine quality images, but for me, for now, these simple photos are a great achievement. By being a little patient I captured a unique moment in my garden. A moment that symbolizes much of how and why I garden.

Patience in gardening is something I've written about before. I plant grapes and asparagus knowing it will be three years before I can harvest anything. I plant bareroot fruit trees knowing that many more years will pass before they fill with fruit. I have plans for what I expect my garden to be in five years, and beyond. To me gardening is about the process and the journey.

Planting bird-friendly flowers and hanging seed and liquid feeders offer birds food opportunities, but it doesn't guarantee their imminent arrival. With time they will come. We sit near the garden and enjoy their aerial dances and plumage displays. Each year we see one or two new species that we hadn't seen before.

Now I'm ready to record their populations for posterity. If a hummingbird can be captured in a photo, so too can the finches, doves, jays, and the many others that give us enjoyment. I've snapped a few bird photos before but with little purpose. The possibility of success gives the effort new life. It's not always easy, but great rewards seldom are.

Hummingbirds are a favorite part of my garden, now more so. We wake with their trilling and always look when we see the flash of their flight. The simple notion of them staying still long enough to catch with a camera has awakened other gardening and photographic desires. It's amazing what a great feeling such a small creature can instill.

Hummingbirds are familiar visitors to my gardens. I've written about them before and will again because I, like most gardeners, find them fascinating. And like so many, I've wanted to photograph the tiny creatures in flight to preserve the image that we find so appealing. That desire is a daunting task because of their fast profile and hesitancy to sit still for a portrait.

The key, not surprisingly, is patience. Often when I saw the birds cavorting near the feeder, I would run inside for the camera and return expecting a quick photograph. It isn't surprising that the hummingbirds were off patrolling another part of their realm by that time. With no photo opportunity I would turn my attention to another section of my garden.

This past weekend I finally achieved my goal. I spotted a small female perched in the branches of the Ponderosa pine tree that holds our primary feeder. This time I quietly backpedaled to the house and softly approached after quickly retrieving the camera.

A hummingbird watching me warily

She was still in the tree, though staying on the opposite side from my position. I resolved to stay put, as frozen as possible, straining to blend in to the the landscape as though I was a permanent fixture. Tentatively, after a lengthy wait, she flew to closer branches, still wary of the new garden statue. It was about 15 minutes before she hovered in front of the feeder.

I snapped a picture. Then another and another. The statue was slowly moving its arms but she didn't seem to mind as she slurped her tongue into the nectar. I lowered the camera to adjust the shutter speed hoping to freeze the wings in mid-flap when her more colorful mate appeared. His arrival sent her away and the flash of unexpected iridescence caused me to raise the camera a little too quickly. He was gone. I froze and waited another 10 minutes or so, but neither returned.

The crowning achievement

Anxious to see the results, I loaded the photos on my computer and was thrilled and amazed to find a few spectacular images. No longer reliant on National Geographic or Audubon magazines, there were hummingbirds from my garden now in my photo library.

Over the course of two days I was able to take a number of pictures of hummingbirds in the trees, at the feeder, and resting on the wire fence. I used a standard Canon digital camera with a zoom feature, nothing fancy. Any birds beyond about six or eight feet away tended to be out of focus or too fuzzy once I enlarged the image. And the images need to be enlarged to see the birds; they are pretty tiny after all.

A different bird on day two

The excitement of catching such a thrilling sight on film (or pixels as it is) is invigorating. With a telephoto lens, tripod, and lots of patience I could achieve magazine quality images, but for me, for now, these simple photos are a great achievement. By being a little patient I captured a unique moment in my garden. A moment that symbolizes much of how and why I garden.

Patience in gardening is something I've written about before. I plant grapes and asparagus knowing it will be three years before I can harvest anything. I plant bareroot fruit trees knowing that many more years will pass before they fill with fruit. I have plans for what I expect my garden to be in five years, and beyond. To me gardening is about the process and the journey.

Planting bird-friendly flowers and hanging seed and liquid feeders offer birds food opportunities, but it doesn't guarantee their imminent arrival. With time they will come. We sit near the garden and enjoy their aerial dances and plumage displays. Each year we see one or two new species that we hadn't seen before.

Now I'm ready to record their populations for posterity. If a hummingbird can be captured in a photo, so too can the finches, doves, jays, and the many others that give us enjoyment. I've snapped a few bird photos before but with little purpose. The possibility of success gives the effort new life. It's not always easy, but great rewards seldom are.

Hummingbirds are a favorite part of my garden, now more so. We wake with their trilling and always look when we see the flash of their flight. The simple notion of them staying still long enough to catch with a camera has awakened other gardening and photographic desires. It's amazing what a great feeling such a small creature can instill.

Hummingbirds in the Garden

Gardeners around the world grow colorful flowers and plants to attract birds to their landscapes. But it is only in the Americas where hummingbirds grace gardens with their graceful flitting and flying. Smaller than a ping pong ball and scarcely heavier, hummingbirds enthrall lucky observers with their hovering and sideways and backward flight as they gambol among the nectar-filled flowers.

Our hummingbirds have been back for a few weeks. They're migratory and spend their winters in the warm regions of Mexico and Central America. Increasingly, some species have taken to the U.S. Southwest and are choosing to vacation there while cold and snow pummel the rest of the continent. With the arrival of warm weather, they again venture north to breed in more temperate regions. Colorado is one of the many places where hummingbirds frolic in the summer.

Not all hummingbirds migrate, but the ones that do are welcome in my garden. This year my wife was more enthusiastic than I about preparing the feeders. While I was focused on getting the new garden beds ready for planting, she was looking forward to being entertained by the tiny birds.

We removed the feeders from storage, cleaned them up, and hung them near the garden, filled with sugar water. One part sugar to four parts water is the simple formula. They don't need fancy red food coloring, and that is actually discouraged. A splash of red or yellow on the feeder helps attract them, but once they realize there is a free, nutritious meal, they'll be back regardless of the color.

Our hummingbird feeders

Hummingbirds are very smart and are supposed to have amazing memories. They have an average lifespan of five years but can live to about ten. We have no doubt that the birds in the garden now are the same ones from last year. They know a good thing.

Last year I identified the birds we see most often as Rufous hummingbirds. That may be an easy guess because Rufous hummingbirds are the most widely distributed of the hummingbirds in North America. A primary reason I decided on that identification was because of the unique sound our birds make as they patrol the garden and attack interlopers. There is a beautiful trilling sound generated by their feathers as they fly through the air. I've seen it described as a "metallic whining" and that is mostly accurate, but it doesn't adequately describe the vibrant, quavering pitch.

Hummingbirds are extremely difficult to see in flight, but with the distinctive melody of their wings betraying their position, we're able to watch as they climb and dive and quickly stop on a branch or line.

The aerial dogfights as a male protects his territory are fascinating. Last summer I was captivated by three males as they soared through simultaneous combat, with high-speed dives and precision mid-air passes. I didn't see any collisions and couldn't tell if there was contact, but after about 15 minutes one bird sat victorious on the power line above the fence. The other two were banished. Whether he was the proud defender or a cocky invader, it was his earned privilege to oversee the land.

The feeders are hanging from a pine tree to reward such bravado and to encourage the birds to stay while we wait for the flowers to bloom. I have honeysuckle and penstemon planted nearby so they can slake their endless thirst of nectar, but the birds return earlier than the flowers. When the plants do burst with their reds and purples, the birds will forgo the tree feeders for the actual blossoms.

Males and females will share in the floral color, but usually at different times. If a female or small male are feeding when the ruler of the territory arrives, they quickly adjourn to the sidelines. It's not unusual for three or four birds to wait perched on the fence while the dominant male flits confidently from flower to flower. If they should perch too close, he'll abandon his meal to chase them away, returning soon after.

As the season progresses, they'll spend more time at the feeder and at the blossoms. For now we only catch glimpses of them, for a handful of seconds, as they feed. Too quick for the camera or closer observation by us. By the end of the season they'll flirt with us as we sit in the garden or on the patio.

I enjoy many aspects of gardening and my garden. Hummingbirds make the "best of" list, but they aren't present all year (see my blog "A Farewell to Wings"). If you don't have a hummingbird feeder or flowers planted to attract them, I encourage that you start with either. For sheer enjoyment they’re an easy and simple addition to any American garden.

Gardeners around the world grow colorful flowers and plants to attract birds to their landscapes. But it is only in the Americas where hummingbirds grace gardens with their graceful flitting and flying. Smaller than a ping pong ball and scarcely heavier, hummingbirds enthrall lucky observers with their hovering and sideways and backward flight as they gambol among the nectar-filled flowers.

Our hummingbirds have been back for a few weeks. They're migratory and spend their winters in the warm regions of Mexico and Central America. Increasingly, some species have taken to the U.S. Southwest and are choosing to vacation there while cold and snow pummel the rest of the continent. With the arrival of warm weather, they again venture north to breed in more temperate regions. Colorado is one of the many places where hummingbirds frolic in the summer.

Not all hummingbirds migrate, but the ones that do are welcome in my garden. This year my wife was more enthusiastic than I about preparing the feeders. While I was focused on getting the new garden beds ready for planting, she was looking forward to being entertained by the tiny birds.

We removed the feeders from storage, cleaned them up, and hung them near the garden, filled with sugar water. One part sugar to four parts water is the simple formula. They don't need fancy red food coloring, and that is actually discouraged. A splash of red or yellow on the feeder helps attract them, but once they realize there is a free, nutritious meal, they'll be back regardless of the color.

Our hummingbird feeders

Hummingbirds are very smart and are supposed to have amazing memories. They have an average lifespan of five years but can live to about ten. We have no doubt that the birds in the garden now are the same ones from last year. They know a good thing.

Last year I identified the birds we see most often as Rufous hummingbirds. That may be an easy guess because Rufous hummingbirds are the most widely distributed of the hummingbirds in North America. A primary reason I decided on that identification was because of the unique sound our birds make as they patrol the garden and attack interlopers. There is a beautiful trilling sound generated by their feathers as they fly through the air. I've seen it described as a "metallic whining" and that is mostly accurate, but it doesn't adequately describe the vibrant, quavering pitch.

Hummingbirds are extremely difficult to see in flight, but with the distinctive melody of their wings betraying their position, we're able to watch as they climb and dive and quickly stop on a branch or line.

The aerial dogfights as a male protects his territory are fascinating. Last summer I was captivated by three males as they soared through simultaneous combat, with high-speed dives and precision mid-air passes. I didn't see any collisions and couldn't tell if there was contact, but after about 15 minutes one bird sat victorious on the power line above the fence. The other two were banished. Whether he was the proud defender or a cocky invader, it was his earned privilege to oversee the land.

The feeders are hanging from a pine tree to reward such bravado and to encourage the birds to stay while we wait for the flowers to bloom. I have honeysuckle and penstemon planted nearby so they can slake their endless thirst of nectar, but the birds return earlier than the flowers. When the plants do burst with their reds and purples, the birds will forgo the tree feeders for the actual blossoms.

Males and females will share in the floral color, but usually at different times. If a female or small male are feeding when the ruler of the territory arrives, they quickly adjourn to the sidelines. It's not unusual for three or four birds to wait perched on the fence while the dominant male flits confidently from flower to flower. If they should perch too close, he'll abandon his meal to chase them away, returning soon after.

As the season progresses, they'll spend more time at the feeder and at the blossoms. For now we only catch glimpses of them, for a handful of seconds, as they feed. Too quick for the camera or closer observation by us. By the end of the season they'll flirt with us as we sit in the garden or on the patio.

I enjoy many aspects of gardening and my garden. Hummingbirds make the "best of" list, but they aren't present all year (see my blog "A Farewell to Wings"). If you don't have a hummingbird feeder or flowers planted to attract them, I encourage that you start with either. For sheer enjoyment they’re an easy and simple addition to any American garden.

Birds in the Garden

Birds and butterflies are the two most likely creatures you want to attract to your garden. While much time is spent by gardeners deterring deer, squirrels, and gophers, an equal, if not greater, amount of time is spent on attracting the colorful and lively aviators. That's a good thing. Today's focus is on the birds.

While many birds will visit your landscape, getting them to stay is where your work begins. Songbirds are the ones many people prefer to attract, but there are birds that never sing a note and are beautiful to behold. It's difficult to design a garden to attract just one kind of bird so try to attract as many as you can.

Birds are looking for three basic requirements when they land and consider claiming a new territory: food, water, and protection. Look around your garden with a bird's viewpoint. Is it inviting? If you were a bird would you want to stay?

Does this look inviting?

A typical suburban landscape doesn't offer a lot to a bird that is passing through looking for a nice spot. Close-cut, chemically-sprayed lawns offer no protection from predators and, except for the occasional worm, offer little in the way of food. Deadheaded flowers aren't a food source and sheared shrubs aren't a good nesting site. There are few food sources and no place to hide when needed. Are you surprised that they aren't impressed?

Birds eat a lot. Even more so during the cold months. If your garden doesn't supply the food they need, they'll move to some place else. So the first step in attracting birds is giving them a food source. This can be as simple as a tray on a table or a feeder hanging from a tree. Or you can plant flowers, fruits, and vegetables for the purpose of attracting birds and offering them sustenance. I grow many sunflowers for their beauty, because my wife asks me to, and because they are a great food source for birds (see my blog "Sunflowers are for the Birds").

Finch socks

In my garden I have bird feeders around every corner. There are socks filled with seed hanging from a pine tree for the finches. There's a big tray on an old picnic table filled with a seed mix that is a smorgasbord for all types of birds; the jays and magpies pick out the big pieces, the doves follow, and the sparrows and chickadees clean up the small bits. Hummingbird feeders hang in different sections of the garden. My wife and I share the effort of keeping the feeders filled. With so much food available we have an abundance of avian activity.

Bird seed for lunch

There are also the plants to add nutrition to their diets. The colorful flowers like penstemon and agastache for the hummingbirds, the berries on the elder, and the cones from the pines for the bigger birds. When I select a new plant for my garden I think about the ecological impact it adds. If I have a choice between a flower that attracts hummingbirds and one that just looks nice, I typically choose the first one. When planting shrubs and bushes, I pick ones that produce berries. The extra color is always nice to see, but the birds need them more than me.

Water is another important requirement. Birds need to drink and take an occasional bath. Shallow water features add sound and interest to your garden while they supply water to birds. Just setting a pan on the ground to catch a few drips from your faucet will provide a wonderful source. Concave stones add visual interest and don't take long to fill with water.

You can install a functioning birdbath, but it shouldn't be more than two or three inches deep. If cats roam your neighborhood the birdbath should be in an open area so birds can see a predator approaching; if hawks or other predators are more likely, a birdbath should have some cover. I leave a water dish out for the dogs all year and it's often visited by birds, even in winter. If you set out a birdbath or water dish, be sure to empty it and clean it every few days to keep algae and bacteria from developing.

See the birdbath behind the horseradish?

Birds also need a place to land when confronted with weather, potential predators, or to sleep. Trees are an obvious stopover place, but they also like bushes, tall grasses, and all manner of evergreens. Arborvitae, junipers, and hollies add color to your garden year-round, and supply food and cover. Consider making a corner of your yard a bird sanctuary by allowing the plants to become overgrown. If you have the space, create a brush pile in an out-of-the-way spot where birds can nest or hide. I have a big pile of brush pile my compost pile.

My bird brush pile

Birds will come to your garden. If they find food, water, and protection, they'll stay. If you want to watch them from the comfort of your home, provide these necessities just outside your window. If you want to enjoy them while you immerse yourself in your garden, add a bench or sitting area in the middle of the bird-friendly landscape.

Sure, birds can be pests when they feed on your newly-sown seeds, when they ravage your corn, and when they eat your strawberries, but they also feed on caterpillars and other insect pests. When given an easy food source they're less likely to disrupt your garden. Regardless of the troubles they might cause they add interest, and interest in your garden is one of the reasons you have it. Attracting birds is easy and something you should consider.

Birds and butterflies are the two most likely creatures you want to attract to your garden. While much time is spent by gardeners deterring deer, squirrels, and gophers, an equal, if not greater, amount of time is spent on attracting the colorful and lively aviators. That's a good thing. Today's focus is on the birds.

While many birds will visit your landscape, getting them to stay is where your work begins. Songbirds are the ones many people prefer to attract, but there are birds that never sing a note and are beautiful to behold. It's difficult to design a garden to attract just one kind of bird so try to attract as many as you can.

Birds are looking for three basic requirements when they land and consider claiming a new territory: food, water, and protection. Look around your garden with a bird's viewpoint. Is it inviting? If you were a bird would you want to stay?

Does this look inviting?

A typical suburban landscape doesn't offer a lot to a bird that is passing through looking for a nice spot. Close-cut, chemically-sprayed lawns offer no protection from predators and, except for the occasional worm, offer little in the way of food. Deadheaded flowers aren't a food source and sheared shrubs aren't a good nesting site. There are few food sources and no place to hide when needed. Are you surprised that they aren't impressed?

Birds eat a lot. Even more so during the cold months. If your garden doesn't supply the food they need, they'll move to some place else. So the first step in attracting birds is giving them a food source. This can be as simple as a tray on a table or a feeder hanging from a tree. Or you can plant flowers, fruits, and vegetables for the purpose of attracting birds and offering them sustenance. I grow many sunflowers for their beauty, because my wife asks me to, and because they are a great food source for birds (see my blog "Sunflowers are for the Birds").

Finch socks

In my garden I have bird feeders around every corner. There are socks filled with seed hanging from a pine tree for the finches. There's a big tray on an old picnic table filled with a seed mix that is a smorgasbord for all types of birds; the jays and magpies pick out the big pieces, the doves follow, and the sparrows and chickadees clean up the small bits. Hummingbird feeders hang in different sections of the garden. My wife and I share the effort of keeping the feeders filled. With so much food available we have an abundance of avian activity.

Bird seed for lunch

There are also the plants to add nutrition to their diets. The colorful flowers like penstemon and agastache for the hummingbirds, the berries on the elder, and the cones from the pines for the bigger birds. When I select a new plant for my garden I think about the ecological impact it adds. If I have a choice between a flower that attracts hummingbirds and one that just looks nice, I typically choose the first one. When planting shrubs and bushes, I pick ones that produce berries. The extra color is always nice to see, but the birds need them more than me.

Water is another important requirement. Birds need to drink and take an occasional bath. Shallow water features add sound and interest to your garden while they supply water to birds. Just setting a pan on the ground to catch a few drips from your faucet will provide a wonderful source. Concave stones add visual interest and don't take long to fill with water.

You can install a functioning birdbath, but it shouldn't be more than two or three inches deep. If cats roam your neighborhood the birdbath should be in an open area so birds can see a predator approaching; if hawks or other predators are more likely, a birdbath should have some cover. I leave a water dish out for the dogs all year and it's often visited by birds, even in winter. If you set out a birdbath or water dish, be sure to empty it and clean it every few days to keep algae and bacteria from developing.

See the birdbath behind the horseradish?

Birds also need a place to land when confronted with weather, potential predators, or to sleep. Trees are an obvious stopover place, but they also like bushes, tall grasses, and all manner of evergreens. Arborvitae, junipers, and hollies add color to your garden year-round, and supply food and cover. Consider making a corner of your yard a bird sanctuary by allowing the plants to become overgrown. If you have the space, create a brush pile in an out-of-the-way spot where birds can nest or hide. I have a big pile of brush pile my compost pile.

My bird brush pile

Birds will come to your garden. If they find food, water, and protection, they'll stay. If you want to watch them from the comfort of your home, provide these necessities just outside your window. If you want to enjoy them while you immerse yourself in your garden, add a bench or sitting area in the middle of the bird-friendly landscape.

Sure, birds can be pests when they feed on your newly-sown seeds, when they ravage your corn, and when they eat your strawberries, but they also feed on caterpillars and other insect pests. When given an easy food source they're less likely to disrupt your garden. Regardless of the troubles they might cause they add interest, and interest in your garden is one of the reasons you have it. Attracting birds is easy and something you should consider.

Birds of a Feather Hungrily Flock Together

Birds and gardening go together like rednecks and NASCAR (no disrespect intended). The activity of one brings out thousands of the other. To me that's a good thing. I'm a great lover of wildlife as part of the landscape and do what I can to encourage it, especially birds. Recently my gardens were designated a "Certified Wildlife Habitat" by the National Wildlife Federation. Now, even more than before, I make a point to recognize what is happening in my yard as it pertains to wildlife.

Imagine my surprise and delight when on a chilly weekend morning I observed dozens of birds grazing through my garden simultaneously. I recognized four of the types right away. The dark-headed Steller's Jays were swooping into the crowd and out again before they picked momentary fights with each other. The Black-billed Magpies fed on the fringes and would glide majestically from one border to the other over the heads of the lesser birds. A solitary Northern Flicker woodpecker was poking his long beak into the soil as though it was the side of a tall pine. A pair of Mourning Doves bobbed in the grass walking side by side.

Initially I wasn't able to identify the birds that populated the majority of the flock. After an online search it appears that they were European Starlings. They waddled in a large group combing through the grass and twigs seeking out seeds. Their chunky bodies and short tails looked out of place among the more graceful blue and gray birds.

All of these birds and many others have fed on my seeds, berries, and insects before, but this was the first time I noticed so many different types feeding at the same time in the same place. They focused their attention beneath the forest of dried sunflowers, but spread out over the entire space of my vegetable garden. Apparently there are still many seeds sprinkled on the ground and they fed at the smorgasbord with no regard to the color of their neighbor. That by itself is a wonderful moral of the story.

My attention, however, was on the fact that at the end of November my garden is still providing sustenance for wildlife. I haven't hacked away any of my seed-bearing flowers or weeds. Some of the withered vegetables are still lying in the raised beds or on the paths between. There's little doubt that recent warm weather has allowed insects to remain active on the soil surface. All of this gives ample culinary opportunities to varieties of birds.

I found it intriguing that none of this great flock was feeding from the hanging feeder or bowl of seed resting scant feet away. On that morning they preferred to search at ground level. Maybe the insects were active, maybe the older seeds tasted better, maybe they needed the exercise. Whatever the reason, it was a marvelous sight.

That's what gardening and having habitats for wildlife is all about -- marveling at what you've created. All of those birds had other places they could have fed, but they chose my garden on that morning both individually and as a group. It was a place they felt was abundant and safe. I was enthralled by the experience so much that I didn't think to photograph it. I'll try to rectify that in the future.

What have you created for your birds? Gardens can be designed to attract specific species, like hummingbirds. They can also be designed to attract a myriad of species, as mine do. As you think about spring plantings and garden design for next year, I encourage you think about the birds. Add a flower or shrub or grass that will benefit an avian friend. It's easy to do and when you see the results you'll have those moments of wonder. It's another way to add variety and multi-season enjoyment to your garden.

Birds and gardening go together like rednecks and NASCAR (no disrespect intended). The activity of one brings out thousands of the other. To me that's a good thing. I'm a great lover of wildlife as part of the landscape and do what I can to encourage it, especially birds. Recently my gardens were designated a "Certified Wildlife Habitat" by the National Wildlife Federation. Now, even more than before, I make a point to recognize what is happening in my yard as it pertains to wildlife.

Imagine my surprise and delight when on a chilly weekend morning I observed dozens of birds grazing through my garden simultaneously. I recognized four of the types right away. The dark-headed Steller's Jays were swooping into the crowd and out again before they picked momentary fights with each other. The Black-billed Magpies fed on the fringes and would glide majestically from one border to the other over the heads of the lesser birds. A solitary Northern Flicker woodpecker was poking his long beak into the soil as though it was the side of a tall pine. A pair of Mourning Doves bobbed in the grass walking side by side.

Initially I wasn't able to identify the birds that populated the majority of the flock. After an online search it appears that they were European Starlings. They waddled in a large group combing through the grass and twigs seeking out seeds. Their chunky bodies and short tails looked out of place among the more graceful blue and gray birds.

All of these birds and many others have fed on my seeds, berries, and insects before, but this was the first time I noticed so many different types feeding at the same time in the same place. They focused their attention beneath the forest of dried sunflowers, but spread out over the entire space of my vegetable garden. Apparently there are still many seeds sprinkled on the ground and they fed at the smorgasbord with no regard to the color of their neighbor. That by itself is a wonderful moral of the story.

My attention, however, was on the fact that at the end of November my garden is still providing sustenance for wildlife. I haven't hacked away any of my seed-bearing flowers or weeds. Some of the withered vegetables are still lying in the raised beds or on the paths between. There's little doubt that recent warm weather has allowed insects to remain active on the soil surface. All of this gives ample culinary opportunities to varieties of birds.

I found it intriguing that none of this great flock was feeding from the hanging feeder or bowl of seed resting scant feet away. On that morning they preferred to search at ground level. Maybe the insects were active, maybe the older seeds tasted better, maybe they needed the exercise. Whatever the reason, it was a marvelous sight.

That's what gardening and having habitats for wildlife is all about -- marveling at what you've created. All of those birds had other places they could have fed, but they chose my garden on that morning both individually and as a group. It was a place they felt was abundant and safe. I was enthralled by the experience so much that I didn't think to photograph it. I'll try to rectify that in the future.

What have you created for your birds? Gardens can be designed to attract specific species, like hummingbirds. They can also be designed to attract a myriad of species, as mine do. As you think about spring plantings and garden design for next year, I encourage you think about the birds. Add a flower or shrub or grass that will benefit an avian friend. It's easy to do and when you see the results you'll have those moments of wonder. It's another way to add variety and multi-season enjoyment to your garden.

Sunflowers Are For the Birds



The brilliant golden petals are faded, shriveled, or gone. The regal stalks and elephantine leaves are drooping and shredded. Where once stood a proud forest of sunflowers now stands rows of stark skeletons strained against the chilling winds. These tall flowers are a great symbol of summer color when in bloom and an equally appropriate symbol of floral decline when fall arrives.



Sunflowers in decline



The tomato and pepper plants are already pulled up and resting in the compost pile. Potatoes and onions are harvested and the beds are bare. It would be an easy task to remove the sunflowers stalks, amend the soil, and level the ground in preparation for spring planting. As simple as that is, it would lead to unnecessary waste.

Sunflowers are an ideal food source for birds through the decline of the season. Migratory birds feed on insects and seeds during the summer and head south before the weather turns severe, but a number of birds don't migrate and need energy to survive the winter. You've seen them on cold days, perched on power lines or a high branch. They're usually dark colored; shadows sitting against the gray sky. These are the birds that will benefit from the sunflowers you leave standing.

Sunflower seeds, particularly the black oil sunflower seed, are a prevalent component of many commercial seed mixes. They supply nutrition and energy to many different birds. Some commercial mixes may grind or break the seeds to allow access to smaller birds that wouldn't normally be able to break open the shell. Placing seeds in a feeder or dish is a great way to supplement your local bird population when the insects are gone and flowers are in short supply.

Leaving free-standing sunflower plants in your garden will do this naturally. Medium-size birds will land on big heads and pluck out some seeds. I saw a small flock of red-winged blackbirds attack my sunflowers a week ago. They are not precise feeders; as they peck and pull, a multitude of seeds will fall to the ground. Larger birds that are too big to perch on a precarious flower can forage the fallen seeds. Our blue jays and magpies are often seen at the base of the stalks. The big birds will crack the seeds and pieces of the kernel will fall out. Small birds will later feed on these bits. Chickadees will gather, pecking, in the shade of the dead plants.

With a large crop of sunflowers, this pattern will continue for months. At intervals, birds will arrive, feed, and fly away. The sunflower patch is nature's equivalent of a food court in the mall. If you plant a variety of sunflowers you'll see a variety of birds. Smaller flowers will be visited by smaller birds, but the feeding process will be the same.

By winter's end, most or all of the seeds will be gone. There will still be time to prepare the site for the next season's plantings. Don't be surprised if some of the discarded seeds sprout in the spring. It's possible for these annual flowers to become established year after year by the natural sowing by the birds. If you don't have sunflowers and the idea is intriguing, pick a location that can become their permanent home. If you have sunflowers and haven't cut them down, leave them be and let the birds feed. You'll be making a small contribution toward establishing a natural habitat.



The brilliant golden petals are faded, shriveled, or gone. The regal stalks and elephantine leaves are drooping and shredded. Where once stood a proud forest of sunflowers now stands rows of stark skeletons strained against the chilling winds. These tall flowers are a great symbol of summer color when in bloom and an equally appropriate symbol of floral decline when fall arrives.



Sunflowers in decline



The tomato and pepper plants are already pulled up and resting in the compost pile. Potatoes and onions are harvested and the beds are bare. It would be an easy task to remove the sunflowers stalks, amend the soil, and level the ground in preparation for spring planting. As simple as that is, it would lead to unnecessary waste.

Sunflowers are an ideal food source for birds through the decline of the season. Migratory birds feed on insects and seeds during the summer and head south before the weather turns severe, but a number of birds don't migrate and need energy to survive the winter. You've seen them on cold days, perched on power lines or a high branch. They're usually dark colored; shadows sitting against the gray sky. These are the birds that will benefit from the sunflowers you leave standing.

Sunflower seeds, particularly the black oil sunflower seed, are a prevalent component of many commercial seed mixes. They supply nutrition and energy to many different birds. Some commercial mixes may grind or break the seeds to allow access to smaller birds that wouldn't normally be able to break open the shell. Placing seeds in a feeder or dish is a great way to supplement your local bird population when the insects are gone and flowers are in short supply.

Leaving free-standing sunflower plants in your garden will do this naturally. Medium-size birds will land on big heads and pluck out some seeds. I saw a small flock of red-winged blackbirds attack my sunflowers a week ago. They are not precise feeders; as they peck and pull, a multitude of seeds will fall to the ground. Larger birds that are too big to perch on a precarious flower can forage the fallen seeds. Our blue jays and magpies are often seen at the base of the stalks. The big birds will crack the seeds and pieces of the kernel will fall out. Small birds will later feed on these bits. Chickadees will gather, pecking, in the shade of the dead plants.

With a large crop of sunflowers, this pattern will continue for months. At intervals, birds will arrive, feed, and fly away. The sunflower patch is nature's equivalent of a food court in the mall. If you plant a variety of sunflowers you'll see a variety of birds. Smaller flowers will be visited by smaller birds, but the feeding process will be the same.

By winter's end, most or all of the seeds will be gone. There will still be time to prepare the site for the next season's plantings. Don't be surprised if some of the discarded seeds sprout in the spring. It's possible for these annual flowers to become established year after year by the natural sowing by the birds. If you don't have sunflowers and the idea is intriguing, pick a location that can become their permanent home. If you have sunflowers and haven't cut them down, leave them be and let the birds feed. You'll be making a small contribution toward establishing a natural habitat.

A Farewell to Wings

As the colors of the seasons change so do the colors of the birds in the garden. When the blooming flowers are bold, the presence of hummingbirds is a welcome and enjoyable part of gardening. As the flowers fade and trees become muted, the small palettes of airborne paint fade too. The iridescent flitting of blurred wings has been absent from my garden for many days.

Hummingbirds are a wonderful summer participant in flowering gardens. There are over 300 species of these small, manic birds. Migratory by nature, at least four different species arrive in our area between April and July. The broad-tailed hummingbird is the one that made our gardens home this year. The males have a brilliant, metallic green on their back and head, white on their breast, and red on the throat; the female is also green but not so metallic and shiny. Most noticeably, the males make a distinctive sound with their wings as they fly, a trilling that can be heard throughout the yard.

Very territorial, the first males to arrive stake out their neighborhoods and defend them when interlopers venture too close. My wife and I enjoyed many battles in the skies. One bird would soar vertically out of sight with only the trilling to disclose its location. It would suddenly reappear in a dive toward another bird feeding on a flower or casually hovering near a fence. After running off the offenders, he would fly back to a high perch on the power line, surveying his domain until another dive attack was necessary.

The territory is not precisely measured, but tends to be about a quarter acre. What is more important than size is the content that the region holds. He wants a land awash in color. A male will even drive away females until one perseveres enough to secure her mate. She's seeking a bird who rules over a domain with many flowers and sources of food and potential nesting sites. Together they'll defend their kingdom.

With the presence of penstemon and salvia to my garden, the hummingbirds have reason to want the territory. Add in the naturally occurring Indian paintbrush, and they have prime real estate. A few strategically placed sugar-water feeders are icing on the cake. It's no wonder so many of these amazing animals battle for the privilege to enjoy my gardens.


But it's a temporary enjoyment. By September, the birds are ready to continue their migration back to Mexico or Central America and our Colorado skies are quiet again. The males head out ahead of the females to find warmer conditions for winter.

It's recommended you leave hummingbird feeders out for a few weeks past their departure. In case a straggler wasn't paying attention to the calendar, you want her to have nutrition for the flight south. With a hard freeze forecast for this evening, it's time to bring in my feeders. Actually, it was time to bring them in weeks ago, but I wanted to be sure the last bird could feed.

More likely, I wanted to retain a last vestige of summer. When the hummingbirds are gone, summer is defiantly over. The colors of the world fade as blackbirds ravage the sunflowers, jays raid the seed feeders, and sparrows peck the socks where the colorful finches once fed.

I enjoy all of the birds that occupy the gardens through the year and do my best to encourage the presence of them all. But the hummingbirds are special. Like the first robin in spring, the first hummingbird in summer is a messenger of changing seasons and more enjoyable garden activities. I'll put their feeders back some time in April, early enough to entice the first male to stake a claim. Until then they are another pleasant garden memory that will add color to my thoughts when the beds are blanketed in white.

As the colors of the seasons change so do the colors of the birds in the garden. When the blooming flowers are bold, the presence of hummingbirds is a welcome and enjoyable part of gardening. As the flowers fade and trees become muted, the small palettes of airborne paint fade too. The iridescent flitting of blurred wings has been absent from my garden for many days.

Hummingbirds are a wonderful summer participant in flowering gardens. There are over 300 species of these small, manic birds. Migratory by nature, at least four different species arrive in our area between April and July. The broad-tailed hummingbird is the one that made our gardens home this year. The males have a brilliant, metallic green on their back and head, white on their breast, and red on the throat; the female is also green but not so metallic and shiny. Most noticeably, the males make a distinctive sound with their wings as they fly, a trilling that can be heard throughout the yard.

Very territorial, the first males to arrive stake out their neighborhoods and defend them when interlopers venture too close. My wife and I enjoyed many battles in the skies. One bird would soar vertically out of sight with only the trilling to disclose its location. It would suddenly reappear in a dive toward another bird feeding on a flower or casually hovering near a fence. After running off the offenders, he would fly back to a high perch on the power line, surveying his domain until another dive attack was necessary.

The territory is not precisely measured, but tends to be about a quarter acre. What is more important than size is the content that the region holds. He wants a land awash in color. A male will even drive away females until one perseveres enough to secure her mate. She's seeking a bird who rules over a domain with many flowers and sources of food and potential nesting sites. Together they'll defend their kingdom.

With the presence of penstemon and salvia to my garden, the hummingbirds have reason to want the territory. Add in the naturally occurring Indian paintbrush, and they have prime real estate. A few strategically placed sugar-water feeders are icing on the cake. It's no wonder so many of these amazing animals battle for the privilege to enjoy my gardens.


But it's a temporary enjoyment. By September, the birds are ready to continue their migration back to Mexico or Central America and our Colorado skies are quiet again. The males head out ahead of the females to find warmer conditions for winter.

It's recommended you leave hummingbird feeders out for a few weeks past their departure. In case a straggler wasn't paying attention to the calendar, you want her to have nutrition for the flight south. With a hard freeze forecast for this evening, it's time to bring in my feeders. Actually, it was time to bring them in weeks ago, but I wanted to be sure the last bird could feed.

More likely, I wanted to retain a last vestige of summer. When the hummingbirds are gone, summer is defiantly over. The colors of the world fade as blackbirds ravage the sunflowers, jays raid the seed feeders, and sparrows peck the socks where the colorful finches once fed.

I enjoy all of the birds that occupy the gardens through the year and do my best to encourage the presence of them all. But the hummingbirds are special. Like the first robin in spring, the first hummingbird in summer is a messenger of changing seasons and more enjoyable garden activities. I'll put their feeders back some time in April, early enough to entice the first male to stake a claim. Until then they are another pleasant garden memory that will add color to my thoughts when the beds are blanketed in white.

The Birds Know

At times I feel I'm living in an old "Heckle and Jeckle" cartoon. Remember the talking magpies who would spy a fresh crop of corn and scheme to steal a free meal? Maybe that was a little before your time, but next time you're in your garden turn all around and look for the culprits, sitting in a tree or on a telephone line. They're looking at you and planning the theft of your treasure.

A few years ago I had a small crop of apricots ready for harvest, not a small accomplishment for the Colorado high country. I dutifully checked the progress of the six or seven apricots that were ripening well. I think my mistake was to say aloud, to no one but nature and me, "Tomorrow they'll be perfect for picking." That next day, with harvest bowl in hand, I set out in the morning to claim my reward. Imagine the horror when I encountered only three fruit remaining and all of those with wide holes pecked through, the rest on the ground in pieces. Through whatever subterfuge and espionage network they possessed, the birds attacked in the early hours of the day.

The victim before the attack

Since then I've tried to make it habit to pick vegetables a day or two before I think they're at their peak of ripeness. This year I became a little too daring and paid the ultimate price.

After the move to the new house last fall and because of an extra long winter, I had to create my garden beds from scratch and wasn't ready to plant until June, late even by high country standards. My wife was convinced the tomatoes wouldn't fruit before the first frost, but with careful watering and fertilizing the first fruit was fully ripe this last week. At mid-week I inspected the first red tomato and said to myself-- or so I thought-- "Tomorrow it'll be perfect for picking." You can guess the rest.

After the remnants of that catastrophe were placed to rest on the compost pile, it was time to water and weed the rest of the garden. In another section I had a single jalapeno pepper valiantly fighting for life on a plant that had been eviscerated by hail early in the season. I carefully moved to check on him because he too was approaching his prime. Alas, all that remained of that stalwart warrior was the helmet that once had connected him to his mother. His body was gone!

I love birds in the garden normally. We have hummingbird feeders and many flowers designed to attract those beautiful flitting birds. We have a couple hanging socks with miniscule seeds for the yellow-breasted finches. I even hang peanuts for the blue jays. Though the many magpies are at the very bottom of my list of favorites, we even put out a dish of seeds we know they'll attack. You'd think with all that charity, they'd leave my tomatoes and peppers alone.

Of course I know better than that. I have bird netting and plans for deploying it over my plants, but there always seems to be another gardening chore that seems a little more important. There's always tomorrow. But be warned... they're out there and they're watching and waiting and somehow they know when the time is perfect for an attack. If you want to be victorious you'll need to be smart... or at least smarter than a bird.

At times I feel I'm living in an old "Heckle and Jeckle" cartoon. Remember the talking magpies who would spy a fresh crop of corn and scheme to steal a free meal? Maybe that was a little before your time, but next time you're in your garden turn all around and look for the culprits, sitting in a tree or on a telephone line. They're looking at you and planning the theft of your treasure.

A few years ago I had a small crop of apricots ready for harvest, not a small accomplishment for the Colorado high country. I dutifully checked the progress of the six or seven apricots that were ripening well. I think my mistake was to say aloud, to no one but nature and me, "Tomorrow they'll be perfect for picking." That next day, with harvest bowl in hand, I set out in the morning to claim my reward. Imagine the horror when I encountered only three fruit remaining and all of those with wide holes pecked through, the rest on the ground in pieces. Through whatever subterfuge and espionage network they possessed, the birds attacked in the early hours of the day.

The victim before the attack

Since then I've tried to make it habit to pick vegetables a day or two before I think they're at their peak of ripeness. This year I became a little too daring and paid the ultimate price.

After the move to the new house last fall and because of an extra long winter, I had to create my garden beds from scratch and wasn't ready to plant until June, late even by high country standards. My wife was convinced the tomatoes wouldn't fruit before the first frost, but with careful watering and fertilizing the first fruit was fully ripe this last week. At mid-week I inspected the first red tomato and said to myself-- or so I thought-- "Tomorrow it'll be perfect for picking." You can guess the rest.

After the remnants of that catastrophe were placed to rest on the compost pile, it was time to water and weed the rest of the garden. In another section I had a single jalapeno pepper valiantly fighting for life on a plant that had been eviscerated by hail early in the season. I carefully moved to check on him because he too was approaching his prime. Alas, all that remained of that stalwart warrior was the helmet that once had connected him to his mother. His body was gone!

I love birds in the garden normally. We have hummingbird feeders and many flowers designed to attract those beautiful flitting birds. We have a couple hanging socks with miniscule seeds for the yellow-breasted finches. I even hang peanuts for the blue jays. Though the many magpies are at the very bottom of my list of favorites, we even put out a dish of seeds we know they'll attack. You'd think with all that charity, they'd leave my tomatoes and peppers alone.

Of course I know better than that. I have bird netting and plans for deploying it over my plants, but there always seems to be another gardening chore that seems a little more important. There's always tomorrow. But be warned... they're out there and they're watching and waiting and somehow they know when the time is perfect for an attack. If you want to be victorious you'll need to be smart... or at least smarter than a bird.