Winning for the Birds

Earlier this year, I entered the "Celebrate Urban Birds" contest for creating safe city habitats for backyard birds, and I've recently learned that my scruffy, unsightly brush pile was one of their finalist winners; I've won the "Bird and Butterfly Attractor Station" from the Ion Exchange. When it arrives in the spring, it will include dozens of live plant plugs for me to attract new guests to the yard, as well as a butterfly guide and a feeding station. How amazing! Given that the brush pile is nothing spectacular to behold, I'm quite pleasantly surprised.

The real winners, however, are undoubtedly the birds -- both those who live in the brush pile (even as it is mostly covered with snow at the moment), and those who may soon have brush piles inspired by my winning entry into this contest. Anyone who thinks birds are impressed by carefully manicured gardens and meticulously tended landscaping needs to think again. In fact, the amount of maintenance (lawn care, pruning, chemicals, etc.) to keep such gardens at their finest is often unhealthy for birds, when they'd much prefer a more natural, less fussy setting. If my scrub brush pile inspired even one person in one city somewhere to add a brush pile of their own from miscellaneous branches, prunings, or a discarded Christmas tree, then we've both done the birds a favor.

Does your yard need a brush pile? Learn how to build one!

High Flying Hazards

Over the past few days, my husband and I have begun stringing Christmas lights on our house -- this seemingly quaint holiday tradition is actually an enduring test of nerves involving a 28-foot aluminum extension ladder, more than 40 strands of multi-colored twinkle lights, countless binder clips and gutter hooks, frozen fingers, precarious balance, and more than one thought about the effectiveness of renting a cherry picker or scissor lift. This year, however, has brought a new hazard to the holiday season: anxiously agitated house finches and sparrows.

The west side of the house is perhaps the most difficult on which to string lights. The steeply angled roof reaches its utmost highest point there, right above a patch of particularly rocky and uneven ground that is less than forgiving to the intrusions of a fully-extended ladder. Furthermore, that western patch of scrub ground -- just a few feet between the house and the fence, guaranteeing the steepest ladder angle possible -- is also home to the birds' new favorite habitat, the brush pile.

Whether they were curious or furious is unclear, but it is a whole new challenge stringing delicate lights with dozens of small birds insistently flocking around your head, shoulders, and legs as they flit to and from their shelter. They whiz back and forth, chittering in a most uncivilized fashion, berating you for disturbing their very haphazard pile. Where's the holiday spirit, the appreciation, the good will toward man or bird? And I'd even refilled the feeders with tantalizing, rich black oil sunflower seeds.

Those birds have no holiday spirit. Yet most of my holiday list is filled with birding supplies -- feeders, treats, nesting material, and other objects I can't wait to share. Ah, well, at least they're keeping us company. Kind of like the relatives you see every holiday season whom you can't tell whether to hate or love, but you enjoy seeing them anyway. And I suppose that's the real holiday spirit -- tolerance.

Now, if they could only help put up the lights...

My holiday wish list has lots of birding items on it -- does yours? Share in the December poll!

A Pruny Project

Even before the last leaves have fallen and despite the warm temperatures of the past few days, it is time to prune back unruly trees so the coming winter's weight of ice and snow does not endanger a roof, street, or pedestrian. Instead of letting the clippings -- some of which were substantial from the quaking aspens in the front yard -- go to waste, I added a lengthy section to my backyard brush pile in the hopes of providing tempting winter shelter to our backyard birds.

Already, the new pile is a success and has been frequented by both house sparrows and house finches. Not too many other species are currently enjoying the backyard buffet as the nights grow longer and chillier, but hopefully this new shelter will entice more visitors to linger. Throughout even the coldest of winter days, the feeders will remain filled and the seed abundant, so I hope the short days will not be long with loneliness.

Don't forget to cast your vote in November's poll: How long is your life list?

Urban Birds Contest

Many people mistakenly believe that to properly feed backyard birds, you must have a sizeable plot of land, extensive foliage, and a rural area suitable for many species, but nothing could be further from the truth. As my own landscaping endeavors demonstrate, if your backyard habitat features elements the birds need -- food, shelter, and water -- they will be happy to visit.

For example: while waiting for our planted seedlings to grow and provide adequate shelter, we have constructed an unobtrusive brush pile in an unseen corner beside our house that has become a favored hiding space for many small sparrows and finches. It may not look like much and the weeds have certainly flourished, but many times each day I see skittish flocks take wing directly to its ragged shelter. This is just one type of small and easy alteration anyone can make to help birds feel safe, secure, and welcome in the backyard.

If you have a favorite small green space for your urban backyard birds, share that idea with the Little Green Places contest sponsored by Celebrate Urban Birds. There are quite a few prizes available, and each entry offers a glimpse of different strategies that can be used to attract and shelter backyard birds, no matter where you live or what natural backyard features you may have. The contest runs through October 31, but the stories and ideas share can benefit backyard birds for many years.