From away to garden.com and Robinhood Radio.com, this is Away to Garden with Margaret Roach. You're a weekly invitation to dig in and grow. I put out my first bird feeder of the season around Thanksgiving or so each year and get the party started. But there's more to feeding the birds than just filling the feeders like how to keep them safe in the age of increased disease transmission or how to provide essential water in the coldest months and, of course, much needed tactics for outsmarting the squirrels. Smart bird feeding and more bird related wisdom was the topic of conversation I had in December 2022 with Julie Zikafouz that were featuring an encore on the show today, so more in a moment but first these messages. Underwriting support for a way to garden provided by Colorblends wholesale flower bulbs, a third-generation bulb company offering top-sized flower bulbs directly to landscape professionals and ambitious residential gardeners on the web, Colorblends.com. And by High Mohing Seeds, Wolcott Vermont, Professional Quality Vegetable, Flower, and Urbal Seeds that are 100% organic and non-GMO project verified. On the web, HighMohingSeeds.com. And by White Flower Farm, including a favorite of mine, saving Jemima, life and love with a hard luck J. She He lives in gardens on an 80 acre wildlife sanctuary in Appalachian foothills of Ohio.

Hi. life and love with a hard luck J. She lives in gardens on 80 acre wildlife sanctuary in Appalachian foothills of Ohio. Hi Julie and thanks for being here to guide us this feeder season. I got a lot of customers. I got a lot of customers out there. Me too. Me too. Yeah. Yeah. Before we get started, I want to say with the transcript of this show over on Weight Way to Garden.com, let's have a giveaway of saving Jemima because it's such a great

book. Every time I say a blue J, I think of you since I read that book. Oh, thank you so much. Yeah. What was that? Like a few, maybe three, four years ago, maybe it came out? Yeah, I came out in 2018. Oh, so five, you almost five years ago. Okay, good. So we'll do that and

also

before we get started on the tips and so forth, I was glad to see that what did I think it's a 43 year old magazine, Birdwatchers Digest that you've long contributed to, but that had ceased operation like about a year ago, was quickly reincarnated as BWD and a great idea for gifts if you know

bird watcher. So tell us why about that just quickly. Well it's been an all consuming thing in my life to go from being sort of a freelancer to being a sort of de facto editor of a new magazine And that is.

So it's big and beautiful.

It's a print magazine as well as online and it is now full-size format. The Birdwatchers Digest was always you know a digest size very small and so we have these wonderful new horizons with being able to print photos and have them appear as the photographer intended. And beautiful layouts by our very talented designer, Lisa Coe, our editor, Jessica Vaughn, is doing a beautiful job. We have Don Hewitt, who edited the old publication back on board. And so the three of us are sort of in the traces, Don, and Jessica and I, getting content and making sure it's compelling and the finest, finest we can get. Yeah, lots of great contributors. Absolutely. Yes, wonderful contributors, including many people we've used before in a bunch of new ones too who are intrigued by the new format. And I'm in charge of getting the cover art for 44 years. We are the only magazine that has always featured paintings on the cover. And yeah, a lot of people don't really realize that, but if you think back, it's all paintings. Yeah, yeah. And we don't wanna break that tradition. And I am so excited to be in touch with quite a number of artistic contacts who are chomping at the bit to give us

beautiful things and so far covers have just been jaw dropping. Yeah. And yeah, very, very excited about that. So I'll give the link with the transcript where people can learn more about BWD but it's pretty easily easy to find if you put BWD magazine into a Google search. But so it's bird feeding season and I I think in the September, October, one of the first new issues you did a piece about rethinking summer bird feeding. Yes. And you know, there's a lot of rethinking going on not to mention the price of sunflower seeds. May I just give you my heart attack as you were yesterday when I went into the feed store For my usual 50 pound bag of sunflower hearts now. This is a luxury. I realized that I just did the same thing Uh-oh. Yeah, I got it I got to know your price there because my price in Ohio was 91 dollars 91 Up from 56 and I stood there and I said to the person behind the desk, I said, you found my limit. I'm not going to do this. I can't do this. I did a mental checklist of all the birds coming into the sunflower heart bounty and I realized that all of them have seed cracking bills. All of them can handle black oil, sunflower, and they're just going to have to lump it.

Right. And so it's about, I don't know, I've read one thing that said it was about 30% the weight of the sheath, the shells. You know, so how much you're saving by only having edible and not shells, but it still doesn't make up for the price differential. I bought in advance this year and I was even half which means that you get a discount you

know early. still doesn't make up for the price differential. I bought it in advance this year, and I was even half, which means that you get a discount early buying discount, but it still was, I wanna say, high 70s a bit. Yeah, yeah, I've been 50. As you said, it had been mid 50s. And, you know, anyway, so, okay, but like, we're crazy, and we're going to have to then shift down to the regular stuff, and that's all good. But it's more complicated than it used to be on many levels. I don't know where we want to start, but you know, there's, we've read so much about disease transmission and so forth, keeping feeders clean, all kinds of, you know, being a responsible bird feeder. You know, feeding and so on. Yes, yes. So maybe we talk a little bit. Are you not feeding in summer? I don't feed in summer because I have, I live in a black bear area and they just come right into the yard and go. Oh, gotcha. Black bears have really solved that problem for a lot of New Englanders and North Carolinians and down the coast too.

Yeah, we don bears have really solved that problem for a lot of new Englanders and North Carolinians and down down the coast too. Yeah, we don't have black bears here in Ohio yet, but I have quit summer feeding because I I put I finally made the connection that the hordes of chipmunks and gray squirrels that destroy my garden and eat my Habiscus, etc., etc. were proliferating under my feeding program. And, you know, I said why and not to mention rabbits who absolutely love to clean up seed under the feeder. And I said, why am I doing this? Why am I feeding mass numbers of mammals and then fighting them all summer in my gardens? Right. And the other thing that was happening is I had house sparrows coming from a farm about a mile and a half away and gorging on peanuts and feeding them to brood after brood of young, which they'd then bring to the feeder and eat the woodpecker peanuts. So I was like, wow, I'm having a net negative impact on the whole. Right, you're getting, you're doing rodents and other undesirable furry little creatures and you're also fostering more house spare. Right, right, exactly. And what's the return? Well, not really that high enough to justify doing those things. So I quit and it was just, it was actually so peaceful, you know, it was not having to go serve as the feeders. Now, I did keep my bird bath going and my worbler fall bird fountain. That was an absolute joy to see birds come in and bathe and drink. But they don't really need food in the summer. And so I discontinued it. Right. And theoretically, if one has a garden garden that and you're in a very rich natural area, like a preserve almost, and it's sanctuary. And you know, if one has provided with the right planting and so forth, and as you say water, we can talk more about water in a minute. But so the other thing is that whenever we feed, it seems like the issue of sick birds and transmission of disease and did that figure into your, has that figured into it other times of year even when you are feeding use of different feeders or different protocols or how are you dealing with a task about like house like housefinch disease and I guess yes, yes

Yeah, I neglected to say that the the other reason I stopped feeding in the summer is the diseases to proliferate so readily and When housefinches are raising brews of young and bringing them in they though They are the major disease vectors in my area and elsewhere Because they have low genetic resistance to disease being geneticallybred from a small introduction in about the 1940s on the East Coast, a release of the birds at JFK Airport caused. The founder effect in these birds, they all radiated out from maybe a couple hundred birds in that one release. And so we did not have housevinches in east of the Mississippi before that event. Oh, I didn't know that. Isn't that crazy? Yeah, they've been crazy. That's quick. Yeah, that was quick. They've been part of the Abafana for so long. But get this, I grew up in Virginia and when I went north to school in Cambridge, Massachusetts I saw these little rosy birds singing around town And I didn't know the song and I didn't know what they were and they were not in my golden field guide So I had to ask around and I was told they were housefinches and then told the story of how they got there So they've spread like wildfire up and down the east coast and then they've also spread west to the Mississippi and they've actually met the western populations there. And they, in about 1991 I believe, they contracted chicken disease called micro plasma gallnac. And that happened in the DC area. That's when the first sick goldfinches started showing up. And they then carried that disease all over the place, and now there's probably 35 species of other wild birds that are susceptible to microplasma, which is housefinch disease, causes conjunctivitis and fast swelling of the eye membrane so that the birds become blinded. And it's a nasty disease. And most of us who feed have seen these birds huddled on the ground, blinded, unable to see and said, oh gosh, poor thing. But that should be a signal flag to us that we're introducing that disease into our yards by feeding. Well, and when you think about it, if you think about a feeder, a lot of feeders, what is it? It's a series of little ports that I can perch on and stick my head into just like the previous customer did, right? So, and over and over and over again. So if someone with the disease sticks its head into the port and I come there and do the same thing, well, there we go, right? So house, yes, house finishes, take it one better. They are evolving with the disease or evolving resistance to it such that it does not tend to kill them anymore. But they have also developed a behavioral resistance to it in that they've learned to rub their eyes on purchase and feeder ports to keep them open. Oh boy. So that they can see. Yeah. So the dots that I connected in the winter of 2020 and 21 were that my tube feeders, which I had broken out after probably a decade of not using them for this reason. I broke up my tube feeders because we had this super wet winter and I just couldn't keep the seed dry on the platform feeders. My tube feeders were actually acting as the disease transmission station. Like the hub, right, right, right. It was the hub, if I could see a radioactive map of the feeders with the germs, you know, I began to look at my feeders that way. So now instead of tube feeders, are you using like domed trays, like sort of floating trays with domed with a domed baffly kind of thing over it? Is that what you're using? Yes, I'm using a little recycled plastic square maybe the size of a brownie pan. And it has, I've bought a variety of plastic domes. And I suspend those over the all of my feeders. And it's a bit of a pain because droppings collect amazingly fast on the domes, but that tells me what would be falling into the food. Right. So if their domes were not there. Right. Yeah, I take the domes down, run them under the faucet, let the outdoor hose tap, and put them back. And I am a believer because I had 19 gold finches in my hospital last winter, 2021. And two winters ago when I was in YouTube feeders I switched to trays with plastic domes and Also feeders wire mesh that don't have ports, but just emit the seed so that the birds can pick it from the Like a cylinder. Yeah, vertical cylinder with it the seed goes in and they pull it out through the little hard work cloth openings So to speak exactly. Yeah, so nobody nobody sticks their head in a port. They just take the seed and go right So those are the two types of feeders that I use now and Down from 20 birds in my bird hospital. I'm a wildlife rehabber Last winter in the winter of 21 22 I had one That's great. And that's great. Yeah, it's admittedly a small sample size and I can't say with certainty that it's the tube feeders, but I have a real strong feeling that there's a connection there. Right. So another thing that I like to feed in the winter, and we've been having really aberrant warm weather, like I woke up this morning and it was 55 degrees. You know, it should be 25 or something. 60 here. Yeah, so it's just madness. So I have not been putting out suet yet because whatever. I usually like to put that out when it's consistently cold. But that's just my thing. But I saw on your, I forget where your website or somewhere I saw a wonderful tip of a crazy suet feeder that you know that looks like nothing I've ever seen. It's not a hanging little square basket thing. Right. How did you discover that? Yeah that that it's absolutely wonderful. This was one of the one of the lovely things that came through the bird watchers digest office years ago from a feeder

manufacturer called Lifelong located in Ohio. Lovely man named Link Luellen makes these feeders. If I can describe it and you'll have photos with the podcast transcripts. Yes, yes. Yes. Yeah, if I can describe it, it's basically two perforated metal plates that look like They're just drilled with rows of holes.

They look actually exactly like sapsucker holes in the side of a tree. So these two aluminum plates slide into a metal frame, and the whole thing is secured and put together with bolts. And you hang this thing up, you put one inch slices of raw suet in it, you could also put cakes in it if you wanted. And you tighten down the bolts and even raccoons can't get to the suet. So it's a raccoon proof suet feeder. They very quickly quit trying so you don't have to hang it on a baffle pole or anything like that. And the woodpeckers love it. It's really a bird-specific feeder because nothing else but something with a sharp pointy beak can access the food. Right. Exactly. It's really well-armored. That's for sure in the pictures. Yes. Yes. Yes. I think, you know, one of the things I think is that you mentioned your war blur fall and I'll give the link to that too because that's a little, that's sort of a little course, kind of like a how to teaching thing plus all the information you need to do it yourself to create this thing that you call the war blur fall and it's kind of a product that you're selling. Not the thing, but the instruction, right? Is what? Yeah. And it's great. And it's like, I mean, to just watch the birds, but it's not a winter thing. It's a little waterfall, as you call it, the war blur full, you know, dish, water garden kind of thing with stones and all kinds of goodies. Yeah. Yeah. But, but in the winter, water is essential. And yet it's harder to provide. How do you provide water in the winter where you are? I have to, in ground water gardens and I, for the benefit of the overwintering amphibians in the, in the water, I keep holes in the ice, obviously, because otherwise they'd suck. Okay, you know. So, yeah. But so the birds use that. But what do you do? Well, what I do is I went out and bought a heated pet dish at a tractor supply in a feed store. It's the kind of thing that people use for their dogs in winter, if they keep their dogs outside. And it's not lovely, but it holds about a gallon of water. I throw a brick in it and then I top that with flat stones and the birds can only drink around the edges. And the reason I do that is because morning doves like to use bird baths as toilets as all. Yes. And they will sit on the rim with their tails pointing in and just poop into the bowl all day long and it's very annoying. I don't know why they do that. Not to mention unhealthy for the other birds. Yeah. So that's not how I do it. Doves, doves as a rule are pretty clean as far as disease. But yeah, so I do that I basically cover all but little cracks around the edges with with flat stones And then if they poop on the stones no big deal because they're above the water surface So yeah, so that's what I do and I plug that into a GFC. I protected outlet and that gets me through the winter The birds appreciate it so much great. They're unable to they're unable to bathe. And that's a good thing because bathing in super cold weather is a bad idea, whether they know it or not. And yeah, so that's how I do it. And then as soon as spring comes, I break out my warbler fall, which is my pride and joy, my little invention. Right, right, right. And I'll give the link for people that they get.

I'll put a picture with the transcript, but I'll also give the link for people who can

find out if they want to purchase the instructions or whatever. But it's very, it's ingenious because it's so, it's deceptively simple. It's beautiful, but it's so simple and you can do it yourself. You can construct it yourself. Yeah. You kind of figured out all the engineering details so that it really works as opposed to sort of

improving and have it not be really suited to the birds. And if you kind of figured out all the engineering details said that it really works as opposed

to sort of improving and have it not be really suited to the birds. Right. And you know, if you're curious swarplerfall.com, has everything you need? Okay. Good. Good. Have you had any kind of wild and crazy birds at your feeders or in your garden, either lately, this feeding season or this past gardening season? Because what I love about the winter is the sort of wood packer, which is why I love

sew it.

There's just a- either lately this feeding season or this past gardening season because what I love about the

winter is the sort of woodpecker which is why I love suet. There's just the woodpeckers, they're charismatic birds for me, they're just characters, they're real characters. So I enjoy seeing them, more of them up close, they're always here but they're agreed. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, I love of woodckers. That's why I feed peanuts in a cylindrical tube feeder, or a mesh feeder, basically, that lets them take the peanuts through the mesh. I have to have my peanuts. I actually drive an hour and a half to a store to get my raw peanut. Wow. Yeah, yeah, it's tough around here. It's hard to get what you want. And of course, you don't want a ship of 50 pound bag of peanuts. Right. So, yeah, so I've had, you know, the combination of having a running water fountain for the birds and feeders is a powerful one because the feeder birds sort of attract in, you know, other birds say, hmm, something's going on in that yard. They hear the trickling water and they're drawn in like a magnet. So I've had just an array of, I mean, it was crazy. This fall before I dismantled the War of Warbler fall in October, you know, I actually dismantled it in mid November. I had a parade of Ruby Crown Kinglets bathing in this thing, which I'd never they bathed. They're so little. I know. And it was fabulous. And then I had Golden Crown Kinglets bathing in it. So any birdbeth that gets in Golden Crown Ruby Crown Kinglets is a powerful one. It's also Vieryos, Warblers of every stripe, Cape May, Tennessee, baybreasted, blackpool, prairie, black-throated blue. And so it's, I guess it's unlocked a world for me of drawing in forest birds that would not normally come around. Normally you'd see them in your binoculars at forest edge or when you're quote bird watching kind of a thing more often than Right there in front of you right yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that's what I'm gonna take it. Yeah, exactly that's a ticket. My sister Put up a world we're fall on hurt deck in Massachusetts and and within days had a male Rosebres to grow speed come down and bathe while they were sitting like three feet away in their chairs And she was like this thing works. Yeah, it's pretty funny So yeah, we have maybe three or four minutes and I was just gonna say one of the oddest things for me And this is a very common bird a cardinal, you know He is we're on we don't we're not on our first name basis, but we know each other pretty well by now He's beginning his third consecutive season of defending his territory and when I say that year-round Breeding season he circumnavigates my house I have a big windows and all the way around and and he goes from window to window depending on the light, you know, the reflection at different times of day and bangs on the windows because of course he's the other male cardinal who he wants to get rid of. And he also uses my, the driver's side rear rear rear rear. So as you reverse mirror, that's what I meant rear view mirror. So I was gonna say reverse mirror, but that's not what I meant. Rear of your mirror.

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