Overlook Circle

Ok, it’s October 1 and finally time to concede that summer is over. As usual I’ve been slacking in the blog post department, so I have a lot to catch up on here. It’s officially autumn, but it didn’t feel like it this past weekend with highs in the mid 80’s. I went out bird watching at Hyland Park Preserve, but there were so many trail runners that I didn’t see much in the way of birds. I did see/hear a few migrants like flickers, catbirds, bluebirds, white-throated sparrow, etc. Also saw a nice looking coyote! Now it is cool and rainy, leaves are coming down and it’s really starting to feel like fall.

Back at home, we had a pretty good summer. I attended a Wild Ones garden tour and got to see some other native plant gardens in the area, which was really cool. It’s interesting to see all the different things that people are doing in their yard. Some people are very experienced gardeners and you can really tell by how well planned things are. Others are like me, someone who doesn’t come from any gardening background, and just goes outside and starts digging. A few people from Wild Ones came over and visited our yard, and I got some really good compliments and feedback. They are always looking for new gardens to showcase so it sounds like we will be on the tour next summer!

It’s really motivated me to work on some things that I’ve been meaning to. For example in the front yard, on the SW corner by the street, I finally got some planting done there. Several years ago in that spot, I got rid of an old neglected (hideous) brick garden bed that was full of buckthorn. Last year we had Ecoscapes create a new garden bed as part of the front yard work they did, and add some rocks, but otherwise we left it empty. This area gets partial sun during the day. Now I’ve got some gray dogwood, wild geranium, fragrant hyssop, bottle brush grass, prairie pussytoes, aster, goldenrod, etc. I also put up a Monarch Watch sign because I want to highlight our efforts to anyone passing by. It’s worked because I’ve gotten several comments and compliments from neighbors who have seen it. I plan to include the neighborhood in our garden tour next year.

In the back I’ve cleared out all of the buckthorn around the pine tree area, and started a path through there as well as planted a few things that will grow under those trees like common ninebark, American bladdernut, and bear berry. There are some additional things I’d like to plant but that will be an ongoing process. I wanted to plant some gooseberry but the folks at Out Back Nursery told me that it can carry pine rust which would be bad for our white pines.

We didn’t have anything too unusual in the yard as far as birds, but we did have a lot of fun watching a family of four pileated woodpeckers coming to the feeders. It was an adult pair and a juvenile male and female. There were times when all of them would be out there in the bur oak tree, and the parents would go to the suet feeder and then take it back to their fledglings. I sat outside sometimes and watched them. It was interesting to hear the begging noises that the juveniles would make and watch their behavior.

With all the rain through the spring and early summer, we of course had a lot of mosquitos and consequently, many damselflies and dragonflies. Recently with the weather becoming cooler, there have been fewer of them but I caught this one snoozing on the false indigo in the garden the other day. I was able to put my phone right next ot it and get a photo. A knowledgable person told me that this is a wandering glider. They are our most plentiful species of dragonfly, are found on every continent except Antarctica, and have the longest migration of any insect (twice as long as the monarch butterfly.) One reason I enjoy having a native wildlife garden is that it gives me such great opportunities to learn things I wouldn’t have otherwise known about!

Also we had a lot of butterflies in the garden over the summer. Many tiger swallowtails and monarchs. I found 3 monarch caterpillars on our butterfly weed, and I found some at work that I brought home. I raised them and successfully released 5 in the garden! That was a first for me, a fun process and I learned a lot. I kept them in a cage outside so they would have natural light and temp/humidity. When they emerged I’d leave the door open and let them leave on their own. We have plenty of Joe Pye weed, cup plant and aster for them to nectar on. Also many monarchs moving through, I counted 16 in the garden at one time!

A few other cool things that have happened more recently as we transition to fall. I’ve seen a ton of baby toads in the yard over the last month or so. Also this past weekend we were cleaning out the gutters (full of leaves from the ash tree) and I found a tree frog in the gutter. I took it down and put it in the garden and then turned on the sprinkler since it’s been dry lately. While the sprinkler was running I watched a mourning dove, a goldfinch and a chipping sparrow take baths, which was really cute. Also the same day I was out grilling on the patio and a white-line sphynx moth made an appearance. It was only the second time I’ve seen one, and they are noticably larger than the clear wing hummingbird moth. It was about the same size as an actual hummingbird, and very difficult to follow it with the camera. But I did manage to get one photo of it, on flowers between the patio and deck.

Lastly, at work there have been crazy numbers of woolly bear caterpillars. I’ve seen them over the years in the past but never really thought too much about them. We have walking trails at work, and they are crossing the trails, curbs, and parking lots. I always try to move them so they aren’t stepped on or run over. Since there are so many and they have really caught my attention, I started reading up on them and learned that they will overwinter in caterpillar form, and are looking for a place to burrow under leaf litter.

We leave our garden up all winter and let the leaves remain in the garden where they fall, so I decided to start taking some of them home and release them. Next spring they will emerge as a yellow moth called the Isabella tiger moth. I’ve become quite attached to them, they are cute and I’ve probably taken a couple dozen of them home (my coworkers think I have a problem…)

After living here for 9 years, we have finally decided to put up a fence. It’s an odd shaped yard, narrow at the front but widens out toward the back, and there are 5 edges. Our neighbor to the south already has a privacy fence up, and we knew we wanted privacy on the north side, but we didn’t want the back part of the garden (on the east side) to be shaded by a fence. Also we don’t need a lot of privacy back there because the length of the lot, and the plants out there already give us quite a bit of privacy. We had Town & Country Fence come out for consultation and they suggested a California chain link would serve our purpose. It’s a chain link with a wood frame.

This next photo shows where the fence has to come over off of the property line in order to accommodate the utility easement. Imagine this spot completely obscured by buckthorn. The California chain link will start here and then continue along the back side of the property. It uses the same cedar posts as the wood privacy, but will be filled in with black vinyl coated chain link.

We also have a utility easment on the south side, so we had to make sure the fence was set back far enough. Another easement at the north east corner required us to have the fence go through an area of pine trees. There is a large area of white pine and spruce trees that was completely filled in with buckthorn, which I have gradually been tackling for several years. This fence project gave me the motivation to finally finish clearing all that out. It was quite a bit of work but I’m officially declaring our yard buckthorn free after 9 years of effort!

This area of pine and spruce used to be an impenetrable wall of invasive understory plants, including buckthorn, exotic honeysuckle shrubs, and white mulberry. While it provided somewhat of a living privacy fence, it certainly wasn’t my desired way of having privacy. I first tackled all of the buckthorn that had berries, and disposed of that. Then I gradually cut down and pulled much of it over the next few years. But after measuring the easment, I realized I would have to get rid of the remainder so the fence could go through there. Good motivation for finally taking care of that! I made extensive use of my weed wrench to pull out most of it, and then used the chainsaw to cut down larger shrubs and small rogue maple trees. We wil replace that with native understory plants, such as the highbush cranberry that I have already planted.

The compost bin is at the southeast side of the pine tree area. This used to be surrounded by invasive honeysuckle which I have been meaning to cut down for quite a while. I did leave up a small dead snag that shoudl make a good perch for birds. I’d like to plant some native shrubs like common ninebark and gray dogwood here.

Continuing east along the back edge of the lot, we will have a gate between where the compost bin sits and the back section of the garden. This will allow us access to the easement, which is still on our property and we have to maintain. I think the neighbors behind us will be happy that all the buckthorn is finally gone, and the fence should look pretty nice back there. The posts were just installed two days ago, and the cement needs to cure and then they will be back out to finish it out. We’ve been very happy so far with the work that Town & Country Fence has done. Really looking forward to seeing the end result and enjoying our new private back yard!

There have been over 250 reports of snowy owls in Minnesota this winter (unfortunately, none in my back yard.) Because of that, there has been an increase in incidents of baiting, although it’s something has been going on for a long time. Being an an avid birdwatcher and amateur photographer myself, and also volunteering for the Raptor Center (injured birds being rehabilitated for release into the wild) and Richardson Nature Center (birds in permanent captivity), I understand the motivation for baiting raptors, but my number one concern is the welfare of the bird and so I am very much opposed to the practice.

Many people apply the term “baiting” to include anything from setting up backyard bird feeders to harassing a raptor with live prey. I think it’s important to define what baiting is, how I see it as being different from other activities it is often compared to (a way baiters try to justify the practice), and why I believe it is harmful.

My definition of baiting is: actively luring an individual bird (usually a raptor) with live (or simulated live) prey, in order to provoke hunting behavior which brings the bird in close proximity to the observer, for purposes such as bird watching or photography, outside the scope of regulated activity such as falconry, scientific research and wildlife rehabilitation.

This differs from other types of bird feeding/attracting in the following ways:

1. Bird feeders (including seed, suet, nectar, fruit, live mealworms) do not target individual birds. The birds are free to come and go on their own. This type of feeding is widely supported and encouraged by organizations such as the Audubon Society, American Birding Association, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, etc.
2. Bird banding is highly regulated, done for research purposes, by qualified banders who must follow specific procedures and obtain state/federal permits to do so. Similarly, falconers are regulated and must obtain permits.
3. Hand feeding backyard birds – many people compare this to baiting. It is different because the types of birds who will come to the hand are already by nature quite tame (chickadees, nuthatches, etc.) and already coexist with humans in backyard environments. They are species that are not dependent on one type of food for their survival. One can debate whether hand feeding songbirds is itself problematic, but regardless, it is different from baiting a raptor.
4. Setting up perches near or on feeders for photography. This does not target an individual bird, nor provoke any behavior that interferes with a bird’s normal actions. And usually a photography “studio” setup like this attracts songbird species that are already accustomed to humans, or the observer uses a blind for more skittish species. There is no new human=food association that is formed as a result.

I believe baiting (as I defined above) is harmful because:

1. Raptors are very prey oriented. They are easily ritualized and become habituated to humans when they associate us with a food source. This can result in the bird swooping in on people or even cars in anticipation of being fed (it has been documented many times here in MN.) This is unsafe for birds and humans.
2. A bird that is baited is not just baited once. Typically it is baited repeatedly over a period of time by one or more photographers/birders. It often involves the bird being harassed/stressed by the behavior of those who are trying to get a closer view and can lead to illegal activities such as trespassing on private property.
3. If the bait is live, it is usually a domestic pet store mouse. This is not the natural diet of a wild bird and there is the possibility of disease that may result from unsanitary conditions that these mice are raised in. And there is the possibility that the prey may escape and that is neither fair to the mouse nor good for the environment.
4. If the bait is artificial, the the bird is wasting time and effort chasing a lure when that energy should be spent hunting. This significantly interferes with the bird’s ability to survive.
5. Baiting is often done near roadsides which puts these birds in danger of being hit by a car.
6. I am not aware of any birding or wildlife rehab organization that supports baiting. However several oppose it, including the Raptor Center, Owl Foundation, and Raptor Education Group. Also the ethical guidelines of groups like the American Birding Association and North American Nature Photography Association strongly discourage activities which interfere with a bird’s natural behavior.

For those who defend baiting, it’s interesting to ask if a) they have ever been involved with wildlife rehabilitation, and b) can they produce any statement or evidence of a birding/research/wildlife rehab organization which supports baiting as something that should be practiced by the general public. I’ve never gotten a direct answer to those questions from any baiting apologist. I think that says a lot.

Further reading:

Here is an excellent blog post by an Ottawa birder about baiting, which goes into much more detail.
Local ornithologist and author Laura Erickson on baiting: Baiting Owls

It’s been a pretty cold start to the winter. Right now we have some low temperatures forecast that haven’t been seen in about 20 years (before I moved to the midwest.) I think the coldest I’ve experienced has been -22F and I’ve been out photographing eagles when the wind chill was about -40F, and my eyelashes froze. We are supposed to get down to -25F tonight and wind chills around -50F.

Not much has been going on in the yard, no unusual visitors or anything out of the ordinary. We do have at least one overwintering flicker, and have had a red-tailed hawk hunting in the yard recently. Normally I wouldn’t expect to see one here because of all the trees, but I’ve seen it a few times now. A couple of deer have been showing up to munch on what’s left of the garden (which fascinates the cats.)

Because of the extreme cold I’ve put out extra suet and peanuts for the birds. They need as much high energy food as possible. We have two suet logs and I’ve also got a suet cake up in the top gazebo, where I have safflower to discourage starlings. In the tube feeder we have thistle and sunflower chips which the finches really like. There is a second tube feeder with the same that I have hanging on the deck railing, out of view of the camera. The juncos like to hop around under it, catching anything the goldfinches drop.

I haven’t been spending a lot of time outside (other than filling the bird feeders). It’s good weather for firing up the wood stove and settling down to catch up on some TV watching!

Summer is such a nice time in the garden. Many of the flowers are in bloom, the grasses are really starting to come in, and there is a lot of bird and insect activity. We have TONS of bees, and I’ve seen a few tiger swallowtail butterflies and a monarch (which are sadly rare this year.) I recently noticed a hummingbird moth in the garden for the first time, which was very cool. It seems to favor the native wild bergamot (monarda fistulosa), while actual hummingbirds ignore that and go to the royal catchfly, or another variety of monarda (monarda didyma) which is not locally native, originating from the northeastern US. I’m ok with that because the hummingbirds love it (I’m assuming because it’s red), and the insects can enjoy the native version (which I have plenty of.) Everyone wins! I’ve noticed varies bird families in the yard with their fledglings, such as chipping sparrows, robins, bluebirds and woodpeckers.

A year makes such a difference. Last year we were in the middle of a big drought and the garden was in bad shape (even native plants were stressed by lack of rain.) This year we’ve had a surplus and all of the plants are doing great. Unfortunately because of last year’s drought and this year’s long winter, monarch butterflies are in serious decline. I’ve only seen one caterpillar and a few adults even though we have plenty of milkweed.

I’ve spent a bit of time in the back of the yard, which I’d let become a bit more “wild” than the areas closer to the house. Unfortunately that means there have been a lot of weeds but I’ve managed to get those somewhat under control. We had a huge amount of stinging nettle and various other undesirable things. I’ve pulled much of that and also have been transplanting more aggressive natives out back where there is more room for them (mostly cup plant and wild bergamot). It’s been very satisfying to see all of the wildflowers blooming and watch the wildlife activity, where there used to be buckthorn and other invasive plants.

There is still more to do, always buckthorn and weeds to pull, but I’m very happy with how the garden has taken off this year. When I first started tackling the yard 6 years ago, I had no idea how much work it would be and how much I would learn in the process!