Winged Wednesday - Spotlight on Sunflower Seeds

So in the past weeks, I've touched on Nyjer Seed and on Safflower Seed. Today, I'll provide some information on Sunflower Seeds. These are pretty common feeder seeds that many people use. These even make appearances in the general wild bird seed mixes which I do not recommend.

Sunflower Seed comes in two varieties: Striped and Black-Oil. The Striped are larger than the Black-Oil and have a thicker shell. The Black-Oil seeds are the more common seeds which many people use.

Sunflowers are native to the Americas and are plants that many people put in their gardens. They are cultivated for human consumption as seed and as sunflower oil.

A host of bird species are attracted to the seed because it contains vital oils. Many birds may also readily eat it because like them, it's native to the Americas. They would eat it even if you didn't offer it in a feeder. Some birds that you find eating your Black-Oil Sunflower seeds include: Northern Cardinals, American Goldfinches, Black Capped Chickadees, White Breasted Nuthatches, and Purple Finches, but really they are very good general all purpose seeds. A small list of birds seem interested in the Striped Seeds: Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, Evening Grosbeaks, Blue Jays, and Black Capped Chickadees.

These seeds can be easily dispensed in hopper feeders, tray feeders, or feeders made of wire mesh. One thing to note is that the shells of seeds can make a mess. They are totally worth the mess, and very easy to buy since they can be found anywhere from grocery stores to Farm & Fleet to Wild Birds Unlimited.

Top 10 Signs of Spring from the Past Weekend

Folks in Wisconsin got an early taste of Spring this weekend and may get an early taste of Summer this week. Here are some of the signs I saw that Spring had arrived this past weekend.

1. Dinner on the grill. That's right. Polish Sausage cooked over charcoal! It was pretty awesome.
2. Expanding the flower bed. I hadn't planned to do my digging and flower bed prep this early, but with as nice out as it was, I couldn't think of a good reason not to remove sod, put up some fencing, and setup the bird house.
3. Chickadees checking out the birdhouse. Just after getting the house setup with a "Sparrow Spooker" (I'll post more on this if it works), a couple of Black Capped Chickadees went inside. I don't think they decided to move in as we haven't seen them since.
4. Sandhill Cranes. I counted a total of 7 cranes this weekend while outside. I imagine they were headed to Horicon or Baraboo.
5. Killdeers. I first heard their high-pitch call outside of Farm & Fleet, and I assumed that I was hearing things. However, later while we were sitting out on the deck, I heard it again and made visual confirmation. It's amazing! We didn't see them last year until the Tree Swallows were back!
6. Bird calls. Our morning and evening walks with our beagle have been full of bird calls. We've heard American Robins, Northern Cardinals, Red Winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles, Black Capped Chickadees, and plenty more. You know it's Spring when the male birds start looking for girlfriends.
7. Daylight Savings Time. I hate time change! I had really enjoyed that it was finally light out when getting up in the morning. Although, I must admit that I liked having sunlight after work today. Making the transition is always so difficult though.
8. Other dogs. Often times during the winter, Babe was the only dog we saw. We walk her three times per day, rain or shine or snow. But we were surprised that we didn't see many other dogs during the Winter. We saw tons of dog walkers this weekend. Makes one wonder where the dogs were pooping?
9. Green stuff in the flower bed. Green stuff and lots of it! I've got Purple Cone Flower, New York Aster, Black-Eyed Susan, Prairie Coneflower, and Dandelions coming up! What do you have in your garden?
10. The seasonal section at Farm and Fleet. I stopped in to pick up some water softener salt and was greeted by lawn mowers, weed whackers, seeds, pots, and a variety of gardening tools. While it wasn't ready yet, you could see that they'd been setting up the outdoor gardening center. In a few weeks, they'll have trees and flowers for sale. Looks like the stores have caught Spring fever too.

This Year's Plan

Below you'll find a couple of photographs of our lawn from when we first purchased our home. You'll notice the stark absence of trees. From talking to the neighbors, we've been told that the yard once had Red Cedar in the front and back, but currently we have none. So the big task this year will be planting some trees.

When I sat down with these images over the winter, I realized exactly how jealous I am of P. Allen Smith and his fancy digital whiteboard. I started with a sketch pad and noted the places in the backyard whereby planting a tree would be next to impossible. I didn't want to shade out our wildflower garden, and I'm not convinced that planting a tree in the shady part of the yard will work well either. So most of the tree planting will need to be in the front yard.

The front yard will host four trees. The north end of the yard will have a wind-block made of Eastern White Pine, Red Cedar, and American Larch. Conifers are native to the boreal forests of North America and provide excellent shelter for the birds. On the south side of the front lawn, I plan to add a Red Oak. The acorns will attract birds and other critters, and oaks are also popular with birds that eat insects like woodpeckers and nuthatches. I'll add a couple of Nannyberry Viburnums near the oak tree as well. Lastly, I still wanted to plant something in the backyard to give the birds who visit our feeders a good place for perching, so something small like an Eastern Red Bud seems like a good choice.

The wildflower garden did pretty well last year, but there were a number flowers we did not get a chance to plant. The bed will be extended and widened, and the following flowers will be added: Lance-Leaf Coreopsis, Cardinal Flower, and Bee Balm. There is also a small, currently unused bed, near our air conditioner in which we found a single Columbine growing last summer. I've purchase more Columbine to add to this bed this year. We're hoping the addition of Bee Balm, Columbine, and Cardinal Flower will help our yard attract more butterflies and hummingbirds.

The shady corner is home to our compost bin which can be a bit unsightly. We had good luck with the Highbush Cranberry Viburnums and the Pagoda Dogwood which we added to this part of the yard last year, so we plan to add two more Highbush Cranberries. We will also plant some Ribes, particularly Coralberry, a type of Currant as well as a Highbush Blueberry. This corner is becoming the understory for our neighbors' oaks and maples.

The interesting part about our landscaping so far is that coupled with the different types of bird feeders, our miniature biomes attract different types of birds. The feeders full of sunflower seeds and peanuts are nearest the shady corner. Blue Jays, Downy Woodpeckers, and Black Capped Chickadees can be found in this part of the yard. Whereas the American Goldfinches and Dark Eyed Juncos can be found nearer the wildflower garden at the nyjer feeder. With some careful planning and clever plant selection, you too can create small habitats for the wildlife in your yard.

Winged Wednesday - Spotlight on Nyjer Seed

Last week, I posted some useful information about Safflower Seed, which has become my favorite bird feeder foods. This Wednesday, I'd like to share some information about my second favorite seed, Nyjer (also called Thistle or Nyger seed).

While often called "Thistle", Nyjer is in fact not Thistle. Thistle is in the genus, Cirsium, while Nyjer is part of the genus Guizotia. Guizotia are only native to Africa.The Nyjer seeds are very small and hard. The seed is black and fairly potent.

Because of its small size, there are special feeders with smaller mesh or holes so that the seed doesn't come spilling out. Tube feeders are generally recommended for this type of seed. The tube keeps the seed from blowing away or getting wet and typically allows multiple birds to feed. You may also find mesh bags sold as sock feeders. The only problem with tube and sock feeders is that some birds won't cling or perch to them even though they'd like to dine on the Nyjer.

Nyjer is typically associated with American Goldfinches, which is how it came to be called "Thistle", but other birds will also eat it. Dark-Eyed Juncos, Pine Siskins, and Mourning Doves will readily eat Nyjer. The problem for the Dark-Eyed Juncos and Mourning Doves is that they don't usually do well with sock or tube feeders. You can however spread some seed along the ground. Be aware that laying seed on the ground may attract English House Sparrows who will readily eat this seed from the ground.

We originally used a sock feeder which got a lot of attention, but eventually the draw-string broke. We now use a yellow tube feeder which has gotten even more attention. If you are looking for a good way to attract American Goldfinches, I'd recommend placing one of these near some flowering Black-Eyed Susans and native grasses like Little Blue Stem.

Last Year's Accomplishments

When I started this blog, I wrote a piece on what we started with. This was just a quick summary about what the lawn was like when we purchased our home. Today, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on our accomplishments from last year and touch on some lessons learned.

Before purchasing the house, just after we had gone to see it for the first time, I started sketching out the many ideas I had about what I could do with the yard. Shortly after moving in, sometime in mid-April, I began digging into the sunny corner in the back, removing the sod, and extending the existing flower bed. I had started some seed indoors and by late April, I had some Blue Lupine seedlings in the house. I decided it was time to plant, so I brought my seedlings out with some seed for Purple Coneflower, Black-Eyed Susan, False Indigo, Sky-Blue Aster, and Butterfly Milkweed. In May we had frost almost everyday for the first two weeks. I had planted too early.

I ended up purchasing a number of plugs from Kopke's Greenhouse to replace the plants which I had lost. Our flower bed was full of Little Blue Stem, Purple Coneflower, Black-Eyed Susans, Prairie Coneflower, Blue Lupine, False Indigo, and Butterfly Milkweed. Unfortunately, I didn't put up any fencing. The Lupines and Indigo were chewed down to the ground regularly, and the rabbits even appeared to have tried eating the Butterfly Milkweed.

By Mid-June, I was feeling rather dispirited with the flower garden, so I turned my attention to shrubs. I decided that the shady corner needed the most work. In the morning, it is largely shaded out by our neighbor's Sugar Maple, and for part of the afternoon, it's shaded by another neighbor's Oak. We set up the compost pile here and planted two Highbush Cranberries and a Pagoda Dogwood. These shrubs took right away and have been great additions to the yard. In fact, they stood up to a wave of Japanese Beetles.

By July, we finally had some blooms in the flower garden. In particular, the Prairie Coneflower was spreading like a wildfire. I decided it was time to add some shrubs to the sunny corner and planted two Red Chokeberries and two Saskatoon Serviceberries. While purchasing the shrubs, I stumbled onto some discounted Big Blue Stems, Obedient Plant, and New York Aster. The flower bed needed to be extended again. Unfortunately, once again the rabbits took over. They chewed down the Chokeberries and Serviceberries as well as the Asters. I ended up putting fencing around the bushes.

By August, the Black Eyed-Susans and Purple Coneflowers had bloomed, and some of the False Indigo started to make a comeback, however it never got taller than 4 inches or so. The Butterfly Milkweed flowered, and a handful of Lupines remained. Fall came, and only the Chokeberries fruited. While there was a certain element of disappointment to the year, I was quite excited that anything had flowered at all. One wintery day during January, I noticed Dark-Eyed Juncos in the garden picking at the remains of Black-Eyed Susans and Big Blue Stem, and it was then that I knew my experiment had been successful.

Today, we had our first Robin in the yard, and with Spring just around the corner I anxiously await the return of the plants. I'm curious to see which plants will return, assuming that some which I have written off will in fact return. But before they start popping up, I still have some work to do. I'll discuss that on Friday.

Gray Wolf Hunt Passes in Wisconsin and Other Wolf Hunt News

Some Wolf Hunting News

• WI Approves Wolf Hunt
• Montana's Wolf Hunt Problems
• Bemidji Town Hall on MN Wolf Hunt
• More On MN Wolf Hunt

Native Lilies for Your Lawn

Many people plant a variety of lilies, most of which are from Asia. Certain types of Tiger Lilies have overtaken roadway ditches. Asiastic Lilies (Lilium asiastica) have also become incredibly popular. Some people are unaware that there are species of lily which are native to the Midwest. While it's very easy to go to the box store and pick up Day Lilies or Asiastic Lilies either as small plants or as bulbs, planting native lilies can be more work. The lilies native to the Midwest are primarily taxonomical section Pseudolirium.

The Michigan Lily (Lilium Michiganse). This lily ranges widely across the central United States. It is commonly mistaken for the Turk's Cap Lily, and even the seed packet I picked up referred to it as such. The petals of the flower arch backwards pushing the stamen outward. The flower blooms in mid-summer in June or July. Seeds for this lily can be found from Prairie Future Seed Company at a number of retailers including Jung and Wildbirds Unlimited. Prairie Moon Nursery also carries seeds for this lily.

The Turk's Cap Lily (Lilium Superbum). The range of this lily only extends as far north as Illinois in the Midwest but spreads into the Northeast. This lily can grow upwards of 7 ft. The Turk's Cap Lily has reflexed petals much like the petals of the Michigan Lily. The orange blooms are present in June or July. In Wisconsin the Turk's Cap Lily is available at the Flower Factory in Stoughton; seeds are available through Prairie Moon Nursery. I've also been told that these plants should be available at the UW Arboretum Native Plant Sale.

The Wood Lily (Lilium Philadelphicum). This lily ranges from the Northeast, across the Great Plains, and into Canada. Unlike the other lilies above, the petals do not arch backwards, but it also blooms in mid-summer. This plant is listed by the USDA as threatened or endangered across much of its range. Prairie Moon Nursery carries seed for this variety of lily.

The large red-orange flowers are noted to attract hummingbirds and other pollinators. Like many of the Asian varieties of lily, these plants are noted for their large showy flowers. All three varieties are much less common than they once were, and have been largely displaced by Lilium Lancifolium (Tiger Lily) and Hemerocallis Fulva (Orange Day Lily) which have spread along roadside ditches. By planting these varieties of lily you are helping native plants that are in trouble as well as beautifying your lawn. It should be noted that starting lilies from seed can be difficult, and you may need to stratify your seeds. We currently have some in the refrigerator, and they'll be planted indoors shortly.