TO THE EDITOR
for yourself, but not at the cost of others.
George G. Brooks
Eugene
REPEAT AFTER ME
Deck the halls with junk from China —
Tra la la la la la la la la.
Tis the season for out-sourcing — Fa la
la la la la la la la.
Now we’re lucky to work for nothing
— Folly folly folly folly FALL.
Will we all be chipped by Wal-Mart?
Shop instead at worker-owned BiMart!
Tra la la la la la la la la.
Kathy Ging
Eugene
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CHEESY UNION
I wholeheartedly support gay marriage.
Gays have as much a right to be miserable
as straight people! But it goes deeper than
that. If gay marriage is legalized, it may be
eventually be possible for me to marry a
stuffed-crust pizza.
Dorothy Karstrom
Eugene
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BY KATE ROGERS-GESSERT
Your Garden,
a Gift for the Birds
KATE ROGERS-GESSERT
W
aking to the songs of finches, watching a flock of pine siskins swing through the
air — these are joys in life. To thrive in your garden, birds need food, shelter,
water, and protection from cats and collisions with windows.
You can plant a wildlife corner or a whole garden. A garden with seeds, fruits, flowers for
nectar, and plenty of insects attracts a wide range of birds. Plants and insects free of pesticides
are important to birds’ health. Different birds feed in soil and leaf litter, at varying levels of
shrubs and trees, in bark and moss, on and under bird feeders. Birds who visit feeders need con-
sistent seed supply, clean feeders to prevent disease, and nearby trees and shrubs to perch in
and escape from predators. Keith Oldham was puzzled when no birds came to the feeder on his
deck — until he added a potted tree. Black sunflower seeds appeal to many kinds of birds.
Water helps birds survive hot and cold spells and brings them to drink and bathe where you
can see them. Perching places and cover are important near water, too. To prevent mosquitoes,
add goldfish or gambusia to ponds, and change the water in bird baths every few days. Water in
bird baths and bird-friendly areas of ponds should be about one inch deep, with good footing
on the bottom. One of our bird baths is blue ceramic, pretty but slippery; we place a flat rock in
it so birds can bathe. Our plainer bird bath is concrete with a textured bottom. Birds wait in line
for this one, congregating on nearby bushes.
Birds need shelter to nest, hide from predators and avoid temperature extremes. Trees and
shrubs, brush piles, nest boxes, snags, grasses growing long and perennials left untrimmed in
winter all provide shelter. As I work my way through my winter garden, I notice a lot more
birds where I haven’t cleaned up yet. They are gradually persuading me to wait until early
spring to make everything tidy. They also prefer shrubs and trees that I restrain myself from
pruning: wild rose thickets, twiggy hawthorns and forsythias. The more tangled, the better.
Cats are the curse of bird gardens. People who are tender to their kitties may, inexplicably,
establish a kill zone for birds around their houses — and their neighbors’ houses — by letting
their pets roam free. To protect birds, cats belong indoors until they are ancient and tottering.
The first line of defense against bird/win-
dow crashes is screens, which soften both re-
flections and impacts. You can try closing cur-
tains. Hawk outlines on picture windows are
somewhat effective, as are bits of outdoor glit-
ter moving in the wind and white stains of bird
poop from previous collisions. I’ve found the
poop strangely effective. Though it’s not aes-
thetically pleasing, neither is the thud of a
feathered body hitting glass.
Bird feeders are safest very close to win-
dows or over 25 feet away. Birds fly most
wildly when they are mating or just leaving the
nest. At these times, they need extra protec-
tion. I’ve also noticed more crashes on sunny
days that burst forth in glory after weeks of
clouds.
In city and suburbs, birds can flourish
where neighbors provide wildlife corridors —
Crabapple Tree hedgerows along fences — which increase
habitat and also provide greater privacy be-
tween backyards. Neighbors can cooperate by growing larger wildlife trees in adjacent gar-
dens: “You plant an incense cedar, I’ll plant a Garry oak.” The dense foliage of incense cedars
makes for safe nesting; oaks provide food for scores of bird species. Oaks have not only acorns,
but many insects living along their licheny branches.
Native plant species are good for native birds, and some non-natives are excellent additions.
Rufous hummingbirds return to Oregon in February, in time for the bloom of native red-flowered
currant. Maeve Sowles loves watching goldfinches hanging from sunflowers that grew from
seeds the same birds planted last year. Dennis Lueck watches juncos, usually ground-feeders,
feast on seed along the spreading branches of a coast redwood. Near my kitchen window is a
crabapple with orange fruits that last through early winter. One January day, dozens of robins will
assemble and strip the tree. The European birch above our patio is a cafeteria, yielding an ongoing
stream of insects and slowly disintegrating seedheads for finches, nuthatches, and warblers. ew
Plant sources: Bloomers Nursery, Doak Creek Native Plants, Down to Earth, Lorane Hills Nursery.
Great book: Russell Link’s Landscaping for Wildlife in the Pacific Northwest, at Book Mark and J. Michael’s.
Plant list at www.laneaudobon.org. Search “native plants birds.”
Send ideas and comments to shadesofgreen@eugeneweekly.com
DECEMBER 16, 2004 9