It’s Easy Being Green

By now, just about everyone has heard about the mysterious dilemma plaguing our world’s pollinators.  Honey bees are dieing off in vast numbers and no one is truly quite sure why they’re vanishing.  Some scientists have started hypothesizing what is behind the drastic decline in bee populations.  Some have speculated cell phone signals, a virulent disease and even pollution as a cause.  Now one group of researchers is looking into the bee dilemma with a unique, grassroots approach:  The Great Sunflower Project.

The project is led by Gretchen LeBuhn, an associate professor at San Francisco State University.  LeBuhn says she’s interested in broad areas of conservation and the bee is one of her most interesting subjects.  If you sign up to help LeBuhn’s research project, they will send you a packet of wild sunflower seeds.  Once you plant them and have sunflowers, the researchers will email you a particular weekend that you are supposed to head out into your garden and watch your sunflowers.  Twice per month you will plant yourself in your yard so you can record how many bees visit your sunflowers within 30 minutes.  Then you record the data and send it back to the researchers.  The goal is to find out where exactly bees are in trouble and what areas don’t seem to be impacted by the mysterious death.

I think the project is a great way for anyone who understands the impacts of bees on our life.  It’s said that one out of every three bites of food has been visited by a native pollinator and if they totally disappear, we’ll be in some major trouble.  Just think about the things you can learn by participating in this research.  If you have children it would make for a great summer project, something for them to focus on come away with a feeling that they’re helping to make a difference too!  If you want to sign up, visit the Great Sunflower Project website and join the research.  Hopefully together we can make a difference!

If you’re like many people, you love to have a yard filled with birds. In order to entice them to stick around your slice of paradise, you might hang bird feeders around your home. But, did you know your feeders could do more harm than good?

Bird feeders can be a source of disease, spreading sickness from bird to bird that flies in for a quick meal at your feeders. In some cases, your birds might become lunch themselves when a neighborhood cat figures out there’s a virtual smörgåsbord in your yard or they can knock themselves silly flying into the windows on your home if you put feeders too close to them. So, a few simple steps is all it takes to ensure you can continue enjoying your fine feathered friends.

First, you should always provide more than one feeder around your yard. If birds crowd one feeding station, it can actually cause them to become stressed out which will lead to sickness and possibly even death. When it comes to re-filling those feeders, clean them out first. Bird droppings and other bacteria hanging around on the stations can lead to the spread of sickness too. Just a simple rinse of hot water and an air dry will do when it comes to cleaning them up. However, if you happen to find a bird dead near one of your feeders and there’s no obvious signs a predator got to it, you’ll want to disinfect the feeders with a bleach solution and leave to air dry before re-filling.

Moving your feeders around your yard regularly will not only prevent the buildup of wasted seed in one spot but also stop the buildup of bird droppings in one area. This is another important tip for the health of your local birds. It’s not recommended to lay seed out on the ground because that opens the birds up for an attack or ambush from a predator. Instead, hang them 5 to 12 feet off the ground in shrubs or trees that provide some cover and protection for the birds. A nearby brush pile or some cleverly placed bushes will also provide a place for birds to take cover when the weather gets bad and when a predator comes looking for a free lunch at one of your feeding stations. These should be within a 5 to 12 foot radius of the feeder.

Don’t think about just providing food. Birds need to get a drink of water every now and then too! Plus, many different species love to take a bath on the edge of the bird bath. Shallow bird watering dishes should be placed near the emergency cover as well in case they get spooked. In the winter you’ll obviously need to buy a bird bath heater if you live in a cold climate with freezing weather. During the summer, the water should be changed out about every two to three days.

When it comes time for planting and gardening season in your area, put in some native plants around your yard.  The natives will provide year round food in the form of berries, nectar and seeds.  Evergreen shrubs and trees will provide year round protection and habitat for your birds.  If you’re not sure what kind of native plants to pickup for your area, you can visit the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for information on what’s native to your locale.  Also, if you happen to have a dead tree on your property you might want to leave it alone.  Birds will nest in the open cavities of what would otherwise be chopped up into bits and thrown out.

These simple steps will go a long way to ensure that you have many years of bird watching fun from the comfort of your own home.