Garden writer Ciscoe Morris on welcoming young birds to the garden and on the right time to prune lavender.
Special to The Seattle Times
In the Garden
I used to hang bird feeders in my garden, but I was forced to remove them because, to my surprise and consternation, they were attracting rats.
Even though my garden provided a wide variety of plants for food and shelter, I was worried that if I removed the feeders, my bird friends might leave to find food elsewhere. I knew that it is difficult for birds to find reliable, shallow, clean-water sources, so I added additional birdbaths to the garden. My gamble paid off big time, even though I removed the feeders.
The only birds who left the garden were the purple finches, and they always hogged the feeders, making it difficult for the smaller songbirds to get their share. Not only did the resident chickadees, bushtits, juncos and nuthatches stay put in my garden, I began to notice new bird varieties showing up for a bath.
It was great fun watching Townsend’s warblers, varied thrushes, spotted towhees and even an occasional black-headed grosbeak splashing in the bath.
One uninvited guest was a sharp-shinned hawk who shocked the living tweetle out of me when he nabbed a little chickadee just as she stepped out of the tub. To avoid a repeat of that unpleasant surprise, I moved the birdbaths into shady locations surrounded by trees and shrubs to prevent hawks from having a straight shot at them.
Make sure the water stays clean and fresh by blasting the water out of the basin with a powerful hose-end nozzle before refilling on a regular basis.
Be aware that the bathing birds can empty a shallow birdbath in a matter of hours. Don’t worry, the birds will let you know. When the water is low, the birds will peep at you nonstop until you replenish their supply.
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