The Birds and the Bees

No, I’m not going to talk about that! I want to talk about the birds on my feeders outside, and the bees that I’m hoping to coax into our yard with organic gardening practices.

Over this past week, I noticed a strange phenomenon at my bird feeder outside the kitchen window. The birds were having a lot more mid-air collisions and couldn’t seem to figure out how to perch on the feeders. Then the realization came—our bird population has just seen an explosion of babies who are still learning the nuances of flying! It’s so cute to look out the window and see a mother/father bird peeking furiously for a peanut morsel to stuff into the mouth of their chirping baby. For some reason the babies look larger than the parents, but I think it has something to do with them puffing their feathers out. The babies don’t sit still; they are always fluffing out their feathers or flapping their wings or trying to keep their balance. So today I filled up both feeders—the peanut and the sunflower—although we don’t usually do that in the summer. Knowing what it’s like to be a parent, I want to do what I can to help out the avian parents of the world. If I can save them some time and hassle by providing a quick meal for their young ones, maybe they’ll have more time to teach them to fly and avoid predators. We parents have to look out for one another!

As for the bees, I’m not super educated about the issues with our fuzzy yellow-and-black friends, but I do know that their numbers are declining from wide-spread pesticide use and what’s called “Colony Collapse Disorder”. The organic method of enticing them into your area is pretty simply—get native trees and plants for your gardens and yard, then take care of them. It’s best to plant flowers that bloom at different times of the year, thus providing a consistent supply of pollen for the bees to collect. They especially need early-spring blooms to greet them when they emerge after the winter cold subsides. So Nate and I bought a few perennials at the local extension plant sale last month, and may scatter some perennial seeds over the summer in other spots. Right now there is an abundance of flowers in bloom here. So the bees should be pretty happy in my yard, although I don’t see very many of them. Course, I don’t necessarily want to interact with them. I just want to make sure they’re there, doing their job of pollination. In another month or so my corn is going to need those little bees in order to produce corn cobs, so I hope they’re up to the task!

~Jen

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