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MAY 2007
Spring and Early Summer
...It's a great time for you and your family to fall in love with nature in YOUR backyard!
It's spring and excitement and love are in the air. Look around your backyard and you'll see lovebirds everywhere as the mating season kicks in gear. The coo-coo-coo of the Morning Dove's ring throughout our neighborhood and once again they dare to nest in the tree right beside our car in the driveway.
Soon the Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds will be back from Central America and will be buzzing our bay windows if I don't get up our window feeders. It's amazing to me that after miles of travel the "same" hummers come back to the same spots.
When planting to attract Hummingbirds - Red is the word!
Why? Hummers prefer red flowers as insects also compete for nectar, but see very poorly in the red end of the spectrum so red flowers appear black to insects and attract less to compete with hummers. Also during migration red blossoms contrast more strongly with a green environment than other colors.
Next issue we'll cover water & Spring & Summer feeding. Keep your feeders full as migrating birds, baby birds, and mate feeding makes spring and early summer the best backyard bird feeding season. Enjoy the view!
How To Make Your Backyard A butterfly Haven!!
There is nothing more relaxing than sitting in a chair or swing on your patio, deck or yard and watching butterflies make a graceful trip around your yard. Even in today's hectic times all "seems at peace and as the Lord intended" as a butterfly pauses to sip some nectar from a flower blossom or to warm itself on a warm rock. In this article we will discuss ways to encourage butterflies to visit and stay with you!! Without a doubt the number one thing you have to do is "quit using chemical pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides." I can speak from personal experience as after going "cold turkey" and stopping the use of all of the above I can't believe how the population of butterflies has seemed to explode in our backyard. Not in just numbers but in types. One thing people often forget is it's important to provide "Host Plants" - not just nectar sources. By providing host plants you can watch the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into an adult butterfly.
Butterfly / Host Plant
Black Swallowtail / Carrot, dill,
parsley,
fennel
Great Spangled / Violet
Fritillary
Monarch / Milkweed
Pearly Crescentspot / Astor
Pipevine / Pipevine
Swallowtail Calico pipe
Dutchman's
pipe
Rooster
flower
Red Spotted Purple / Wild Cherry
Willow
Spicebush / Spicebush
Swallowtail Sassafras
Viceroy / Cherry, Plum,
Poplar, Willow
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