We have been adapting for the birds post-freeze. Some of the insect eaters are
using the suet heavily and will eat millet, so I’m putting more out. Our
visitor today was amazed at all the Lesser Goldfinch and American Goldfinch on
the ground, hunting for the precious seed.
I have yet to see an Eastern Phoebe, but we do have White-eyed Vireo and
Hutton’s Vireo around. Birds are singing, including Hutton’s Vireo.
We also tried some of the plants in the Butterfly garden to see if they are
alive and it appears that the majority have survived the freeze—we went down to
7.5 degrees and were below freezing for over 3 days and very low. Luckily, we
had a snow blanket, which helps insulate plants.
Butterflies are out and many of the plants in the thickets are leafing out and
blooming. The mention of this is because we get bugs to go after this, which
satisfies our insect loving birds.
We lost our Rufous Hummingbird, we assumed—he survived the first few difficult
days, but the last two, he disappeared.
Susan Schaezler
WarblerWoods.org, http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspot/L213585?yr=cur
501(c)(3) Cibolo/Schertz/Guadalupe County
Lone Star Land Steward Winner 2011. GCBO Site Partner
Life member TOS, SAAS, TAS