Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2020 i Birds and Blooms Extra

Listen closely and you may hear a black-capped chickadee saying its own name, chicka-dee-dee-dee, or a yellow warbler singing sweet, sweet, sweet, I’m-so-sweet. Or maybe you hear something else! That’s the fun thing about songs and calls—when spring arrives and birds belt out their best tunes, not everyone hears the same thing. To see what I mean, flip to “Songs Made Simple” on page 17 and find out whether you agree with some common bird song mnemonics. Also in this issue, we’re spotlighting the best vocalists in “Avian Idols.” The top nine songsters were voted on by our field editors and Facebook audience (find us at facebook.com/ birdsblooms to join future conversations). Go to page 26 to see if your favorite songbird made the list. Personally, I love the sounds…

One very important consideration when it comes to setting up feeders is yourself! The better your view of the birds, the more you’ll get to enjoy them. So instead of putting feeders way out in the yard, set them up just outside a window, no farther than about 15 feet. Ultimately, the best seat in the house is wherever you can easily see the birds. “A feeder at the kitchen window can keep mealtimes interesting,” says wildlife artist Heather Bartmann of Fort Collins, Colorado. Her main visitors are house sparrows, but even the most common birds are fun to watch if you can observe their behavior up close. Remember to think of yourself first when taking care of your feeders. Make sure they are easy to access in all seasons,…

Meadowlarks Despite the “lark” in the name, meadowlarks are related to blackbirds. Males sit on prominent perches and belt out bright whistling tunes. The western meadowlark, state bird of six states, proclaims a pure melody followed by a short jumbled phrase. Eastern meadowlarks sing a similar fluted tune, but it lacks the closing bubbling notes. Where their ranges overlap along the Great Plains, the difference in song helps minimize hybridization. It also serves as the easiest way to identify these two look-alikes. Wood Thrushes Wood thrushes make one of the classic sounds of eastern deciduous forests, with spirally flute notes that reverberate off the trees. Some birds, like thrushes, can even sing two notes simultaneously, thanks to a two-branched vocal organ called a syrinx. Their melodic self-harmonizing is especially evident…

1. Despite the broad variety in colors and markings displayed by bird eggs, just two pigments are responsible for staining the shells of all known species of living and extinct birds, including dinosaurs. 2. An egg that is pear-shaped easily settles within the nest, or even on bare ground if the parents opt not to build a nest. 3. Eggshell colors serve to signal the identity of each egg. For example, a parasitic brown-headed cowbird egg sticks out in the nest among an American robin’s blue eggs. Typically, the robin recognizes the cowbird egg and tosses it out. 4. The eggshell serves as a calcium supply for the growing embryo. As the embryo matures, the shell slowly becomes thinner and the hatchling has an easier time breaking through.…

This painted lady landed on a frog! I didn’t notice it when I first took the picture. I almost deleted it from my computer, but I was astounded when I saw the frog. When will I see anything like this again? Probably never. Charles Miller MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA While out in the garden with my then 5-year-old daughter, we spotted this beautiful painted lady on one of our sunflowers. This image is so special because it reminds me of the moments my children and I share in our garden. Catherine Pouria STOCKTON, NEW JERSEY Painted lady caterpillars are gray-brown or almost black with a yellow stripe down their bodies and spikes along their sides and backs. They show some color variation when in caterpillar stage. Before the pupae stage, look for…

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Listen Tune in to BirdNote, a two-minute radio show featuring educational stories about birds. Find it on a public radio station or at birdnote.org . IT’S ORIOLE TIME! Pull your orange or jelly feeders out of storage and give them a good cleaning. Or if you’re in the market for a new one, check out a few of our favorites on page 18. SUPPORT POLLINATORS June 22-28 is National Pollinator Week. Spread the word on social media and in your own community about how to help these important fliers. Go to pollinator.org for ideas. Jelly snatcher “My grandson Reid made a snack out of the grape jelly in the oriole feeder, and my daughter Emily caught him in the act.” birdsblooms @birdsblooms birdsblooms Pamela Robarge AMERY, WISCONSIN…

“A bird a hundred feet away is merely a bird, but within arm’s reach it is an animated thing to marvel at.”Roger Tory Peterson BIRD-LORE MAGAZINE, 1935 GET STARTED Begin with a tube feeder to welcome finches, chickadees, titmice and cardinals almost immediately. Those species seem to recognize the shape of the feeder, and their presence attracts other birds. FEEDER WE LOVE Set out this copper-finished songbird feeder to provide a spot to perch and eat. $65 at chewy.com…

Q The leaves on my lilac curl up and it has never fully flowered. What might be wrong? Susan Hartzell SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CALIFORNIA Melinda: Lilac blight caused by bacteria may lead to curling leaves. Brown blemishes or lesions may appear on the leaves and new shoots. Pruning out infected branches below the diseased portion is the only control. Be sure to disinfect your tools with alcohol or a disinfectant spray between cuts. If leaves are curled but green and free of spots, it may be a root issue caused by too much or not enough water. Try watering thoroughly and less often to encourage deep roots. Insufficient sunlight, overfertilization or pruning any time other than right after the lilac flowers (or when it should have flowered) can prevent it…

WINGSPAN 2 to 27/8 inches. DISTINCTIVE MARKINGS Orange and black patterned upper wing with white dots and four or five black dots along each hindwing. Underwings have a dark brown and tan segmented design with four or five dots on the hindwing’s edge. HABITAT Found in nearly every habitat, but prefers open grassy areas, gardens and fields. HOST PLANTS Uses a variety of host plants (more than 100), but prefers thistle, hollyhock, mallow and many legumes. BACKYARD FAVORITES Nectar from thistle, aster, cosmos, ironweed and blazing star. ZOOMING ALONG Painted ladies are fast fliers, fluttering at speeds of up to 25 mph.…

Weigela Weigela florida , Zones 4 to 8 This large, dense flowering shrub produces bunches of blooms in spring. Traditionally, the pink flowers may reappear in summer, but new cultivars are available in many different shades and produce more blooms throughout summer and fall. Weigela tolerates clay soil, and deer generally avoid it. Attracts:  Light needs: Full sun. Size: 10 feet tall and wide. Grown for: Colorful foliage and sporadic additional blooms. Foliage: Leaf color varies by cultivar, including green, purple, bronze and variegated. Cultivars to try: The Sonic Bloom series flowers in waves from spring to fall and comes in shades of red, pink and white. WILDLIFE BENEFITS Plant weigela as a hedge or privacy screen and watch for visiting hummingbirds, bees and butterflies at the narrow, funnel-shaped blooms.…

1 Scarlet runner beans Niki Jabbour, author of three gardening books, says scarlet runner beans not only offer a gorgeous pop of red to a vegetable garden, but they also attract hummingbirds—and they make an amazing living wall! Why we love it: The colorful options include Golden Sunshine, which has lime green leaves and red blooms. 2 Basil A heat-loving herb, basil grows best when planted in full sun and well-draining soil. Why we love it: When left untrimmed, basil sprouts white or purple flower spikes. But many sister varieties are equally or even more stunning. Spicy Globe basil has tiny green leaves that cluster. Dark Opal basil has purple leaves, and it can grow to nearly 1½ feet tall. 3 Hot peppers Hot peppers come in…

My deck is my photography studio. One spring day, I set peanuts all around me and caught a photo of this blue jay. Anthony Quinn SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND I never have as much time to look for birds as I’d like, but luckily this yellow warbler found me one day. I grabbed my camera and stepped out onto the porch, patiently waiting for the bird to move into the light so I could get my perfect photo. Janelle Pitula OSWEGO, ILLINOIS Last year I saw quite a few beautiful western tanagers. I even captured photographs of some of them. Sylvia Hooper CANON CITY, COLORADO My all-time favorite bird, the Baltimore oriole, returns to Michigan in early May. I just love their whistles—you always know when they’re back in your yard.…

BIRD EGGS RANGE IN COLORS and can be ornately maculated with spots, blotches and scrawls. They vary in shape and size, and they must be thick enough to withstand the weight of an incubating parent but thin enough to allow the embryo to break through and hatch. Other than heat and protection, all the resources needed for a chick to grow and mature are packaged up cleanly and tightly in the eggshell surrounding it. Discover how egg color, size and incubation change from species to species. Ruby-Throated Hummingbird A kiwi lays the largest egg in relation to its body size, but hummingbirds come in a close second when you add up the total volume of their two eggs laid in each clutch. Nests are built and eggs are incubated by…

1 Traverse the short, wheelchair-accessible Ethno-botanical Garden Trail to see native plants and visit a replica Native American encampment. More adventurous hikers can get to the Anderson Bay Trail by boat for a nearly 2-mile loop on rocky cliff near a lake. 2 Hop on a boat and visit one of the park’s historical sites. Explore the I.W. Stevens Resort, a collection of preserved buildings from the grand 1930s resort era, or the Harry Oveson Fish Camp, displaying the lifestyle of commercial fishermen in the mid-1900s. 3 Learn how hundreds of years of human and natural history intersect. Discover how early fur traders made a living while you try to catch a glimpse of the local fauna, such as moose, white-tailed deer, coyotes, red foxes, gray wolves, beavers, river otters…

Find the Hummingbird In each issue, we hide a hummingbird like the one above left. Enter to win at birdsandblooms.com/contests if you find it. Winners receive a one-year subscription to Birds & Blooms . In the March issue, we hid it on page 53. HIDDEN OBJECT GUIDELINES No purchase necessary to enter to win. Purchase will not improve your chances of winning. Sweepstakes is open to legal residents age 18 years or older of the U.S., its territories and possessions, or of Canada (excluding the Province of Quebec). Sweepstakes begins on April 8, 2020, and ends on June 2, 2020. Visit birdsandblooms.com/contests for official rules. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. Sweepstakes sponsored by RDA Enthusiast Brands, LLC.…

EDITORIAL Chief Content Officer Beth Tomkiw Executive Editor Kirsten Schrader Associate Creative Director Christina Spalatin Art Director Sharon K. Nelson Editor Rachel Maidl Associate Editor Molly Jasinski Layout Designer Payton Grote Senior Editor, Copy Desk Dulcie Shoener Copy Editors Amy Rabideau Silvers, Sara Strauss, Ann Walter Editorial Intern Emily Hannemann Senior Editor, Digital Lori Vanover Director, Editorial Services Kelly Madison-Liebe Senior Rights Associate Jill Godsey Editorial Business Assistant Megan Smith Production Coordinator Jon Syverson Birding Experts Kenn and Kimberly Kaufman Horticulture Expert Melinda Myers Senior Manager, Publishing Technologies Dena Ahlers Business Analysts John Piccirillo, Shannon Stroud; Jill Banks (junior) BUSINESS SVP, Sales Lora Gier Eastern Advertising Director Pete Holfelder Jr. Midwest Advertising Director Kim Krubeck Hinrichs Direct Response Advertising Nancy Forman, nforman@mediapeople.com Art Director Michael Castellano Director, Sales Services Gisele…

1,000 Most male songbirds have more than one song in their repertoire; these ditties help attract mates and scare away other males that may be trespassing. Brown thrashers have an entire catalog of tunes—they’re capable of singing more than 1,000 melodies. 1 Birds might have slightly varied songs. Like humans, birds develop dialects, so one smaller group of a species may sound a little different in another region. 1/ 10 Songbirds are capable of performing intricate, sliding songs in very short periods of time. In one-tenth of a second, northern cardinals may sing more pitches than can be played on a piano. 200 Northern mockingbirds can carry more than 200 tunes and mimic the sounds of other birds, machines and insects. Commonly imitating orioles and hawks, unpaired male mockingbirds make…