#12 - Dec 2017 - Garden Stuff - © Sandy Lang - slang@xtra.co.nz
BIRDS December/January: Early/mid-summer. Hot, windy, dry. Water your garden little and often on sandy soils. A heavy watering goes below the roots and takes mineral nutrients down with it. Water early morning – less evaporation – wet leaves overnight grow mildew. A mulch blanket holds the water in and keeps the soil cool in strong sun.
Ambivalence: Your garden is alive with randy little birds busy making chicks. You’re in two minds about birds. You love their singing but you hate their predations on your strawberries and their poos on your garden furniture. Urban gardens are ideal for birds. Your lifestyle provides a wide range of foods and your trees provide good cover (and some food) – safe from cats, safe nesting and safe roosting.
Beach, Bush & Britain: Seabirds rarely stray far from the seashore and bush birds rarely far from the bush. It’s all about habitat and food. In your garden there’s the rowdy tui, and the occasional kereru, fantail and silvereye.
The silvereye (tauhou = new arrival) came from OZ in 1832/1856. All bush birds are protected by law (fines $10,000 and up) so you must put up with them. But most garden birds are British – blackbirds, thrushes, starlings and sparrows.
Quid pro quo: Blackbirds and thrushes, sing beautifully for their supper (your buds, seedlings, small fruits). But blackbird parents can also take 500 hungry caterpillars to their nestlings in a day. Meanwhile, thrushes are often to be seen beating the brains out of a snail on a stone. Given the damage done to your plants by caterpillars and snails, these birds’ eating habits are not all bad at all…
In winter, sparrows (range 10 km) and starlings (range 100 km) maraud from afar in flocks, in summer they pair up and nest locally. Though they only 'cheep', they do eat some insect pests. What to do…?
Scaring: Almost anything new, scares birds at first - but almost nothing scares them after about day three. They get used to scarecrows, hawk kites, big-eye balloons and tinsel. Hi-tech acoustic scarers are doubtfully effective, definitely costly and certainly annoy your dog…
Killing: Poisons work, but threaten native birds, pets and small children. Guns work. Birds don’t like guns - neither do police…
Exclusion: Bird nets work. They’re used extensively in viticulture. They’re cheap at $1.50 /m2. They last. Bird net comes in green, white or black to match your decor…
The future: Bird problems will worsen as efforts to rescue native birds will also increase garden bird populations. Worse… With more bush birds in the bush, some will learn to feed in your nearby garden… I'll welcome those future days when kakas will be seen marauding around Eastbourne. So far these delightful/frightful parrots are causing frustration only around Wellington. It's only a matter of time...!___________________________________
BIRDS December/January: Early/mid-summer. Hot, windy, dry. Water your garden little and often on sandy soils. A heavy watering goes below the roots and takes mineral nutrients down with it. Water early morning – less evaporation – wet leaves overnight grow mildew. A mulch blanket holds the water in and keeps the soil cool in strong sun.
Ambivalence: Your garden is alive with randy little birds busy making chicks. You’re in two minds about birds. You love their singing but you hate their predations on your strawberries and their poos on your garden furniture. Urban gardens are ideal for birds. Your lifestyle provides a wide range of foods and your trees provide good cover (and some food) – safe from cats, safe nesting and safe roosting.
Beach, Bush & Britain: Seabirds rarely stray far from the seashore and bush birds rarely far from the bush. It’s all about habitat and food. In your garden there’s the rowdy tui, and the occasional kereru, fantail and silvereye.
The silvereye (tauhou = new arrival) came from OZ in 1832/1856. All bush birds are protected by law (fines $10,000 and up) so you must put up with them. But most garden birds are British – blackbirds, thrushes, starlings and sparrows.
Quid pro quo: Blackbirds and thrushes, sing beautifully for their supper (your buds, seedlings, small fruits). But blackbird parents can also take 500 hungry caterpillars to their nestlings in a day. Meanwhile, thrushes are often to be seen beating the brains out of a snail on a stone. Given the damage done to your plants by caterpillars and snails, these birds’ eating habits are not all bad at all…
In winter, sparrows (range 10 km) and starlings (range 100 km) maraud from afar in flocks, in summer they pair up and nest locally. Though they only 'cheep', they do eat some insect pests. What to do…?
Scaring: Almost anything new, scares birds at first - but almost nothing scares them after about day three. They get used to scarecrows, hawk kites, big-eye balloons and tinsel. Hi-tech acoustic scarers are doubtfully effective, definitely costly and certainly annoy your dog…
Killing: Poisons work, but threaten native birds, pets and small children. Guns work. Birds don’t like guns - neither do police…
Exclusion: Bird nets work. They’re used extensively in viticulture. They’re cheap at $1.50 /m2. They last. Bird net comes in green, white or black to match your decor…
The future: Bird problems will worsen as efforts to rescue native birds will also increase garden bird populations. Worse… With more bush birds in the bush, some will learn to feed in your nearby garden… I'll welcome those future days when kakas will be seen marauding around Eastbourne. So far these delightful/frightful parrots are causing frustration only around Wellington. It's only a matter of time...!___________________________________