Re: birds in the garden

At 10:41 PM 6/22/2003, Joe Seals wrote:

The "little plump birds mostly gray, with a bit of
black that come in flocks" are Bushtits.  They're
quite common around the Central Coast.  Soon after
nesting (when they travel as singles or pairs), they
begin to flock again and for the rest of the year
until next spring courting season.
Hi Joe -

In our former garden,. we kept a rather troublesome honeysuckle bush/vine around because it was so attractive to aphids, which in turn were very attractive to bands of Bushtits that would visit to strip the honeysuckle of this apparently tasty little morsels! We enjoyed seeing these little guys tumbling about in the branches of the vine, searching our each individual aphid, all the while making their little peeping noises. It was a delight we looked forward to each season, and certainly worth the trouble of keeping this (often unsightly) honeysuckle in the garden.

In that garden, we also would get Finches, Mourning Doves, a couple of Hooded Oriels, some traveling flocks of Cedar Waxwings, some small hawks, large black Crows, and, of course, the resident Humming Birds!! (neighbors used to complain that we had too many flowers in our garden so the hummers would NOT visit THEIR feeders!!

Seán O.

h o r t u l u s a p t u s - 'a garden suited to its purpose'
Seán A. O'Hara fax (707) 667-1173 sean@support.net
1034A Virginia Street, Berkeley, California 94710-1853, U.S.A.

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