Helping to Keep Wild Birds Healthy

I very much enjoy wild birds.  I have lots of vintage bird prints hanging in home and of course lots of my favorite garden flags and house flags are decorative bird flags. We try to cater to birds in our back yard.  We have cardinals that sit on the powerlines overhead that I swear are fussing at me until I put out food.  My favorite are the bird baths, we keep 3 or 4 full at all times.  I love to watch them splash around in the water.  They look like they are having such fun.
While feeding and offering the bird baths are great fun for us.  I started reading recently about the drawbacks of this after a couple years ago when House Finches started showing up at our feeders with a crusty coating that was affecting their eyes.  I found out it is caused by bacteria that is often picked up at feeders and bird baths.  It is so very important to keep these clean.  Bird droppings and molding seed contribute to this bacteria.  Cleaning feeding and watering containers and the area around them, including picking up old seed from the ground, helps to prevent the spread of all the contagious diseases birds carry.  Here is some good information and tips from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

While you are enjoying your backyard birds here are some nice bird garden flags to add to your outdoor decor.  These can all be found at Custom Flags and Gifts.

Birds in the Winter

 As our  winter  temperatures take its normal roller coaster ride from the 60's to the teens within several days, I watch out little bird friends and wonder how they tolerate the frigid part of the ride.  Their tiny little bodies seem as if they would freeze solid in those sub freezing temperatures.  I replaced my Christmas flags with some winter bird garden flags and then did some research. I found that nature has given them lots of tools to help them keep warm.

Their feathers are perfectly made to help keep them warm and work even better when they do their fluffing, which creates air pockets among their feathers to create even better insulation.  Who doesn't love to see them all puffed up, they look so adorable.  They also use dense bushes where we've all seen many birds in one bush filling each available cavity and all fluffed up, it makes such a
wonderful vision.  Also I read, special scales on their legs and feet help slow heat loss and that if food was readily available for them in the fall, they have a nice little layer of fat that also helps to keep them warm.  These and other gifts from nature help them through the winter, but there are things we can do also.

Offer a good quality winter bird food and keep the feeders full.  Make sure they have access to plenty of water.  During continuous below freezing temperatures, they may have trouble finding water sources that are not frozen.  There are even warmers you can put in bird baths to make your job easier.  Give the birds shelter in both the form of bird boxes and in your landscaping. 
Bushes and shrubs offer refuge as do brush piles.  We keep an ongoing brush pile in the back corner of our property.  We have constant debris in our yards from all our trees.  Instead of worrying about having it hauled away we just keep an ongoing brush pile.  There is always a lot of chattering coming from the pile, especially in the winter.  We know it is well used.

Welcome Winter Birdhouse Garden Flag




Here is another of our decorative winter flags that features a carinal perched on a snowy evergreen branch.

Thank you for reading.
Marilee & Josie
Custom Flags and Gifts

Decorative Yard Flags - For the Birds

We had the privilege over the last few weeks of watching a pair of House Wrens in action.  From a window in our house we have a perfect up close view of one of our birdhouses.  Several weeks ago we watched as a pair of house wrens started busily bringing building materials , they worked tirelessly.  As time went on we assumed they had layed and were setting on eggs.  Eventually we starting hearing lots of little tweets that started out very small and weak and gradually grew stronger and louder.  Finally we were able to see their little eyes and beaks, but mostly beaks.

 You could look out into the birdhouse and see nothing but opened mouths. 



Hungry baby House Wren
 

Again the mom and dad worked long and hard all day long feeding what we finally figured were four mouths. 

Then the time came to leave home and again we were lucky enough to be able to witness them leaving the safety of there home to venture out in the dangerous and huge outside world. 







There are  many garden flags and house flags that display the wonderful world of birds.  By displaying these decorative yard flags you promote awareness of their beauty and remind people to help and protect these delicate yet resourceful creatures.

The Birch Tree Songbirds garden flag by Custom Decor shows many different breeds of birds in all there gloriour color.

Birch Tree Songbirds
 





The Squirrel Dilemma Flag  by Carson is a humourous flag that anyone who likes to feed birds can relate to.

 

 

This great applique flag comes in both the small mini flag size and the larger house flag so you can have a matching pair. 

Check out all our great bird flags we're sure you'll find something you love.

Thank you for reading.
Marilee & Josie
Custom Flags and Gifts