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.