Lawn Care Tip - Plant Bird Seed

[pdub]

Over the summer I put down 30 bags of dirt and a $50 bag of grass seed to fix the wallered out mud pit where they had driven the Bobcat while loading all of the trees we had cut down. I ran up the water bill watering it every day and here's the end result:



Over the winter I started feeding the birds. I put the stuff on top of the stumps and Kenny likes sitting in the back window watching the birds. That spilled seed has made a beautiful patch of grass pop up under the biggest stump, and this is in the wintertime:





Just sayin.

[Beagle]

Looks a lot like winter rye. You'll appreciate having to mow that all winter.

[tedly]

We started feeding the birds shortly after moving down here. Now we have about half a dozen feeders on the front porch right outside the living room. It's really cool seeing all the birds around here. We got blue jays, cardinals, all kinds of finches, mockingbirds, several kinds of woodpeckers including a BIG red bellied, starlings, robins, and a few I haven't identified yet. There's also huge flocks of vultures in the area. Freaked me out the first time we went to the small town up the road and the downtown area was covered with them. There had to be close to 100 perched on buildings, in parking lots, on cars... All completely unconcerned with people until they got within about 10 feet.

[pdub]

We got blue jays, cardinals, all kinds of finches, mockingbirds, several kinds of woodpeckers including a BIG red bellied, starlings, robins, and a few I haven't identified yet.

We're not far down the road from you so we've got all that too. We don't have the vultures but we've got as many blackbirds. What's a bigger word for "flock?" Hey look, the neighbor's hickory tree is solid black. Well, they're waiting for me to take another load of seed out there. I've seen what'll make them all leave - the red headed woodpecker. It'll fly down and deliberately land right in the middle of them, knocking a couple out of the way. There's an immediate OH S*** alarm and the blackbirds are gone like a big cloud of burning oil smoke on a windy day..

[tedly]

The starlings are the equivalent here. They're an invasive species and they'll flock in the yard by the dozens, chasing off most everything else. If I'm home and see them running the others off I'll go out and scare them off.

The first time I saw the big red bellied woodpecker, I had no idea what it was. Never seen that kind before and they are kind of misnamed. It has a bright orange patch on top of its head and is mostly white with black stripes, no red on the belly. That patch on its head practically glowed. I can't get close enough to get a decent picture of him but I'll find a stock photo real quick.

I wish I had thought to get a picture of the vultures, that was one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen. they covered almost the whole downtown area, only several blocks in a town that small, but still... Looked like the town had died and they were there to pick it over. None of the locals seemed to notice or even care so I guess it's a regular occurrence. They'll flock together flying the thermals from the mountains too. It's creepily beautiful to watch them.

This is close to what our woodpecker looks like, but the cap is bright orange, not reddish. It's almost University of Tennessee Vols orange.

[SuperBuickGuy]

I grow moss... if there wasn't snow on the ground - I'd show you the demossed stripes in my yard... this spring I bet I put 150# of moss-rid on my yard in the hopes that I'll have a few blades of grass... and before you tell me "but moss is green" the problem is my wife. She has bloodhounds - which are neat dogs, but are Ferrari-level in maintenance requirements... one of those requirements is the pee needs to get into the ground otherwise they get giardia (which, interesting, has a treatment which makes their pee burn holes in the moss)...

[DanStokes]

We started feeding the birds shortly after moving down here. Now we have about half a dozen feeders on the front porch right outside the living room. It's really cool seeing all the birds around here. We got blue jays, cardinals, all kinds of finches, mockingbirds, several kinds of woodpeckers including a BIG red bellied, starlings, robins, and a few I haven't identified yet. There's also huge flocks of vultures in the area. Freaked me out the first time we went to the small town up the road and the downtown area was covered with them. There had to be close to 100 perched on buildings, in parking lots, on cars... All completely unconcerned with people until they got within about 10 feet.

What do they have to vulch? (That's what Vultures do.) There must be some carrion that shows up regularly or they wouldn't be there. We get 1 or 2 from time to time but they go somewhere when the carcasses are gone.

Dan

[DanStokes]

Over the summer I put down 30 bags of dirt and a $50 bag of grass seed to fix the wallered out mud pit where they had driven the Bobcat while loading all of the trees we had cut down. I ran up the water bill watering it every day and here's the end result:


Over the winter I started feeding the birds. I put the stuff on top of the stumps and Kenny likes sitting in the back window watching the birds. That spilled seed has made a beautiful patch of grass pop up under the biggest stump, and this is in the wintertime:

Just an alternative tip: We had a bald spot from where they buried the cables for the big generator. I was looking thru Lowe's and spotted some "Contractor's Mix" seed. I spread it out and raked it lightly so the seed wasn't just laying on the surface. Anyhow, it worked great until the weeds could get busy and fill in properly. Probably a rye of some sort though I'm guessing.

Dan

[pdub]

"Contractor's Mix" seed

That's exactly what I put out, and they're proud of it at the cash register. Each seed is coated with stuff that's supposed to absorb and hold water so each seed looks like a little grain of rice. Sound familiar?

I actually read the label and got real scientific like they said, 16 seeds per square inch. So I went out there and drew a giant grid of square inches and counted each seed in each square and ....I'm kidding. But I didn't put enough, didn't use but maybe 1/4 of the bag. It came up and....that wasn't even worth the effort. So I hoed up the ground again and put down the whole rest of the bag and raked it in. Bleh, that's not the first time I've tried to plant grass but it'll be the last. I even knew better than to try, I'd seen that slow motion movie before.

[tedly]

What do they have to vulch? (That's what Vultures do.) There must be some carrion that shows up regularly or they wouldn't be there. We get 1 or 2 from time to time but they go somewhere when the carcasses are gone.

Dan

I'm living in the boonies in the Appalachian mountains now. The valley where our town is starts south of Bristol TN and doesn't really open up much until Newbern VA, about 100 miles. There's I-81, a railroad route, and Virginia Highway 11 running literally side by side through most of that stretch. There's also I think 3 State Parks within a 20 minute drive (as well as the Back of the Dragon going through one https://www.backofthedragon.com/ ). Once you get off the main valley here and especially once you cross the mountains, there is no a whole lot around that is man made. Farms, cabins, the occasional small towns, and that's it. There's all kinds of critters around, from squirrels and birds to black bear. I'm sure they munch on dead cattle and horses as well as whatever wild critters die.

The town they were all gathered in was Saltville. I didn't see any kind of meat processing plant or anything like that, especially not in the downtown area. I could be wrong, I haven't fully explored the area. They weren't feeding that time though. They were just hanging out. Some on buildings, some in trees, some on the ground, in parking lots... They really like riding the thermals around here. They'll just cruise and circle until something catches their interest. Usually you'll see a handfull together, but once in awhile there will be 20-50 just circling, not landing or even staying in the same spot, just cruising with the wind.

[pdub]

They really like riding the thermals around here. They'll just cruise and circle until something catches their interest. Usually you'll see a handfull together, but once in awhile there will be 20-50 just circling, not landing or even staying in the same spot, just cruising with the wind.

They're networking when they do that. They can see whatever's on the ground (nothing down there right now) but better they can see another pack of 'em circling 15 miles away. If the ones far away break the holding pattern and head off in a direction, they'll follow. That's how you end up with half the buzzards in the state converging on one dead animal.