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Backyard bird feeding is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding hobbies on earth. Join Cheryl and Kiersten as they talk all about bird feeding in the desert Southwest area of the United States. They talk birds, seed, feeders, and dealing with those pesky unwanted visitors!
Episodes
Monday Mar 27, 2023
Monday Mar 27, 2023
Summary: 2023 is the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act! Join Cheryl and Kiersten as they explain what this act is and how it has helped our feathered friends over the last fifty years.
For our hearing impaired listeners, a transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean.
Show Notes:
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov
https://www.biologicaldiversity.org
Background bird song: Naturescapes Backyard Birds www.naturescapes.com
Our email address, please reach out with comments, questions, or suggestions: thefeathereddesert@gmail.com
Transcript
Host Voice: Welcome to the Feathered Desert a podcast all about desert bird feeding in the Southwest region of the United States. (bird calls and songs play)
Kiersten: Intro - 2023 is the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act and Cheryl and I thought it was the perfect time to talk about what this act is and what it has done for our feathered friends.
Cheryl: What exactly is the Endangered Species Act?
Quoting directly from the Environmental Protection Agency’s website: the ESA is a federal law passed in 1973 that “provides a program for the conservation of threatened and endangered plants and animals and the habitats in which they are found.” The lead federal agencies for implementing the ESA are the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U. S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Service. “The law requires federal agencies, in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and/or the NOAA Fisheries Service, to ensure that actions they authorize, fund, or carry out are not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any listed species or result in the destruction or adverse modification of designated critical habitat of such species. The law also prohibits any action that causes a taking of any listed species of endangered fish or wildlife. Also import, export, interstate, and foreign commerce of listed species are all generally prohibited.”
That’s quite a mouthful! In layman’s terms this act protects and recovers species at risk of extinction and promotes the conservation of the habitats they need to survive.
Kiersten: Next question is how does a plant or animal get listed as threatened or endangered so they can receive protection under the Endangered Species Act?
According to the NOAA Fisheries Service website it is a many stepped process that can take several years to accomplish. First, there are five factors that must be determined before a plant or animal can be listed as threatened or endangered.
- Is there present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range?
- Has there been overutilization of the species for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes?
- Is it being threatened by disease or predation?
- Is there an inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms?
- Are natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence?
If the answers to these five questions are all yes, which must be supported by current scientific evidence, then action must be taken to determine if the organism needs to be listed under the Endangered Species Act. To determine this NOAA and US Fish and Wildlife starts a listing process. This can begin in one of two ways:
- They receive a petition from a private organization or person requesting a species be listed as threatened or endangered.
- NOAA or US Fish and Wildlife chooses to examine the status of a species themselves.
After receiving a petition, the next step is a 90-day period in which they decide to accept the petition or deny the petition. The decision must be publicly announced. If it is denied, that’s the end of the road for the time being. If it’s a yes, then we move onto the next step that can take up to 12 months.
In this step scientific data is gathered from all sources private and public and this is peer-reviewed for accuracy. Once the evidence is read the petition is either classified as not warranted, which means these agencies publish a negative 12-month finding and that’s all she wrote for this attempt. If it’s deemed warranted, they publish this finding and request public comment on the proposal to list the species as threatened or endangered. The final ruling is generally determined and published within one year of the date of the proposed rule. That results in being listed as endangered or threatened in all or part of the species range.
Whoosh! That’s quite a few steps.
Cheryl: What’s the difference between threatened and endangered?
Endangered means an animal or plant is in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range. Threatened means a species is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future. State and Federal statuses can be different from each other. The federal status takes precedence but states can have their own classifications. For example, a species can be considered threatened federally but can be endangered in the state of Arizona. That species would receive protection under the Endangered Species Act as well as state protection laws.
Kiersten: Let’s look at how the Endangered Species Act has helped some of our feathered friends throughout the years.
The most famous and well-known example is the Bald Eagle. In the mid-1900s the bald eagle was at risk for extinction. Habitat loss and degradation, illegal shooting, and poisoning from the pesticide DDT was at fault. All of these causes were man-made issues. The bald eagle was listed as endangered in 1978 throughout the lower 48 states with the exception of Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin where they were listed as threatened. The Bald Eagle was adopted as the national symbol in 1782 and it is estimated at that time there were approximately 100,000 nesting pairs. In the mid to late 1800s their numbers began to decline at the same time that overhunting was causing a decline in waterfowl numbers, which is a major prey items for these eagles.
Due to the incorrect belief that eagles killed chickens, lamb and other domesticated livestock, shootings took many of their lives, as well as the discovery of DDT as a great way to get rid of mosquitos. DDT coated everything and was ingested by wildlife which made its way into the food eagles ate killing them and weakening their egg shells causing incubating mothers to crush their own eggs. By 1963 there were only 417 nesting pairs of bald eagles known to exist in the US. Listing the Bald Eagle as endangered under the Endangered Species Act allowed federal agencies to band together to begin the conservation efforts that included establishing captive breeding programs, enforcing protections legally, protecting nest sites during breeding season, and reintroduction programs.
Because of these efforts, in 1995 Bald Eagles were reclassified as threatened. In 2007 they were removed from the Endangered Species Act all together because their population was now estimated at least 9,789 nesting pairs in the contiguous United States. In 2019 an estimated 316,700 individuals existed with 71,467 of those being breeding pairs. The Bald eagle is an ESA success story and without these protections they would most likely have gone extinct.
Cheryl: Our next example is one you may not have heard of, and that is the Kirtland’s Warbler.
This is a small yellow-breasted warbler that migrates between their breeding grounds in Northern Michigan and winter grounds in the Bahamas. They only nest in large areas of dense, young jack pines. These habitats are typically produced through natural wildfires. Years of preventing cyclical wildfires through human efforts led to a decline in their preferred habitat. And the invasion of the parasitic brown-headed cowbird, due to the change in habitat, greatly diminished their population. In 1973, the Kirtland’s Warbler was one of the first species listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Efforts to recover this bird had been going on since the 1950s but without success. The listing allowed several forces to ban together to create a program that would be more successful. To address the issues of habitat loss, the USDA Forest Service and Michigan Department of Natural Resources developed a program to harvest old jack pine forests and then plant new jack pines to provide those young trees the warblers needed. In 1980, Nature also helped out with a natural wildfire that burned 10,000 acres of jack pine habitat making way for new growth.
In 1981 there existed only 232 pairs of Kirtland’s warblers, five years later the numbers had dropped to 170. By the 1990’s with the increase in available habitat the numbers began to rise. In 2001, their breeding pairs exceeding 1,000. In 2019 they hit 2300 breeding pairs and were removed from the Endangered Species Act. Another success story for the ESA that Phil Huber, a national forest biologist, contributes to the teamwork of biologists, foresters, researchers, and volunteers made possible by the listing under the Endangered Species Act.
Kiersten: Our third example is the fastest creature on Earth, the Peregrine Falcon.
Prior to 1940 it was estimated that there were 3,875 nesting pairs of Peregrine Falcons in North America. By the 1960s peregrines had disappeared from the eastern United States and by the 1970s their population in the western United States had declined by 90%. By 1975 only 324 pairs existed in the United States. Loss of habitat, shooting, and egg collection plagued these falcons for years, but the truly devastating blow was the use of the pesticide DDT. Use of this chemical had the same impact on the peregrine as it did on the Bald Eagle. Brooding mothers were crushing their eggs due to a lack of calcium in the shell. American peregrines were quickly on their way to extinction.
This bird was classified as endangered in 1970 under the Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969 and this listing was rolled over to the Endangered Species Act in 1973. When DDT was banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1972, recovering the peregrine falcon population became a real possibility. In 1974, The Peregrine Fund, national and state agencies in the United States and Canada, and private volunteers banned together to embark on a reintroduction program. Researchers at Cornell University successfully devised a plan to breed adults in captivity and with the help of state and federal wildlife services reintroduced these birds into the wild.
Because of these efforts, more than 6000 American peregrine falcons have been released in North America. In 1999, their numbers were so well recovered they were removed from the Endangered Species Act. The American Peregrine Falcon is the most dramatic success story of the Endangered Species Act.
Cheryl: These are just three dramatic examples of the success stories of the Endangered Species Act. As of 2016, there were 120 bird species protected under this act. According to a review published by the Center for Biological Diversity, 85% of continental U.S. birds protected by the Endangered Species Act have increased or stabilized since being protected. The average increase was 624%. Current recovering species include California Condor in California and Arizona that are up 391% since 1968, whooping cranes in the central U.S. that are up 923% since 1967, wood storks in the Southeast that are up 61% since 1984, California least terns that are up 1,835% since 1970, and Puerto Rican parrots that are up 354% since 1967.
These are amazing results! Currently there are 1,300 species of plants and animals listed as endangered or threatened in the United States under the Endangered Species Act. If the last 50 years show us anything, these species have a good shot at beating extinction as long as we all continue to work together.
As a side note, the birds in the success stories we talk about that have been removed from the ESA are still protected by federal law under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. For more on this act, please check out or episode titled Bird Laws.
Kiersten: Closing - The Audubon Society calls the Endangered Species Act the strongest federal safeguard against the extinction of species in the United States. The examples we’ve just talked about prove how this legislation does work. Reluctantly, in recent years there have been grumblings in Congress about limiting the effectiveness of this act. To protect our feathered friends we must make our feelings known by supporting the continued use of the Endangered Species Act so we can have another 50 years of success stories.
Thursday Mar 23, 2023
Thursday Mar 23, 2023
Summary:A three-minute podcast from the hosts of The Feathered Desert about individual bird species found in the desert Southwest.
Show Notes:
Bird song provided by Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology recorded by Sue Riffe.
Monday Mar 20, 2023
Monday Mar 20, 2023
Summary: Have you ever stopped to really look at a Saguaro cactus? Do you know how many birds use this great plant as a hotel, water source, and food source? Join Cheryl and Kiersten to find out!
For our hearing impaired listeners, a transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean.
Show Notes:
https://www.nps.gov/sagu/index.htm
https://www.npa.gov/sagu/learn/nature/birds.htm
The Arizona Republic Sunday, March 12, 2023
"Why saguaro is so important to Arizona" by Sarah Lapidus
The Arizona Republic, Sunday, June 21, 2020
"So Long, Saguaro?" by Debra Utacia Krol
Background bird song: Naturescapes Backyard Birds www.naturescapes.com
Our email address, please reach out with comments, questions, or suggestions:
Transcript
Host Voice: Welcome to the Feathered Desert a podcast all about desert bird feeding in the Southwest region of the United States. (bird calls and songs play)
Cheryl: Intro
We have all seen these iconic cacti as we travel through the Phoenix Valley. Maybe you done think twice about it, but you should because this huge tree-like cactus is a vital part of the desert we live in.
Kiersten: Saguaros have ecological importance to all species that live near them including us. The saguaro is important to the survival of desert species: everything from Big Horn sheep to native bees; from coyotes to the countless birds that depend on it.
Now, most of us are aware that the Gila Woodpecker and the Gilded Flicker excavate their nests in the saguaro cactus. What you may not be aware of is that these birds do not harm the cactus. Since these birds make a new hole/nest each year. Last year’s excavated hole is prime real estate to a long list of desert birds such as: Elf owls, Ferruginous Pygmy owl, Purple Martins, Brown-crested, and Ash-throated flycatchers.
Now, Harris hawks, Great horned owls, Red-tail hawks, and White-winged doves build nests among the arms of these tall cacti.
Cheryl: Saguaro cactus provides a buffet during the toughest part of the year in our desert-summer.
The saguaro is a keystone species that provides food many desert animals, Saguaros have hundreds of flowers that bloom several per day from late April to early June. The flowers open at night and close the following afternoon. Saguaros synchronize their blooming so the giant cacti are not blooming all at the same time.
Lesser Long nosed bats visit the flowers at night. Birds like the white-winged dove and the Gila Woodpecker visit the flowers the following morning.
Kiersten: that’s not all for this buffet table…
The fruit of the saguaro cactus is mature in June and early July. The rind splits open into 3-4 sections that peel back to expose the juicy red pulp embedded with up to 2,000 tiny seeds. 1 out of a million seeds will become a cactus with arms. The fruit ripen during the peak of drought in early summer and are about the only moist food source for many birds, mammals, and insects during this part of the year.
Cheryl: How the saguaro helps us-humans
Saguaros and other cacti photosynthesis at night to reduce water loss. This large cactus takes in carbon dioxide and holds in for its whole life. When you see an expired cactus-saguaro and it looks ashy- that’s because of the stored carbon dioxide it pulled out of the air so that people can breathe cleaner air.
Kiersten: Challenges facing this giant.
Climate change-Saguaros ae not freeze tolerant, nor do they handle high night time temperatures very well. Because they take so long to grow, a lot of younger saguaros don’t make it. Wildfires, invasive plants that suck up water, drought, extreme temps, and a reduction in nurse plants. Saguaros seedlings require species such as mesquite, palo verde, and ironwood trees to make it through those first critical decades. Nurse trees create a microenvironment that is more conducive for the seedlings to survive. But fewer and fewer of these woody plants are on the landscape for the saguaro to grow under due to cattle ranching and woodcutting.
Cheryl: Closing
This amazing plant does it part to better the desert community it thrives in. So many birds check into its massive high rise to setup house to raise their babies. Because, of its importance to our desert the Saguaro is protected by Arizona law. Next time you are driving across town take a second look at this beautiful, stately cactus. It deserves it.
Monday Mar 13, 2023
Monday Mar 13, 2023
Since nesting season is upon us again, we thought we'd repost a favorite about how we should behave around our backyard friend's nests. Enjoy!
Summary: It's Nesting Season again! Join Cheryl and Kiersten as they talk about some of the different types of nests our desert birds make and how we can help them be successful this year.
Show Notes:
Nest Box Sizes: www.nestwatch.org
Background bird song: Naturescapes Backyard Birdswww.naturescapes.com
Our New email address, please reach out with comments, questions, or suggestions: thefeathereddesert@gmail.com
We are no longer sponsored by Wild Birds Unlimited, Mesa but through personal experience we highly recommend their products.
Monday Feb 27, 2023
Monday Feb 27, 2023
Summary: Ground feeding can be quite controversial. Join Cheryl and Kiersten as they tackle this topic talking about the good and bad, and giving s few tips on doing it responsibly.
For our hearing impaired listeners, a transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean.
Show Notes:
Seed Block Recipe:
Bird Seed Block Recipe
Ingredients Tools
5 cups birdseed Large mixing bowl
½ cup Bark Butter (optional)* Whisk or Fork
1 cup warm water Spoon
2 packets unflavored gelatin Mold-muffin tin
No sugar added dried fruit (optional)
Directions
- Arrange dried fruit in tin in desired pattern. (optional)
- Place warm water in mixing bowl. Sprinkle in gelatin. Whisk until dissolved.
- Whisk in Bark Butter until mostly dispersed (may have few chunks). Mix in birdseed and more dried fruit if desired. Stir until well combined.
- Spoon mixture into mold and press. Let sit for 24 hours.
- Gently flip over mold to release cakes. Let sit another 24 hours to dry completely. Store in dry area.
- Place on flat, heavy plate or flat paving stone. Enjoy watching your birds!
*Please do not substitute peanut butter for Bark Butter. Peanut butter has too much sugar and peanut oils which are not good for the birds. Bark Butter is formulated specifically to give birds balanced high protein nutrition with added calcium. You do not need to add it if you don’t like.
Background bird song: Naturescapes Backyard Birds www.naturescapes.com
Our email address, please reach out with comments, questions, or suggestions: thefeathereddesert@gmail.com
Transcript
Host Voice: Welcome to the Feathered Desert a podcast all about desert bird feeding in the Southwest region of the United States. (bird calls and songs play)
Kiersten – Intro: Today’s Feathered Desert episode is about a slightly controversial topic and that is ground feeding birds. We’re going to talk about should we do it or should we not. It is a very polarized issue especially in the Phoenix Valley where many areas have bans on bird feeding.
Cheryl- First let’s start off with a definition of what ground feeding birds is. When we talk about ground feeding birds, we mean putting food on the ground to intentionally attract birds to a specific area. Whether that is loose seed, block seed, or bread (which we do not recommend), if you are placing it on the ground or in a dish on the ground, this is considered ground feeding.
Kiersten – The title of the episode is Ground Feeding: Yah or Nah so let’s look at some of the Yah first. When you do ground feed you will get a lot of birds. So, if your goal is to attract birds to your yard, you will definitely do it with ground feeding. The types of birds you can attract in the Phoenix Valley will include House Sparrows, Mourning Doves, Inca Doves, Collared Doves, and Rock Pigeons when you ground feed. If you live in the right area, you could attract Gambel’s Quail as well. That’s all I’ve got for the Yah, honestly.
Cheryl – Let’s move on to the Nah’s, then. The first Nah is that you’ll attract a lot of House Sparrows, Mourning Doves, Inca Doves, Collared Doves, and Rock Pigeons when you ground feed. These are the types of birds that most people don’t want to attract to their yards. They are large, eat a lot of food and leave behind a lot of poo.
Kiersten – Speaking of poo that leads us to Nah number two. When you ground feed, you’re encouraging birds to walk through their own, and other birds’, feces. Birds are actually very clean animals. They do not want to get their feet or feathers soiled because that directly affects their health and ability to fly well. In the wild, they do not walk through their own feces to get to food nor do they overcrowd an area with a limited amount of food. When we offer them a resource that they cannot turn down, such as a large quantity of food in one place it attracts too many birds that will stay too long and come in contact with a lot of poo. Coming in contact with this poo facilitates the transmission of diseases.
Disease transmission is Nah number three. Ground feeding birds can transmit diseases like avian flu, aspergillosis, salmonellosis, avian pox, and mycoplasmal conjunctivitis aka House Finch Eye Disease. These diseases can spread between birds easily at a ground feeding site because it attracts a lot of birds to one area that might not encounter each other in the wild. The other problem it that many of these diseases are zoonotic which means they can be transmitted from birds to people. People with a compromised immune system are especially susceptible.
Cheryl – Nah Number 4 is how much your neighbors are going to hate you. The larger doves and pigeons that you will be attracting to our yard with ground feeding will not just stay in your yard. They will sit on your neighbor’s roof, fence, or trees just as they will do in your yard. When they begin to poo in large quantities or make a lot of noise, your neighbors may get a it upset. Also depending on where you live, the city may have a ban on ground feeding birds. If your neighbor complains the city will get involved.
So…our recommendation is to avoid ground feeding. Using feeders that hang, either tube feeders or cylinder feeders, reduces the number of birds that can eat in one area at one time and limits the amount of food they have access to at one time. Birds that forage on the ground will have access to some of this food also because some of the food will fall on the ground as birds eat. When using hanging feeders, you will attract fewer ground feeding birds.
Kiersten – Now we know some of you really like ground feeding, especially when you have quail that visit your yard, so we have a few tips to allow you to continue enjoying your bird feeding hobby while keeping the birds and yourself healthy and keeping your neighbors happy, too.
One thing you can do is use a good quality food with no fillers or shells that attract nothing but doves and pigeons. Something like a No-Mess food, carried by Wild Birds Unlimited or other specialty bird feeding stores, that contains shelled black oil sunflower seeds, peanut chips, and a bit of millet or a No-Mess Quail Blend that is shelled millet, a tiny amount of cracked corn, and some shelled black oil sunflowers. When you use this food only sprinkle a handful at a time, not the entire 20-pound bag at once. This will limit the resource which in turn limits the number of birds that will visit the area at one time, but you’ll still get to see the birds that you love to see.
Cheryl - Another way to responsibly ground feed is to use smaller seed blocks than what are typically sold in stores. The ground feeding blocks typically sold are usually about 4 pounds of seed and attract too many birds. Either break down the larger blocks and use only small pieces at a time, or make your own using a recipe with good quality seed, unflavored gelatin, and Bark Butter. We’ll include a recipe in our show notes that is easy to make and healthy for the birds! Put your small, muffin sized seed blocks out when you know the quail will be visiting. This will let the quail eat the block and prevent too many doves and pigeons from showing up.
Kiersten – It think we both side on the side of Nah for ground feeding birds. There is definitely more cons than pros, so we will encourage all our listeners to use hanging feeders when feeding the birds. For a good discussion of tube feeders versus cylinder feeders check out our episode by that name. For those of you who just can’t give up ground feeding please consider our tips and check out the recipe for seed blocks in our show notes.
Monday Feb 20, 2023
Monday Feb 20, 2023
Summary: When we started our podcast, we always did a native plant spotlight at the end of each episode. We’ve compiled some of our favorites here so you can get those natives planted and attracting birds and butterflies to your yard!
For our hearing impaired listeners, a transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean.
Show Notes:
Boyce Thompson Arboretum Plant Sale Info: https://btarboretum.org
www.gardenia.net/plant/calliadras-california-baja-fairy-duster
Hummingbird Plants of the Southwest by Marcy Scott
Background bird song: Naturescapes Backyard Birds www.naturescapes.com
Our email address, please reach out with comments, questions, or suggestions: thefeathereddesert@gmail.com
Transcript
Host Voice: Welcome to the Feathered Desert a podcast all about desert bird feeding in the Southwest region of the United States. (bird calls and songs play)
Cheryl Into: when Kiersten and I first started to do these podcasts, we included a plant spotlight at the end. Now that spring is on the horizon here in the Phoenix area, I thought we would highlight some of our favorite and most successful native plants to attract birds and butterflies.
Kiersten: Perennials Hummingbirds love.
Firecracker Penstemon: This is a showy plant with blossoms of fiery red (a color hummingbirds see very well) tubular flowers. This plant is an important nectar source for hummingbirds nesting and migrating though your yard. For much of the year it is a tidy evergreen until the stems start to grow and the blossoms appear. it requires excellent drainage, full sun, and it heat tolerant.
Chluparosa – Is a semi-evergreen shrub with long -blooming tubular flowers in various shades of soft red. Not only is this plant an extremely important source of nectar for hummingbirds but it is known to attract orioles, warblers, goldfinches, house finches and White-crowned sparrows. It is also the host plant for the larva of the checkered spot butterfly.
Mexican Honeysuckle- Is a handsome hummingbird plant that is a real workhorse, cranking out blooms most of the year. Red-orange tubular flowers with a distinctive three-lobed lower lips, are extremely valuable for wintering hummingbirds. It has a graceful upward spreading form and bright green heart-shaped leaves. It is a Sonoran Desert native found in sandy washes and rocky canyons bottoms at lower elevations 1,500-3,500 feet. It is fast growing and likes well-drained fertile soil part to filtered sun depending on the elevations.
Cheryl: Now let’s highlight two trees that hummingbirds love.
Baja Fairy duster-This is one of my personal favorites, the fairy duster is an evergreen woody shrub/tree with bright red, powder puff flowers. Blooming year-around with a peak display from spring through fall, the long-lasting and attractive blooms are highly attractive to birds such as verdins, and warblers, hummingbirds, bees and butterflies too. It is extremely heat tolerant once established, needs well-drained soil, and its water demands are low. It is virtually pest-free and disease free. Pruning is generally unnecessary.
Desert willow-this graceful tree both perching sites and nectar flowers for hummingbirds. It has ruffled orchid-like, pale pink to rich burgundy flowers that peak in springtime but often continue throughout the summer. This lovely tree is visited by hummingbirds and lesser goldfinches. Lesser goldfinches feed on the fringed seed pods. With light green willow like leaves and big blossoms this is a lovely addition to the front landscape. Desert willows tolerate most soils and it is quite drought tolerant, it blossoms best in full sun. If you water it once or twice a month in the summer that will prolong the tree’s blooming. So, let’s talk about butterflies…
Kiersten: Butterfly weed-milkweed VS Butterfly Bush…
Butterfly weed-Asclepias tuberosa, commonly known as butterfly weed, is a species of milkweed native to eastern and south western North America. It is commonly known as butterfly weed because of the butterflies that are attracted to the plant by it’s color ad its copious production of nectar. Clump-forming perennial grows from tuberous roots to a height of one to two feet and is characterized by glossy-green, lance-shaped leaves and clusters of bright- orange- to -yellow blooms that are rich with nectar and pollen.
Butterfly bush- Buddleja Davidii or more commonly seen in nurseries as Butterfly Bush is an invasive plant from China. We do not want you to confuse it with the above-mentioned plant Butterfly weed which is a type of milkweed. It is deciduous shrub that can grow up to 15 ft high. This bush cone shaped flower clusters at the ends of branches and has been cultivated over the years into many attractive colors such as pink, blue, magenta, purple, and yellow. In nurseries it is advertised as being a wonderful
Plant to attract butterflies and it does attract them but many of the cultivars have lost any real nutrition in their nectar offerings. It is also only useful to the adult butterfly. Any native NA butterflies cannot use it as a host plant because it is unfamiliar. It is highly invasive and grows well in our country. It’s not quite as good at withstanding our desert heat but I have seen it offered in many nurseries in the valley.
Once established in your yard it will seed after blooming and those seeds will spread and choke out any native plants nearby that are essential to a butterfly’s life cycle. One more thing it attracts the male Asian mosquito who drink the nectar from the flowers and where the male goes a female follows…waiting to suck your blood.
Cheryl-I have two natives to the southwest that will do well in your backyard. The first one is chocolate flower. It is a fast-growing bush, grows to 1ftx2ft, full to partial shade, low water once it’s established, well-draining soil. This pretty, yellow daisy-like flower blooms from spring thru fall. It has no thorns but the flowers have a distinctive chocolate scent. Great for native bees and butterflies, birds eat the seeds in the fall, great native flower to add some color to a garden. Right up there with Blanket flower and the Desert marigold.
Next is Flattop buckwheat. I like the name. this is a shrub that is ever-green and it grows to about 1 foot tall and two feet wide. It blooms from march to November with a white or pale pink flower. It prefers full sun and well-drained soil. It will need only a little water once established with supplemental water during the heat of summer. Its naturally round form is useful on slopes for controlling soil erosion and needs very little if any pruning. In the fall its seeds will provide food for birds and other desert animals and it is the host plant for the metalmark Butterfly and the Acmon blue butterfly. Wonderful for native bees.
Kiersten- here’s one for the Bats!
Parry’s Agave (Agave parryi) This plant is native to AZ, NM, and Mexico this agave will produce gray green rosettes that grow 7-20 inches. The leaves do have marginal teeth and a sharp tip but it makes a great accent plant in the desert as is needs little water and is very low maintenance. It is a slow grower, so you’re in this for the long haul, but when it blooms it is spectacular. Twenty-foot-tall blooms with 20-30 offshoots that are red in buds and yellow when in full bloom. It can take full sun and may need water every two weeks in the drought portions of the summer. Needs very little water in the winter.
The main plant will produce offshoots that will grow near by and do well if allowed to spread out a bit. The off shoots can be dug up and removed if desired, after 5-10 years the agave will bloom and then die. The off shoots will remain if left alone. This is a great plant for the Lesser-long Nosed Bat and other nighttime pollinators.
Cheryl- So I have a sticky one but its short.
Desert hackberry- this is a shrub that is a host plant for several butterflies in the southwest including the American Snout, hackberry Emperor, and the Empress Leilia. It also has berries that birds such as verdin, Northern mocking bird and Cedar Waxwings love. This shrub requires low water once established, full sun, good drainage, and room. It can grow to be 8ft high, 10 feet wide but with pruning it will stay contained. It does have thorns but birds love thorny bushes to keep them safe from predators.
Kiersten-Our last plant is the Scrub oak. We saved the best for last.
This is a smaller oak at 8 feet tall and 12 feet wide. It has leathery gray-green leaves that cover rigid branches. This oak is native to AZ. It does best at higher altitudes but can grow in the valley. It will need supplemental water in the heat of summer and afternoon shade is beneficial but can take full sun at higher altitudes. Like most sols and should be pruned only to remove dead leaves. It can make an excellent hedge but it is slow growing. Dense foliage provides shelter for birds and small reptiles and mammals. Many desert animals eat the acorns and it is host plant to several desert butterflies. Just a note of caution: it is not a good choice for horse properties because acorns are poisonous to horses.
Cheryl-Closing
What a list! Remember to think native when you are planning your spring gardening. You cannot go wrong. The birds, bees and butterflies will thank you and reward your efforts. Happy Spring!
Monday Feb 13, 2023
Monday Feb 13, 2023
Summary: Kathleen Scott, Orphan Care Coordinator from Liberty Wildlife, joins Cheryl and Kiersten to talk about hummingbird rehab in the Phoenix Valley!
Show Notes:
If you have a bird that needs help, please take them to Liberty Wildlife at:
2600 E Elwood St.
Phoenix, AZ 85040
Intake Window Hours are 8am – 6pm daily
Liberty Wildlife Hotline: 480-998-5550, hours 8am-830pm daily
They are always looking for volunteers: https://libertywildlife.org
For more information about hummingbird friendly native plants, check out our podcasts on Gardening for Wildlife.
Monday Feb 06, 2023
Monday Feb 06, 2023
Summary: Learning to bird by ear is an important part of becoming an expert birder. Join Cheryl and Kiersten as they discuss four more southwest birds and play their songs and calls.
Show Notes:
Bird song provided by Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology: Yellow-rumped Warbler recorded by Silvan Laan, Black-throated Sparrow recorded by Paul Marvin, Acorn Woodpecker recorded by Harriette Barker, and Eared Quetzal recorded by Andrew Spencer.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/going-nutty-for-acorn-woodpeckers/#
Thursday Feb 02, 2023
Thursday Feb 02, 2023
Summary:A three-minute podcast from the hosts of The Feathered Desert about individual bird species found in the desert Southwest.
Show Notes:
Bird song provided by Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology recorded by Todd Alfes.
Monday Jan 30, 2023
Monday Jan 30, 2023
Summary: Birds are innovative but are they creative? Join Cheryl and Kiersten as they discuss some birds of the Southwest through the eyes of an artist, and you can decide whether you think they are creative as well as innovative!
For our hearing impaired listeners, a transcript of this podcast follows the show notes on Podbean.
Show Notes:
www.interesting-facts.com/bald-eagle-facts/
www.pbs.org/nova/article/what-birdsong-can-teach-us-about-creativity
https://www.bushheritage.org.au/species/bowerbirds
Background bird song: Naturescapes Backyard Birds www.naturescapes.com
Our email address, please reach out with comments, questions, or suggestions: thefeathereddesert@gmail.com
Transcript
Host Voice: Welcome to The Feathered Desert’s What’s That Bird? A three-minute glimpse into the birds we share this amazing desert landscape with.
Cheryl: Intro:
When scientists look for creativity in birds it’s along the idea of innovation. Birds using their strengths to adapt and survive in the habitat they call home. I wanted to look at creativity in a different way, through the artist and the art.
I choose nest building and bird song to help highlight the insight into the nature of bird’s creativity and into their learning process. Let’s look at nest building first.
Kiersten: The Cactus Wren has it own unique way of designing a nest along with choosing unique nesting material. Instead of using twigs and grasses to build its nest, the Cactus wren builds her nest with cactus spines. I didn’t know that the FEMALE made the nest that they use to raise the chicks.
Cheryl: I was surprised too!
Kiersten: Yeah! The female Cactus Wren uses up to 1,000 prickly spines to build the orb shaped nest she will lay her eggs in. She will line it with soft plant material, feathers, animal hair and grasses. Who wants to be your bum on a spine!
Cheryl: (laughs) When you think of that though she has to lay it where it’s not privkly on the inside!
Kiersten: The male Cactus wren builds the same type of nest, but his nests are to distract predators from his family. So, they are decoy nests. These large wrens are OCD about snakes. This is why they build nests in cactus using cactus spines. Yes, that is smart. Yes, innovative but if you have ever watched a Cactus Wren build her nest you will see her making choices about placement, how tall, how wide, prickly spines facing out not in. Then choosing the materials to line her nest …just the right ones for her comfort and pleasure. These spiny orbs are truly worthy of being called art. It’s not just about usefulness, maybe it’s also about aesthetics! We don’t know!
Cheryl: Yes! That’s what I was thinking! And it’s not instinctual. Younger birds watch older birds to learn how to make nest successfully. That’s all part of the growing up process before you go out on your own. There is so much more going on than we know!
Kiersten: Yes!
Cheryl: Two more examples:
Have you ever come across a hummingbird nest or better yet watch a female hummingbird build her nest. Finding just the right place not too hot, not too cold, not in high traffic but with a fairly direct line of flight in and out. She carefully picks the spiderweb material, collecting plant material, lichen and such to weave together a wonder of nature that stretches as her babies grow. The decisions the little female hummingbird makes not only provides her with comfort but it is camouflaged, a neatly tucked away work of craftsmanship. And Kiersten has an interesting fact to add to that!
Kiersten: Yes! Since we are talking about art…each species of hummingbird makes their nest in the colors of their own feathers! So, a Rufous versus and Anna’s nest will look different reflecting the birds own colors! The materials that they are picking will be the same color of their own bodies.
Cheryl: It’s so cool! That open it up to the fact that the birds are aware of what they look like!
Kiersten: It does beg the question of why they do it? Is it for camouflage? Is it to help recognize another species’ nest?
Cheryl: It could be that they just like their colors.
Kiersten: Exactly! It could be fashion!
Cheryl: (laughs)
Kiersten: It rolls right into looking through a bird’s nest the artist’s eye.
Cheryl: My next example is the Bald eagle nest. Bald Eagles build a nest together. A pair’s nest is up to 13 feet deep and 8.5 feet wide. It can weight a bout 1.1 tons. Nest sites typically include at least one perch with a view of the water, where they forge. Eagle nests are constructed with large sticks and may be lined with moss, grass, plant stalks, lichens and seaweed or sod. Eagles add greenery for their viewing pleasure based on different bird’s artistic tastes.
Kiersten: Wow!
Cheryl: The greenry is added based on the females taste. If she doesn’t like it he has to go find another piece. That’s his way of helping with the nesting process.
Kiersten: Nice! I wonder if anyone has done a study on which type of greenery they prefer. Is it like all bald eagles like honeysuckle? Or is it different for each individual?
Cheryl: That’s interesting because the tidbit I found on it says that the female seems to prefer plants that she is familiar with from the area around her.
Kiersten: Ohhhh!
Cheryl: That open the door to the fact that she is able to distinguish between plants.
Kiersten: Very cool!
Cheryl: Both sexes bring materials to the nest, but the female does most of the placement and selecting as they work together weaving their chosen sticks in with the grasses and sod to fill in the cracks. All of this sounds practical, but again if you watch these build their nest there is definite decision making about what goes where. Who knows it could be like us when we rearrange the living room furniture.
Kiersten: It’s so interesting! I wonder what experiments we could do to determine why she likes it this way or that way, or what criteria she’s using for certain sticks.
Cheryl: The only scientific experiments done on a similar subject is with bowerbirds. They are very color selective. These birds are what inspired this podcast. I took the idea and applied it to Southwest birds.
Kiersten: For those of you that don’t know what a bowerbird is we’ll put a link in the show notes for you to check them out. They are great builders and choose specific colored objects to use in their nest!
Cheryl: Next is bird song!
Kiersten: Birdsong is a structured form of expression, similar to writing a poem, or more directly, composing a song: most species have a characteristic song that they learn from their fathers early in life. Young birds imitate sounds when their synapses are still malleable, kind of like a human child’s babbling stage.
Northern Mocking Birds are the bird most studied by scientists when it comes to birdsong. Actually, before the MBTA of 1918 the Northern Mocking bird was on its way to becoming extinct due to males being caught and kept in cages for their gift of song.
Northern Mocking birds are able to produce up to 200 different calls. Their songs are composed of phrases that repeat 2-6 times before shifting to a new series of phrases with songs going on for 20 seconds or more. They add new sounds to repertories throughout entire their lives.
Both male and female mocking birds sing. They mimic the sounds of birds, frogs, and other sounds they hear around them. They have been known to mimic birds such as: the Red-tail hawk, blue jays, certain sparrows, red-winged black birds, orioles, killdeer, woodpeckers.
What I find interesting here is that all these birds are very ear-catching!
Cheryl: Yes!
Kiersten: The mocking bird picks and chooses what phases or sounds it is going to learn, use, and repeat. Scientists don’t really know what about the male mocking bird’s song is the most appealing to a female when she answers the male. Some of what I have seen indicates that larger the repertoire a male has the better a female likes him. But why? How does she pick between two males that sing the same amount of song? What is it that she likes?
Cheryl: Yeah! It’s not like we can ask her!
Kiersten: No! I would be interested to find out.
Unmated males are the most insistent singers. The ability to sing well proves critical as the young birds mature, as females choose mates based on the quality of the song. Young mocking birds carry on all day and late into the night, especially on full moons.
And talking about birds that repeat song…here in the southwest the Curved-bill Thrasher is a mimic as well, but they havn’t been studies as much.
Cheryl: Yes! When I was researching this episode I couldn’t find much on them, but I do know that they also have their own song.
Kiersten: Yes! That’s what makes them different from Northern Mockingbirds. They have their own song that they learn when they are young and then pick up song as they get older, but we don’t know how long they do that.
So…those of you at ASU studying ornithology, maybe this can be a topic or study!
Cheryl: Maybe he mimics the Cactus Wren, his nemesis, or the Gila woodpecker, or other Thrashers!
Kiersten: It would be interesting to know what the malleability of their brain is like. Is it like the Norther Mockingbird?
Cheryl: Closing
Many of our southwest birds are not just superb at surviving in our desert, but in their own right they are truly artists using the gifts and materials nature provides to make the desert we share together that much more artful.