Potato Bugs

The potato bug, also known as the Colorado beetle, is a small beetle decorated with vertical stripes, nothing to be afraid of, right?

Well, did you know that no one can scare potato farmers as much as the potato bug?  That’s because a few of these bugs can easily ruin an entire potato crop.

This wasn’t always the case.  A long, long time ago, potatoes didn’t really grow in North America, and the potato bug was nowhere to be seen either.  The first people to cultivate potatoes were the Incas, who lived in South America.  When the Europeans arrived to the New World, they tried eating potatoes, liked them, and took them back to Europe with them, where they became very popular.  In fact, when the first immigrants came to North America, they brought the potato plants with them.  Now that’s a journey to be proud of!

And what about the potato bugs?  Well, they weren’t always known for their love of potatoes.  Originally from Mexico, these pesky bugs survived on a plant known as buffalo bur.  As the potatoes were introduced throughout North America, the potato bugs got a taste as well, and they liked them so much that they gave up the buffalo bur for good!

One of the reasons the potato bug has become such an enemy to the potato farmer is due to its ability to develop so quickly.  The eggs, which quickly change to larvae, feed for just three weeks then drop into the ground, returning ten days later as adult beetles ready to lay eggs.  The only thin slowing these beetles down is they have a few enemies of their own, such as toads, snakes, ladybird beetles, birds, wasps, flies, and stinkbugs, to name a few.

Who Am I?

I am famous for playing “follow the leader.”  A man named Jean Henri Fabre first discovered my head-to-tail trails on an everygreen tree.  If you put me on a bowl with several of my friends, we will follow each other around forever, or at least until we wear down.  Who Am I?

Answer: erbaF rallipretac

Lines and Stripes:  Draw two outlines of a beetle.  On one, add vertical stripes and on the other, make the  stripes horizontal.  Which beetle appears larger?  Now, take two more outlines and color one beetle a light color and the other one dark.  Is there any difference in how they appear? 

Now, consider this:  If you’re trying to look taller, which way should you wear your stripes?  And, if you want your room to look bigger, what shades of paint should you choose?

Bird Food

To attract the widest variety of birds to your feeding stations, discussed in another blog, offer as many foods in as many different kinds of feeders as you can. 

Besides the typical seeds and nuts, I’d like to talk about other food that birds love. 

Suet and Suet Mixes

Pure suet is nothing more than feef fat and is availabe at your supermarket meat counter or meat market.  Raw suet attracts many birds, including  woodpeckers, but it goes rancid quickly in hot summer temperatures.

Therefore, it’s probably best to only use raw suet during cooler weather.

If you want to make suet cakes, cut raw suet into 1/21 inch chunks and cook it over low heat until the oil is rendered out.  Then, mix in as much cornmeal as it will hold, along with peanut butter, raisins and mixed seeds.  Pack the suet mixture into a wax paper milk carton or plastic container and refrigerate it overnight. Cut off pieces of the “set” mixture to fit your wire baskets.  The rendered fat will not spoil, even in the summer heat and the birds love it! 

You can also buy suet cakes.  You will find a bewildering array of suet mixtures at stores that sell birdseed.  The cheapest high-energy cakes are as good as any other kinds, and the birds will love them all.  In hot weather climates, look for no-melt suet “dough” cakes, they won’t melt and run out of the holder like regular suet cakes do.

Birds that like suet and suet mixes:  woodpeckers, chickadees, titmice, wrens, nuthatches, warblers, European Starlings, and some thrushes.

Water Sources For Birds

Birds need water as much as they need food.  Although the food they eat provides some water, they depend primarily on clean freshwater sources in their environment.  If you include just one source of water in your ultimate bird-friendly backyard you will atract the greatest number of different species.  Birds of all kinds will flock to it to drink, bathe, cool off and sometimes make mud for building their nests.

Offering water can be as simple as filling a shallow container and placing in an accessible place, or it can involve digging a pond or constructing a living stream with a triple waterfall and lost lagoon.  The most important things is to have fun.  Don’t make providing water so complicated that you don’t enjoy doing it.  Keep it simple.  A flower pot regularly cleaned with chemical free cleansers and filled with fresh water regularly will work great!

Helpful Hints for Providing Water Sources for Birds: 

• The best water conatiners are shallow, one to three inches deep
• If the container is deeper than three inches, provide rocks or perches so birds can rest and preen their feathers.  Containers with shallow, gradually sloping bottoms are ideal.
• Make sure the containers have rough-textured bottoms, since birds don’t have nonskid feet.
• The nonskid stick on strips for bathtubs work great; you can paiint the bottoms with adhesive and then pat on sand for traction.
• Your first water container can be an upside-down garbage can lid, a shallow plastic bowl, or an inexpensive birdbath.

Once the birds spot your water container, they will continue to visit the container if you keep it clean and filled.  If you build it, they will come, so expect them and be ready.  You will be so excited when they find your watering hole.

How to Clean the Bird’s Water Source:

• Change the water daily.
• Scrub out the container with a brush and high-pressure hose to remove droppings, algae, and debris. 
• Don’t use swimming pool or other chemicals to kill algae in a container used by the birds.  The chemicals will harm them.  If you use soap to clean the container, rinse it thoroughly.

Where to Place Your Water Source For Birds:

• Place water containers in open areas that have at least partial shade, shaded areas not only keep the water cooler, but the absence of sunlight shows the growth of algae. 
• Place the containers away from feeders so that seed hulls and bird droppings from these high traffic areas don’t foul the water. 
• Although the containers should be in open areas, make sure they are within ten feet of protective shrubbery and low trees to protect birds from cats, hawks, and other predators.  They need to have a place to fly to!!

Keep the water from freezing:

• If you live in an area where the winters are cold enough to freez water, place a forty-watt lightbulb under the container or use one of the commerically available birdbath heaters. 
• Don’t use an aquarium heater because they are built for indoor use. 
• Be sure to use grounded outdoor wiring to connect your heater to your household electrical power supply.
• The heater does not create a hot tub or sauna for the birds amid the ice and snow, it just keeps the water from freeziing so thirsty birds can get the water they need. 
• Do not put antifreeze, alcohol, or other chemicals in the water in an attempt to keep it from icing over, these chemicals are toxic for all animals and birds and humans!

Birds Of A Feather

I love birds, have owned both parakeets and canaries, my favorite is the parakeet.  Larger birds are messy, but all are fascinating.  Here, we will explore birds of North America, and occasionally talk about some in the Rain Forest.

The first time I remember seeing anyone feef birds was when I visited my Aunts and Uncles in rural Oklahoma, back in the 50’s and 60’s.  My parents were always kind to anything in nature, only stamping out bugs in the house and aphids on roses, and even then prefering to bring in ladybugs and let nature’s food chain do the work.  Growing up in the deserts of New Mexico, I feared snacks and spiders, and most crawling things that jumped or looked about to attack me. 

I never had the same fear of things that played in the sky. 

My aunt would often stand at one of the windows in her hosue, or very still in her backyard, and watching birds eating the cracked corn she hung in the trees by various methods.  During the winter, she would clear snow from a patch of grass and sprinkled corn and seeds on the grass, then sneak back into the house to watch with interest.  She would sometimes say “We had about 50 today.” as though disappointed that so few had come to visit.  Other days she would comment with joy “Land’s sake, the ground and trees were thick with birds!!” 

She would name at a glance jays, doves, sparrows, red birds, and the always annoying presence of the black birds.  With enthusiasm she would talk about the sparrows teaming up on the black birds, and keeping them from their nests.  I was constantly amused at her scoldings of her many outside cats, “Now you leave those birds alone!”  As if.

In later years, when she fed the birds, she would first let in the cats, confining them to the back porch where they could only lick their chops with anticipation of a fine feathered feast.

I found it odd and sweet that this aunt who grew up on a farm surrounded by animals considered for food: pigs, chickens, cattle, even rabbits, would marvel and take such care for birds.  As usual, I imitated her love of nature, and her efforts to take pleasure in our feathered flying flowers.

I do not consider myself a bird watcher, but I did enjoy helping her prepare bird food for her backyard friends.  She made suet cakes, fed hummingbirds, built feeders and nesting boxes, trying always to outwit the squirrels, who provided many hours of fun watching them grab their food and run.  I became fascinated with these colorful and delightful creatures as she took her role as “bird feeder” as  serious part of her day’s routine.

I hope as I discuss birds of North America, you will increase your interest in your backyard visitors.

May our love of nature encourage us to be good to our feathered friends when they fly in for a visit.