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Gardening and birding are the top two outdoor activities among Americans. Combine them to make your landscape more attractive and entertaining.

During winter, when the landscape is dormant, let our winged friends become your gardening focal points. They offer beauty and life to the yard, and the songs they sing can brighten even a gray, blustery day.

As temperatures dip, natural food supplies dwindle, and birds must scratch the leaf-littered ground in search of seeds and insects to sustain them. Now's the time to give them a little help. Try these tips on attracting and feeding birds.

Richard Melton of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and his mother-in-law, Bev Vogt, know a lot about birds. Richard designs gardens to attract them, and Bev owns a Wild Birds Unlimited store in nearby Northport. In fact, Richard built a habitat garden behind Bev's store that attracts a great number of birds daily. The garden seems to be in perpetual motion as birds dart around the feeders and plants.

Bev says the most effective way to attract birds is to feed them. Richard stresses that to keep them in and around your yard, you must create a bird-friendly environment. They need four elements to stay healthy, happy, and wanting to hang around.

Food for Birds

Just like everything else, birdseed has become specialized. Bev's shop carries 15 different types of feed. In addition to that, you can buy suet cakes, dried fruit, peanuts, and even mealy worms. Her premium-blend seed is very popular with customers, but if you're confused about what to buy, look for black oil sunflower seeds. These attract many different types of birds. Remember, buying the cheapest birdseed isn't always a bargain. Inexpensive seed can contain filler, which birds won't eat. So you end up with unused seed.

To prevent the little green weed patches that appear in your lawn, use a No-Mess blend, which has little or no waste and won't sprout in your yard. If you really want to spoil the birds, put out fruit or shelled peanuts.

Along with an assortment of foods, Bev also sells different types of bird feeders. She has squirrelproof feeders and cone-shaped baffles to prevent raids by these pesky rodents. Hang feeders at least 5 feet off the ground and 10 feet away from trees, shrubs, fences, or houses to keep squirrels at bay and eliminate ambush areas for cats.

# posted by Medical Information : 6:17 AM