Feed the Birds

We have a bird oasis in our side yard. We love feeding the birds because it gives us something interesting to look at all winter long. We have 3 bird feeders and a heated birdbath.


I buy big 50 lb bags of birdseed and black oil sunflower seeds at the local farm store to keep our feathered friends fed all winter long. We also put out suet for all the woodpeckers and clinging birds.

We enjoy seeing all the different kinds of birds that come to our feeders. We have a bird identification book that we use to identify any new birds we see. Here are a few of them.

We also have blue jays, mourning doves, black-capped chickadees, house wrens, house sparrows, rufous-sided towhees, goldfinches, purple finches, downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, and the occasional pileated woodpecker. And of course we have tons of the Ohio State bird, the cardinal.

Feeding the birds not only gives us something interesting to do during the winter, but it helps the birds stay strong and healthy through the cold winter months. We’ve noticed that since we started feeding them, we have more birds in the gardens in the summer. I had more wrens last year than any previous year and they keep all the cabbage worms off of my brassicas. I’ll keep feeding my little feathered friends and providing them with nice homes to keep them happy.

Do you feed the birds during the winter?

Way to Go Mr Chiots!

Mr Chiots is off hunting this week with my dad. I spent Friday & Sunday cooking up all kinds of manly food for him to eat on all week. I made venison chili with corn bread, oat groats with raisins & walnuts for breakfast. I also made him some of these carrot oatmeal cookies, they’re kind of like little granola bars. I figured they’d be perfect quick treats when he gets hungry sitting in his deer stand.

He went down the family hunting cabin Sunday evening and he was up bright at early to be in his deer stand. He called me yesterday at 10:30 am and said he’d gotten his first deer at 9 that morning. Not to shabby, getting a deer within a few hours of your first time hunting!

Too bad it wasn’t one of these deer that eat all of my hydrangeas, blueberry bushes, fruit trees, strawberries and peas. Oh well, it looks as though our freezer will be stocked with venison for the next year. Hopefully he gets another one or two and we can share with friends & family! If he remembers to take some photos, I’ll share them next week when he gets home.

Anything exciting going on in your neck of the woods?

UPDATE: Later on Monday DeWayne (who is one of my dad’s friends from IN that comes over to hunt, got a small 6 point buck). Mr Chiots just called me tonight (Tues) and my dad got a HUGE 10 point buck today (they did remember to take a photo). I wonder what the deer count will be by the end of the week, we should have full freezers for all the family members!

Baby Black Rat Snake

On Wednesday evening I found this little guy in our driveway. At first I was very excited, as I’ve never seen a snake here at Chiot’s Run. I’ve always wanted to find a big black snake in my garage, but sadly that has never happened. After looking closer I realized this little guy was dead.

I grabbed him and examined him to see what had happened. I came inside and searched on-line to try and identify what kind of snake it was. After searching I decided it was most likely a baby black rat snake. He was about 15 inches long, which is about how long the baby ones would be this time of year for the reproduction cycle of black rat snakes. The markings on his back & belly are consistent with some photos I found on Flickr. I found this great blogpost about baby black rat snakes, there are even photo of the eggs!


Black rat snakes hatch out at 11-16 inches, which means this little guy was very young. They often nest in tree cavities where other nesting animals have been. Since I could see no visible injuries, I think perhaps it fell out of the big maple tree beside the driveway.

It’s kind of sad to find my first snake and have it be dead. However it’s not really a sad story, a baby snake in the garden means there’s a mama snake around. I think this is good news for my overpopulation of chipmunks! Black rat snakes are considered one of the most beneficial snakes in Ohio. They can live up to 20 years and are prolific eaters of mice, rats, chipmunks, rabbits, other small rodents, birds and eggs.

I put him on a rock in the garden and he’ll probably become food for another small animal. Perhaps I’ll spot mama in the garage someday soon!

What do you think, do you want snakes around or do they give you the heebie jeebies?

Wrens, the Tiny Workhorse in the Garden

I’ve read about how great of an asset wrens are in the garden. I hear that they were especially good at catching cabbage worms. So how do you go about attracting these tiny birds to your gardens? It’s as simple as putting up a wren house or two. In fact these little birds prefer man-made nesting boxes to their natural habitat. They also seem to be fairly “tame” not minding human presence, which makes them perfect garden birds.

Wrens are small cavity nesting birds, so they like small houses with a certain size entrance hole (1 1/8 inch). We have a few “wren” houses that have larger holes so other birds nest in them, like chickadees. In April you’ll start to hear the male wrens singing their beautiful songs as they look for a place to build a nest. He actually builds several nests, up to 12, and the female selects the one she likes and then finishes it. They lay 4-6 eggs, incubation time last 12-15 days and the young will leave the nest in 16-17 days.

There’s a funny story about this condemned house. While working at the edge of the woods one day we found this tiny house. It was so small and in such bad shape we figured it was once a decorative birdhouse, too small for anything to actually use. We kind of the liked the “rustic-ness” of it so we hung it up in a dogwood tree. Not too long later the wrens moved in. I kind of feel bad for them, having to live in a condemned house. When the little birds leave we’ll be taking it down and reattaching the bottom for them. I kept hoping it wouldn’t fall out when the little ones were in there.

Wrens are really wonderful little birds to have around the gardens. They have beautiful songs and they’re constantly flitting and hopping about. They spend a lot of their time on the ground searching under plants for worms and other insects. They have kept my garden cabbage worm free, I occasionally see evidence of cabbage worms or maybe a worm or two, but then I’ll notice the wrens under the plant and the worms are gone.

I’ve really enjoyed watching the wrens this year. I’ve been watching the nest and listening to the babies. I waited a long time to get this shot of the mom feeding her babies. They’ll be leaving the nest soon, in fact one of the nests we have they’ve already left. Then they’ll start all over again since wrens will often attempt to raise another brood when the first one fledges.

What do you do to attract beneficial birds to your gardens?

Garden Decor

While cleaning up earlier this week I found an empty bird nest that had blown into one of the flower beds. Bird’s nest are so amazing, they’re so intricately made; I’m always in awe of them. I could never build something like this and I have finger and thumbs, I don’t know how they do it with their beaks.

I thought it was to pretty too throw into the compost pile so I put it at the base of my oakleaf hydrangea and put a few smooth stones in it; free garden art.

We do have a few other bird nests around the property, there’s the one in the spruce tree that the robin’s used last year. The finches build one up in a sappling as well. Usually I leave them in place for natural decor. We also have a pileated woodpecker that has a nest in an empty tree in the woods beside our house, now that’s an interesting bird!

I’m always eager to have birds in my gardens, they’re very beneficial to have around. We put up bird feeders and bird houses to encourage them to take up residence here at Chiot’s Run.

Do you have all kinds of birds nesting in your gardens? What do you do to encourage them to come to your gardens?