[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Magnolia Warbler



 As I was sitting in the kitchen having breakfast and looking longingly
out
at the cardinals i saw my first really good (relatively) yard bird. A
warbler came in and hovered around the abelia bushes that I have allowed
to simply go wild in the back. Much peering through the window revealed it
to be a Fall plumage Magnolia. I have never seen magnolias in N Carolina,
so this new yard bird was also a new state bird for me!

Incidentally, I have been discovering that letting the Abelia bush grow as
it will has proven fantastic for attracting birds. Normally these bushes
are pruned nto all sorts of unnatural shapes and are also overly used in
local landscaping. Thus for a whole year I have pooh-poohd the bush but
been too lazy to uproot it. In the meanwhile it has grown into a graceful
thing, with the new branches forming elegant archng loops. It is, as you
all know, a prodigous bloomer and so attracts hummers in some numbers. But
what I have noticed is that the gracefully arching branches have made the
bush very user-friendly for foraging birds since the open form that the
unpruned bush has taken on provides small birds with space to maneuver and
forage in its midst. It is quite clear when I see small birds forage in it
and larger ones (like mockers) perch in it , that this would never have
happened in the tight little balls of bushes we see in most local
landscaping. So far I have had hummers poke at the flowers when they come
by to feed on the salvia, goldfinches and house finches have been eating
the spent blossoms (or seeds), mockers perch on it to  survey the yard,
and towhees forage under it on the ground. Now let us see what use the
juncos and white throated sparrows make of it when they show up. Well,
another argument for letting the yard go its own way.

Shantanu Phukan

*****************************************************
SHANTANU PHUKAN
Lecturer in Urdu-Hindi & Indian Literature
University of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill
Curriculum in Asian Studies
Alumni Hall 413C
Chapel Hill, N.C. 27599

phukan@email.unc.edu
919-962-6825
*****************************************************