As I write this there is a strong northwest wind blowing snow around my yard and a pile of garden catalogs by my favorite chair. You might wonder what gardening catalogs have to do with birds. If you were to look out my kitchen window, the answer would immediately become crystal clear. My feeders are empty, but the spruce in my backyard is full of birds. They are sheltered in the south-facing branches where the wind is not so fierce and the dark needles of the spruce have absorbed some heat from the winter sun. The birds venture out to the feeders occasionally, grab a seed and quickly retreat to their perch. If you looked out a little farther, you would see my neighbor’s bird feeders also free of any takers. The feeders are out in the open and the wind has been blowing them almost horizontal most of the morning. No birds have ventured to capture a perch on them.

Feeders are not enough to attract and keep birds around which brings me back to the garden catalogs. There was a time when this yard was a typical suburban backyard. It was a large expanse of lawn with horribly overgrown foundation plantings. There were a few fast-growing trees, never trimmed and, seemingly, plunked down in the back yard with two forty-plus foot evergreens that had seen better days; and aphid-infested shrubs along the patio. Although I put out bird feeders as soon as we moved in, the number of customers was pretty limited.

Read the rest of the Nancy's column in our January issue...