Environmental: Unlimited Birds, Limited Rats
By Becky Hammond
OH, RATS DEPT: Owner LuAnn Linker of Wild Birds Unlimited on Woodward in Royal Oak is an encyclopedia of information on how to feed birds in a city concerned about rats. She’s aware of the devotion people have for birds, and has a list of ways to make it a rat-proof pastime. “Birdseed does not attract rats to a city,” she told me. “Rats come for other reasons. They’re opportunists and will eat birdseed, but our whole lifestyle brings rats in.” Rats like spots that are undisturbed, Linker told me. “They thrive in urban areas because humans produce, surround themselves with and transport waste throughout the environment. We offer easy access to garbage, sewage, pet food, outdoor grills, backyard ponds, yard debris and poorly maintained buildings.”
“To control the problem, we must address all of the contributing factors. We have to be stewards of our environment and not be careless.” Her tips:
• Put bird food in an elevated feeder with a bottom tray to eliminate spillage to the ground.
• Do not feed “human food.”
• Avoid cheap seed blends. Cheap “Wild Bird Mix” contains cereal grain fillers birds toss to the ground.
• Feed birds with hulled sunflower chips or “no-mess blends.”
• Feed compressed seed cylinders or suet instead of loose seed.
• Use “baffles” to eliminate easy access. Pole baffles keep rodents from climbing onto feeders.
• Store seed in tightly sealed metal containers.
• Inspect backyard ponds regularly for burrows and damage to plants.
“Attracting and feeding the birds is the second most popular hobby in America. It’s a relaxing, entertaining and educational hobby for all ages and it’s a great way for the residents of Ferndale to participate in the green movement and give back to nature.”
Some of us connect bird feeding to a family member, loving it partly because of that person. My dad, George Hammond, was a man who had a hard life and spent his middle and later years helping out wherever he could. He grew up in poverty in South Carolina, spent his teen years in an orphanage in Ohio, his adulthood feeding poor kids in our rural Ohio village. He put out bird seed and suet almost every day. Not long ago a friend told me n she fed birds because her grandfather did.
Environmental gadfly dept: Recently a resident new to Michigan posted a request for vacation suggestions on the terrific Ferndale Forum Facebook page. She must have been startled with the number of places listed. My advice? Pick a place and start. You’ll never use up Michigan. The longer you live here, the
m longer your go-to list gets, especially if you’re a guidebook junkie.
50 Hikes in Michigan still leads us around the lower peninsula. We approached a finish to all 60 (not a typo; there are “bonus hikes”) with a visit to the northeastern lower peninsula, hitting Cheboygan State Park and their trail system with Lake Huron beaches, varied forest, and lighthouse ruins. Next day we moved onto previously-unknown Thompson’s Harbor State Park further east.
A large chunk of undeveloped land like Negwegon further down the Lake Huron coast, Thompson’s Harbor is a secluded bit of magic. Despite lots of flat, straight, rocky trails, we were enchanted with the silence and the wildlife, seeing a grouse, and a beaver and a bat out at midday, undisturbed by us (maybe happy to be out of the ice, and out of hibernation). We enjoyed finding an expanse of hundreds of pitcher plants, right where our old guidebook said they’d be. Other hikes that make the area worth a trip: Ocqueoc Falls and Presque Isle Light. Both have trail systems.
The Pleasant Ridge Environmental Council recently hosted a presentation on native gardening featuring speaker Diane Gregory that inspired me to go home and get busy. Like many gardeners, I’ve planted a combination of native plants and non-natives. Since my many daylilies and old-fashioned irises are more interesting than grass for a fraction of T the time and water, I’ve considered them a good substitute. Bees and butterflies even like them. When native plants were first encouraged six or seven years ago, a single reason was most often stated: they have deep roots that hold water and prevent a run-off, protecting our storm system and our Great Lakes. True enough. But we environmentalists can be guilty of isolating one property, one factor, losing sight that a garden is a circle of life, every aspect affecting every other. Native plants don’t just hold excess rainwater, they foster the insects our birds need. They produce seeds our birds eat. They can a handle our climate and soil conditions.
Gregory told us that one reason some plants are d invasive is that nothing eats their seeds. Those seeds grow. She said something we repeat here in FF: Leave Your Leaves. I’ve pushed leaving leaves mainly because the amount of machinery we now use, and the amount of fuel it needs. I did not realize, however, that leaf mulch harbors the very microorganisms a healthy Michigan ecosystem needs.
Wood chips do not. Diane pointed out that each tree is capable of dealing with its own leaves. A cycle was set up long before we came along, and it works. A nice bonus that evening? Eight milkweed plants I took for the Ferndale Monarch Project were snapped up by attendees.
P.S. DEPT: A heron flew over Ferndale today, a largish owl a few nights ago, and a crow, a hawk, and buzzard did an air-show at Woodward and 9 on Sunday. Don’t forget to look up!
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Becky Hammond wails her oboe, taps computer a keys, and gets dirty fingernails outside every day. She has gloves but never wears them.
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