Dear $$firstname$$,

Wise Owl, Indeed

AS SHE and her husband were reading in their family room one fall evening, they heard an unusual scratching sound, relates Bernice D. of Fredericksburg, Iowa. "We finally figured out it was coming from outside, in back of our house. I went out through the front door and told my husband to wait to switch on an outdoor light until I got to the back of the house. When the light went on, I was surprised to see a little screech owl pecking on our water faucet. Startled by the light, it looked up and flew away.

"I figured the owl was thirsty, so I filled a shiny pie pan with water and set it below the faucet. A short time later, the owl came back, found the pan and started drinking. I have to give it credit for being wise enough to know where to find water! Perhaps we'd accidentally left the faucet dripping a few times in the past, providing our night owl with a convenient source for a drink."

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Create Some Toad Abodes

IF YOU didn't have a toad or two in your garden last summer, you should have, notes Carol S. of Greenville, South Carolina. "In one growing season, a toad can eat as many as 10,000 insects," she informs. "They may not be the most handsome creatures, but they make good gardening neighbors!"

Attracting toads is literally as easy as tipping over a flowerpot. Just place a broken pot upside down in a shady spot on loose soil that a toad can burrow into. "A dish of water nearby also helps," Carol adds.

In Lakeland, Florida, Melody S. has 10 toad houses--some are just broken flowerpots; others are clever little abodes that she's purchased from garden stores and catalogs. "Our biggest one is a combination birdbath and toad house," she writes. "After we put our first one out, it wasn't long before a toad moved in. One year, we even had a couple of toads that would wait out on our patio for us to feed them mealworms!"

Next spring, try attracting a toad or two to your garden. You'll be bugged if you don't.

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Warm Bath Keeps Birds Happy

WINTER can be pretty harsh in Pennsylvania, which makes it difficult to provide water for birds, notes Phyllis B. of Saegertown. "But I've found an inexpensive way to do so, even when the temperature is well below freezing. I put a spotlight (not a floodlight) inside the hollow base of my birdbath, which is located near a winter feeding station just off my porch.

"First, I put a spotlight holder into the ground, insert the bulb and point it straight up. After placing the base of the birdbath over it, I set the water basin on top and secure it with bungee cords attached from the basin to the bottom of the base. Then I wrap the outside of the base with some fiberglass insulation, cover it with thick plastic and tape it all together with outdoor tape.

"It works great. The spotlight, which is connected to an outlet on my porch with an outdoor extension cord, provides the heat. And the insulation keeps enough of it inside the base to prevent the water from freezing most of the time."

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Give Your Garden Some Re-leaf

STILL HAVE some lingering leaves in your yard? Instead of raking them and putting them out by the curb, try this recycling tip shared by Donald C. of Flat Rock, Illinois: "When people set out leaves for city crews to pick up, I gather about 100 or so bags and spread the leaves out over my 4,000-square-foot garden," Donald says. "Then I chop them up as fine as possible with a lawn mower and till them into the soil. By the time spring arrives, the leaves are decayed and the soil tills up so fine and loose that I don't even need to add compost. I just till in fertilizer as needed, and I'm ready to plant."

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Turkeys Enjoy Thanksgiving Feast

QUITE a wide variety of birds visit the feeder just outside their kitchen window, says John E. of Prior Lake, Minnesota. "Even so, you can imagine our surprise the day 11 wild turkeys showed up to have a meal. I'd been thinking to myself that I ought to rake up all the seeds the birds had been spilling onto the ground around the feeder...but by the time the turkeys finished, they'd cleaned it up for me. I was very thankful!"

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Garden Feeds Birds All Winter

WHILE PREPARING the ground for their large vegetable garden each spring, Betty B. of Michie, Tennessee makes room for plenty of sunflowers. "During summer, the flowers are a pleasure to look at," she explains, "and in winter, they produce enough seeds to feed the cardinals, blue jays and other birds that visit our yard.

"When we cut down the sunflowers, we leave some of the heads outside. They serve as a large dinner table for many birds that stay in our area. On cold winter days when there is little else to do, I separate seeds from the rest of the dry flower heads for our feeders. Anyone who grows a vegetable garden can add a row or two of sunflowers--they'll produce plenty of seeds to feed the birds all winter."

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Attract, Identify Winged Visitors

ATTRACT birds to your yard and identify them, too, with this new hardcover book from Birds & Blooms and Reader's Digest. Step by step, Birds in Your Backyard shows you what to plant, how to build birdhouses and grow your own bird food plus much more. Also includes a field guide identifying over 170 birds and butterflies and an A-to-Z landscaping guide showing over 75 flowers and plants. More than 600 color illustrations and photos on 272 pages. 7-1/2" x 9".

To order Birds in Your Backyard from Country Store On-line, click here.

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