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Dear ##firstname[Friend]##,
Kirsten Sweet
Need some last minute gift ideas? Any birder or gardener would love a new bird feeder, garden art or a sturdy pair of gloves. Check out our Facebook page for more great gift ideas! While you’re there, become our fan to keep up with everything going on at Birds & Blooms. As a fan, you'll be the first to hear about giveaways, contests and quirky birding and gardening stories that we find online.
Kirsten Sweet
Birds & Blooms
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- Bird of the Month
- Best of Glad You Asked
- Project of the Month
- FREE Wallpaper
- Talk to Us!
Follow Us on Twitter
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Photo: Roland Jordahl
Bird of the Month: Spotted Towhee
The spotted towhee is typically a ground feeder and will come to your backyard with the right kind of food.
Learn how to attract the spotted towhee to your yard, and listen to its song.
Best of Glad You Asked
Christmas Cactus
My son gave me a beautiful Christmas cactus with white blooms. The next year, however, its flowers were pink. What happened?
—Faye Scott, Eden, Georgia
Melinda: Hybrid plants often revert back to the dominant color of the species—in this case, pink or red. Fortunately, the flowers are still pretty, just not the color you expected.
To maintain the plant, continue growing it in a sunny location. For its namesake “Christmas” flowers, start cutting back its water Oct. 1 and move it to a cooler and dark location at night. Or, begin this process later in fall to produce a Valentine’s Day or Easter floral display.
Birds Hitting Windows
Last winter I had a horrible problem with birds flying into our windows and injuring themselves. No matter how I adjusted the shutters, it didn’t help. What can I do to prevent this from happening again?
—Dottie Miller, Denton, North Carolina
George: When birds see the reflection of trees and sky in a window, they often confuse this image for reality and fly straight into the glass. Closing curtains or shutters on the inside will only make this reflection more vivid. Whatever you do to eliminate the reflection, it has to be on the outside of the window.
Some options are covering the glass with netting, screens or soaping them, hanging streamers outside the window or placing hawk silhouettes or other stickers on the glass.
Project of the Month
One of the easiest ways to make a good garden even better is to set a comfortable bench in a secluded corner. Get started on your own bench with these three easy steps!
FREE Wallpaper
Download great wallpaper for your computer, like this beautiful, bright photo of a Northern cardinal taken by Michael Bell.
Talk to Us!
Send us your best budget birding tip and photos by using the Submit Your Story form. If we use it in our new “For Less” section, we’ll pay you $25!
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