Bird Watching: Birds in North Florida, 1 by irishsoul

irishsoul wrote:
In North Florida we seem to be the recycling area for all types of birds depending on the time of year.

We have turned our yard into a Bird, Bee, Butterfly & Squirrel Sanctuary. All of our plants seem to attract them. Even the neighbors come over to watch. We live in a subdivision, but it is all the way in the back, against the woods and next to a retention pond. It is very tranquil and the birds seem to want to stay.

During the summer we have about 15 Cardinals (the babies seemed to stay), Hummingbirds (they have flown south to Central America now), 2 couples of Mr & Mrs Blue Jay, Mr & Mrs Tit Mouse, Mr & Mrs Oriole, Families of Mocking Birds, Several different types of wrens (haven't been able to identify them all), Morning Doves (they are so funny to watch), Mr & Mrs Thrush, Owls, Herons, Golden Osprey (they love the squirrels & snakes, also we don't have a rodent problem because of them).

We mainly use Song Bird food which contains Seed, Fruit & Nut. They seem to like this the best. We also have squirrel feeders that contain corn & sunflower seeds that the Cardinals and Blue Jays love. We have the Bird Feeder under our open air canopy so the feed stays dry and our squirrel feeders (we have 10 squirrels, so we have 2 feeders) are on the fence next to the woods.

We had a Hummingbird feeder, but the hummingbirds snubbed their becks at it. We have so many plants that the Hummingbird loved, we didn't need the feeder. Their favorite plant is the Black & Blue Salvia, but they also love Porterweed Salvia, Bog Sage, Angelonia, Penta, Honeysuckle, Wisteria, Mexican Petunias, Ipomopsis, Balsaam, Mona Lavender and Night Blooming Jasmine.

For the fruit loving birds we planted 3 Loquat Trees. It flowers in the fall, and the fruit arrives in January. They love this little plum. It is kind of a sweet/sour taste. We like them too.

The Butterflys & Bees favorite flowers are: Butterfly Bush, Passion Flower, Milkweed, Rose of Sharons, Hybiscus, Plumbago, Garlic Plant, Bulbane & Crepe Myrtle.

I guess the best part is seeing all these wonderful birds and butterflys everyday and all we have to do is step outside or just sit in our livingroom .

Best wishes to everyone.