Birdfeeding
Feb. 20th, 2025 12:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithToday is partly sunny and cold. Last night it got down to 6°F with a windchill of -4.
I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of starlings, a flock of mourning doves, several sparrows, a tufted titmouse, and a downy woodpecker.
I put out water for the birds.
I saw a skunk along the south side of the house.
EDIT 2/20/25 -- We saw at least two skunks on the way home, fairly close together. I also saw other eyeshine and skittering so there may have been more. It's rare to see so many on the same day, and the temperature is in the 20sF outside, so I wondered if it might be mating season. I looked it up, and yes it is! :D Illinois skunks mate February-March.
Skunks are stinky, but generally phlegmatic creatures and very valuable in the ecosystem. As small omnivores, they love fruits and berries, so they will clean up fallen fruit in an orchard, as well as eating pest insects, mice, etc. If you want to engage their services but discourage them from hiding under your porch, you can provide a hibernaculum because they like to nest in dens but they often take over some other critter's abandoned burrow rather than digging their own. Just make sure it is sized for skunks. If you have an old cooler or small plastic doghouse, that's a good size that you could bury under a layer of topsoil and turf. Consider planting strawberries or raspberries around the opening. Skunks generally prefer to avoid humans, so if they have suitable food and shelter elsewhere, they are likely to go there instead of higher-traffic areas. If you want to provide water, it needs to be on the ground because they don't climb well. To keep them out of a garden, a low fence is sufficient, but stake the bottom securely or better yet bury part of it, because they can dig.
I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of starlings, a flock of mourning doves, several sparrows, a tufted titmouse, and a downy woodpecker.
I put out water for the birds.
I saw a skunk along the south side of the house.
EDIT 2/20/25 -- We saw at least two skunks on the way home, fairly close together. I also saw other eyeshine and skittering so there may have been more. It's rare to see so many on the same day, and the temperature is in the 20sF outside, so I wondered if it might be mating season. I looked it up, and yes it is! :D Illinois skunks mate February-March.
Skunks are stinky, but generally phlegmatic creatures and very valuable in the ecosystem. As small omnivores, they love fruits and berries, so they will clean up fallen fruit in an orchard, as well as eating pest insects, mice, etc. If you want to engage their services but discourage them from hiding under your porch, you can provide a hibernaculum because they like to nest in dens but they often take over some other critter's abandoned burrow rather than digging their own. Just make sure it is sized for skunks. If you have an old cooler or small plastic doghouse, that's a good size that you could bury under a layer of topsoil and turf. Consider planting strawberries or raspberries around the opening. Skunks generally prefer to avoid humans, so if they have suitable food and shelter elsewhere, they are likely to go there instead of higher-traffic areas. If you want to provide water, it needs to be on the ground because they don't climb well. To keep them out of a garden, a low fence is sufficient, but stake the bottom securely or better yet bury part of it, because they can dig.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-02-21 12:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-02-21 12:36 am (UTC)Yes ...
Date: 2025-02-21 02:13 am (UTC)