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Sat, Jul 12, 14 at 9:15
| Every year the Goldfinch pull off all of the petals of my Indian Summer flowers to get to the seeds. This year I decided to put bird netting over the flowers to keep them away. It had worked so far this summer until this morning I went out to check my flowers and saw a Goldfinch hung up in the netting. I thought he was dead. I put on gloves to get him out and he started moving. Then I carefully cut the netting around him and put him on the ground to cut all the netting out that he was tangled up in. He must have known I was trying to help him because he lay perfectly still for 2-3 minutes, as I cut the netting from his feet and neck and the rest of his body. I was trying to cut the last bit of netting from his feet, and he flew away. So that was a good ending to what could have been bad-- an injured or dead bird. I learned my lesson-- I will never use bird netting again. And I probably will not plant Indian Summer annuals again. I planted tall Heliopsis also in the yard and the birds so far are not interested. Goldfinch are my favorite birds, and I have a Goldfinch feeder and hoped that would also help keep them away from the flowers. Betty |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Betty we have a lot of finches, both gold and otherwise, using our fountain and birdbaths. I plant Agastache in the area, to feed them the seeds. We enjoy watching them cling to the seed heads as the head and bird sway as they pull out the seeds. Al |
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| Thanks Al, I will try that next year as I too love to watch the Goldfinch--but not on my Indian Summer. |
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| Betty, good for you for working so hard to free the captive bird. I won't use that netting for the same reason. It can ensnare birds, chipmunks, squirrels, toads, and even snakes. I sure do agree with Al about Agastache! I call that plant my "beesicle" but it is very much a finchsicle, too. |
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| Hi, I took Al's suggestion and bought a Hyssop plant at the nursery today. It is huge and in full bloom. I planted it in a flowerbed with a birdbath and just saw a Goldfinch in the birdbath and hopefully he will discover the Hyssop soon. Thanks Al for the suggestion. Betty |
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| Yes, I cut a 6 foot black snake out of netting several years back...I'm not sure he appreciated it...but we did it together. |
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