Keep critters in mind when decorating yard for holidays
NEW MARKET, Va. -- When decorating the yard for the holidays this year, don't forget about your extended family -- the wildlife sheltering in shrubs and greenery.
There are many wildlife-edible options if you stick to biodegradable materials like soft string or thread. Curious critters become too easily entangled in plastic, monofilament or other artificial wrappings.
One couple living on a Pennsylvania farm is known to buy stale Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in commercial quantities for feeding foraging flocks of wild turkeys and whitetail deer. The wandering wildlife disappears back into the countryside once things start greening up again in the spring.
If you've got less exotic beasts in mind, here are some options, even if the boundaries of your property extend only as far as the apartment balcony:
• String garlands heavy with berries or pack pinecones with high calorie, high-energy peanut butter that's been rolled in seed or dried fruit. Hang them from tree limbs, trellises, window and door frames much as you would traditional holiday ornaments.
• String popcorn, apple slices, raisins, currants and dried cherries into colorful wreaths.
• Create balls or blocks from an inexpesive paste of lard or peanut butter that has been enriched with pumpkin and sunflower seeds, cracked corn and millet.
• Use toothpicks to pierce raisins, dried cranberries, currents or fruit slices then stick them into whole apples. After the birds finish eating the garnish, they'll start on the apples.
• Tailor the bird buffet to your area. Woodpeckers, for example, love suet, nuts and peanuts. Attract nuthatches, chickadees and titmice with black oil sunflower seeds. Finches and buntings favor small seeds like nyjer (thistle) and millet. Cardinals and jays are partial to safflower seeds, peanuts and large open feeders.
• Don't forget those backyard acrobats, the squirrels. They love ear corn, shelled corn and whatever birdfeed they can filch -- and provide plenty of entertainment while getting it.