Birds may be finding ample food sources this winter

You may be seeing fewer birds at your feeder because of the mild winter so far. During mild winters like this one, it is not unusual for birds to go off looking for natural food, because the ground and natural seed sources are not covered by snow and ice.

Birds also require fewer resources when they are not stressed by more severe conditions.

The second reason birds may abandon feeders for short periods of time is that there may be a local Cooper's hawk or sharp-shinned hawk in the neighborhood. Birds will often abandon a feeding area for a time if a hawk has been nearby. If there is sufficient cover around, the birds may only be gone for a day or two, but if it is an open location, they may stay away longer.

In addition, check to make sure food in the feeder is good and not moldy or otherwise unpalatable.

 Winter is a good time to prune trees and shrubs. Heavy pruning of overgrown deciduous woody shrubs can be done this month and next month to rejuvenate them. Start by removing all dead wood and prune old canes off at ground level, leaving young canes. You may need to cut back the young growth if it is spindly.

If there are not any young canes present, cut the large canes back to 2 to 3 feet from the ground. This will be unsightly, but if the plants are healthy, extensive new growth should start from the old canes in spring and fill in the plant.

Shrubs such as lilacs that formed flower buds last summer will not bloom in spring when pruned aggressively in the previous winter.

Branches with interesting foliage as well as flowering branches can be forced. Prune those branches that are not essential to the plant's basic shape or save branches from your winter pruning. Branches should be at least 1 foot long, full of fat flower buds and cut on a day above freezing.

Cut the ends at an angle and put into water in a cool room out of direct sunlight. When the buds color up or the foliage begins to unfurl, arrange the branches in a vase and display them in a cool room out of direct sunlight.

Good choices for forcing this month include: serviceberry (Amelanchier), magnolia (Magnolia), flowering quince (Chaenomeles), forsythia (Forsythia), crabapple or apple (Malus), flowering pear (Pyrus), flowering cherry (Prunus), spring-flowering witch hazel (Hamamelis vernalis) and redbud (Cercis).

Tim Johnson is director of horticulture at Chicago Botanic Garden, chicagobotanic.org.