A frequent visitor to my suet and sunflower filled feeders. It's the smallest woodpecker in North America. Look for them climbing up and down tree trunks, hanging from flower stalks and clutching on suet feeders.
and, the Eastern Gray Squirrel!
It's a too frequent visitor to my backyard winter feeders. It's quite an acrobat and will go to great lengths to get to the food. Its acrobatic antics are often entertaining, but, they do gobble up seed quickly, hoarding it in caches all over the garden for scarce times.
I feed the birds all winter, even though my garden has native trees, shrubs and perennials that provide seeds, berries, nuts and are host plants for insects (many birds primary food), because some winters are rough and the extra seed and suet/fat can help the little birds. But, really, it's about me, I love watching all the visitors (well most) and sometimes, the only color in my other wise brown garden are the birds!
Keep gardening for wildlife and have fun watching the critters in your garden.
xoxogail
Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.
