Birds in Winter

I was walking in the garden hoping/searching for inspiration for this article when I came upon a small crabapple alive with Cedar Waxwings.  I know their stay will be short, so I never postpone the opportunity to visit.  It’s such a pleasure to watch them flitting back and forth between the magnolias and crabapples for food and then up to the top of the columnar maples and the pine for sun.   Their arrival calls for a significant break.  Hunter and Sally came out of the office to see and—I might add– they were slow to return.

      When Bob Munger was selecting trees and shrubs for his ever increasing Boxerwood, if he had to choose between the plants that would come home and those that would have to wait at the nursery until he could legitimize their purchase, the ones that would help the birds would come first.  Year after year he brought home Hawthorns, dogwoods, hollies, crabapple, winterberry, pyracantha, service berries (Amelanchier), cedars, black gum (Nyssa sylvatica) choke cherry, barberry, cotoneaster, honeysuckle, and several viburnums to feed the birds as well as contribute beauty.

   He planted the kinds of trees attractive to birds for protection from wind and cold such as the thick, bushy evergreens.  There are also plenty that are “twiggy, thorny or in some other way more difficult for predators to climb. These provide a place to eat the food they picked-and-ran with as well as a place to bask when the winter sun is out.

   Vines like Virginia creeper attract bluebirds, robins, woodpeckers and various types of sparrows.

   The garden also has two ponds and two springs that help provide water until it gets too cold.  We help out when other things are frozen solid by heating a small birdbath up by Munger Lodge. Paying the couple of dollars increased electric bill certainly seems worth it. We get to sit inside and watch their winter water antics.  Lots of birds sharing little water makes for plenty of excitement.

 All these natural elements and the occasional feeder we use to lure them closer to our warm indoor views brings our current bird list to well over forty species.  It’s obvious the birds like Boxerwood.  We certainly enjoy the birds.

   By the way—the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ Mountain Area guide for the Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail has come out.  It is entitled Discover Our Wild Side and can be found at the Lexington Visitor’s Center.  Boxerwood is one of five locations listed for the Rockbridge River and Ridge Loop.  The guide is thorough, informative, and just plain impressive.

   If you enjoy birding in the winter months, feel free to give us a call.  We’d be happy to have you see the garden and her birds in winter.