Ask the Experts
How to keep plants happy in winter, tricky bird identification and more!
Q I watched a red-bellied woodpecker stick its tongue out over and over. What was it doing? Kimberly Miskiewicz RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
Kenn and Kimberly: Red-bellied woodpeckers use their incredibly long tongues to forage for insects. They stick their tongues into tree cavities and crevices to probe for insects and grubs. The end of their tongue is barbed to allow them to latch on to food. Sometimes they even use them to drink syrupy sugar water from hummingbird feeders. Considering all the places they use their amazing tongues for feeding, they can get messy in a hurry. The bird you watched, sticking its tongue out repeatedly, was probably just cleaning its tongue after foraging.
Q Where do the black swallowtail caterpillars on my dill plants spend their winter? Vicki Brown OMAHA, NEBRASKA
Kenn and Kimberly: We applaud you for sharing your dill with the caterpillars. It’s wonderful to watch the life cycle of butterflies—and host plants are a vital part of the process. It seems hard to believe that something so small and delicate could survive the winter, but the last generation of black swallowtails from late summer or fall will overwinter in the chrysalis stage, emerging as adults in spring. The chrysalis, looking a little like a rolled-up leaf, is usually attached to a vertical stem of a plant.
Q My Meyer lemon tree sprouted this odd fruit. How do I fix it? Dan Solomon CHICO, CALIFORNIA
Melinda: Follow the stem that produced the giant fruit down to the base of the plant. It is likely a sprout from the rootstock. Ornamental and edible trees are often grafted onto the roots of another plant for increased hardiness or disease resistance, or to control the plant’s size. Remove the sucker to direct all the plant’s energy to the Meyer lemon instead of this sprout, which could eventually overtake your desirable plant.
Q Why is my heirloom Christmas cactus putting out aerial roots? Sue Gronholz BEAVER DAM, WISCONSIN
Melinda: Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving cactuses are all true cactuses and are related to plants such as the prickly pear or saguaro. But unlike these relatives, the holiday cactuses are epiphytes, meaning they grow on the branches of trees in their native habitat in the mountains of Brazil. Aerial roots are normal, and help attach plants to tree branches.
Q Is dried cat food safe to feed birds? Sheila Payne LOUDON, TENNESSEE
Kenn and Kimberly: We don’t recommend feeding birds cat food. Dried pet food isn’t necessarily harmful for birds, but it can create problems that put birds at risk. If the birds begin to feed strictly on the cat food, they could suffer from some nutritional deficiencies. The more serious concern is that the cat food will attract what it’s intended for: cats. Roaming cats kill billions of birds each year. They’re nonnative predators and the impact they have on native songbirds is devastating. With so many safe, healthy and less expensive options for feeding birds, there’s really no reason to offer pet food.
Q What’s the best way to differentiate robin and downy woodpecker calls? Kayla Bezkorow BRANTFORD, ONTARIO
Kenn and Kimberly: The sharp alarm note of an American robin does sound similar to the single peep of a downy woodpecker. To our ears, the robin’s note is much sharper and ends with a piercing eenk; while the downy is a somewhat less emphatic peep. Identifying birds by their voices is a wonderful skill, but can be tricky. It requires a good deal of time and patience. The good news is that the best way to study birdsong is to spend more time outside with the birds. Not a bad homework assignment!
Q Should I remove the snow from drooping evergreen branches? Juli Seyfried CINCINNATI, OHIO
Melinda: You can gently brush snow off branches after each snowfall, just avoid shaking snow off the branches. This can do more damage than the wet, heavy snow. Leave the snow in place if it’s frozen to the branches. Next year, do a bit of prevention to minimize weather damage to your evergreens. Wrap multistemmed arborvitaes and junipers with bird netting or strips of cotton cloth. These hold the stems together so snow rolls off the plant instead of bending the stems.
Q What’s this yellow bird that visits my feeder? Christine Ramey SPRINGFIELD, GEORGIA
Kenn and Kimberly: That’s a special visitor because it’s a member of the warbler family. And since warblers are insect eaters, most aren’t attracted to feeders. The main exception is the pine warbler, which is the bird in your photo. They regularly visit suet feeders, especially in the southern states during winter. This particular warbler is male. Key field marks include the bright yellow underparts with streaks at the sides of the chest, and the detailed pattern around and below the eyes.
Q Every week or so, this plant produces blooms that only last a day. Is it an iris? Elizabeth Mingus LEBANON, PENNSYLVANIA
Melinda: A close look at the flowers reveals your plant as a member of the iris family, more specifically Neomarica gracilis. It’s most often known as the apostle or walking iris. Hardy in Zone 10, it grows as a houseplant in cooler climates. Place it outside in summer for extra light. When indoors, situate it by an east- or west-facing window. For best results, plant in a clay pot and allow the soil to dry before watering thoroughly. Keep this iris away from artificial light after sundown to encourage more blooming. Each flower lasts only one day, but the plant continues to bloom from the same flower spike for a couple of weeks.
Q This hawk showed up in my yard. What is it? Chris Zimmerer LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
Kenn and Kimberly: The lengthy tail, blue-gray back and reddish chest identify this as either an adult Cooper’s hawk or sharp-shinned hawk, but telling those two apart is a big challenge. Tail shape, often quoted as a field mark, is hard to see when the bird is perched. This hawk is a Cooper’s because of the contrast between the black cap and paler gray neck; a sharp-shinned hawk would be more uniformly gray on the top and back of the head. Sharp-shinned hawks also have smaller heads so their eyes look relatively larger, giving the bird a more bug-eyed expression.