Saturday Morning With Jack Tame

Mid-summer in your garden is an important time for your “locals”. Normally you won’t see many birds apart from the common blackbird and thrushes, sparrows and starlings, grey warblers, tui and bellbirds.    It’s just a matter of having the right areas to forage for these birds, and extra food is usually not drastically needed to keep everybody in good condition – food aplenty all over the place!    Just one useful tip for gardeners, though: Silvereyes act a little differently.  Over the years I have noticed that if you feed them sugar water in summer, they will certainly come back to your garden to lick up all the sweet liquids.    EVERY DAY!!  The reason that’s important?     They quickly learn where you live and where to get free food! They’ll remember that well into the wintertime when nice food is hard to get. The regular visits to your garden are a benefit due to the free pest control that these birds deliver: silvereyes love to pick up aphids, caterpill