LOVED this video, heart warming, informative and inspirational, thank you! Can't wait for the rock garden creation videos - please go into details so we can take action/copy :-)
Great to hear the both of you for a change :) It's been a great journey to get to this point, You've taught me plenty along the way and I love to see what's next. Groetjes uit Nederland!
We put up owl boxes a few years ago in a tree and it seems that we finally have an eastern screech owl taking up residence! So exciting. We have a rain chain too, and found that an open chain link is so much easier to keep clear of leaves and other debris than the (admittedly very cute) cup-shape styles. It can really stop the flow and cause lots of heavy chunks of ice in winter. Great idea to keep the bottom glass off the lights, even just from a maintenance POV.
Now that is truly exciting about the screech owl. Noted on the rain chain. Where these chains are, there aren't any deciduous trees, so hopefully we won't get much if any debris, but it's a good point for others to consider.
@@Bamboo4U2 You can add mosquito bit pellets if you're concerned about that. Although, larger wildlife is also a concern. We have coyotes where I live, so water and any type of food is a huge no-no for us.
@Ni-dk7ni I agree they're generally harmless. But they're also wild and it's good sense to keep a distance from them - not only for your own safety, but for theirs.
Great to keep the lights off - street lights, security lights, fairy lights - have them on when you need then shut them off. I'm glad you went for rain chains. They are lovely. Be a bit careful that the splash from the chain affecting the wood pillar. --- Mosquitoes are quite happy in moving and bubbling water - it's a myth that they don't breed in moving water. --- One thing that should be standard for new build, developments and renovation, is to have bird bricks - so that you can build nests into your home while you build or renovate. You can get "swift bricks" - cheap, easy and a no brainer. Swifts and swallows often nest under old style eaves but as these are ripped out there is nowhere for them to nest. Adding back swift bricks can help this problem. Swifts are endangered in the UK and swift bricks should be obligatory in new builds. Bee bricks are also a good idea to add in while building or redeveloping a house.
I love your attitude about bugs and little animals. We are the intruders of their habitat so we need to coexist with creatures. I learned it a hard way when we moved to a country side from a city... After watching your video about a house mouse eating your house plant, I suddenly felt light and relaxed. We just have to learn to coexist.
Great Video! The hole in the bee house with grass sticking out is made by a grass-carrying wasp (Isodontia sp.) and the others with leaves are leaf-cutter bee nests (Megachile sp.). Sandy flat areas for bee nests in the rock gaden are a wonderful idea. If you don't alkreadym know him, get in touch with Dr. Brian Danforth's lab in the Entomology Deept. at Cornell for all the info you could ever want! He wrote the book on Solitary Bees!
We have a bat box that we'd like to put on the barn. They want to be really, really high up, so this house isn't too tall for them. But we find that our bats like to sleep under the shagbark hickory bark too!
It's amazing to see and learn to cohabit the wild animals and insect and to provide them a place to be safe is beautiful and amazing.. learning that how much is destroy the habitat all over the world .. co leaving the organism around you is amazing to learn thank you ❤❤❤
I love this!!! Nesting bird parents carry away their babies poop to guard against predators. They don’t want predators to see the poop. Hummingbirds don’t do that.
Very cool approach to nature and wildlife. As always, very thoughtful decisions in attracting birds/insects, yet using smart preventative measures against damage and invasions inside the home. I love the birdhouse in the gable. The idea of removing the bottom of a porch light, to give an escape for moths and other insects, is something most would never think of. The wildlife on your property are very lucky to have such good stewards.
People really need to try to get over their squeamishness and do everything they can to live with their fellow earth travelers. It will make life more interesting. Do everything you canto make habitats. No bugs = no humans.
I have tons of wasp. They never bother me. Also I find that driftwood in the landscape is a good habitat for carpenter bees. I live near coast of Texas, so I get the driftwood from local areas.
Just a comment on yellow jacket wasps. They Will attack you if you get too close to their nest site. They are aggressive, especially, it seems, in late summer/fall. These are the types that nest in the ground or cavities, etc. I garden a lot and can tell you from personal experience that you only have to approach the hole they are living in to get stung. I was attacked at about 8 ft from their nest, just walking by. Be careful with those types, they are difficult neighbors
I can count on one hand how many times I've been stung and EVERY SINGLE time it was by a hornet (yellow jacket) (once on my shoulder blade, while driving!). They're nasty. They might seem curious but that would be a mistake.
wasps are fine and don't disturb humans unless they are right in the way or you tread on them. They only nest on one site for one year, so if you can leave the wasps be, if they are out of the way, it best. Just fence off or put up a string to mark the spot if anyone might forget. There is no reason to kill the wasps.
@@FireflyOnTheMoon yeah, no reason to kill them unless their nest is around an electrical outlet on my living room balcony. Get outta here. My home, not theirs.
i've had birds build nests in the siding and on ac units. every morning sooooo much noise. i love birds but when they are inside the wood like that the noise can be a lot.
How neat would it be to build a little structure painted in the same color as the cabin dedicated only to insects? You could make a little roof, and dedicate different sides of the structure for different wildlife. it would all blend in to the landscape while also matching the color and structure of what’s already there.
Hi Summer and Saunder. Lovely video❤ i was wondering if you could do a quick video on birdhouse care. Do you just leave them or clean them? How high should they be? I have potential to add some to the property. I had a bird nest at my front door and she had 5 babies this year. They would come back to my deck all summer. It was wonderful. I would like to add more birdhouse to the property. I never considered which way they face. Also what kind of paint or does it matter. Anyways just a idea. Thanks for the information 😍
Great episode idea. This somewhat humorous video will help answer some of the questions you had above: ruclips.net/video/gM_KUFXQTJo/видео.htmlsi=xfiw0PyJ3M6RIAaZ ... And if we paint the boxes, it's only on the outside. ... never on the inside of the box.
We live in Central NY and have a single story board and batten house. When we had it painted, we found birds had nested behind the shutters. The shutter had horizontal boards between the shutters and the house. The birds were using that to support nests. much like your trellises do. I told the painters we could not disturb nesting birds and they were happy to oblige. They came back after the birds had fledged and finished the job. It kind of fun to wait and see what will use your trellis.
One of my favorite ways to add habitat is window boxes that I keep annual plants in during the summer but the rest of the year I keep them empty and I get lots of robins and phoebes nesting in them. They’re really nice because you can open the blinds each morning and see their nest/eggs.
We definitely get some starlings in our boxes, but normally the hole has to be bigger for them. Haven't noticed a house sparroe in ours, but we don't have many here.
Turning off the lights - I think it’s a good idea. I noticed that I would see poop on the fuzzy mat I had placed on the deck outside the door. When I removed that mat, it stopped pooping by the door! I think what you say about the birds is important. I have my bird feeder/ house in a well protected area. A volunteer redbud grew just next to it. The birds just love it - they perch there and queue up to take turns at the feeder!
Love this video, everything is done so thoughtfully, it so beautiful, I learn so much from your videos. I lived in Big Bear, Ca. I had Carpenter ants chew through the walls in the bathroom, at first, when I had it checked by a professional, they thought it was Termites, only to discover it was Carpenter ants. Shortly thereafter the bathroom was remodeled, took out the old tub, installed a beautiful new shower stall, the carpenter ants had destroyed much of the wood!
Did you notice whether you had water damage initially? I ask because you specify that it was the bathroom, where moisture can happen. Generally they like moist environments and will move in where there is wet and/or rotting wood. From there they can do damage, but if it were dry to begin with, then typically you wouldn't find them moving in. At least that is my understanding.
@@FlockFingerLakes The wall they came through was an internal wall, but, it was behind the toilet, so you may be absolutely correct, maybe at one time there was moisture there. They treated the area by making small holes in the area and putting treatment in the wall. When my son-in-law took the tile and wall out of the shower everything was dry, but, it’s an old house and it is quite possible, at one time there was moisture there! Thank you good information. I live in Henderson Nevada now, next door to my daughter, it’s an age thing now🤣! I love seeing your property, it is a little slice of heaven! I love flowers and gardens, birds, and all manor of creatures, I have been lucky enough to have had beautiful yards and flowers in years past, I’m hoping I can find some beautiful flowers that survive the desert heat. I have a beautiful Fuchsia thriving on my patio right now! Thank you for your response.
Carpenter ants can do significant damage to a house. If anyone watching this video has carpenter ants, it should not be ignored. The longer you wait the more it will cost to fix the house. We leave dead standing trees on our property for the woodpeckers. The carpenter ants find them and they are a favorite source of food for Pileated woodpeckers. We also see Northern flickers and Downy woodpeckers on the trees. But I don't want ants in my house.
My understanding is that they like to move in when there is wet and/or decaying wood. So if something wasn't moisture-sealed, for instance, on the house, then they like to move in and can do some damage from there. But if the house is well maintained and there is no water damage, you rarely if ever would find a carpenter ant. But yes, if you see carpenter ants, it should be dealt with, because from what I understand, it's a tell tale sign that you're having some sort of water damage happening in or around your house. And gosh damn, if a pileated woodpecker does find them, say hello to a big rectangular cut out of your house! ha!
We live in a log house and at times during mating season, the flickers will drum on our house. Luckily, the pileated woodpeckers haven't done that. Yes, the pileated woodpeckers really make the wood chips fly when they peck on a tree looking for bugs. We've had them nest in a dead tree. Fun to watch the babies stick their heads out looking and calling for food. Both parents feed the babies, fun to watch. The flickers and pileated also eat our apples, which we are happy to share. The deer and elk love apples, too, so we don't get too many. My husband put up a mason bee house and they are fantastic pollinators in early spring. We love all our wildlife! @@FlockFingerLakes
Speaking of native birds, where I live we have a huge problem with the invasive English House Sparrow. They take all the best nesting sites away from the native birds, and bully them and eat all the food. Nobody wants to do anything about this problem because they are cute, but it is very serious, at least where i live. I bought my house 3 years ago, and I haven't seen one robin or cardinal. Just invasive sparrows. Not exaggerating .
I have huge paper wasp nests near my door every year and they never bother me, because they just get use to my presence.
Same 😊
An actual living house! How cool is that!!!❤😊
LOVED this video, heart warming, informative and inspirational, thank you! Can't wait for the rock garden creation videos - please go into details so we can take action/copy :-)
Great to hear the both of you for a change :) It's been a great journey to get to this point, You've taught me plenty along the way and I love to see what's next. Groetjes uit Nederland!
We put up owl boxes a few years ago in a tree and it seems that we finally have an eastern screech owl taking up residence! So exciting.
We have a rain chain too, and found that an open chain link is so much easier to keep clear of leaves and other debris than the (admittedly very cute) cup-shape styles. It can really stop the flow and cause lots of heavy chunks of ice in winter.
Great idea to keep the bottom glass off the lights, even just from a maintenance POV.
Now that is truly exciting about the screech owl. Noted on the rain chain. Where these chains are, there aren't any deciduous trees, so hopefully we won't get much if any debris, but it's a good point for others to consider.
Like the bird bath on the septic lid. 👍
Me too. Now I know what to do with my septic lid.
I'm still skeptical about leaving standing water.
@@Bamboo4U2 You can add mosquito bit pellets if you're concerned about that. Although, larger wildlife is also a concern. We have coyotes where I live, so water and any type of food is a huge no-no for us.
you can try mosquito bits / dunks. Safe for birds, animals and other insects (that aren't flies)
@Ni-dk7ni I agree they're generally harmless. But they're also wild and it's good sense to keep a distance from them - not only for your own safety, but for theirs.
I coexisted with those ground wasps among my cherry tomatoes all summer. Wouldn't trust my kids around them though.
Hahah, yeah we had them last year in the ground, and I just put some bright pink flags around them so no one would step on their hole.
Great to keep the lights off - street lights, security lights, fairy lights - have them on when you need then shut them off. I'm glad you went for rain chains. They are lovely. Be a bit careful that the splash from the chain affecting the wood pillar. --- Mosquitoes are quite happy in moving and bubbling water - it's a myth that they don't breed in moving water. --- One thing that should be standard for new build, developments and renovation, is to have bird bricks - so that you can build nests into your home while you build or renovate. You can get "swift bricks" - cheap, easy and a no brainer. Swifts and swallows often nest under old style eaves but as these are ripped out there is nowhere for them to nest. Adding back swift bricks can help this problem. Swifts are endangered in the UK and swift bricks should be obligatory in new builds. Bee bricks are also a good idea to add in while building or redeveloping a house.
i have never seen mosquito laying egg in moving water , you seen them and confirm the species ?
I love your attitude about bugs and little animals. We are the intruders of their habitat so we need to coexist with creatures. I learned it a hard way when we moved to a country side from a city... After watching your video about a house mouse eating your house plant, I suddenly felt light and relaxed. We just have to learn to coexist.
Great Video! The hole in the bee house with grass sticking out is made by a grass-carrying wasp (Isodontia sp.) and the others with leaves are leaf-cutter bee nests (Megachile sp.). Sandy flat areas for bee nests in the rock gaden are a wonderful idea. If you don't alkreadym know him, get in touch with Dr. Brian Danforth's lab in the Entomology Deept. at Cornell for all the info you could ever want! He wrote the book on Solitary Bees!
It's nice that there are happy accidents alongside the (very well), planned stuff. A Bat Box perhaps? 🦇
We have a bat box that we'd like to put on the barn. They want to be really, really high up, so this house isn't too tall for them. But we find that our bats like to sleep under the shagbark hickory bark too!
It's amazing to see and learn to cohabit the wild animals and insect and to provide them a place to be safe is beautiful and amazing.. learning that how much is destroy the habitat all over the world .. co leaving the organism around you is amazing to learn thank you ❤❤❤
Wonderful intentional living!
Thank you ❤
Love this! Thank you. I’m still trying to convert my husband to this way of existence.
I love this!!! Nesting bird parents carry away their babies poop to guard against predators. They don’t want predators to see the poop. Hummingbirds don’t do that.
Wonderful ideas and suggestions on how to be more inclusive. I have incorporated many of your shared suggestions and concepts.
Very cool approach to nature and wildlife. As always, very thoughtful decisions in attracting birds/insects, yet using smart preventative measures against damage and invasions inside the home. I love the birdhouse in the gable. The idea of removing the bottom of a porch light, to give an escape for moths and other insects, is something most would never think of. The wildlife on your property are very lucky to have such good stewards.
People really need to try to get over their squeamishness and do everything they can to live with their fellow earth travelers. It will make life more interesting. Do everything you canto make habitats. No bugs = no humans.
I have tons of wasp. They never bother me. Also I find that driftwood in the landscape is a good habitat for carpenter bees. I live near coast of Texas, so I get the driftwood from local areas.
I allow mosquitoes to lay eggs in my buckets of rainwater, then I throw them out when there are plenty of larvae.
Mosquito dunks are a good solution too.
Just a comment on yellow jacket wasps. They Will attack you if you get too close to their nest site. They are aggressive, especially, it seems, in late summer/fall. These are the types that nest in the ground or cavities, etc. I garden a lot and can tell you from personal experience that you only have to approach the hole they are living in to get stung. I was attacked at about 8 ft from their nest, just walking by. Be careful with those types, they are difficult neighbors
I can count on one hand how many times I've been stung and EVERY SINGLE time it was by a hornet (yellow jacket) (once on my shoulder blade, while driving!).
They're nasty. They might seem curious but that would be a mistake.
wasps are fine and don't disturb humans unless they are right in the way or you tread on them. They only nest on one site for one year, so if you can leave the wasps be, if they are out of the way, it best. Just fence off or put up a string to mark the spot if anyone might forget. There is no reason to kill the wasps.
@@FireflyOnTheMoon yeah, no reason to kill them unless their nest is around an electrical outlet on my living room balcony. Get outta here. My home, not theirs.
if you make the bird bath deep enough , there mini solar pump that work during the day
i've had birds build nests in the siding and on ac units. every morning sooooo much noise. i love birds but when they are inside the wood like that the noise can be a lot.
How neat would it be to build a little structure painted in the same color as the cabin dedicated only to insects? You could make a little roof, and dedicate different sides of the structure for different wildlife. it would all blend in to the landscape while also matching the color and structure of what’s already there.
as Doug Tallamy would say, use yellow lights @6:15
Hi Summer and Saunder. Lovely video❤ i was wondering if you could do a quick video on birdhouse care. Do you just leave them or clean them? How high should they be? I have potential to add some to the property. I had a bird nest at my front door and she had 5 babies this year. They would come back to my deck all summer. It was wonderful. I would like to add more birdhouse to the property. I never considered which way they face. Also what kind of paint or does it matter. Anyways just a idea. Thanks for the information 😍
Great episode idea. This somewhat humorous video will help answer some of the questions you had above: ruclips.net/video/gM_KUFXQTJo/видео.htmlsi=xfiw0PyJ3M6RIAaZ ... And if we paint the boxes, it's only on the outside. ... never on the inside of the box.
👍🏼Trellis idea is awesome. Love the shelf for Phoebe to nest on. 😎
Love it!!!
We got a bat box to put on the south side of our house but we still need to get it installed 😅
Fantástico!!! Quiero ver esos videos !!!
We live in Central NY and have a single story board and batten house. When we had it painted, we found birds had nested behind the shutters. The shutter had horizontal boards between the shutters and the house. The birds were using that to support nests. much like your trellises do. I told the painters we could not disturb nesting birds and they were happy to oblige. They came back after the birds had fledged and finished the job. It kind of fun to wait and see what will use your trellis.
Good on you for letting them fledge. Always nice to see. I stopped trimming trees in spring because of the birds nesting in them.
One of my favorite ways to add habitat is window boxes that I keep annual plants in during the summer but the rest of the year I keep them empty and I get lots of robins and phoebes nesting in them. They’re really nice because you can open the blinds each morning and see their nest/eggs.
That's a really lovely idea. Thank you for sharing!
Where I live the bird house would be immediately occupied by non-native house sparrows
We definitely get some starlings in our boxes, but normally the hole has to be bigger for them. Haven't noticed a house sparroe in ours, but we don't have many here.
Turning off the lights - I think it’s a good idea. I noticed that I would see poop on the fuzzy mat I had placed on the deck outside the door. When I removed that mat, it stopped pooping by the door! I think what you say about the birds is important. I have my bird feeder/ house in a well protected area. A volunteer redbud grew just next to it. The birds just love it - they perch there and queue up to take turns at the feeder!
Love this video, everything is done so thoughtfully, it so beautiful, I learn so much from your videos. I lived in Big Bear, Ca. I had Carpenter ants chew through the walls in the bathroom,
at first, when I had it checked by a professional, they thought it was Termites, only to discover it was Carpenter ants. Shortly thereafter the bathroom was remodeled, took out the old tub, installed a beautiful new shower stall, the carpenter ants had destroyed much of the wood!
Did you notice whether you had water damage initially? I ask because you specify that it was the bathroom, where moisture can happen. Generally they like moist environments and will move in where there is wet and/or rotting wood. From there they can do damage, but if it were dry to begin with, then typically you wouldn't find them moving in. At least that is my understanding.
@@FlockFingerLakes The wall they came through was an internal wall, but, it was behind the toilet, so you may be absolutely correct, maybe at one time there was moisture there. They treated the area by making small holes in the area and putting treatment in the wall. When my son-in-law took the tile and wall out of the shower everything was dry, but, it’s an old house and it is quite possible, at one time there was moisture there! Thank you good information. I live in Henderson Nevada now, next door to my daughter, it’s an age thing now🤣!
I love seeing your property, it is a little slice of heaven! I love flowers and gardens, birds, and all manor of creatures, I have been lucky enough to have had beautiful yards and flowers in years past, I’m hoping I can find some beautiful flowers that survive the desert heat. I have a beautiful Fuchsia thriving on my patio right now! Thank you for your response.
So many great ideas! 🙂
Bat house 🦇
🐝🪲🐞🌿☘🍀🥰
Magical
Carpenter ants can do significant damage to a house. If anyone watching this video has carpenter ants, it should not be ignored. The longer you wait the more it will cost to fix the house. We leave dead standing trees on our property for the woodpeckers. The carpenter ants find them and they are a favorite source of food for Pileated woodpeckers. We also see Northern flickers and Downy woodpeckers on the trees. But I don't want ants in my house.
My understanding is that they like to move in when there is wet and/or decaying wood. So if something wasn't moisture-sealed, for instance, on the house, then they like to move in and can do some damage from there. But if the house is well maintained and there is no water damage, you rarely if ever would find a carpenter ant. But yes, if you see carpenter ants, it should be dealt with, because from what I understand, it's a tell tale sign that you're having some sort of water damage happening in or around your house. And gosh damn, if a pileated woodpecker does find them, say hello to a big rectangular cut out of your house! ha!
We live in a log house and at times during mating season, the flickers will drum on our house. Luckily, the pileated woodpeckers haven't done that. Yes, the pileated woodpeckers really make the wood chips fly when they peck on a tree looking for bugs. We've had them nest in a dead tree. Fun to watch the babies stick their heads out looking and calling for food. Both parents feed the babies, fun to watch. The flickers and pileated also eat our apples, which we are happy to share. The deer and elk love apples, too, so we don't get too many. My husband put up a mason bee house and they are fantastic pollinators in early spring. We love all our wildlife! @@FlockFingerLakes
Be careful with the caterpillars with hair.... the hairs can cause real damage to human eyes...
woolly bears not so much (but the ones with the longer hairs can be very, very irritating).
@@FlockFingerLakes vision loss have occurred from caterpillar hair 😢
Speaking of native birds, where I live we have a huge problem with the invasive English House Sparrow. They take all the best nesting sites away from the native birds, and bully them and eat all the food. Nobody wants to do anything about this problem because they are cute, but it is very serious, at least where i live.
I bought my house 3 years ago, and I haven't seen one robin or cardinal. Just invasive sparrows. Not exaggerating .