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With a little imagination and very little effort, you can
transform your backyard into a natural habitat for birds.
Whether you’re an avid birdwatcher, or simply want to invite
nature a little closer to your home, birdfeeders put down the
welcome mat for our avian friends.
According to the Audubon Society (www.audubon.org), a bird
feeder comes in one of four basic designs. Ground feeders are
flat and open, have a screened bottom, and rest off the ground
and should be situated ten feet from nearby trees or bushes so
that birds can fly away from any predators. Ground feeders can
be made squirrel proof by utilizing wire mesh over the bird
feeder.
Tube birdfeeders are cylindrical in shape and typically have
openings that allow birds to access the seeds. They should be
hung off the ground and, for maximum enjoyment, near a window so
that family members can witness the wild birds that come to
visit.
Suet and hopper bird feeders are typically shaped like houses. A
suet bird feeder, made for wild birds that peck at the seed
mixed into the suet, is usually hung, while a hopper bird feeder
can either be hung or placed on a post for easy access by wild
birds. A hopper bird feeder contains a large quantity of seed,
which is released when the wild bird steps on the feeder
trigger. Hopper birdfeeders attract both small and large birds,
including the cardinal.
Unlike the tube and hopper birdfeeders, the thistle bird feeder
is designed with very small holes, allowing only small-beaked
finches to access the food. Thistle birdfeeders should be hung,
and can be made squirrel proof.
The Audubon Society also provides helpful tips on making your
backyard friendly to hummingbirds by populating it with humming
bird feeders. They suggest that you use several humming bird
feeders and fill each with sugar water, being careful to avoid
using red food coloring and honey. In addition, you should
change the solution in the humming bird feeder weekly, or more
often in hot weather.
It is certainly possible to make your own bird feeders, but
there are several great birdfeeders available on the market,
including those made by Droll Yankee, Opus, Woodllink, and
Duncraft.
To get the most out of your bird watching experience, the
Audubon Society suggests that you utilize several different
types of bird feeders and that you place them at various heights
and locations. In this way, you will attract a wide variety of
wild birds. In addition, be sure that your efforts to create a
backyard habitat don’t harm the birds you are trying to attract.
Keep birdfeeders three feet away from windows to avoid
collisions, and make sure to keep your cat indoors.
Deciding to add a Pit Bull terrier to the family is a big step.
You should have already done research on the breed to learn the
characteristics that Pits possess, and you should have also
decided on a male of female. Once you’ve tackled those hurdles,
it is time for the next step… finding the perfect puppy for
your family.
The best way that I would suggest for finding great puppies is
to check with your local American Pit Bull Terrier club. Get in
touch with the club’s president and find out when the club
meets. Attend a meeting, get to know some of the members, and
begin asking around for breeder recommendations.
Alternatively, you can buy dog magazines and go through the
breeder listings contained in the resources section. Take some
time to call the breeders who you are interested in possibly
working with, and spend a brief while on the telephone with
them. Ask them questions such as:
- How long have you been actively breeding Pit Bulls? - How long
have you been involved with the breed? - How many litters per
year do you have? - Where are your puppies kept? - Are your
puppies socialized? - Etc.
You can also contact your veterinarian and ask them for a
referral. A vet will typically know the health of a breeder’s
lines, so they can be a great source of inside info.
You most certainly want to stay away from pet shops and puppy
mills. In most cases, these sources obtain their puppies from a
variety of places and it is nearly impossible to know if they
come from healthy bloodlines or not. Also, these shops often
charge large amounts of money for their dogs and prey on the
uneducated, spur-of-the-moment dog buyer..
Lastly, be sure not to buy a puppy from the first breeder you
meet and don’t buy the first puppy that you see. All puppies are
cute. Spend time with many puppies so you can see the
differences in their personalities and you’ll make a more
educated choice I assure you.
Big time symphonists turn their attention to the sounds of thunder, but a lyrical composer listens to bird sounds like that of canaries. I have a flutist friend who keeps canaries in a spare room in his home.
His canaries are called border canaries, the singing kind, all yellow in color. It is only the males that sing with songs as memorable as stashed-away kisses. Not only that, my friend plays his music with his canaries, for they listen and imitate him and sometimes perch on his flute.
Canaries live about ten to fourteen years and can reproduce twice a year. My flutist friend’s canaries, now about twenty in number, descended from two canaries, since just a few years back.
He says their daily upkeep doesn’t cost much and they are clean birds. Still, the most important thing a bird lover can do is to keep his canary cages or the room used as aviary sparkling clean. Canaries, as all birds, are more susceptible to diseases in a dirty environment.
Direct exposure to sun, too much outside noise, polluted air, sudden temperature changes, bad diet, lack of exercise can make canaries seriously ill. Canaries should never be exposed to damp and drafty conditions since they can develop asthma and rheumatism. Should a canary become ill, the best bet is to consult a veterinarian.
These birds are accident prone, also. Bookshelves, wastebaskets, couches and big upholstered armchairs can serve as death-traps. Canaries are known to fly into mirrors and windows and sustain concussions and broken limbs, too. If a spare room is to be made into an aviary, the furniture should consist of simple tables without drawers and wooden chairs.
Canaries have a light skeleton as they can fly and dart across a room, and they need large cages and space to fly. As most birds, they have a very high rate of metabolism that burns up energy during flight.
What a canary eats is important for its health. The seeds have to be fresh and drinking water clean. Canaries drink the water they bathe in. So, the saucers they bathe in should contain the same quality of water in their water bottles. Non-carbonated mineral water is best. Tap water, if chlorinated, is not good for any bird.
A proper diet for a canary consists of birdseed mixture, organic fruits and vegetable greens, spray millet, cuttlebone or mineral stone, and once in a while, sprouts, fresh twigs, and hard-boiled egg yolk with low-fat cottage cheese. Pesticide sprayed greens, fruit pits, and the skin of an avocado act like poisons for a canary.
The eyes of a canary work independently of each other, and through the use of its eyes, a canary orients itself to its environs. The vision of a canary draws almost a full circle of 320 degrees.
Canaries also possess an acute hearing. The structure of a canary’s ear is akin to that of mammal, but without a flap. Otherwise, how else would the bird imitate a flute?
It is fun to watch canaries in their daily life. They preen themselves, and out of friendship, each other. In addition, the courting birds dance and feed each other. When the birds are relaxed and happy, they sit on one leg and may puff their plumage.
When a canary sleeps, it partially buries its head in its back and fluffs up its feathers. Canaries sleep through the night and are awake at daytime, but a relaxed and non-threatened bird may take short naps during daytime.
Male canaries may sing as they fly over what they consider to be their territory. They also sing while attracting the female. The female may sing too; although the female bird has the necessary organs for singing, its voice is so soft that it is not heard.
When two canaries threaten each other, they raise their beaks and flap their wings. In general, however, canaries in a colony live peacefully together.
All birds hate to be seized, especially because human fingers hurt their feathers. If a canary escapes from its cage, it is better to cajole it back rather than to try grasping it.
Keeping a single male canary alone in a cage is not fair to the bird, no matter how good a care its owner might give him. A pair of canaries and a very large cage is the least you can do, if you want canaries in your life.
This article has been submitted by Joy Cagil in affiliation with http://www.PetLovers.Com/ which is a site for Pet Forums. Joy Cagil’s education is in linguistics and foreign languages. She is an animal lover.
There are many different dog training techniques that are out there today. Many people often don’t realize that dog training courses often utilize different dog training techniques.
Some of these dog training techniques work better than others.
Whether you are going to a dog training course or if you are doing the dog training yourself… wouldn’t you rather know which dog training technique is the best?
If you answered yes to that question then you should know that positive dog training is the best technique to use.
Positive dog training is quickly becoming the preferred method of dog training. If you would like to learn more about positive dog training techniques, please read on.
Positive dog training techniques involve using only praise and positive reinforcement.
This means, positive dog training rewards your dog for good behavior or when it performs a command correctly.
The rewards used in this type of dog training can be treats, kind words, a pat on the head, etc. It has been found that dogs respond much better to positive dog training.
Positive dog training techniques never involve hitting, spanking, scolding, or punishing your dog in any manner. Dogs do not do well with any form of negative dog training.
Now we will go over some examples of positive dog training techniques. Let us say that you are beginning your dog training by teaching your dog to sit. When your dog sits, reward it with a treat and tell it what a good dog it is.
Another example of positive dog training is to use praise and treats when your dog goes to the bathroom when and where it is supposed to. Dogs will soon learn to relate to doing this when and where it should because it gets rewarded for it.
Thus your dog will be potty trained much faster. When using positive dog training, your voice should always be happy and pleasant. Dogs will want to do as you ask when they get rewarded by any positive means.
This is why positive dog training works much better than any other type of dog training.
Now that you understand what positive dog training is, you may wish to start some of these techniques yourself. You can find dog training courses that use positive techniques and you can also utilize these techniques on your own.
With positive reinforcement, praise, and rewards, your dog is sure to learn much faster and be happier doing so. You will then be happier as well and you will also find that the dog training will go much easier.
With that in mind, you can truly see how positive dog training techniques will give you positive results!
About the Author: Amy Howells is an expert dog trainer who runs a website dedicated to teaching people how to train their dog or puppy in just 21 days. Visit http://www.dog-owner.net/training.htm for more info.
Source: www.isnare.com
Freshwater sharks can give your aquarium a bit of interest as these unusual looking fish normally create a lot of motion by gliding back and forth in colorful schools. Prior to introducing any fish into the aquarium, it is smart to do a little research to make sure that your environment is ideal for the fish and to be sure your new fish is compatible with the old.
Below is some advice on freshwater aquarium sharks you might consider for your aquarium.
White Tip Shark Catfish
These fresh water aquarium sharks are sleek in body with a head like a catfish - kind of ugly if you ask me! The white tip shark catfish is a very mellow fish that consistently vacuum the bottom of the tank for food. White tip shark catfish can dwell in brackish, salt or fresh water. These sharks are best in groups and grow big so they should be kept in large sized tanks. The best climate for the white tip shark is between 78 and 82 degrees.
Rainbow Shark
If you want to keep these sharks you ought to settle for only 1 fish per aquarium, or put in more than 6 as they can get a bit cranky with each other in small numbers. Rainbow sharks need to have tubes to move in and out of. These light colored freshwater aquarium sharks have a raspberry - orange color on the fins and tail. Rainbow sharks are sturdy but rather aggressive to other sharks but will do well with other fish. These sharks can develop to 9″ and need to be housed in larger aquarium tanks with a water temp between 76 and 80.
Red Tail Shark
These sharks must have a pipe, tube or cave to be their happiest and can get as big as 5″. Like the rainbow shark, red tails should be kept alone or in schools of more than 6. The red tail shark has a gray body with a red tail and does not get along with sharks. The best water temp for the red tail shark is between 76 and 80 degrees.
Bala Shark
Bala sharks are even tempered and hyper. Balas require a water temperature between 78 and 82 degrees. These sharks will do best in a sizeable fish tank with an external power filter. These sharks are silver in color with black tipped fins and tail. Including numerous Bala sharks to your tank will give you a vivid group of fish gracefully swimming in your tank.
Lee Dobbins writes for Topic Genie where you can learn more about your favorite topics.
It’s been weeks since you went riding. Now you have time to ride this afternoon and there ain’t no one gonna stop you. Excited, you saddle up your horse and get on him. You get about 50 feet from the barn and your horse turns around and goes back - and you can’t stop him. Why? You have a barn spoiled horse. This is a common scenario for novice horse owners.
Here are the top three tricks to solve the barn sour problem.
Teach your horse that you have control over him. Once your horse gets it in his mind that you can make him do what you want him to do, you have control over him and can thus make him leave the barn. One way to get control over him is to use a training technique called doubling. When you double your horse you teach him you can control him.
It doesn’t take long before your horse will know you can control him. Be careful when doubling though. If you do it too much at a time you can over do it. Your horse could get so sensitive to you doing it that he may try to anticipate it. If he sees your hands making the slightest movement that looks like you’re about to double him, he may double himself. Thus, just double him four to six times a day on both sides. He’ll quickly learn you have control.
The next thing you can try is this: Make it dang hard to do the wrong thing - and make it real easy to do the right thing. Here’s what I mean. A while back my horse didn’t want to leave her buddies or the barn. We’d get about 100 feet away and she’d turn around and bolt back. She’d stop in front of the barn expecting me to get off, remove the saddle and tack, and put her back into the corrals.
By my barn is two hay stacks. There is a space between them big enough to go through and do figure eights around the hay stacks. So every time she’d go back I would make her work, and work, and work at running figure eights around those hay stacks. Then I would test her to see if she had enough and would leave the area.
The first seven times she ran back. Each time we came back to the barn we’d run more laps around the hay stacks. I could tell she was getting tired. But the eighth time I walked her away from the hay stacks I noticed she went quite a ways before turning to go back.
When we went back again we ran more figure eights. Only this time I could tell we didn’t have to do too many. I walked her out and away from doing the figure eights and I suddenly had a horse who decided that it was sooo much nicer going for a walk away from the barn rather than doing a bunch of crummy ol’ figure eights. We had a nice ride that day and she was in no hurry to get home.
The last thing to do is this: Ride. Ride a lot. Don’t wait for weeks or months in between riding. Try to ride at least once per week for three or four hours. Preferably, try to ride at least twice a week for a few hours at a time. (Ideally, you should ride everyday. But that’s hard to do with today’s time constraints) Doing that your horse will get in his brain that you’re going to ride and he’s going to leave the barn and there will be no argument. In fact, if you want to have a great horse the biggest secret is this: Ride the heck out him!
So if your horse is barn spoiled you can try doubling him to show you are in control. The next thing you can try is making the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy. Make it dang hard for him to go the wrong thing and very pleasant to do the right thing. And lastly, ride your horse often. Two to three times a week if possible.
About the Author
Andy Curry is a nationally known horse trainer and author
of several best selling horse training and horse care books.
For information visit his website at www.horsetrainingandtips.com.
He is also the leading expert on Jesse Beery’s horse training
methods which can be seen at www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beerya.