Debbie Ornquist
Creating a Bird Lover’s Garden
Birds are the flowers of the air. There’s no need to plant, fertilize, or harvest. Merely by attracting birds to your garden can you enjoy the color, sound and antics of an ever changing assortment.
Birds are primarily seed and insect eaters. Of course there are those that go for nectar, suet, and seasonal delicacies. Migration allows for those with special dietary needs to thrive.
To attract the flowers of the air, consider what your garden has to offer them. Think of your garden as the entire area over which you have control. Weeds, trees (deciduous and evergreen living and dead), shrubs, grasses, and fungi all have things to offer the birds. Bugs, insects, worms, and spiders are avian delectables.
Use an illustrated bird book to learn about specific birds and their preferred food sources. Backyard feeders are also good teachers. Offer sunflower seeds (black and regular), millet, thistle seed, suet, and sugar water (nectar) and get to know the guests who respond to your invitation.
Attracting northern birds with feeders and habitat Gold finches are easy to spot as the brilliant yellow autumn males alight on sturdy thistles to glean a meal of seeds. Their less auspicious female friends accompany them. Both males and female exhibit dull colors in the winter and are happy to frequent backyard feeders. The house and purple finches, though wearing different color palettes, will, too.
The brilliant crimson male cardinals and their green hued mates will come to your feeder if you have conifers in your garden. Pine, spruce and cedar trees offer dense cover for nesting. Once cardinal pairs have discovered their ideal nesting sites, they remain in the area yearround and appreciate the free meals of a feeder.
Pileated woodpeckers, like all woodpeckers, love the banquets provided by dead trees and the crawly insects that inhabit them. They also love snacks of suet. One raucous pair of pileateds couldn’t help but announce to the world when they found the ripe grapes in my garden arbor. It was worth sacrificing that crop to watch and listen to them each time they returned for a meal. You’d think they would have kept silent at their find but they were very loud about it.
Plants for an attractive bird garden It’s well known that robins returning to the north rely on the still-clinging mountain ash berries and flowering crab apples. But birds are blossom eaters, too.
Of course hummingbirds appreciate the hanging nectar feeders but they are also drawn to tubular flowers. Offer fuchsias in hanging baskets, hostas in borders, and columbines scattered in flower beds. A quick online search for “flowers that attract hummingbirds” will give you many more ideas.
The first step in designing a bird garden is to evaluate your yard from a bird’s perspective. Does it provide the basic necessities— food, water, shelter— that birds need to survive? If not, which are lacking? If there’s a shortage of food, you can hang up bird feeders, but also consider planting some fruit-bearing trees or shrubs. Plants that hold their fruits through the winter provide a vital food source for nonmigratory birds. Add variety to the kinds of food you offer, and you’ll attract a wider variety of bird species.
A good water source will draw birds like a magnet. Even just a common birdbath purchased at a garden supply shop will do. Some people hang a plastic bottle or jug of water with a hole in the bottom over their birdbath. The motion and sound of the dripping water is irresistible to many birds. Does your yard have an area of dense thickets that birds could use for nesting, secluded perching, or escape cover? If not, then plant some shrubs or make a hedge. Consider growing some vines up the side of your house or along your fence. Try to create lush, wild growth in a few places to simulate a natural environment. You might attract cavity-nesting birds by putting up a nest box.
For some delightful reading about bird lovers and their gardens and more ideas in attracting birds, find a copy of Amy Tan’s (yes, the author of The Joy Luck Club and The Bonesetter’s Daughter) The Backyard Bird Chronicles and Julia Zarankin’s Field Notes from an Unintentional Birder.
