Make your garden a haven for backyard birds

Create a bird-friendly habitat in your yard with food, water, and shelter.

You can do more to welcome birds to your garden than hanging up a feeder and calling it a day. If you want to turn your backyard into a bird sanctuary, you can also plant native plants that provide food and shelter. Installing these additions to your backyard can help restore wild bird populations and provide a resting place for fall migrants. Some natural ways to meet wild birds’ needs for food, water, shelter and nesting areas include.

Providing food

Most backyard bird species fall into the category of eating seeds, nuts, berries, nectar eater, insect eater and omnivorous. Ideally, each food category should include a variety of food sources to support wild birds. Fill bird feeders, add native plants to your landscape, and let perennials plant seeds in your summer garden to provide a bountiful food source for hungry foragers.

The best option is to choose a mixture suitable for the wild birds in your area, such as sunflower seeds, millet, thistle, or hemp. Supplement your seeds with calorie-rich suet solid raw animal fat available at your local butcher.

Add native plants to your garden. Native trees, shrubs, perennials and grasses can be a real asset in supporting wild birds. Look for native species that produce fruits, nuts or seeds those birds like, such as California natives, Oregon grapes and black elderberries.

Incorporating native plants into your landscape will also welcome native insects and provide tasty food for insect-eating animals such as chickadees and other songbirds.

Send your plants to seed. Wait until summer perennials sow seeds in the garden in the fall. Bean flowers, sunflowers, thistles, zinnias and many ornamental grasses produce seeds that help support native birds.

Sunflower seeds are particularly rich in oil, which helps fuel birds on long-distance migrations. After your sunflower blooms, leave the seed heads on the stem and wait until the seeds are fully ripe.

Provided by water

Providing clean water for drinking and bathing is often the first thing that attracts birds to your garden. Many bird species prefer bathing in shallow water rather than deep water tanks. Find a bird bath that is only 2 to 3 inches deep, or add a flat rock in the center so your bird can easily
escape.

An outdoor fountain placed in a garden bed will attract more birds than one placed on a tiled patio. The surrounding foliage provides safety and a place for the birds to quickly hide from predators.

Even a simple stone basin filled with water can provide a much-needed drinking water spot for above-ground supplies. Keep water levels at peak levels, especially on hot days when birds need water most and water evaporates quickly.

Create space for shelter

Landscapes with large decks, exposed patios, and neatly manicured lawns can seem like a danger zone for shy birds like wrens, thrushes, and sooty sparrows. Providing cover in the form of tree canopies, branching shrubs such as hawthorn and quince, and hanging vines to cover walls can be essential in creating a shelter.

Consider creating a variety of hiding places in your garden for birds to find shelter. Create a large lawn by using mixed shrubs and perennials in the borders and planting small trees, such as apple or dogwood, in the lawn.

Leave the margins as is. Consider roughing up an area of your property a bit. If your backyard is deep, allow your blackberries to roam, giving birds a place to hide and feed under the bushes. If your property borders a natural river or surrounding countryside, keep the edges pristine for a bird- friendly habitat.

Inviting birds to the nest

Many wild bird species migrate to nesting boxes in your backyard. Although they do not build nests until the following spring, it is a good idea to place bird boxes during the fall and winter when birds are looking for places to breed.

Just like smart home buyers, birds are also picky about where they nest. If you are trying to attract a specific bird species, check with your local garden store for advice on nest box entrance size and height above the ground.

Provide nesting material. Leave fluffy seed heads on plants or place pieces of wool, thread or fabric to help birds find a soft nest.

Take it one step further

Join the Great Healthy Yard Project, sponsored by the RDKLandscaping, and pledge to keep your garden free of pesticides, herbicides and synthetic fertilizers that can have harmful effects on wild birds.