Home : Gardening : Bird Watcher's Digest: Bird Garden Basics

The Four Basics

Food for the Birds

If you are a bird watcher, chances are you already know a great deal about bird feeding. Bird feeding is a great way to attract birds to your yard, but only certain species will eat the food offered at bird feeders. Many more species will eat the food that occurs naturally in a bird-friendly backyard habitat.

Natural Foods
Different birds eat different types of food, which can be either plant (seeds, berries, nectar, fruit, nuts, buds, etc.) or animal (worms, insects, larvae, eggs, mammals, fish, and even other birds). Plant parts are supplied in your yard by the flowering plants, grasses, shrubs, vines, and trees that are growing there. Animals, such as insects and reptiles, will be attracted to the plants in your yard, which will in turn attract birds.

Decide which bird species you want to attract and find out their food preferences. To attract more chickadees and titmice, for example, plant sunflowers to augment the sunflower seed at your feeders. if You want to encourage waxwings to visit, plant berry-producing trees such as eastern red cedar and wild cherry. Fruit trees are great bird attractants because their blossoms attract insects (which attract flycatching birds) and nectar (for hummingbirds, orioles, and tanagers). The fruit from fruit trees will be readily eaten by many birds and other wildlife (perhaps they will leave some for you). And there's always the chance of attracting less commonly seen birds to your plantings. Keep those binoculars handy!

Water: Drips, Mist, Sprays, or Pools

Although some birds do not drink water it is an essential that many birds require for both drinking and bathing. If your backyard does not currently offer a source of water, you're really missing the boat. Providing water in your backyard is not as complex as you might think.

Artificial Water Sources: Birdbaths
If your yard is like mine, you'll have to create an artificial source of water, such as a birdbath. Birdbaths do not have to be fancy. For a super-inexpensive bath, just bury and old metal trash-can lid at ground level to create a permanent water area. Put a layer of flat rocks on the bottom to give the birds better footing. To attract a greater variety of birds, add motion to your birdbath by letting your garden hose drip into the bath. To conserve water, do this over and area of your yard that needs a drink. Devices called misters and drippers are available commercially for the same purpose. Nothing catches a passing songbird's attention like moving water.

Cover: Give Them Shelter

Birds need cover in every season to protect them from weather extremes. Evergreens (which don't lose their leaves in winter), including hollies, firs, pines, and hemlock, provide excellent cover from the elements year-round. During a sunny summer afternoon, birds will gravitate to the shade provided by tall deciduous shade trees, such as tulip poplars, maples, oaks, aspens, cottonwoods, and sycamores.

Nesting Areas

From late winter through spring and summer, birds need a source for nesting material and a place to build a nest, lay eggs, and raise their young. Exact nesting requirements vary from species to species. For most of North America, the breeding season starts in late January, when great-horned and other owls lay eggs, and ends in August with the thistle-lined nest of the American goldfinch. If you live in the warmest portions of the continent, you may have birds nesting at all times of the year.

What is the best way to provide nesting habitat for backyard birds? The answer falls into two categories, much as bird feeding does: natural (that which naturally occurs in a good bird habitat) and artificial (or human supplied, such as nest boxes and nesting shelves). Let's tackle nest boxes first.

Nest Boxes for Birds
Cavity-nesting birds are the only species that will use a bird nest box (or birdhouse, if you prefer). A cavity nester is a bird that is adapted to nest inside an enclosed area. Some of the cavity nesters commonly found in backyard nest boxes include chickadees, titmice, wrens, bluebirds, woodpeckers, nuthatches, some flycatchers, and even certain species of owls, falcons, and ducks. The natural equivalent of a nest box is a woodpecker hole or a hollow tree. The nest boxes we provide for birds emulate a natural cavity.

Nest boxes come in two styles: good for people and good for birds. If you are serious about being a good landlord to your backyard birds, ignore any bird housing that is in any way decorative. If you simply resist, buy it and put it up in your living room, but not outside. Go instead for function over form. Get a house that has the right dimensions (entrance hole, interior) for the birds in your yard; you (and the birds) will be better off.