July 24 column: Attracting birds to your garden
Being the avid birdwatcher that I am, you probably can imagine I’m excited to share today’s column with you. It’s all about attracting birds to your garden. Here’s a link to it in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: When caring for birds, think shelter first. (or you can read my column lower in this post)
You will learn what we’ve done in our own yard to meet their needs for food, water, shelter and housing. In it, I discuss which types of food are eaten by the many birds we see and learn an important tip about leaving seedheads for birds to eat during the winter months.
To illustrate that, watch this video that I shot early last December of goldfinches eating the seeds off of black-eyed Susans, coneflowers and bee balm that I left for them while doing my fall clean-up:
Wasn’t that a cool sight? It was so interesting to see those seedheads were being put to good use!
I hope you’ll enjoy today’s column and do what you can to attract birds to your own garden. They are a delight to watch and I sure have fun sharing the photographs I’ve taken of them with you!
Attracting Birds garden column:
by Susan Mulvihill
Every time I head out to the garden, I’m instantly greeted by birdsong: chirps from bluebirds, chattering from house wrens, the catbird’s mimicking calls, the high-pitched squeaks of goldfinches and cheerful robin tunes. It is a joy to observe them.
When my husband and I first bought our property 27 years ago, it was completely bare except for one tiny pine seedling. How did we transform it into a mecca for wild birds? We first had to learn about their needs for food, water, shelter and nesting — some of which came from guide books but mostly from observation.
You might think food would be the most important requirement but providing shelter was a much higher priority. Birds need to feel safe and be able to hide from a predator at a moment’s notice. An open piece of land does little for their confidence.
To resolve this, we planted deciduous trees and conifers that included pines, firs and spruce. The next additions were native shrubs such as ninebark, oceanspray, red-twig dogwood, mock orange, serviceberry and snowberry. Many of our plantings are in thickets which allow birds to safely move through them or hide from the occasional hungry hawk.
As our landscape began filling in, we turned our attention to food and placed tube feeders in various locations. Some birds, such as chickadees and finches, are crazy about black-oil sunflower seeds. Goldfinches also eat them but their absolute favorite is Nyjer thistle seed.
I’ve learned to be less tidy during my fall clean-up each year by leaving the seedheads of coneflowers, globe thistles, black-eyed Susans and bee balm for the seed-eaters to enjoy during the winter. Those seeds are an important source of nutrition.
Suet is a favorite of northern flickers, chickadees, grosbeaks and woodpeckers. It is made from fat and a variety of seeds, berries or nuts. Suet provides a high-energy snack for these birds during the winter months although they’re more than happy to eat it year-round.
Hummingbirds, which are so delightful to watch, thrive on small insects and nectar. Flowers that will attract them include penstemon, bee balm, phlox, salvia, cardinal flower and lantana.
Many birds are insectivores. I’m very happy to welcome them since they keep my garden healthy. Examples include chickadees, warblers, bluebirds, wrens, woodpeckers and nuthatches.
Several native shrubs produce berries which robins and waxwings enjoy nibbling. We’ve found that no matter what we’re serving, birds of all kinds are attracted to other bird activity and will fly in to investigate. They’ll often take up residence and raise a family.
With all that eating going on, birds are going to need some water to wash things down, right? Birdbaths and water features will provide a drink in addition to giving them a place to bathe. Remember to clean your birdbaths and feeders on a regular basis.
To really put out the welcome mat for the birds that stay in our garden during the spring and summer months, we’ve had fun constructing and hanging birdhouses of different sizes and types on trees, fence posts and the sides of outbuildings. To learn how to build birdhouses for specific birds, including the size entrance hole they’ll need, refer to a book or website. The accompanying information box includes reliable resources.
Take time to enjoy the amazing world of birds in your garden.
Learn more about birds
- The Cornell Lab of Ornithology: allaboutbirds.org
- Spokane Audubon Society: spokaneaudubon.org/page-281033
- National Wildlife Federation/Garden for Wildlife: nwf.org/Home/Garden-For-Wildlife.aspx