Attracting
Birds to the Garden
By Dale Norrington, Master
Gardener
Beguiling, bedeviling, amusing and fun, birds can be a most attractive
distraction in the garden, bringing it to life with movement, color and
sound. Birds can aid in the control of
garden pests including mosquitoes, houseflies, gnats, caterpillars, snails,
rodents and weeds. To attract birds to
the garden, it may be helpful to model a strategy on a rule of thumb of
wildlife management: "provide the appropriate habitat, and the wildlife
will come."
Like most forms of wildlife, birds have needs for food, water, shelter, and
reproduction. Specific habitat features
which are needed to fulfill these needs take myriad form, varying, for example,
among many types of birds, from season to season, during times of mating,
nesting and the rearing of young, when birds are hiding or hunting, and during
migration. Variety, therefore, might be
most advantageous to an effective strategy to attract birds.
A variety of sources of food includes plants which produce pollen, nectar,
fruits, nuts, and seeds, at various times of the year. Insects and their relatives are an important
food source to many birds including hummingbirds, robins, flickers,
woodpeckers, bluebirds and others.
Minimize use of insecticides.
A variety of forms of water may be used for drinking, bathing, hunting and
foraging. Creeks, ponds, rain, dew,
fountains, birdbaths, and sprinklers all may help attract birds.
A variety of types, sizes, and densities of trees, shrubs, and groundcover will
provide shelter and nesting sites, spaces for mating rituals, perches, roosts,
places to hunt and forage, and sometimes, seemingly, just places for birds to
play. Dead branches, snags, brush piles,
and hollow logs and stumps may all be used.
Artificial nesting boxes, perches, feeders, and bird baths are available
commercially, as are various forms of food, all of which can augment natural
supplies. Recommended cleaning methods
and schedules for nest boxes, bird baths and hummingbird feeders should be
followed.