Improving Bird Habitat in Your Yard

The most surefire way to attract birds to your backyard is to make certain the appropriate habitat is available to them. You may be lucky and already have a good supply of food, shelter and water available for our feathered friends.

However, for most backyards, bird habitat must be created. The habitat can be as simple or as extravagant as you wish. Whatever the approach, anyone who has ever tried this type of landscaping comes away with a real love for it after their first brilliant hummingbirds hover at the coral bells, or the playful catbird comes down for a drink of water from the birdbath or the sleek waxwings gather en masse to sample bittersweet berries.

Basics of Landscaping for Birds Landscaping for birds involves the following basic principles:

• Food – every bird species has its own unique food requirements that may change as the seasons change. Learn the food habits of the birds you wish to attract. Then plant the appropriate trees, shrubs, and flowers to provide the fruits, berries, seeds, acorns, and nectar.

• Water – You may be able to double the number of bird species in your yard by providing a water source. A pond or bird bath will get lots of bird use, especially if the water is dripping, splashing or moving.

• Shelter – Birds need places where they can hide from predators (cats, hawks, etc) and escape from severe weather. Trees (including dead ones), shrubs, tall grasses, and bird houses provide excellent shelter.

• Four Seasons – Give birds food and shelter throughout the year by planting a variety of trees, shrubs and flowers that provide year-round benefits.

• Arrangement - Properly arrange the different habitat components in your yard. Consider the effects of prevailing winds (and snow drifting) so your yard will be protected from harsh winter weather.

• Protection - Birds should be protected from unnecessary mortality. When choosing the placement of bird feeders and nest boxes, consider their accessibility to predators. Picture windows can also be dangerous for birds that fly directly at windows when they see the reflection of trees and shrubs. A network of parallel, vertical strings spaced 4 inches apart can be placed on the outside of windows to prevent this problem. Be cautious about the kinds of herbicides and pesticides used in your yard. Apply them only when necessary and strictly according to label instructions. In fact, try gardening and lawn care without using pesticides. Details can be found in gardening books at the library.

Seven types of plants are important as bird habitat:

• Conifers - Conifers are evergreen trees and shrubs that include pines, spruces, firs, arborvitae, junipers, cedars, and yews. These plants are important as escape cover, winter shelter and summer nesting sites. Some also provide sap, fruits and seeds.

• Grasses and Legumes - Grasses and legumes can provide cover for ground nesting birds-but only if the area is not mowed during the nesting season. Some grasses and legumes provide seeds as well. Native prairie grasses are becoming increasingly popular for landscaping purposes.

• Nectar--producing Plants - Nectar-producing plants are very popular for attracting hummingbirds and orioles. Flowers with tubular red corollas are especially attractive to hummingbirds. Other trees, shrubs, vines and flowers also can provide nectar for hummingbirds.

• Summer-fruiting Plants - This category includes plants that produce fruits or berries from May through August. In the summer these plants can attract brown thrashers, catbirds, robins, thrushes, waxwings, woodpeckers, orioles, cardinals, towhees and grosbeaks. Examples of summer-fruiting plants are various species of cherry, chokecherry, honeysuckle, raspberry, serviceberry, blackberry, blueberry, grape, mulberry, plum and elderberry

• Fall-fruiting Plants - This landscape component includes shrubs and vines whose fruits ripen in the fall. These foods are important both for migratory birds which build up fat reserves before migration and as a food source for non-migratory species that need to enter the winter season in good physical condition. Fall-fruiting plants include dogwoods, mountain ash, winter-berries, cottoneasters and buffalo-berries.

• Winter-fruiting Plants - Winter-fruiting plants are those whose fruits remain attached to the plants long after they first become ripe in the fall. Many are not palatable until they have frozen and thawed many times. Examples are glossy black chokecherry, Siberian and "red splendor" crabapple, snowberry, bittersweet, sumacs, American highbush cranberry, eastern and European wahoo, Virginia creeper, and Chinaberry

• Nut and Acorn Plants - These include oaks, hickories, buckeyes, chestnuts, butternuts, walnuts and hazels. A variety of birds, such as jays, woodpeckers and titmice, eat the meats of broken nuts and acorns. These plants also contribute to good nesting habitat.

And Finally...

Make sure to take the time to enjoy the wildlife that will eventually respond to your landscaping efforts.

References:

1) For the Birds, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

2) Landscaping with native plants of the intermountain region: http://www.id.blm.gov/publications/TR1730-3/index.htm

3) Idaho Native Plant Society: http://www.idahonativeplants.org/ 

4) Southern Idaho Native Plants: http://www.cwnp.org/idaho/idaindex.html 

5) Habiscapes: http://www.habiscapes.com/index.htm 

6) Native Plant Nurseries in Idaho: http://www.plantnative.org/nd_idtoks.htm 

7) Western Native Seeds: http://www.westernnativeseed.com/

8) High Country Gardens: http://www.highcountrygardens.com/