Creating the perfect garden for birds begins by understanding the needs of birds. Birds, as with other wildlife, require certain elements in the garden to survive.
These elements include:
Food
Water
Shelter
Planting for birds can add beauty as well as function to your backyard.
Food:
Begin by surveying your yard. You may already have some of the ingredients needed for a bird friendly backyard.
Many flowers you already enjoy provide food for the birds. Coneflowers are a favorite summer and fall food source for Goldfinches. Sunflowers offer the seed that attracts the greatest variety of birds.
Consider tubular flowers for attracting Hummingbirds. Favorites include Trumpet vine, Cardinal flower, and Scarlet runner.
Annuals can also attract these tiny hummers, try including mass plantings of salvia, impatient, and containers of geraniums.
Adding some of the ornamental grasses will also provide late summer feeding for birds, while providing beauty in the landscape. Those tall plumes provide seed Goldfinches, Black-capped Chickadees, and Purple Finches love.
Shelter: Trees and shrubs in the landscape not only provide beauty but offer the birds a place to hide and raise their young.
Flowering Dogwoods, and the small fruited crabapples, not only provide a valuable food source, but will attract Robins and others to nest in spring. Select varieties that hold their fruit well into winter.
Favorite shrubs include, Service Berry, Honeysuckle, and American Holly. Plant these and you are sure to be visited by Robins, Thrashers, Mockingbirds, and more. Shrubs are also a favorite nesting site of the Northern Cardinal.
Evergreens are an essential part of the bird garden. Providing important shelter and berries during winters cold. In spring, you’ll be rewarded by nesting birds by planting a few varieties of tall evergreens.
Water: How you provide water isn’t important. Whether you add a full backyard pond or a simple bird bath, just be sure to add water. Birds need water not only to drink, but also to keep their feathers in tip-top shape.
Even in winter, a water supply is needed. Consider purchasing a bird bath heater. A heated bird bath will not only keep an open water source available for the birds, but will offer you a greater variety of birds to watch. Without a winter source of water, birds will have to use energy used to keep warm and survive to find water.
Allow your plants to remain in the garden through the winter. This allows the birds to feed on seed heads and insects much longer.
Consider placing feeders and birdhouses in your yard. Once you’ve watched House Wrens scouring the soil for insects in your vegetable and flower gardens, you’ll be convinced, gardening for birds is in your best interest.
Visit Wild-Bird-Watching.com for bird watching information on the nesting, mating, and feeding habits of backyard birds.
By Gene
During Autumn, all of the birdfeeders and birdseed go on sale. So why not feed birds all year long! But how do you attract the kinds of birds you want? We have six foods that will help you attract the birds you adore.
1. Sunflower seeds: If you are only stocking one type of seed, this would be the best choice. Sunflower seeds of all kinds are loved by finches, chickadees, nuthatches, grosbeaks, cardinals, jays and some types of woodpeckers. Serve sunflower seeds from a feeder that allows only smaller birds to enter the feeding chamber.
2. Nyjer seed (thistle): For finches, you will want to fill feeders with this tiny black seed. It is also a favorite of chickadees.
3. Safflower seeds: Cardinals, grosbeaks, mourning doves and house finches will feast on these.
4. Sugar water: For hummingbirds and orioles mix up some sugar water in the kitchen: 1 cup sugar to 4 cups water.
5. Suet cakes: Suet is a great source of energy for many birds such as, woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees and titmice. Unfortunately, much of the commercial variety contains lots of extras that offer little value to the birds.
6. Wild birdseed mixes: This is the “mystery” mix on the grocery store shelves. Usually it contains a mix of millet, cracked corn and few sunflower seeds. This kind of variety brings out the riff-raff; undesirable birds and night critters like raccoons and rats. Avoid these mixes as they won’t bring the birds you would prefer to feed.
By the way, now is also the time to add some additional birdfeeders- Everyone has them on sale! Please visit http://www.yourwholesalegardendecor.com for more articles on gardening and creating a home away from home in the out of doors.
By LMMcGee
The author is a nature and gardening enthusiast. She enjoys being outdoors. In addition, she desires to create her own retreat in the out of doors and to help others achieve that end, as well.
Backyard bird watching is one of the most relaxing and inexpensive hobbies you can pursue along with your family and friends. It is both fun and educational because you can learn a great deal about your environment and survival from the various species of birds that are prevalent in your local area.
Equipment Necessary for Backyard Bird Watching
Birds are very sensitive to sound and the presence of humans so you have to maintain a safe distance so that the birds aren’t frightened away. Because of this, a pair of binoculars is a must if you want to watch the birds behave in their normal manner. If you want to keep a record of the birds you see, you may want to invest in a camera with a telephoto lens as well. Having pictures will also aid you in researching the birds so that you can later look-up the species of the birds you have seen either over the Internet, or at your local library.
Most birdwatchers who take their hobby seriously also keep a journal to record the various types of birds they see. It can also be used to take notes on their different behaviors as well. It can be fascinating to go through the pages of your journal every year as you will observe some of the same birds returning to almost the exact same location at the same time of the year. After doing this for a few years, you will find yourself waiting for them and predicting the time of the year that each species of bird returns.
Attracting Birds to Your Backyard
There are many different ways in which you can attract birds to your backyard to ensure that they visit your home. One of the most common practices is to install a water fountain or birdbath where the birds can find relief from the scorching summer sun and quench their thirst. You can also provide them with a feeding place by putting a birdfeeder in your yard or hanging one from a nearby tree. You may want to experiment with different types of birdseed and food in order to learn what types of food attract various species of birds. You can also provide some nesting facilities by strategically hanging birdhouses in the trees in your yard. If you don’t have trees, birdhouses that sit atop stands are available as well. You may be surprised that some of the birds may adopt your bird houses as their home and return to them every year.
Backyard bird watching can turn into a fun and enjoyable adventure for the whole family if you dedicate some time to this pursuit. You will find that you can recognize most of the different species of birds each season without having to look up their picture and description. You will also learn their behavior and habits.
Helpful Tips
When preparing for backyard bird watching, be sure that you have plenty of water and some high energy snacks available, especially if you plan to spend several hours under cover entertaining your hobby. A baseball cap or visor during the summer time and a stocking cap in winter will protect you from the sun and cold respectively. Also, during the summer, you’ll want to have plenty of bug and insect repellant, as well as suntan lotion if you aren’t watching the birds from a shaded area.
Birds can be fascinating creatures to observe and in time you will find yourself planning bird watching vacations, especially if your family enjoys the same backyard bird watching hobby as you do. If you’ve been looking for ideas on how to bring your family closer together, then you’ll seriously want to consider getting them involved in bird watching.
By John Wollitz
Putting a bird feeder in your garden is a very kind thing to do. It is getting harder and harder for birds to find food in urban areas – not only in winter, but all year round – and so bird feeders can often save their lives. They are also great for birdwatching, if that’s what you’re into, especially if you leave the bird feeder in the same place for a long time so that the birds start to remember where it is. But what kind of bird feeder should you get? The simplest bird feeders are just tables for you to put food on, but the food you put on these is easily stolen by squirrels, who will keep coming back for more and burying it all over your garden. You should consider a cage feeder, where the food is inside a cage so that birds need to use their beaks to get it, or perhaps a feeder with a specially-designed perch that will collapse under the weight of a squirrel. However, both of these options can be impractical if you want to feed larger birds, so you need to consider whether it’s really worth it or if you might as well just put out more food. The other thing you should think about is what you’re going to put in your bird feeder. Obviously this depends mainly on what kind of birds you expect to attract. Most birds will prefer seeds such as millet, but meat-eating birds will prefer ‘bird cake’ and a few birds like hummingbirds want a mixture of sugar and water (a kind of substitute nectar). Some birds also like to eat fruit, so you might try leaving pieces of apple or orange in the mixture as well. If you’re not sure which birds will come, then the best thing to do is to have a little of everything at first, and then see what is popular.
By John Gibb
John Gibb is the owner of bird feeder resources , For more information on bird feeders please check out http://www.bird-feeder-resources3k.info
Many people argue that if you feed your birds, it could be a bad thing! They claim that the birds will start to depend on your food and lose the ability to find their own.
Some feel that birds will rely on the food provided by you and that they will lose their ability to find their own food. Other experts think that our feathered friends are much more resilient and will discover new sources of food if the feeder repeatedly is empty and they can’t support themselves or their young.
As reported in Bird Watcher’s Digest, researchers Margaret Brittingham and Stanley Temple found that black-capped chickadees take, on average, only 20-25% of their winter food requirements from feeders. But, they also demonstrated a significant correlation between an individual bird’s ability to survive the winter and the use of bird feeders.
Evidence shows that aves that eat food provided by humans through feeders had an annual (not just winter) survival rate that is 8% higher (up to 95% from 87%) than those birds that don’t eat food provided by humans. For winter (as opposed to month-to-month), 69% of the feeder using birds survived the winter where only 37% of wild non-feeder using birds survived the winter.
If more wild birds survive the winter when we feed them, what are the implications? In simple terms, it means that without our help, a higher number of birds fail to survive the winter. If we help, more birds will survive. Curiously, even though our food supply will decrease the winter death rate, our avian friends will not completely rely on us. If your bird feeders are consistently empty, these amazing animals will almost always take flight to find another source of food on their own. You will also notice that in the spring, when food abounds, the birds are not as active at the feeders as they are in the winter when food is harder to find.
We can only suspect that different birds, like people, have different levels of dependence. However, the truth is that our avian friends will adapt. If one fails to continue a consistent feeding program, the birds will adapt and search for food.
I recommend that if you start a bird feeding program, stay consistent. It is best if you fill the feeders at the same time every day or whatever interval you need and ensure that the feeders do not stay empty for extended periods. For really great public information about bird feeding, go to http://www.americanbirding.org/
Also, if you plan to go on vacation or holiday, plan for your absence. In your short-term (1-4 days) absence from home, a good practice is to completely stock your feeder and also place some on the earth and around vegetation in the general area of your feeding stations. If you are going to be gone for an extended time, ask your friends, neighbors, or relatives to check and fill your feeders on a consistent basis.
As for winter feeding, it is more serious. Some bird populations may not migrate to areas of higher food availability if there is a reliable source near their summer habitats. Thus, if you feed birds on a consistent basis over the spring and summer, it is important that you are extremely consistent in the winter, when some species may rely on your food to survive.
To make a long story short, it is better for survival rates if you feed wild birds in your yard. But if you decide to feed them, it is ideal if you are consistent in your feeding.
By Mike Kershaw
Mike Kershaw has a graduate degree in biological sciences and is an expert in attracting and retaining wild birds to your backyard. Mike is a wild bird enthusiast and owner/operator of the online wild bird supplies superstore The Bird Warehouse.
Birds. Alfred Hitchcock did his best to scare the heck out of us in regard to our fine feathered friends but birds are still about the safest of all animals to be around. Even the least attractive bird has a beauty to it. Maybe that’s why so many people take up bird watching. If you’re thinking that the only thing involved with bird watching is going outside, making your way to a park and opening your eyes then you need to think again. Bird watching can actually be very involved. There are many techniques bird watchers use to just get the birds to come. Starting with feeding. What is it that birds want? Well, if you’re trying to attract birds in the winter time to stare at from the confines of your nice warm home, the first thing you need to know is that most birds you will see in the winter are seed eating birds. So if you have a bird feeder in your backyard then what you simply want to do is make sure it is supplied with seeds and water. Do this regularly and eventually the birds will know that this is a consistent source of food and will come back regularly. Assuming that your bird feeder is close to a window you can get a, forgive the pun, bird’s eye view of your dinner guests. The best seeds to provide for your dinner guests are sunflower seeds. These seeds attract cardinals, woodpeckers, blue jays, goldfinches, purple finches, chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches. Another really good seed is niger. Goldfinches absolutely love niger You can easily have as many as a dozen goldfinches visiting your feeder at one time. However, be forewarned, niger is very expensive. How expensive? Over $1 a pound expensive. So you want to be very careful with niger and don’t waste it. The best thing to do is buy a hanging tube with tiny holes designed especially for it. Then hang it where you can see it from your window with the best view. Another great seed to buy is safflower. This is a white seed that is smaller than a black sunflower seed. What’s great about this seed is that squirrels won’t touch it, which leaves more for the birds. These seeds are great for cardinals, titmice, chickadees, and downy woodpeckers. White millet is another important seed to get for your feathered friends. This is a very cheap seed and you can scatter it on the ground for sparrows, juncos, and mourning doves. You can get a 50 pound bag of these for close to nothing. Very, very cheap seeds. One thing you should never buy is bags of mixed birdseed. The reason is that there are going to be seeds in the bag that some birds will eat and some won’t. Ultimately, because a bird will stumble upon a seed it doesn’t like, the bird will fly away. In the end, all the birds will fly away and not come back. So stick to a seed that you want to use to attract the bird you’re looking for.
By Michael Russell
Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Birds
Birds are very interesting creatures. They are vertebrates, because like fish, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, they have a spinal cord. They are also tetra pods because of their four limbs, two of which became wings, that are, in general, for flying. The other pair is for walking, running, and swimming. All birds, and only birds, have beaks and feathers and all species lay eggs. They have no mammary glands and neither do they have teeth. They are endothermic, that is why they are considered warm-blooded animals. Most of them fly except for some emus, ostriches, and penguins along with a few other species. They have been around for millions of years and have been helping the environment. They are known to be very intelligent even without having been thoroughly studied. Scientists believe that birds, as a class, have a higher level of intelligence than most reptiles, and can be just as intelligent as many mammals regardless of size. Mammal intelligence testing is based on how they modify their surroundings using their forelimbs, and since birds lack forelimbs it is difficult to test their intelligence as it is tested on mammals. It is widely believed in the scientific world, that birds actually lack real intelligence; they act upon their instincts and are unable to learn. Scientists who believe this rely on the fact that birds have a relatively small cerebral cortex, which is the area of the brain where most animals use their intelligence. Yet, it has been proven that the bird uses a different part of its brain for intelligence, the hipertriatum. Birds have excellent vision. They rely on it for flying and navigating. They need their sharp vision for processing large amounts of visual information for locating rodents and other prey on the earth while flying. They usually have monocular vision; their eyes are each on the opposite side of the head. They need great brainpower to process and combine the different information they get from each eye. Many scientists say that the more social animals are, the more intelligent they are. The greatest argument in favor of this is that humans are the most social and the most intelligent animals. Parrots and corvids both tend towards organized social behavior. Many corvid species separate into clans for nesting or defending territory. Then they usually flock together with different species in order to migrate. When migration is through they go back to their original clans. Scientists say that this behavior indicates real intelligence because of the way the bird can identify each clan member and the changes in temperature and climate while migrating. While hunting, some birds make use of teamwork. Predatory birds work in pairs, while one bird distracts the prey, the other swoops down for the kill. This is called the “bait and switch” technique. Similar to primates, many bird species use tools. Some species of crows grip sticks with their beaks to pick out insects from logs. This has been observed as something the young birds learn from their elders, but it has also been observed in captivity. A laboratory crow made a hook tool with wire without having learned this from any other bird. Birds have no form of spoken language as we humans do, but they do communicate through singing, calling and using body language. Studies show that birds learn their territorial songs at a young age and use them for the rest of their lives. Some species even learn different song dialects. A bird can instinctively migrate alone for the first time, and as it gets older and more experienced it has a smaller probability of getting lost. This shows that they can memorize places, landmarks, and have a sense of direction. Many people like to compare stupid people with birds, but actually birds are one of the most intelligent creatures on Earth. They are highly evolved and have developed extremely sharp skills and senses. So, next time you make fun of someone less experienced than you and you say they’re “as dumb as a duck”, remember this article.
By Michael Russell
Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Birds
About
Bird watching is growing in popularity as a hobby that gets people outdoors and increases appreciation of nature, as well as being a great stress reliever. This blog will help you to be equiped with all you need to enjoy this great recreational pastime.
