Offer birds everything they need
By: Garden Gate staff
| 1 of 6
Feed birds from your garden
The more your garden resembles a native landscape, the more birds you’ll draw in!
Every bird has foods it likes best but preferences can change depending on the time of year. In spring and summer, most songbirds’ primary food source is insects. In fact, nestlings need insects to thrive and survive — a pair of nesting chickadees has to catch 8,000 caterpillars to raise a brood of chicks! During migration, birds look for high-fat seeds and berries to build their reserves for the journey. In many climates insects virtually disappear in winter, meaning winter residents, such as chickadees and Northern cardinals, rely on seeds, like purple coneflower’s (Echinacea purpurea) at left, and berries that remain.
Just click ahead to find out more about planting and planning a garden that birds will love, too.
| 2 of 6
Favorite plants
Provide food and shelter for a variety of birds with different preferences by making sure your landscape has everything from tall trees to low-growing ground covers.
And offer food in every season. The serviceberries (Amelanchier laevis) at left ripen just when hungry American robin fledglings are leaving the nest. Birds often look for colorful berries to eat — red and blue (like this serviceberry’s) are their favorites. Other summer berries include inkberry (Ilex glabra) and blueberries (Vaccinium spp.). Later, fruits from flowering crabapples (Malus hybrids), holly (Ilex spp. and hybrids) and hawthorn (Crataegus spp. and hybrids) will feed cedar waxwings and Northern cardinals when it’s cold.
| 3 of 6
You may be tempted to cut back fading blooms of purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) and other plants to tidy up. But waiting until spring gives seed-eating birds, such as this American goldfinch, food when it’s scarce. In many parts of North America, A
You may be tempted to cut back fading blooms of purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) and other plants to tidy up. But waiting until spring gives seed-eating birds, such as this American goldfinch, food when it’s scarce. In many parts of North America, American goldfinches remain year-round, so leaving seedheads on the plant will keep them coming back to your yard.
| 4 of 6
Ornamental grasses, like this maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis), offer seeds, as well as nesting material in spring, so leave these standing until new growth starts to emerge.
Ornamental grasses, like this maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis), offer seeds, as well as nesting material in spring, so leave these standing until new growth starts to emerge.
| 5 of 6
Create a bug haven
When you rake up debris, gather it into small piles under shrubs rather than sending it away in the trash. This will attract pillbugs, worms and insects that ground-feeding birds, such as brown thrashers, love. And many birds will poke around the lower layers of a compost pile, like the one in photo at left, looking for snacks. A pile of garden debris is the perfect spot for a gray catbird to look for beetles, pillbugs or centipedes.
| 6 of 6
It’s also entertaining to watch birds who swoop through the air, scooping up insects in their beaks, such as the scissor-tailed flycatcher. Scissor-tailed flycatchers — found mostly in Texas — use their long tails to help them swoop and make sharp turns a
It’s also entertaining to watch birds who swoop through the air, scooping up insects in their beaks, such as the scissor-tailed flycatcher. Scissor-tailed flycatchers — found mostly in Texas — use their long tails to help them swoop and make sharp turns as they grab insects in midair.
While they’re migrating and nesting, nearly all birds eat insects and feed them to their young. Spring is also when many caterpillar and pollinator populations are at their peak. Help birds by providing trees that bloom during this important time. Some birds, such as bluebirds, American robins and tanagers, enjoy eating high in trees. And trees’ bark and leaves also harbor adult insects and their young for a summertime feast for woodpeckers and others.
You don’t want insects to decimate your garden, but if you regularly use pesticides, you’ll kill an important food source for phoebes, bushtits, nuthatches and warblers (and poison the birds that eat insects carrying insecticide). Let birds do most of your pest control, and if you have a bad infestation, spot treat with organic insecticidal soap.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
