How Can I Attract Birds to My Yard?
The best way you can attract birds to your yard is to set up bird feeders. The feeders are relatively inexpensive and can provide your feathered friends with the food that they need during the winter if they do not migrate. Different feeders are designed for different types of birds. Many are designed to stop pesky squirrels and mice from stealing the bird food. If you are looking for one type of bird, you will need to get some information on what that bird needs as far as housing and food. Each different bird has a different type of home it seeks out and will eat different types of food. Where can I get information about birds? The best source of information on birds is a local bird watching group or a magazine. You can always turn to the internet though. The National Audubon Society’s website Audubon is a great source of information. There are links to local chapters, the Birds of America, a Marketplace and even a section devoted to Bird Questions. They also publish a field guide to
Attracting birds to your yard is a matter of carefully considering landscaping, and providing the things that birds need in order to survive, or will simply enjoy. Obvious answers to how you can go about attracting birds to your yard include things like placing bird feeders and birdhouses of varying types on your property. Yet birds are less likely to use these if they can’t find the other things they would need to survive, nest and feed their young families. You should think about the basic needs of birds and the types of birds you’d like to attract when planning a garden. For instance if you’d like to attract birds like hummingbirds to your property, then planting red and especially blue and purple flowers is likely to do the trick. You don’t even need a hummingbird feeder. Yet many birds rely on more than nectar and eat a varied diet of seeds, nuts, and insects in order to survive. They also need access to a small amount of water. You should avoid gardening with pesticides or herbic
It is best to have bird food in the garden 12 months of the year, and they will notice it, even when not needed, such as when there is an abundance of wild food out there. If you have fences, you could attach feeders to these. The main bird feed used in my garden are fat balls (disappearing at the rate of 1 a day at present, due to the newborn), sunflower seeds, eaten by tons of birds, and mixed seed feeds. For tub growing, I’d go for a range of plants, some evergreen and some deciduous. This will provide shelter and cover, as well as somewhere to sit and rest. Look for a hardy Hibiscus plant, a shrub that is deciduous, and flowers for your benefit during the summer too. Find a slower growing conifer, otherwise they’ll want to be huge trees in next to no time, and this will provide some evergreen cover. Honeysuckle would be great in a tub, this produces berries for autumn/wionter feeding, as well as sweetly scented flowers during summer. Pyracantha is a wall shrub, meaning it can be gr
Birds, like other wild creatures, need three things: food, water and shelter. While feeders are nice and will probably bring in a few birds, the best way to attract birds is to create a backyard habitat or wildscape your yard. “If you’ve got a yard that looks like a manicured golf course in Central Texas, for example, you’re only going to attract grackles and white-winged doves,” says Shackelford. A yard needs a diversity of plants, feeders and cover in order to attract a variety of wildlife. A yard planted with multiple layers of native plants will act as a veritable buffet for an amazing array of birds by providing essential butterflies, berries, bugs and lizards for the birds to feast upon. Nesting boxes, such as a screech owl box or bluebird box, will provide a necessary dwelling place for a wide variety of birds and will give you an opportunity for daily viewing of your yard birds. Adding a water feature such as a pond for the birds to bathe in and drink from will also go a long w
In early spring, birds begin utilizing naturally occurring food supplies such as budding trees and blooming flowers. They will rely less on your backyard bird feeders. To help them prepare for this process, reduce the seed in your bird feeder in early spring. The amount can be tapered off until birds are able to find naturally seeding fruits and trees. Birds and people have the same basic needs: food, water, and shelter. You will a ttract the greatest number and diversity of birds to your yard if you supply all three. Plant trees, shrubs and flowers that are of nutritional value, such as Crabapple, Grape, Elderberry, Dogwood, Vibernum, Persimmon, and Serviceberry. In addition to pro viding food, these plants will be important in offering shelter and creating a sense of security from predators. Water is another vital, and often overlooked, aspect of backyard bird appeal. Clean water can be supplied from a sprinkler, shallow bird bath, or a small pond. Another consideration involved in l
