How to Attract Winter Birds to Your Garden

There’s nothing more delightful than watching birds flit from one area of your garden to the next. Attracting birds to your yard is really quite simple: if you supply their three basic needs — food, shelter and water — you will have an avian oasis in your own backyard.

The experts at Garden Artisans, www.gardenartisans.com, offer these tips for enjoying birds in your backyard all winter long:

Food

As winter approaches and the natural food supply for birds dwindles, birds become dependent on bird feeders for seeds and suet. Although there is debate about whether artificial feeding disrupts the migration urge of some birds, research shows this is not a significant concern.

For birds that are not strong enough to migrate due to injury or illness or because of some undeveloped natural migration cue, your feeder may be what enables them to live through winter. Also, for birds that do not migrate, winter storms can bury their food supply. When you add to that the natural condition of reduced time for foraging due to shorter days, winter is a real hardship for birds.

There are two ways to provide food: through bird feeders and by growing plants around your yard that offer fruits, seeds and a habitat that birds love. Black oil sunflower seed is the best seed to attract a diverse group of birds to your feeder, including chickadees, nuthatches, finches, cardinals, grosbeaks, sparrows, blackbirds and jays.

To attract insect-eating birds such as woodpeckers, chickadees and nuthatches, offer suet in the wintertime. Ground feeding birds like juncos, sparrows, towhees and mourning doves prefer cracked corn scattered on the ground or placed in an elevated tray.

Plants to add to your landscape include serviceberry, dogwood, fir, hawthorn, sweet gum, crabapple, pine, coralberry and fruit-bearing viburnums. Seed-producing flowers that will attract birds include aster, blanket flower, cone flower, sunflowers, black-eyed Susans, California poppies, goldenrod, marigolds, phlox, salvias and zinnias.

Things to remember about feeders:

— It’s nice if you can place the feeder so you can watch birds from a comfortable location, but also keep in mind their needs. They need an escape route, so make sure you place the feeder near shrubs or evergreen trees so they can make a quick get-away. Woody plants with thorns, such as roses or hawthorn, are helpful to birds because they provide refuge from predators such as house cats. This can also help keep the feeders out of the rain and food dry.

— Keep your feeders clean to prevent diseases and deter pests. Disinfect occasionally with one part chlorine bleach and nine parts lukewarm water and dry thoroughly before refilling.

— Once you start to provide food for birds, continue throughout the cold season. It’s best to provide only one type of food per feeder. Birds feeding at feeders with mixed seed discard the seeds they do not want while selecting their favorites.

— Do not feed birds spoiled leftovers, salty snack foods or sugary cereals.

Shelter

Shelter can be provided in many ways, including bird houses or nest boxes. As winter days grow longer after solstice, birds get ready to mate and nest, so it is time to start thinking about putting up a bird house or nest shelf. Fall is a great time to shop for bird houses, remembering that many people you know would welcome a birdhouse as a Christmas present.

Choosing a bird house will depend on your goal. Do you want a great looking garden ornament or are you looking to attract a certain type of bird? All birds have their own particular preferences. For example, robins will not nest in an enclosed box, while wrens and bluebirds are attracted to single unit, enclosed bird houses. One other way to provide shelter is with the types of trees and shrubs in your yard. For a list of shrubs and plants that attract birds to your yard, refer to the Garden Artisans’ February 2001 online newsletter.

Things to remember about birdhouses:

— Face the entrance hole to the north or east to prevent the birds from overheating if summers are hot in your area.

— Mount bird houses on poles or posts rather than nailing them to trees or hanging them from limbs, making them less vulnerable to predators.

— Don’t put bird houses next to bird feeders.

— Clean your bird house yearly.

Water

While water is the least important of the three requirements, it can make a difference to the number of birds visiting your feeders. If birds must fly long distances to find water in the winter, they may choose to stay near their water source rather than coming back to your feeder.

The easiest way to provide water is by maintaining your bird bath year round. This could mean filling the bird bath several times a day, which is not always practical. The easiest method is to have a heated bird bath. Heaters are completely safe, but make sure they have an automatic shut-off feature if the bath goes dry, which can happen on windy days or if there are too many birds drinking from the bath. The plug must be attached to a grounded (three pronged) outlet — preferably a GFI (ground fault interrupt) outlet. This will eliminate the risk of electrical shock. The heating element also should be covered in some way. If yours is uncovered, it would be good to place a piece of shale over the top to prevent any birds from burning their feet. In addition, birds will enjoy perching on the warm rock, especially the mourning doves.

To view a large selection of bird feeders and houses and to learn more about plantings to attract wild birds, hummingbirds and butterflies to your backyard, visit www.GardenArtisans.com

Courtesy ARA Content, www.ARAcontent.com, e-mail: info@ARAcontent.com

Technorati Tags: animal migration photos, bird migration, migrations, photo conversion, photo converter

Tags: animal migration photos, bird migration, migrations, photo conversion, photo converter

Related Posts