Attract birds to your garden

Gardening

oi-Staff

By Super

Wednesday, April 18, 2012, 11:34

Many of us enjoy the sounds of birds singing and chirping in our gardens or yards. Not only are birds beautiful to look at, they also provide many with a real appreciation of nature. There are clearly many benefits associated with attracting birds to the landscape, however in order to experience these benefits, we first need to attract the birds to our gardens! It is quite easy to attract birds to your property by following a few simple design principles, and by choosing plants for your landscape that naturally attract birds.

Ways to attract birds

If you want to make your garden bird friendly and attract birds to your garden you have to consider the following things.

Plants

A good selection of native plants and shrubs with things like berries, and big seed heads will tempt the birds to come and feed. Be sure to mimic the vertical layers of nearby native plant communities when designing your bird garden. Plant under-story trees, then large shrubs, small shrubs, and, closer still, ground-covers such as bunch grasses and wild flowers. Once these plantings are well established, plant or encourage the growth of vines. If your garden already has large trees, establish islands of variable-height plantings around them.

Birds tend to perch in dead trees, which they use as singing posts to defend their territories. It's also a good idea to leave a few dead branches on live trees for perches. Woodpeckers will channel out nesting cavities in the soft wood of dead trees and use the trees for drumming -- the woodpecker substitute for territorial song. Dead trees also make excellent anchors for bird houses.

Nesting Boxes

To attract birds to our gardens we must provide birdhouses "to let" to them. Houses of all sorts are offered to bird-lovers in the shops but it is often home-made bird houses that best suit the needs of our feathered friends. In most places rustic bird houses work well when fastened to trees or portions of the house where the birds are not apt to be disturbed or frightened. A secluded corner of the porch roof , an angle of a dormer window, or a vine running against the house will do. The timidity of the birds will be overcome by scattering crumbs liberally and their confidence will be inspired if we do not force their friends

If you have a smaller garden you can build or buy some nesting boxes in different sizes to provide a home for a nesting bird. The simplest way to increase the variety of birds nesting on your property is to provide nest boxes, which substitute for natural tree cavities. There are a variety of excellent designs for boxes, but they must include a sloping roof to shed rain, drainage holes in the bottom, an access door for annual late-winter cleaning, and a predator guard to keep raccoons from reaching in to snatch eggs and young. By keeping the entrance hole 1-1/2 inches in diameter or smaller, you can exclude starlings. Modify the box dimensions and size of the openings to accommodate specific species.