In continuation of For the Birds-Backyard BirdFeeding , it is wise to note that for most backyards, bird habitat must be created. It's called "landscaping for birds" and it can be as simple or extravagant as you wish Whatever the approach, anyone who has ever tried this type of landscaping comes away with a real love for it after their first sparkling hummingbirds hover at the coral bells, or the perky catbird comes down for a drink of water from the birdbath, or the sleek waxwings gather en masse to sample bittersweet berries.
Benefits of Landscaping for Birds
You can derive many benefits from landscaping to attract birds to your yard: Increased Wildlife Populations
You can probably double the number of bird species using your property with a good landscaping plan.
Energy Conservation
By carefully arranging your conifer and hardwood trees, you can lower winter heating and summer cooling bills for your house.
Soil Conservation
Certain landscape plants can prevent soil erosion.
Natural Beauty
A good landscaping plan contributes to a beautiful, natural setting around your home that is pleasing to people as well as birds.
Wildlife Photography
Wildlife photography is a wonderful hobby for people of all ages.
Birdwatching
Try keeping a list of all the birds you see in your yard or from your yard. Some people have counted nearly 20 species of birds in their yard!
Natural Insect Control
Birds such as tree swallows, house wrens, brown thrashers and orioles eat a variety of insects.
Food Production
Some plants that attract wildlife are also appealing to humans. People an wildlife can share cherries, chokecherries, strawberries, and crabapples.
Property Value
A good landscaping plan can greatly increase the value of your property by adding natural beauty and an abundance of wildlife.
Habitat for Kids
Some of the best wildlife habitats are the best habitats for young people to discover the wonders of nature. A backyard bird habitat can stimulate young people to develop a lifelong interest in wildlife and conservation.
Basics of Landscaping for Birds
Landscaping for birds involves nine basic principles: Food
Every bird species has its own unique food requirements that may change as the seasons change. Learn the food habits of the birds you wish to attract. Then plant the appropriate trees, shrubs, and flowers to provide the fruits, berries, seeds, acorns, and nectar.
Water
You may be able to double the number of bird species in your yard by providing a source of water. A frog pond, water garden, or bird bath will get lots of bird use, especially if the water is dripping, splashing or moving.
Shelter
Birds need places where they can hide from predators and escape from severe weather. Trees (including dead ones), shrubs, tall grass and bird houses provide excellent shelter.
Diversity
The best landscaping plan is one that includes a variety of native plants. This helps attract the most bird species.
Four Seasons
Give birds food and shelter throughout the year by planting a variety of trees, shrubs and flowers that provide year-round benefits.
Arrangement
Properly arrange the different habitat components in your yard. Consider the effects of prevailing winds (and snow drifting) so your yard will be protected from harsh winter weather.
Protection
Birds should be protected from unnecessary mortality. When choosing the placement of bird feeders and nest boxes, consider their accessibility to predators. Picture windows can also be dangerous for birds, who fly directly at windows when they see the reflection of trees and shrubs. A network of parallel, vertical strings spaced 4 inches apart can be placed on the outside of windows to prevent this problem. Be cautious about the kinds of herbicides and pesticides used in your yard. Apply them only when necessary and strictly according to label instructions. In fact, try gardening and lawn care without using pesticides. Details can be found in gardening books at the library.
Hardiness Zones
When considering plants not native to your area, consult a plant hardiness zone map, found in most garden catalogues. Make sure the plants you want are rated for the winter hardiness zone classification of your area.
Soils and Topography
Consult your local garden center, university or county extension office to have your soil tested. Plant species are often adapted to certain types of soils. If you know what type of soil you have, you can identify the types of plants that will grow best in your yard.
Plants for Wild Birds
Seven types of plants are important as bird habitat: Conifers
Conifers are evergreen trees and shrubs that include pines, spruces, firs, arborvitae, junipers, cedars, and yews. These plants are important as escape cover, winter shelter and summer nesting sites. Some also provide sap, fruits and seeds.
Grasses and Legumes
Grasses and legumes can provide cover for ground nesting birds-but only if the area is not mowed during the nesting season. Some grasses and legumes provide seeds as well. Native prairie grasses are becoming increasingly popular for landscaping purposes.
Nectar--producing Plants
Nectar-producing plants are very popular for attracting hummingbirds and orioles. Flowers with tubular red corollas are especially attractive to hummingbirds. Other trees, shrubs, vines and flowers also can provide nectar for hummingbirds.
Summer-fruiting Plants
This category includes plants that produce fruits or berries from May through August. In the summer these plants can attract brown thrashers, catbirds, robins, thrushes, waxwings, woodpeckers, orioles, cardinals, towhees and grosbeaks. Examples of summer-fruiting plants are various species of cherry, chokecherry, honeysuckle, raspberry, serviceberry, blackberry, blueberry, grape, mulberry, plum and elderberry
Fall-fruiting Plants
This landscape component includes shrubs and vines whose fruits ripen in the fall. These foods are important both for migratory birds which build up fat reserves before migration and as a food source for nonmigratory species that need to enter the winter season in good physical condition. Fall-fruiting plants include dogwoods, mountain ash, winter-berries, cottoneasters and buffalo-berries.
Winter-fruiting Plants
Winter-fruiting plants are those whose fruits remain attached to the plants long after they first become ripe in the fall. Many are not palatable until they have frozen and thawed many times. Examples are glossy black chokecherry, Siberian and "red splendor" crabapple, snowberry, bittersweet, sumacs, American highbush cranberry, eastern and European wahoo, Virginia creeper, and Chinaberry
Nut and Acorn Plants
These include oaks, hickories, buckeyes, chestnuts, butternuts, walnuts and hazels. A variety of birds, such as jays, woodpeckers and titmice, eat the meats of broken nuts and acorns These plants also contribute to good nesting habitat.
How to Get Started
Think of this project as landscaping for birds. Your goal will be to plant an assortment of trees, shrubs and flowers that will attract birds. If you plan carefully it can be inexpensive and fun for the whole family. The best way to get started is to follow these guidelines:
Set Your -Priorities
Decide what types of birds you wish to attract, then build your plan around the needs of those species. Talk to friends and neighbors to find out what kinds of birds frequent your area. Attend a local bird club meeting and talk to local birdwatchers about how they have attracted birds to their yards.
Use Native Plants When Possible
Check with the botany department of a nearby college or university or with your state's natural heritage program for lists of trees, shrubs, and wildflowers native to your area. Use this list as a starting point for your landscape plan. These plants are naturally adapted to the climate of your area and are a good long-term investment. Many native plants are both beautiful for landscaping purposes and excellent for birds. If you include normative plant species in your plan, be sure they are not considered "invasive pests" by plant experts. Check out the bird books in your local library
Draw a Map of Your Property
Draw a map of your property to scale using graph paper. Identify buildings, sidewalks, power lines, buried cables, 'fences, septic tank fields, trees, shrubs and patios. Consider how your plan relates to your neighbor's property-will the tree you plant shade out the neighbor's vegetable garden? Identify and map sunny or shady sites, low or wet sites, sandy sites, and native plants that will be left in place.
Get Your Soil Tested
Get your soil tested by your local garden center, county extension agent or soil conservation service. Find out what kinds of soil you have and then find out if your soils have nutrient or organic deficiencies that fertilization or addition of compost can correct. The soils you have will help determine the plants which can be included in your landscaping plan.
Review the Seven Plant Habitat Components
Review the seven plant components described previously. Which components are already present? Which ones are missing? Remember that you are trying to provide food and cover through all four seasons. Develop a list of plants that you think will provide the missing habitat components.
Talk to Resource Experts
Review this plant list with landscaping resource experts who can match your ideas with your soil types, soil drainage and the plants available through state or private- nurseries. People at the nearby arboretum can help with your selections. At an arboretum you can also see what many plants look like. Talk with local bird clubs, the members of which probably are knowledgeable about landscaping for birds.
Develop Your Planting Plan
Sketch on your map the plants you wish to add. Draw trees to a scale that represents three-fourths of their mature width, and shrubs at their full mature width. This will help you calculate how many trees and shrubs you need. There is a tendency to include so many trees that eventually your yard will be mostly shaded. Be sure to leave open sunny sites where flowers and shrubs can thrive. Decide how much money you can spend and the time span of your project. Don't try to do too much at once. You might try a five-year development plan.
Implement Your Plan
Finally, go to it! Begin your plantings and include your entire family so the can all feel they are helping wildlife. Document your plantings on paper and by photographs. Try taking pictures of your yard from the same spots every year to document the growth of your plants.
Maintain Your Plan
Keep your new trees, shrubs and flowers adequately watered, and keep your planting areas weed-free by use of landscaping film and wood chips or shredded bark mulch. This avoids the use of herbicides for weed control. If problems develop with your plants, consult a local nursery, garden center or county extension agent.
And Finally ...
Make sure to take the time to enjoy the wildlife that will eventually respond to your landscaping efforts.
Protecting Bird Habitat
Each year your state wildlife agency, private conservation groups, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, other federal agencies, and many private landowners and business leaders work together to conserve and manage millions of acres of habitat-swamps, forests, ponds and grasslands. These habitats provide nesting habitat for songbirds and shorebirds, ducks and geese, hawks and owls.
You can make a difference in helping protect habitats for migratory birds by joining Partners in Flight, a consortium of the above groups dedicated to finding reasonable ways to maintain the health of bird populations in the Western Hemisphere.
For more information about Partners in Flight, please contact U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Office of Migratory Bird Management, 4401 North Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22203.
Another way that you can help preserve a disappearing but valuable natural resource-wetlands-is by buying Federal Duck Stamps at your local post office. Money from sales of these stamps is used to protect wetlands. For more information, write U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Federal Duck Stamp Office, 1849 C Street, NW, Washington, DC 20240.
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Additional Readings
A Complete Guide to Bird Feeding. John V Dennis. Alfred A. Knopf, 1994
30 Birds That Will Nest in Birdhouses. R.B. Layton. Nature Book Publishing Company, 1977.
The Birder's Handbook. A Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin and Darryl Wheye. Simon and Schuster, 1988.
American Wildlife and Plants: A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits. A.C. Martin, H.S. Zim and A.L. Nelson. Dover Publications, 1961.
A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs, Nestings of North American Birds. Colin Harrison. Viking Press, 1984.
The Wildlife Gardener. John V Dennis. Alfred A. Knopf, 1985.
A Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Robbins, Bruun, Zim and Singer. Golden Press, 1983.
Trees, Shrubs and Vines for Attracting Birds. Richard De Graff and Gretchen Wit. University of Massachusetts Press, 1979.
Natural Landscaping. Designing with native plant communities. J. and C. Diekelmann. McGraw Hill, 1982.
How to Attract Birds. Michael McKinley Ortho Books, 1983.
Nature's Design. Carol A. Smyser. Rodale Press, 1982.
The Natural History of Wild Shrubs and Vines. Donald W Stokes. The Globe Pequot Press, 1989.
Songbirds in Your Garden. John K Terres. Harper and Row, 1987.
