Birdscaping: Creating a Backyard Habitat for Birds

                If you enjoy observing nature, there are several ways you can enhance your yard to make it more inviting for wildlife.  Regardless of size, any yard can become a haven for birds with careful plant selection and placement.  With a few easy steps, you can invite birds into your yard and enjoy the many benefits of habitat gardening.  

Layering for a Safe Habitat

                A wide, flat expanse of green lawn is a dead zone for nature.  A safe habitat provides various heights and levels of plants to protect birds from predators and provide cover against harsh weather.   Shrubs of short and medium height, especially evergreens, provide cover and nesting sites for many birds.  Tall  trees provide protection and nesting for a variety of songbirds and migrating birds.  Even dead trees are beneficial for birds that eat insects and nest in cavities.  Planting one tree or shrub is a start, but planting a grouping of plants of various heights is ideal.    

Planting Natives for Food

                There are hundreds of plants from all over the world available for purchase so the best way to narrow down the selection is to choose native plants.  The birds in Virginia have co-evolved over time with plants available in this area.  Plants from China or the tropics may look nice, but native plants provide food for a wide variety of wildlife.  Native plants are also proven to grow in Virginia’s soil and climate so are more likely to thrive in your yard.  Nonnatives offer little food for wildlife and can also become invasive.  In the past, many homeowners planted Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense) for privacy hedges, a plant the U.S.D.A. now lists as “very invasive” because it has escaped cultivation, spreads rapidly and threatens our native landscape.  Alternatively, a homeowner could plant wax myrtle (Morella cerifera) for a privacy hedge.  It is a native evergreen that offers protection from predators, and birds love the small berries available in winter when food supplies are limited.  Here are just a few native shrubs and trees that will look good in your yard, are easy to grow, and provide berries and food for birds and other wildlife:

Dogwood (Cornus florida)

Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)

Serviceberry (Amelanchier spp)

Crabapples (Malus spp)

Black Cherry (Prunus serotina)

Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana)

Oaks (Quecus spp)

Mulberry (Morus rubra)

                In addition to trees and shrubs that provide food, birds are attracted to the seeds of many native flowers.  Enhance your garden and bird habitat by planting purple coneflowers (Echinacea pupurea), sunflowers (Healianthus spp), coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata)), black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta) and bee balm, (Monarda didyma).  A flower garden of native plants is an inviting buffet for birds as well as butterflies and other insects, including important pollinators. 

Fresh Water

                Birds need water to survive, but they also use water for bathing and to remove parasites.  A birdbath will attract birds to your yard but it must be properly maintained by keeping it filled and clean.  Keep a scrub brush near your garden hose so that you can clean your birdbath when you refill it.  Place your birdbath in a shady spot near a tree or shrub that will provide protection from predators.  And, place it near a window so you can watch all the activity.

Homeowner Benefits

                By feeding and protecting birds, you are playing an important part in wildlife conservation.  You are providing a habitat at a time when widespread development is eliminating wildlife habitats in many areas.  At the same time, you, as a homeowner, will benefit in many ways.  Birds are fun to watch, especially during nesting season.  And, birds are also very beneficial at controlling insects in your yard.  Some birds feed solely on insects, but all birds, even seed-eating birds, catch insects to feed their young.  Birds will consume a variety of insects and spiders throughout the spring and summer.  Watching backyard birds is also a great way to teach your children about the environment and the importance of wildlife conservation. 

 

Thrashers, Eastern Towhees and Purple Finches are among the birds that love beautyberries.

 

Cardinals, Bluebirds, Cedar Waxwings and many others enjoy dogwood berries.

 

Butterflies and pollinators love purple coneflowers, and  Goldfinches devour the seeds.