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Attract Birds - Housing
Attract Birds - Trees
Attract Birds - Shrubs, Plants
Attract
birds
Prepare for Spring
The Limber Gardener - Stretching Exercises
Attract Birds Intro
Attract Butterflies
Plants
for Birds and Butters spreadsheet |
Birds need
relatively few things to be happy - food, lodging, water, and
cover. The best way to make sure your winged guests keep
coming back is to create a suitable habitat. They want dense
vegetation that provides a variety of food, shelter against bad
weather and predators, a place to nest, and a year-round source of
water
Make your garden inviting to birds, and they'll reward you with
their song and presence year round. The bright colors of
cardinals, bluejays, grosbeaks, and chickadees are one way to really
"decorate" and cheer up your garden in winter!
For an extensive list of plants that attract birds and butterflies,
download our handy spreadsheet with many types of bird
and butterfly attracting plants. It can be sorted by plant
type, bloom time, color, etc. Note you will have to print it
out to see the legend. Use legal size paper, landscape
orientation. |
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Eating
Like a Bird
 Ideally,
our favorite birds prefer natural foods - seeds, nectar, insects, and
fruit. These should be augmented with a well-filled feeder or two,
containing seed that attracts the type of birds you want, like the
Woodpecker Feeder
at left.
Most seed
mixes contain seeds that our native songbirds dislike, and they toss them
on the ground out of the way. There, they promptly sprout and infest
your garden with unwanted volunteer plants. Even shells from the
unshelled sunflower seeds can cause a problem because they are very acid,
and can actually harm the pH balance of your soil.
One
of the best seeds for most song birds is cracked sunflower seed.
It's usually a mix of regular and the high oil sunflower seeds - with no
shells!. It's a bit more costly, but there is no waste - and no
weeding of sunflower plants from out of the garden either. These
work well in all the different kinds of feeders. Tube-type feeders
like the
Fortress Triple Tube Squirrel Proof Feeder
 at
right save the seed for the birds!
 Niger
seed is another excellent variety for attracting the smaller birds, as
well as mourning doves. These require special tube feeders that will
not allow the tiny seed to escape.
It
is critical in winter to keep the feeders filled. Birds have a fast
metabolic rate, and without adequate food, will weaken and die quickly,
especially in a very cold spell.
Suet balls
and feeders like the
Lock And Key Suet Feeder
 at left are a good winter addition, as the extra fat helps
replace the birds' metabolic reserves.
 Woodpeckers,
chickadees and other birds that remain through the winter prefer
suet. Specially treated suet is now available that will not go
rancid even in hot summer months. There are varieties impregnated
with various seeds, peanuts, insects and fruit, too - something for
everyone's tastes!
Orioles and
cedar waxwings prefer fruit. Sliced oranges on a tray will attract
them!Try a feeder like the
Recycled Plastic Fruit Feeder
at
right for orioles.
Hummingbirds of course, love nectar, which should be changed
daily in hot weather. There's nothing sadder than a tipsy hummer
who's had a bit too much fermented nectar from a batch that sat in the sun
too long.
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