Polk County Master Gardeners
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Bird Habitat
Bird feeders are not enough to attract birds to your yard. They need
food, yes, but they also must have shelter and water. And a lot of the things
you can do to make your yard an attractive home for birds involves doing LESS
work, not more.
Leave as much natural habitat for birds as you can within the confines of a
city lot, if that is where you live. Bushy shrubs and small trees with lots of
places for a bird to hide will help. They not only need a place to build a nest,
they need safe resting places where hawks and cats cannot get to them. That is
why you see so many cardinals and mockingbirds as you drive down a road bordered
with overgrown shrubs and tangled vines.
Dead trees should be removed only if they are likely to fall on your car,
your house, or your head. Cavity creating birds, like woodpeckers, will make
homes in them and eat the insects they find under the bark. Next year,
bluebirds, chickadees, titmice, and others that like cavities but cannot create
them, will move in. Sometimes a good solution is to remove large limbs that are
in danger of falling, but leave the main trunk as a bird apartment house.
Make a brush pile instead of burning dead limbs and other brush. Yes, I know
a brush pile will not help you qualify for most beautiful yard of the month, but
you can put it behind the garage or somewhere else out of sight. The birds will
use it for building nests and for hiding and resting. You will also attract more
earthbound creatures like rabbits and raccoons. If B’rer Rabbit cannot find a
briar patch, he just might settle for your brush pile.
A creek running through the yard would be ideal, but they are sometimes in
short supply. You can build your own miniature trickle with a basin at the
bottom, a pottery jar at the top, some rocks in between, and a pump to move the
water from the bottom to the top. Even if it does not lower the temperature in
July and August, the sound of the water will make you feel cooler.
After you have made a place for the birds to hide, given them water to drink,
and made some housing available, it is time to think of feeders and of putting
in a bird supermarket. Most wild birds get less than 20 percent of their food
from feeders, so consider planting trees and shrubs that have berries, flowers
to provide nectar for hummingbirds, and plants that attract the insects the
birds like to eat. If you have access to the Internet, check out
www.windstar.org
for a wealth of information about what to plant and how to do it.
Then sit back with binoculars in hand and enjoy the show.
By Barbara M. Tobias
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