You may have wondered about the familiar birds that traverse through your yard or visit your feeder.
Where do they nest? Where do they go at night? Can they find enough natural food in the suburbs? You can help birds with your garden choices.
This doesn’t mean you have to rip out your existing landscaping (unless you have invasives like purple loosestrife, winged euonymus aka burning bush or barberry – those need to go) but when you do add plantings, think native. These are plants that are adapted for our climate and soils and supply the best food resources.
What you are trying to create is a habitat. Habitat is the layers of plants from towering shade trees down to ground covers that birds and wildlife have adapted to utilize. The importance of these plants cannot be overstated.
They provide food, cover, nesting sites and often a combination of resources. Birds rely on the larder that nature provides from native plants. At different times of the year fruits, seeds, nuts and an array of insects are on the table.
Native trees and shrubs also provide shelter, protection from the weather, safe nesting sites along with nest material, perches from which to survey, and safe places to sleep or wait out a storm.
Some birds and butterflies can only feed on a particular native plant with which they have co-evolved. Many birds prefer dense plantings. If you have room, make part of your yard a thicket with understory trees and shrubs. Evergreens like juniper, holly, spruce, fir, pine, and hemlock give important shelter and nesting opportunities.
A tree with a cavity or the snag of a dead tree will provide food and shelter if it’s in a safe location. The plants already in your yard will give you clues to your soil chemistry and moisture, and light conditions.
A variety of species will mimic the layers of natural habitat and provide a season long display of flowers, colorful berries and fall color. This is a just a sample list. There are native plants adapted to every soil and light condition.
Small Trees and Shrubs: Serviceberry (Amelanchier), Chokeberry (Aronia), Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), Hollies – need male and female for fruit (Ilex); Inkberry (I. glabra), American Holly (I. opaca), Winterberry (I. verticillata), Viburnums; Arrowwood (V. dentatum), Nannyberry (V. lentago), Black Haw (V. prunifolium), Highbush Cranberry (V. trilobum)
Perennials: Aster sp., Coreopsis sp., Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium fistulosum), Blue flag iris (Iris versicolor), Blazing star (Liatrus spicata), Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), Bee balm (Monarda didyma), Wild bergamot (M. fistulosa) Horsemint (M. punctata), Black-eyed Susan (Redbeckia hirta), NY Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis), Phlox sp. Grasses: Big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), Broom sedge (Andropogon virginicus), Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans) Vines: Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)
There are many places you can go to see native plants demonstration gardens to get ideas; Planting Fields, Clark Botanic Gardens, Garvies Point Preserve, the Native Plant Center at Westchester Community College, the New York Botanical Gardens, and the Highline are a few.
My Audubon chapter has made small demonstration gardens locally and provides online resources northshoreaudubon.org/use-native-plants/. There are online plant lists that will give you options.
Long Island Native Plant Initiative www.linpi.org/native-plant-fact-sheets/, Cooperative Extensions https://blogs.cornell.edu/ccesuffolkligardening/category/native-plants/, Audubon Native Plant Initiative www.audubon.org/native-plants.
Another critical resource is water. From a simple saucer birdbath to a habitat pond, fresh water is a key element to survival, especially in the winter and times of drought. Birds need water to drink, to bathe in to keep their feathers in good condition and to keep cool in the summer.
The best birdbaths are gently sloping, have a rough bottom for footing and no more than two inches of water. Birdbath heaters will attract birds all winter long. Yes, they will bathe even in very cold weather so fill the bath with pebbles so only a shallow amount of water is available – wet birds in winter can freeze.
Keep baths away from low undergrowth where a cat might lurk. Wet birds don’t fly well. Nearby trees or bushes will allow birds to escape from predators and safely preen and dry. Change the water in a shallow bath daily for hygiene, since birds drink and bathe in the same water, and mosquito control.
Birds are especially attracted to moving water. Small misters or fountains will draw a crowd. Water dripping from a hole in an old bucket hung over the bath will do the trick inexpensively.
If you have a pond, place a textured rock at the edge about one inch underwater. A safe spot to perch by a waterfall will be popular. Goldfish or Koi will keep your pond free of mosquito larva. If you don’t have fish or a good water-circulating pump, use Bt mosquito dunks.
Suburban landscapes tend to run to monocultures of lawns, a small selection of hedge shrubs, and some tropical annuals for seasonal color, mostly non-native and the bird equivalent of a food desert. Even small changes can enhance the beauty of your yard and help birds and wildlife survive and thrive.
