Take Care of our Feathered Friends
Living on the East Coast I know that spring has arrived when the robins return to our neighborhood. I also enjoy hearing the song of the cardinal, the state bird of Virginia, permeating through the air while I’m working in the yard. It always makes me stop what I am doing and take a moment to see if I can find out where that beautiful song is coming from. Sometimes it feels like the birds are actually keeping me company and while I enjoy the beauty that they bring to my yard they serve a much more important function in the garden.
Birds are great to have around because they eat a lot of harmful insects. Cardinals, for example, eat grasshoppers, snails and the dreaded stink bug! Even the simple sparrow gets into the act by eating caterpillars and beetles. These insects help the birds feed their young and help keep these insects from making a meal out of your garden! In recent years we’ve heard stories about a decline in bee populations. Well, birds also help out the bees by pollinating your flowers and vegetables. Finally, have you ever wondered how that flower that you enjoyed last year ended up on the other side of the yard this year? You guessed it; the birds probably helped transport the seed of that plant to its new home.
As a gardener there are many things you can do to help attract birds to your yard. The first thing you can do is help provide food for the birds. You can of course do this by setting up bird feeders and filling it with seed or throwing bread out on the lawn for the birds to eat. Better yet, why not grow plants that can feed the birds? Many birds are seed eaters and I’ve feed the goldfinches in my yard for years by planting coneflowers and black-eyed susans. When these flowers ripen into a seed pod the finches go to town on them! You can also grow shrubs and trees that have berries such as holly and dogwood and the birds would happily eat raspberries and blackberries if you don’t mind sharing some with them.
Just like us the second thing that birds need is water. They need it to drink and to bathe and if the water is moving that is even better. Bird baths, fountains and ponds can serve a dual purpose in the garden. Not only do they provide us with something unique to catch our eye in the garden but they also provide the water needed by the birds. Finally, birds also need cover for nesting purposes and for protection from the weather. Shrubs such as Ilex and Viburnum and trees such as spruces and the Bradford Pear provide the cover and nesting sites needed to attract all types of birds to your yard. Using plants and trees native to your area is a good way to ensure that you provide good cover for the birds.
As you can see birds play an important role in the health of our garden environments. If you would like more information about bringing birds to your garden the Audubon Society website, www.audubon.org is a great resource for all things related to our feathered friends.
