Attract birds into your garden

Establishing a mini sanctuary in your back-garden will attract a plethora of birdlife for your viewing pleasure and is a relatively simple task. The task comprises of supplying the birds with three basic requirements for survival: food, water and cover.

Providing food

To birds, the typical suburban landscape resembles an inhospitable and hostile place with cropped lawns, sheared foundation shrubs, and deadheaded flowers mean no place to nest, no food to eat, and nowhere to hide. To produce a landscape that supplies birds with a year-round food supply, you need to plant an assortment of plant species that provide food throughout the year, such as seeds, berries, nuts.

To do this successfully, you will need to plant a diverse selection of plants to ensure a variety of food sources that produce food throughout each of the four seasons. Deciduous plants (whose leaves drop off in winter) generally bear the most fruit, nuts, and seeds, and they offer shady, leafy nesting sites in the spring and summer. Evergreen plants (which bear leaves throughout the year) offer a good source of berries and seed-filled cones, as well as year-round shelter, protection, and breeding sites.

Before you start, it is advisable to take an inventory of what is already growing in your garden – you may already have a number of trees, flowers, and shrubs that are attractive to various species of birds. Plan to supplement these with indigenous trees, shrubs, and vines. There are numerous books that will let you know which bird species are attracted to which plants. Also, reduce the lawn area of your garden – wide expanses of turf grass are sterile habitats attracting less desirable "generalist" species, such as pigeons for example, which compete with the indigenous species for food and nesting spots.

Organic gardening is another essential ingredient in any landscape that welcomes birds. One reason is that organic gardens are teeming with insects and other organisms that birds enjoy. Birds will help control garden pests and insects, such as gnats and mosquitoes. Instead of waging war against pests and diseases with an arsenal of chemicals, organic gardening nudges the ecosystem into a healthy balance. It is also very important to avoid the use of pesticides, as they generally tend to remove all insects, which serve as the prey base for insectivorous birds, and by eating a poisoned insect, the bird will also be poisoned and die. Indigenous planting reduces the need for pesticide use, as they are generally resistant to local pests and diseases.

Plant an abundance of grasses and consider letting your garden go to seed rather than dead-heading flowers and removing spent plants. Indigenous plants are ideal choices as they are familiar and accepted as food sources, shelter, and nest sites by the indigenous birdlife. Indigenous fruits and berries are nutritious, and they ripen on a schedule that coincides with nesting and migration times of the birds.

Providing water

A shallow, rough-bottomed pool of still water with a depth between 2,5cm and 5cm is ideal. To accommodate smaller birds, it is advisable to add a few stones that stick out of the water for them to land on. To guarantee birds a sure footing, the texture of the birdbath ought to be rough, ideally achieved by including sand, stones, pebbles or concrete. The birdbath should also deepen very gradually, and not exceed 5cm in depth.

Position the birdbath in a sunny position, away from trees and shrubs. That way bathing birds can keep an eye out for predators and will have time to fly for cover. If cats roam your neighborhood, avoid close shrubs and overhanging limbs which will give the cats cover for watching the birds. Ponds, garden streams or water features are all good alternatives to a bird bath, and the sound of gently moving water is extremely attractive to both our ears and to birds.

Providing protective cover

The majority of birds rarely stray far from dense cover, because their lives depend upon quick evasion. Areas dense with weeds or brush are frequently occupied by birds. Protective cover is also vital when birds are sleeping or waiting out bad weather. Dense plants shelter roosting birds from predators and wind and rain. To create an effective barrier from the elements; which is also rich in food and ideal for nesting sites, mix in smaller trees and shrubs along the protected side. Add beds of perennials and annuals in front of that, for seeds and nectar. Look at the conditions that prevail in your area to determine which habitat you want to emulate – whether it is wet and shade-loving, or sunny and dry.

Providing food sources

Supplemental bird feeding will guarantee year-round bird watching enjoyment. Here are some ideas of what to provide for your garden birds: