For the birds

By: Michael Picagli

Gardening for birds is probably one of the most rewarding challenges you will come across when deciding to set up a wildlife garden.
Because of the variety of bird species, each with unique traits, preferences, and courting behavior. You are sure to be pleased. The great news is their natural habit to roam and cover long distances fast. An asset to them, and immediate enjoyment to us!
The best way to start, is to first decide what types of birds you would like to start attracting. Some birds will rival with each other, and it may be wise to consider this. It will also be a good idea to know the birds habits, interests, and preferred climate. A good field guide will provide you with the knowledge you need. I strongly recommend, "Stokes field guide to birds: Eastern Region". Which can be purchased from Amazon.com or Overstock.com. This is the best photo identification field guide available.

Here in New York, we have a great number of birds which visit us not only in spring and summer, but also winter. Over wintering birds can provide us with the very unique challenge of winter gardening. Giving us a way to continue our warm weather interests during the snow laden months. Of course, you will have to really familiarize yourself with plants to truly know what stays alive during the winter besides evergreen trees. But that's your challenge!

With that said, here are some basic bird gardening guidelines.
All birds need three important things. Food, water, and shelter. If you want birds to visit or even make a home in your yard, you must provide at least one of these requirements.

Food: All birds need to eat, and depending on the type of birds you want to attract, you will have to know what they eat. Again, a field guide could help with this.
Basically, the simplest way to attract birds using food is a bird feeder. It's very simple and it works. But we want to exercise your green thumb and use flora to attract them.
As you may know, many birds eat various seeds and berries. But where do these seeds come from? And which plants produce edible berries? You have a lot of choices, and pretty much any edible berry or seed baring plant will do. I'll list just a simple example; most song birds love thistle seeds. So thistle plants should be on your list! That was easy. Cardinals, as another example, will happily eat a vast variety of seeds & berries. And particularly enjoy Safflower and Sunflower seeds. So planting sunflowers and safflowers is a good move as well. These are obvious choices once you know seed types in relation to plants. But for Cardinals, and other birds, you may also want to grow a berry bush or small fruit baring tree. The key with Cardinals is variety. If you introduce the right plants targeting a specific bird, you will see that bird not only visit more frequently, but most likely make a home near or in your yard.
Knowing what different birds eat is essential to knowing what plants to grow.
(Customer notice: See a list of bird food bearing plants in the "Article highlights" section at the bottom of this page).

Water: an extremely important necessity. Birds use water to drink and bathe. Providing a bird bath is the easiest solution. However, since we are Natural Angle "pond" & garden design, we recommend a pond or water feature. And any one with a pond can attest, birds will immediately stop by your pond for a quick refreshing drink or wash. The more water you provide, the better your chances are to see a vast variety of birds. You will really attract birds you probably didn't even know lived in your area!

Shelter: Birds, like all animals, need a place to feel safe. Whether it's their nest home, or just a gathering spot. They want security and cover from predators as well as the elements. Most birds, especially small song birds like sparrows, love to gather into tress and dense vegetation. It will really make them feel safe and for some, a place to commune in a roost. Which is most observed during the colder months. Sparrows are famous for communal roosts, and will pick out a prime spot and come there every winter.
(Customer notice: See a list of shelter providing plants in the "Article highlights" section at the bottom of this page ).

I strongly recommend the Stokes bird field guides. It will provide you with proper identification and information about each birds habits and lifestyle to help you effectively attract the birds you want to see. A few may not be desirable to you, perhaps because they are big or have a habit of driving off other birds.
An infamous bird for extreme territorial behavior is the Northern Mocking bird. They have beautiful voices, but tend to not only chase off other birds, bt also dive bomb pets.
  Another bird you may not like is the Grackle, a large blackbird.
It's a fabulous bird, but travels in flocks, and can eat! Known to be a particular Nuisance to farmers growing corn. If you have a large garden dedicated to bird gardening, they shouldn't cause a real problem. But it may be good practice to avoid providing food that this bird enjoys like sunflower, unfortunately. If anything but to reduce their feeding numbers in your gardens.

The most frequent visitors on Long Island and New York in general will be the European and common sparrows. We just have a lot of them. Also Morning doves, usually they travel in pairs of two and their call can be mistaken for an Owl if you don't know. European starlings can be a common occurrence, theyre ground feeders and will usually be seen feeding in flocks going from yard to yard or in an open land area. A really beautiful bird even if it isn't a native species. As it's name implies, It was introduced here from Europe along with the European sparrow.

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