Gardening for Birds: 6 Ways to Create a Year-Round Bird-Friendly Backyard

Attracting birds takes more than a feeder. Birds need food 365 days a year. Benefits: birdsong joy, natural pest control (one swallow eats hundreds of bugs daily).

Six Birdscaping Tips

1. Diverse plantings – seeds, fruits, berries, nectar, insects, caterpillars, worms, spiders. More diversity = more bird species.
2. Shelter & nesting sites – pines and dense conifers block wind, provide cover, nesting spots.

3. Bird-friendly trees – natives: oak, cedar, birch, maple, choke cherry, serviceberry. Ornamentals: crabapple, cherry, mulberry, holly, mountain ash.

4. Native shrubs – food suited to local birds, adds understory cover.
5. Perennials & annuals for birds – open-faced flowers or upright seed heads = easy access.
6. Garden organically – eliminate pesticide poisoning risk.

Extra Practices

• Delay pruning if birds are nesting.
• Leave seed heads standing for winter food.
• Allow some wild areas for shelter.
• Leave dead trees (if safe) for cavity nesters and insect foraging.

Birds reward you with pest control and a year-round haven. Gardening really is for the birds!

By Robin Sweetser