Want To Attract More Songbirds To Your Garden? There are four important factors to consider, food, shelter, water, and foliage. You can find Part 1 on Food ◄ here. Today we focus on the second factor, shelter.
#2 Shelter For The Birds
If you want to have a bevy of birds, songbirds or otherwise, in your backyard, you need trees and shrubs. Large trees offer a place to hide, protection from storms, and a place for some birds to build nests. A bare yard with no trees, shrubs, or flowers will not entice a population of birds.
These baby doves were in a nest in the river birch in our front yard. Dove parents build their nests 5 – 25 feet off the ground. This crotch of the tree is about 10-feet off the ground. The female dove sat on the nest all night and the male dove took the day shifts.
Dense evergreens offer protection from winter weather and a place for some birds to build nests. Some birds also feed on the seeds from the cones. The tufted titmice we have, live in the large spruce growing near our house. They are here year round. I love these little birds!
Cardinals, juncos, wrens, and finches build their nests in shrubs and low growing trees. Some other birds will build their first nests of the season in evergreen shrubs. Those will provide good cover before the broad-leafed trees have their leaves.
Birds also need nesting materials. Clearing away all the dead grasses and the annual and perennial foliage in your yard in the fall is not a good thing for the birds. We have alyssum in the flower beds. Each spring, I see numerous birds tugging on the thin dried stems and carrying them away in their beaks for their spring nests.
The baby wrens above were in a nest built in the wall planter on the patio. ◄ Burlap Liner how-to. It’s about 4-1/2 feet from the ground. The wrens made the nest in the dead and dried annuals from the previous year. They have been doing this for a few years!
Fruit trees are a great addition to your landscape and great for the birds. The spring buds are eaten by some birds. The spring flowers attract insects, which can be food for the birds, and then some birds will eat the fruit the trees provide. Some trees to consider would be the crabapple, (my favorite), the chokecherry, mulberry, and holly.
You can also add a birdhouse
to your backyard. That is on my project list for this year. (We are an Amazon affiliate and may receive a small percentage of any sales through this link at no cost to you. Thanks for supporting this website!)
Features of a Good Birdhouse – Give a Bird a Home!
We’re often looking for ways we can improve the garden and in this infographic, Capital Garden Services looks at adding a birdhouse into the mix. It’s, of course, a great way to attract birds to the garden but it is also a really fun little DIY project. If you are building a birdhouse make sure it’s well constructed as it’s going to be a bird’s home after all! Be sure to use untreated wood such as cedar and use galvanized screws for the best seal.
Another important factor is protecting the birds since there are always going to be some predators. Chipmunks, raccoons, and even your own cat can attack the nest if it’s not protected. Mount your birdhouse on a pole or a tree at least 10-feet off the ground and 10 feet away from buildings and rooftops where a predator could jump from them to the birdhouse!
A roof that overhangs the front of the birdhouse by at least 6-inches will keep cats and raccoons from being able to reach inside the hole from above. A metal stove pipe or a piece of metal air duct attached to the pole underneath the house will keep squirrels from climbing the pole.
Another way to keep predators out of the birdhouse is to attach a piece of sheet metal with a hole cut to the same size as the opening. It will keep other bigger birds and squirrels from enlarging the hole and giving them access.
If you don’t want the hassle of building a birdhouse there are other things you can do to attract birds to the garden. Find out more in this great infographic.
A special thank you goes out to Capital Garden Services for sending this informative visual to share with everyone!
