Olwen Woodier - Attracting birds

by Olwen Woodier

The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers by publishing practical information that encourages personal independence in harmony with the environment.

Cover illustration by Kimberlee T. Knauf
Cover design by Carol J. Jessop (Black Trout Design)

Copyright 1981 by Storey Publishing, LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this bulletin may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages or reproduce illustrations in a review with appropriate credits; nor may any part of this bulletin be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other without written permission from the publisher.

The information in this bulletin is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the author or Storey Publishing. The author and publisher disclaim any liability in connection with the use of this information. For additional information please contact Storey Publishing, 210 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA 01247.

Storey books and bulletins are available for special premium and promotional uses and for customized editions. For further information, please call 1-800-793-9396.

Printed in the United States

Woodier, Olwen

Attracting birds / by Olwen Woodier
A Storey Publishing Bulletin, A-64
ISBN 0-88266-278-3

When I moved with my husband to upstate New York several years ago, I brought along a lifetime interest in bird identification. It was not long before our 1-acre plot, adjoining a small swamp area, meadow, and woods, became the focus of serious back yard bird watching. Our property is particularly attractive to bird life, with well-established ash, dogwood, hickory, juniper, magnolia, maple, oak, spruce, sumac, and many other berry-bearing and nut-bearing trees and shrubs. To these we have added annual and perennial flowers and herbs. The lawn is a compact mass of chickweed, crab-grass, dandelion, dock, plantain, sorrel, wild strawberry, vetch, and vilet. The edges of the woodland and hedgerows are crowded with clover, goldenrod, jewelweed, milkweed, mullein, phlox, and many other wildflowers. It is, indeed, a garden plentiful with natural food for birds in summer and fall.

To enhance natures bounty we have supplied a small pond, birdbaths, well-stocked feeders, and nesting boxes. When we are privileged to witness the birds territorial claims, courtship, nesting, and parenting habits, we feel all our kind and conscientious efforts are worthwhile. Yet, there is a giant bonus in cultivating the friendship of birds. What is not always obvious in the beginning is soon apparent after a summer or two the birds provide a most effective ecological control of insects, weeds, and small rodents in the gardens and orchards. In the spring, with young in the nest, meat-eating birds feed voraciously on the insect and grub population. During late summer and autumn, there are many seed-eaters that do a handsome job of cleaning up the weeds. The result is a naturally healthy garden.

Birds can be attracted to your home if you offer food, water, and shelter. Trees and shrubs that yield fruit, berries, seeds, nuts, and cones will provide food. Tangles of wild plants and dense undergrowth left to thrive in chosen areas of your property, log piles, dead trees, and stacked branches will provide shelter, protection, and natural nesting and roosting sites. Nesting boxes can be secured to trees and posts to attract bluebirds, purple martins, wrens, downy woodpeckers, flickers, robins, and other species. Birdbaths or pools can be built to supply water, and feeders, strategically placed around the yard, will furnish supplementary food for the birds when natural sources diminish. Such pockets of refuge can be created on as little as a quarter-acre plot, and costs for a bird haven can be kept to a minimum.

Growing Giant Sunflowers

Growing giant sunflowers is a thrill that every gardener should enjoy. As you know, they will grow very, very tall sometimes as high as twelve feet or more. If you apply plenty of fertilizer and organic matter when you plant the seed, your sunflowers will grow tall and sturdy. If you want to have early sunflowers, you can start them inside. They are very easy to transplant and can be put right in your corn rows. Sunflowers are one of the few beautiful flowers that produce an edible crop too. Just remember to plan carefully so that they do not shade other sun-loving crops.

Harvest sunflower seeds late in the fall. Cut off the head, leaving about two feet of stem attached to it. Hang these in some dry place where birds and rodents will not find them. A well-ventilated attic is a nearly perfect place for drying sunflowers. Once the heads are good and dry, you can remove the seeds by rubbing them off with a stiff brush. You may find that the ends of the seeds are still a little damp. If they are, they should be spread out on newspaper to dry further.

Dick Raymond, Vegetable Gardening Know-How, Garden Way Publishing

First think about feeding the birds from food supplied by trees and shrubs. Check the listings in this bulletin to find the plant preferences of a variety of birds. For example, cardinals, whose flash of red brightens many a back yard, prefer to feast on seeds and berries and will nest in grape, holly, honeysuckle, juniper, multiflora rose, and willow.

Your vegetable garden will be a source of animal life to a variety of insect-devouring birds, including the voracious purple martins. Compost heaps are also a good source of free food. Daily deposits of vegetable and fruit peelings, chicken skin, meat fat scraps, and bread crusts will attract birds, particularly jays, crows, and starlings (also squirrels and raccoons), thus eliminating these aggressive species from your feeding stations. When forked over daily in early spring, the compost will be a constant source of insects and worms for fledglings.

To keep the birds in your area all year, it is advisable to provide supplementary feedings. Although the countryside has an abundance of food in the summer, most urban and some suburban landscapes are too manicured to supply sufficient grubs, insects, and weed seeds. If this is your problem, stock your feeders year-round, until you have established generous plant life.

Wintertime, everywhere, is another story. Even if there is no snow, the land will yield precious little food. Once you have decided to put up a feeder, it is essential that it is never left empty since your birds will become dependent on your winter feeding. Small birds must start eating at sunrise in order to replace body weight lost each night in their efforts to keep warm. Those that cannot find enough food to refuel sufficiently for the night ahead will die. If you leave on vacation and your feeders do not hold an adequate supply, ask a neighbor to keep them filled.

While the birds are feasting free in your yard during the summer, you can grow and gather food for the winter. Dried grains, seeds, nuts, berries, and ears of corn harvested in the autumn can be saved for a midwinter treat. Sunflower seeds are a particular favorite of birds and are very easy to grow. To harvest the seeds for later use and prevent the birds from quickly devouring your entire crop, tie a piece of plastic mesh (an orange bag saved for this purpose works well) around the stem of the growing sunflower and wrap it around the seed head.