Saturday, August 05, 2006

Creating a bird-friendly garden

The keys are shelter, proper food, and water

Abby and Ken Crouch adore wild birds, so when they bought a 1/3-acre lot in Portland a few years ago, they resolved to make it a bird sanctuary par excellence. They accomplished this by designing a landscape with bird-friendly plants, well-stocked feeders, and a constant water source. The garden now draws dozens of species of birds, from hummingbirds to flickers.

Plants for the birds

Trees, shrubs, perennials, and vines provide nesting space, seasonal food, and safe haven from predators. In the Crouches' garden, large evergreens, English boxwoods, and deciduous plants conceal many nests and provide cover from enemies.

Mountain ashes, crabapple trees, and a pear tree provide fruit in season, while trumpet vines and such flowering perennials as penstemon and sage supply nectar that sustains hummingbirds.

When trees die, the Crouches leave them standing so that birds such as flickers and chickadees can feed on the insects that invade the dead wood. Dead branches also make perfect perches for resting birds and are good places to hang feeders.

Food and feeders

Because different birds eat different foods, the Crouches put out several types of feed.

BLACK OIL SUNFLOWER and niger thistle seeds bring in seed-eaters such as evening grosbeaks, goldfinches, house finches, pine siskins, purple finches, scrub jays, and Steller's jays. The Crouches fill hanging tubular feeders with these seeds.

MILLET, favored by rufous-sided towhees and white- and golden-crowned sparrows, is scattered on an elevated platform feeder.

SUET draws insect-eaters such as chickadees, flickers, jays, and nut-hatches.

SUGAR WATER is the beverage of choice for hummingbirds. Mix a solution of 1 part white granulated sugar (sucrose) with 4 parts water. Bring the solution to a boil, then let it cool before filling the feeder. Change the solution every two to three days in summer, washing the feeder out with hot water between fillings.

Water

The Crouches installed a ready-made bubbling pool. It's used by most of the birds, which bathe in the water all year long. However, the main job of the pool is to slake birds' thirst, not only on hot summer days but also in winter when natural sources of water may freeze solid. The water in the Crouches' pool circulates constantly so it freezes only around the edges.


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