Attracting backyard birds

Today's nature calendar task:

Write to National Parks of Canada, Ottawa, for "Attracting Birds with food and Water" and Bird Houses and their Occupants".

Well, this nature calendar was written in the 1940's, so I'm not sure if the National Parks system of Canada still have these books / pamphlets available. There is no need for them, however, since we have the world at our fingertips thanks to the internet. How to attract birds is a comprehensive site, check out their links too. They have a good section at the end about attracting butterflies as well.

Goldfinch, April 2008

Today's task has me thinking about some changes I could make to our yard. It is already fairly bird friendly, but there are always things you can do. Here are my rambling thoughts on improving our yard:

We have five bird feeders in our yard. Three have black oil sunflower seeds, one has nyger seed for the goldfinches, and we have one suet feeder. Perhaps I could add a peanut feeder, although I suspect it will just feed my resident squirrel population.

A bird bath would also be a nice addition. We used to have a small pond in our yard, and the sound of running water attracted a lot of birds. I had to fill it in when I couldn't supervise the backyard enough with the kids.

Cardinal, May 2008

I have many native asters planted in my yard. This year I didn't get around to cutting them down after they died and I left the dead stalks and flower heads all winter. I actually saw some goldfinches hanging off my asters eating the seeds. It was delightful. I'll do that again next year.

I have one swamp milkweed plant, and I would like to plant more milkweed. I do see monarchs at this plant in the summer.

My garden is sadly lacking in evergreens, which provide cover for the birds in the winter. I have a very small shady yard though, and it is difficult to imagine where I could put one.

Rose breasted grosbeak, May 2008

At one point in the 'How to attract birds' article they mention using splashes of colour to attract birds. Do large brightly coloured plastic ride on toys count?

We don't have any bird houses in our yard, that would be another interesting project.

I also need to think again about the bay window in my yard. We have had a number of birds collide with the glass. Last year a black and white warbler died from crashing into that window.

The article mentioned having a brush pile, which is something I hadn't thought of. It is an easy and inexpensive way to create more bird habitat.

Anyways, those are just a few thoughts from the top of my head. I think I'll have the kids help me create a brush pile right away. The other ideas will get incorporated into my garden plans for this summer.