Do you love the sound of cheerful chirping songbirds in the morning? Do you enjoy backyard bird watching? These are good reasons to create bird-friendly yards. If you want to encourage birds in your yard, here are a few tips to help them out in the winter months.
Tip #1: Put out a bird feeder
While baby birds need insects, many adult birds rely on seeds during the winter months. There has been debate about whether bird feeders are good for birds, but a recent ÐÔ°®ÎåÉ«Ìì, Reno Chickadee Cognition Lab study found no negative impacts to supplemental feeding when proper food is used.
Make sure to put out foods that the birds would commonly find in nature, such as pine nuts or black-oil sunflower seeds. Don’t include “junk food” such as bacon grease or bread products.
Place feeders in locations not easily accessed by predators or too close to windows.
Be sure to regularly clean out your feeders and sanitize them to reduce the potential for spreading disease.
If possible, grow plants that provide food for birds instead of using bird feeders.
Tip #2: Provide a heated birdbath
Birds need access to clean water to drink, and in the winter months, it is helpful if they have access to a water source that doesn’t freeze over. So if you have the opportunity to install a heated bird bath, this can be a big help to birds during the winter months.
Tip #3: Plant native plants
Research by the University of Delaware and Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center suggests that you aim for at least 70% native plants in your yard to help support native insects and birds.
Native plants are the best choice for providing food for birds. Native plants support native insect populations because they have coevolved together. For example, it is estimated that 90% of moth and butterfly caterpillars depend on a specific native plant or group of native plants as their food source. Since birds are so dependent on caterpillars as a food source, they also need the native plants.
Some Nevada native plants that provide good food sources for caterpillars include:
- Chokecherry
- Desert peach
- Bitterbrush
- Gambel oak
- Desert mallows
Many native plants also provide seeds and berries for birds. A few to consider for Nevada include:
- Seeds - Common sunflower, sagebrush and rabbitbrush.
- Berries - Wild rose, thimbleberry, snowberry, currants, chokecherry, Oregon grape, serviceberry, sumac and buffaloberry.
Tip #4: Leave some leaves or a brush pile
Leaves and brush piles create complexity in the landscape with different niches and overwintering habitats for different creatures, including birds and beneficial insects. Birds often forage through leaf and brush piles to find food and also seek out shelter from them. Just remember to remove these flammable materials before fire season.
Tip #5: Leave dormant plants over the winter
It is enticing to keep a clean and tidy yard, and many of us rush to trim out dead materials and clean up in the fall. However, things like old sunflowers and ornamental grasses can provide seeds as winter food sources for birds. Think twice before pruning and cleaning everything out in the fall. Plus, this may add some seasonal visual interest to your yard during the cold months.
Free pest control
By encouraging birds in your yard, you’ll gain an excellent source of pest control.
A recent found that it takes more than 5,000 caterpillars to raise a clutch of Carolina chickadees! While adult birds feed on many different food sources, baby birds need a high-protein diet that consists almost entirely of insects and caterpillars (or other insect larvae).
That means you want to recruit this momma bird to your pest management team!
For more reading on attracting birds to your yard through bird-friendly gardening, check out these .
To learn more about gardening and controlling pests in the home garden, visit Extension's website or contact in your county.
About the author
coordinates ’s and . She has a unique background in landscape architecture and environmental education.
She’s a Nevada Licensed Landscape Architect and has a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies with an emphasis in education from San Jose State University. She has over 15 years of experience working for non-profits and environmental consulting firms, providing project management and community environmental education programming, including on water conservation, watershed management, weed education and urban runoff prevention.
Extension is a unit of the University's College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources engaged in Nevada communities, presenting research-based knowledge to address critical community needs. It is a county-state-federal partnership providing practical education to people, businesses and communities.
