For the Birds

There were two dozen – yes, really – goldfinches at my bird feeder the other afternoon, about a third of which were females and the rest males. Their vibrant yellow feathers, struck by the golden rays of the setting sun, made quite a spectacular sight. This got me thinking about another aspect of a natural garden: wildlife.

We have talked about native plants and how they can help in creating a successful coastal garden. But we shouldn’t overlook wildlife in the garden and how attracting native birds can be almost as positive an action as using native plants.

< Ruby-crowned kinglet - an annual visitor

The kinds of birds you draw will naturally depend on where you live. We are a short walk to the beach but also close to the Coastal Range so we see the best of both worlds. We have been fortunate enough to see everything from the house finches to chickadees, pine siskins, golden-crowned sparrows and hummingbirds (both the rufous and the Anna’s). We have grosbeaks, cowbirds, and fox sparrows at certain times of the year, too. Not to mention the resident bald eagle family and an occasional sawwhet owl. We have only recently seen hairy woodpeckers but our flickers are frequent visitors as are downy and pileated woodpeckers. Some of my favorites are the cedar waxwings which are only here for as short time as they migrate. And it goes without saying that the pelicans, gulls, cormorants, and robins are commonly found here, too.

I try to encourage all the birds except the red-tail hawk that comes in now and then to hunt at the feeders. The little birds are a treat to watch but they also serve the purpose of keeping the insect population under control. We have slugs and although birds are supposed to eat them, I have yet to see a bird with a slug in its mouth. But they do eat the European crane flies and mosquitoes, so I would encourage the birds for no other reason than that.

One of the easiest ways to attract birds is with plants (and native plants bring in native birds) that will provide the food they need. For hummingbirds, this will consist of red or other brightly colored flowers that have a trumpet-shaped throat. A good example is fuchsia or cardinal flower. Hummers like to dip their long, curved beaks into the trumpets of these plants to collect the nectar. But I have also seen hummingbirds at flat-topped flowers like purple coneflower, too.

Sunflowers will draw a large variety of birds such as the finches, juncos, red-winged blackbirds, and sparrows. I do not have enough space or sun for the six or seven-foot tall sunflowers, but some of the dwarf varieties are pretty and draw the birds as much as their giant cousins.

If you don’t want to plant flowers to draw birds, feeders are a great alternative. And here, again, the sunflower seeds are a big hit. My feeders are designed in such a way that the larger birds such as the Stellar’s Jay can’t get into the spaces to eat all the seed. This also makes the feeders squirrel-resistant. (Notice I did not say “squirrel-proof.”) We get the cracked sunflower seeds at the local feed store. It is a bit more expensive, but there is not as much waste, nor do you have a lot of shells to clean up from the ground. We also have an area where we can spread some seed on the wall for the jays.

Our feeders are in an area where there are lots of places for the birds to fly into for shelter in the case of an invading cat or raccoon. The birds feel very safe among the blackberries, so we leave a nice stand for them. We also share the berries when they come ripe.

Our bird-feeding area also has a nice birdbath with a shallow bowl as they don’t like ones that are too deep. This means I fill it as least once a day in sunny weather. And there is usually a waiting line for it. Bird watching can be very entertaining but I have yet to figure out the hierarchy of who drinks or bathes first and who goes last.

There is a lot of discussion on whether we should feed the birds in the summer when they have lots of other food sources. We are of the school that once they get used to coming to eat, it would be hard to remove that food source, so we do feed year ‘round. But that is our personal choice. And I find I enjoy them more in the summer as they are all in their finest feathers then.

While we are on the topic of birds, the other day I was watching a couple of small birds attack a hawk and realized they were guarding their family and luring the hawk away from their nest. It’s one thing to call a lion brave; he is at the top of his food chain. To watch a mother or father bird defend their hatchlings against a bird that is ten or fifteen times their own size is quite another scale of bravery and one to which I could only aspire.