THE WHYS AND WHEREFORES OF ATTRACTING BIRDS (10/26/01)

What would a yard be like if it weren’t filled with birdlife? It would not only lack most bird songs and calls but also the bustle that birds create as they fly from one source of food to another. Yesterday, as I was hanging out clothes in our backyard, I struck me that one of the reasons why I always enjoy that task is that it takes me to where there is always something to listen to and something to watch.

The clotheslines are adjacent to our vegetable and flower gardens (not to mention attendant weeds!) which I noticed were alive with catbirds, song sparrows, robins, a purple finch, house finches and goldfinches. Not singing as they did in the spring, they were nevertheless chirping, chucking and chittering as they gleaned seeds and insects. Blue jays and crows were overhead, commenting on life in general and who knows what in particular.

We have worked hard to attract and keep birds in our yard. We provide a “lawnmower-free zone” in which several brush piles serve as shelters from both harsh weather and predators. Tall grasses and weeds — especially pokeweed, mullein and Queen Anne’s lace that will produce fruits and copious seed heads — grow profusely. Mountain ash, red cedar, staghorn sumac, mulberries, wild grapes, elderberries and wild cherries offer a variety of sizes, shapes and species for the birds’ feeding, hiding, courting and nesting — and for our esthetic pleasure.

We encourage native vegetation, such as poison ivy, honeysuckle (not the highly invasive Japanese species), rosa rugosa, and discourage the exotic Oriental bittersweet and black swallow wort. Actually, it has always surprised me how birds will seek out natural food of flower and weeds even when our feeders are stocked with a variety of seeds. Our oaks have been especially prolific with their acorns this fall, keeping the squirrels away from our feeders and also offering jays a fresh source of food, which, they ,too, squirrel away.

We also maintain several sources of water for the birds. One is fed by a slow drip that splashes onto rocks and then pools in a black plastic basin. The chickadees like to catch the drip right from the fountain head, but others are willing to drink and bathe in the water below. Our other bath is a standard round concrete specimen that sits on the ground not far from the feeders and is sheltered by a Norway spruce. A few rocks rise above the water to aid birds when they drink.

I no longer remember a life before I became involved with birdwatching. I was living in Western Mass. then, and the first winter I fed birds, I simply scattered crumbs and seeds on a picnic table before graduating to a hopper feeder. I was totally captivated by the birds that came for these offerings. From then ‘til now, I have always fed birds. I used to stop in the summertime but now feed all year around.

No matter how attractive your yard may be, if you do not feed birds, you cannot imagine what you are missing. After a few years of regular feeding, you will find your yard to be a much more interesting place than it was B.F. (before feeders). In the next months, I will talk further about bird feeders. For now, though, I’ll just remind everyone that this is the time to prepare for fall and winter bird feedings. If you have kept your feeders stocked all summer, take a few minutes to check them out for damage. Think about adding a different type of feeder. Look over the supplies on hand.

You can help Cornell Lab of Ornithology with its data gathering by joining their Project FeederWatch. You can request a packet of of information and their newsletter by writing to Project FeederWatch, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, NY 14850-1999.

By the way, do you remember that old tree I wrote about a few months ago? Well, it's had a grand season. It has produced the best crop of pears in years and has hosting a multitude of birds that pursued insects and worms attracted to the rotting fruit. It has shed most its leaves in preparation for a period of dormancy.

GRAPHIC: Carolina Wren that needs a variety of habitats and foods