Gardening for Birds

Gardening for Birds

If it isn’t obvious by now I love birds and I build my gardens with the core aim of attracting as many varieties as possible.  Broadly generalising, if your garden attracts birds then it’s likely to attract other critters as well so a well planned wildlife garden should become a real nature spot. Several times over the years I have been asked for some tips on creating a wildlife garden, so in this post I thought that I’d cover the subject in detail. 

Those of you who have studied Psychology or HR are likely to be familiar with Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ from his paper ‘A Theory of Human Motivation’.  The Hierarchy is often presented as a pyramid with physiological needs at the base and self-actualization at the summit.  I don't know how to draw a pyramid on a blog, so we'll have to settle for a tower with the base needs...at the base!

Nesting

Mating

Roosting

Water

Food

Security

 

Although our feathered friends are unlikely to be seeking the latter they are motivated by those needs at the base, so this is Rob’s Theory of the Hierarchy of Bird’s needs.

I will deal with each, in order of priority, and cover how your garden can meet those needs.

Security 

Birds, just like us, need to feel safe. They need to know that when they’ve got their heads down in a seed bowl they aren’t going to be jumped by a passing cat or chased by a marauding falcon, so their first priority is security. They won’t trust us to keep the cat locked in nor to chase off the falcon, so what they need is the ability to see predators in good time and to have a handy escape route or a safe room should the shit hit the fan. 

Pacific Black Duck, Magpie Lark and Bronzewing on the grass whilst a Rainbow Lorikeet and another Bronzewing feed at the table.

As far as the garden is concerned this means that you need to put some thought as to where the birds can move to if Tibbles or Kes make an appearance.  Having a tree or high perch nearby sorts Tibbles out as no matter how fast he can climb he won’t outpace the bird in flight, but the bird of prey is a different matter.  Sparrow Hawks will try and ambush and Falcons strike with speed, and both can often outpace our friends so providing cover for them to be able to dive into cheers them up no end.  A dense bush with big thorns, you know, the one you hate to prune, is ideal. I’ve watched a Collared Sparrowhawk spend 20-minutes flopping around a well pruned Bougainvillaea as the flock of Double Barred Finch hopped around inside.  The Finches were obviously unhappy, but despite all attempts the raptor couldn’t get in at them and so frustrated it flew off.  

Sparrowhawk failing to catch finches in the nice thorny Bougainvillea.

 In our garden the Bougainvillaea is the main refuge centre for the finches as they can nip out for a quick feed on the lawn, but can be back into the safety of the thorns in a flash.  In Europe you could achieve the same effect with a Hawthorn or Blackthorn, the trick is to prune the bush so that it becomes compact and dense enough to keep the big birds out but to allow the smaller bird’s free passage.

When siting your feeding area it’s best to have a ‘path’ of trees or shrubs gradually leading to the feeding point so that the birds can take their time and scan for potential threats at each stage of their route in and if necessary have a number of options for a quick route out. Not all the trees or shrubs on the bird path need to be of the dense and thorny type, as some birds will be comfortable if they have more open viewpoints that they can perch in.

Food

OK, our birds now feel safe about coming into the garden the next stage is motivating them to do so. Just as we humans include in our number vegans, vegetarians, carnivores and omnivores, birds specialise in their eating habits as well.  Birds include:

Carnivorous - Meat eating - Hawks, Falcons, Owls, Kookaburra

Insectivores - Insect eating - Flycatchers, Wrens, Swallows, Treecreepers

Frugivores - Fruit eating - Figbirds, Orioles. Parrots

Granivorous - Seed eating - Finches, Pigeons & Doves

Apivorous - Bee eating - Bee eaters

Baccivorous - Eating berries - Larger Honeyeaters, Thrushes

Ichthyophagous - Fish eating - Herons, Ibis, Kingfishers, Cormorants

Nectarivorous - Feeding on nectar - Honeyeaters, Spinetails,

Omnivorous - Not fussy! Robins and the rest

Pollenivorous - Eaing pollen - Lorikeets

And that’s just the more well known species!  So, bunging some bread or seed on a bird table will only attract a narrow range of species.  The way to broaden the variety of birds is to offer a variety of foods.  Apart from that feeding birds bread is akin to you eating at MacDonalds 5-days a week, it may be easy in the short term, but it’s a sure way of causing physical problems in the long run.

I have heard many people over the years argue that providing food artificially should be avoided, the usual reason is that the birds will go hungry whilst you area away. I have seen little scientific evidence to back this up and as birds are opportunist feeders I am confident that if they can’t find food in one place they will go elsewhere. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) certainly advocates feeding birds, but with advice on how it should be done. http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/feeding/whentofeed.aspx

 Having said that care must be taken if you are feeding birds artificially as dietary problems can occur.  If an opportunist bird sees a pile of peanuts on a table he’ll eat them all up, and this probably won’t do him any good, so offer a variety of fruits and seeds. We’ll come back to feeding stations (or as I’ve always called them, bird tables) later on.

One friend of mine doesn’t put seed on his bird table, but piles it up with freshly cut fruit and he gets a wide range of colourful parrots.  Of course cutting up fruit daily isn’t just a chore it’s also a bit wearing on the wallet, so an easier route is to plan your planting so that nature provides the foods for you.  Here are some examples:

Nectarivorous:  Varieties of Grevillea, in particular Honey Gems, Robyn Gordon, Marmalade and Fire Sprites will provide lots of flowers full of nectar and are a magnet for Honeyeaters and Friarbirds.  Scarlet Honeyeaters in particular seem to have a thing for the Fire Sprite. They also provide pollen that the Lorikeets love.  Other natives that go down well include Banksia, Bottlebrushes (Callistomen), Eucalypts and Kangaroo Paws.

Scarlet Honeyeater on Robyn Gordon

Banksia Candles are loved by Silvereyes

Frugivorous/Baccivorous: There are a number of fruit bearing shrubs and trees that birds adore.  The Lilly Pilly is much vaunted as providing berries that attract birds, but I can’t say that I’ve seen a lot of enthusiasm for mine.  On the other hand the Poison Peach (can kill cattle so don’t plant near to fields) attracts Brown Cuckoo Doves, Fig Birds, Olive-backed Orioles and Lewin’s Honeyeater, they love it.  Midgin Berries, Hairy Pittosporum, Brush Cherry, Corkwood, Blue Quandong and any of the Figs are all good fruit producers and may attract Brush Turkey, Cuckoo Shrikes, fruit doves and Catbirds. Wild Tobacco fruits are a favourite for Brown Cuckoo Doves and King Parrots, but they are weeds so shouldn’t be planted.

Velvet Leaf (Callicarpa pedunculta)

Granivorous: Wattles are a real favourite for a variety of species who enjoy their seeds, but have the added attraction of being popular with insects so you attract the insectivores as well. Cockatoos, Galahs and Corellas love seeds and cones so Casuarinas (She-Oak) are very popular as well. Seed is something that is easy to use on the bird tables, but it’s important that you provide good mixed birdseed so as to attract a range of birds.  Parrots will create mayhem for Sunflower seeds, but finches prefer millet.  I buy ready mixed 20Kg sacks, which will last about a week, but then I do have 7 bird tables!

Bird Tables

Feeding birds on bird tables is fine, and achieves the aim of getting the birds to feed in a place where you can enjoy watching them; however, there are some things to keep in mind.  

If you use wooden tables then the Cockatoos will probably enjoy eating them.  Not only is this annoying as you have to keep replacing the tables, but if the wood has been treated the Cockatoo will be eating whatever varnish, stain or preservative is in the wood – not good! My bird tables are all made from scrap metal so they can’t be eaten, but stone slabs, bricks or pottery are just as good. If you are going to use wood fine, just don’t used treated wood.

Your bird table needs to be sited near trees or shrubs so that the feeding birds can approach cautiously and have an escape route nearby. Ideally you should also think about height or adding skirts to stop cats from leaping onto them.

You can construct rooves for the tables that will deter the larger birds and make them more small bird friendly.  An assortment of perches (small rods) sticking out from the tables also makes things easier for them.

One of the 'Emu' tables complete with preching rods (wings) and mixed seed.

Many bird table advocates suggest a rim around the edge to stop the food falling off, but the way that the Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and Pacific Black Ducks play with their food makes a lip irrelevant.  I just accept that some of the food will land on the ground and in all likelihood will be picked up by the birds that can’t fit onto the tables.

Birds are just as susceptible to disease as we are so don’t leave rotting food on the table.  Unfortunately birds hygiene habits leave much to be desired and they will often crap on the tables as well.  Ideally you should give your tables a really good clean about once a month or so, and in the meantime just brush them off.

Water

If you have just eaten a bowl of grain without milk or a tube of honey you’d probably need a drink to wash it down and birds are no different. They need a source of clean water.  Now when I say clean I’m not referring to the pure water that we sissy humans need, but they do need water that isn’t overly contaminated and the usual contamination is the same as on the bird tables…it comes from within! The upshot of which is commercial bird baths, old bowls or similar receptacles are fine, but you do have to keep an eye on them and clean them out when they become fouled (or fowled!)

Ducks near the water lilies

 Of course a well maintained pond or dam with a healthy eco system can just munch up the detritus from our feathered friends and provide all the water they want.  I will write an article on ponds/dams and eco systems in the future. 

If you have a larger body of water then you can consider providing the security needed by water birds such as Moorhens and Swamphens by growing a good reedbed, which, if well sited, can act as a filter for any run off that comes into the dam as well.  Most Gallinules like a really thick bed of fringe reeds and sedge as they aren’t great fliers and they like a safe room to hide in.

Pied Cormorant, Black Ducks and Wood Ducks on the dam.

Roosting, Mating & Nesting.

These three require a book on their own as each species has their own preferences, but the simple message is that an undisturbed corner of an undisturbed garden, orchard, wood, grove or ruin offers the security for both roosting and nesting, and the birds can manage the mating themselves.

And that's all for today.  See you soon.