The Bird-Friendly Garden

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As you approach the taller layers of your canopied bird habitat, be sure to include a mix of fruit-bearing shrubs such as gooseberries, pyracanthas or hollies to appease berry eaters such as thrushes, robins and waxwings. Create a hedgerow with groups of trees and shrubs using three to five of a kind. Consider plants like mulberry, mountain ash, trailing blackberries and juniper. While trees are a must for any bird garden, you don't have to plant a towering forest to reap arboreal benefits. Even in small yards, petite trees like Japanese maples or dogwoods and witch hazels, as well as dwarf cherry and plum trees, can feel right at home. Of course, if space allows, be sure to include taller oaks, poplars and aspens for added appeal.

CREATE AN AVIAN HAVEN

While a diverse selection of plants is essential when it comes to attracting birds, providing extra food, water and shelter can go a long way toward creating a complete bird haven. It's really quite simple. Provide bird basics as well as a few extra creature comforts and you'll attract more birds and more species of bird.

Just like humans, birds appreciate a wide variety of foods. Can you imagine eating the exact same food day after day? Even though your garden may provide a wealth of tasty insects, flower nectar and seeds, most birds will appreciate additional food served in a birdfeeder. Songbirds are more likely to stay longer and perhaps even nest in an area where there's an abundance of food, and a few well-placed feeders easily meet that demand. Put feeders in a sheltered area that's easily accessible to you, but within five to ten feet of trees or shrubs so birds have a convenient place to hide if threatened by neighborhood cats or other predators.

Tray or platform feeders, which are designed with an edge around the bottom to keep seeds from falling out and placed one to three feet above the ground, will entice ground-feeding birds such as juncos, sparrows, towhees and morning doves. Hopper feeders, which sport hoppers or perches on the sides, come in many shapes and sizes. Hung from a tree or mounted on a pole, hopper feeders attract grosbeaks, cardinals and jays. Suspended tube feeders, so named for their long, cylindrical shape, are favored by small birds like finches, nuthatches and chickadees.

Avoid waste by keeping your seed selection simple. Birdseed mixes often contain one or two types of seed not especially popular with birds, and they'll drop or kick those seeds out of the way to get to their favorite. Most songbirds prefer black-oil sunflower seeds. White millet, popular among ground-feeding birds, is a good filler for tray or platform feeders. Fill a suspended tube feeder with thistle seeds for goldfinches, siskins or redpolls.

An offering of fresh fruit served on a ready-made fruit feeder will tempt brightly colored birds like tanagers, bluebirds and waxwings. Orioles love oranges. You can make your own fruit feeder by driving several long nails through a board attached to the base of a platform feeder. Then, stick the fruit on the nails, shish kebab-style.

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