Backyard Bird Habitats

Lesson 3: Developing a Backyard Habitat Action Plan

Step-by-Step Guide to Developing an Action Plan

Step-by-Step Guide to Developing an Action Plan

What kinds of birds would I like to attract?

At our house in New England, we are lucky to have a variety of birds that come to our yard. My goals were to add elements to our backyard habitat that would attract two new kinds of birds and safety draw three existing species closer to our home so that we could observe and hear them better. The new birds I chose were downy woodpeckers and ruby-throated hummingbirds. Although hummingbirds are migratory birds (they migrate to Central America in the fall), I have always wanted to attract them to our yard.

I enjoy the pretty canary yellow of goldfinches and the flash of red cardinals in the winter. The song of black-capped chickadees reminds me of lazy summer days. I decided that those would be the three birds that I wanted to bring closer to the house.

What have I learned about these birds from reviewing The Audubon Backyard Birdwatcher and the web links to this course?

Goldfinches like to eat thistle seed, sunflower seeds, dandelions and lettuce. They like to nest in bushes or trees.

Cardinals like to eat fruit seeds, insects, sunflower seeds and are attracted to magnolias, dogwoods, lantana (also a butterfly favorite) and hollies.

Black-capped Chickadees like to eat sunflower seeds, fruit, small insects and suet. They are attracted to birdhouses, cavities in rotted trees and old woodpecker holes for nesting. I also learned that when disturbed, a chickadee incubating eggs may hiss like a snake!

Downy Woodpeckers like sunflower seeds, insects and spiders, suet, fruit and tree seeds. They are attracted to cavities in dead trees for nesting. They make a horse-like whinnying call!

Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds (about 3 ¾” long, their wings beat up to 80 times per second) like nectar from flowers (bleeding heart and petunias, for example), sugar water, insects and spiders. They often squeal when they chase each other.

After identifying my goals and choosing the kinds of birds that I wanted to attract and draw closer to our house, I consulted The Audubon Backyard Birdwatcher to see the kinds of food the birds like to eat, the way they are drawn to water, and the kinds of shelter they need to survive.

What are my existing sources of food?

Our backyard already has a forest of large oak, maple and pine trees, with wild blueberry bushes in the shrub layer of the forest and many kinds of ground cover, including winterberry for food sources. We have a 16 ft. x 24 ft. raised garden, mostly planted with vegetables, and a broken sunflower seed feeder hanging from the branch of a white pine tree in the front yard.

What are my existing sources of shelter?

We have some dead trees, logs and dense shrubs in the forest. There is also one birdhouse in the backyard that cannot be seen from our house.

What are my existing sources of water?

On one side of the house we have a typical concrete birdbath with oak and maple trees overhanging it.

What will I add for new sources of food?

· I learned that chickadees and cardinals like sunflower seeds so I replaced the broken sunflower feeder with a new one. · I also planted large-head sunflower seeds in my garden to supplement the feeder. I let the sunflower heads go to seed in the garden rather than picking them for display. · For the goldfinches, I hung a tube thistle feeder near the existing birdbath. · For the woodpeckers, instead of hanging commercial suet cakes, I bought a tub of Crisco and experimented with smearing it on the trunk of a large pine tree next to the new sunflower feeder. · I hung a $6.00 sugar water feeder on a bracket that I installed outside the window over our kitchen sink to try to attract ruby-throated hummingbirds.

What will I add for new sources of shelter?

· I decided to add a small shade garden under the existing birdbath. I planted a few bleeding heart, lily-of-the-valley and hostas. See page 238 of our textbook, The Audubon Backyard Birdwatcher, for a photograph of a bleeding heart plant. I also planted two evergreens (blue spruce), that I received from a friend, on either side of the shade garden. With the existing deciduous (maple and oak) trees that already overhang the birdbath, a multi-layer of vegetation was achieved. · I added two birdhouses to large deciduous trees near the birdbath and two more birdhouses to trees on the other side of the house near the raised garden.

What will I add for new sources of water?

· To supplement the existing birdbath on the other side of the house, I placed a small, shallow (1” deep) concrete bowl on the ground on the edge of my raised garden among the vegetable plants.

The Results

I created four distinct viewing areas from our house: 1) out the front window overlooking the Crisco on the pine tree (suet on a stick, as I call it) and the new sunflower seed feeder; 2) out the side door near my garden, new shallow water bowl and birdhouse; 3) out the dining room window overlooking the birdbath, new shade garden, new birdhouses and new thistle feeder; and 4) out my kitchen window overlooking the new hummingbird feeder.

What Happened?

I increased the habitat - food, shelter and water - for birds in my backyard and have been rewarded by successfully attracting more goldfinches to the thistle feeder, more chickadees and cardinals to the sunflower feeder and downy woodpeckers to the suet (Crisco). The chickadees are also raising families in the birdhouses.

I hung the sugar water feeder on a Sunday afternoon. By Monday morning, a pair of ruby-throated hummingbirds had made several trips to the feeder and have been coming back many times a day ever since.

I had achieved my goals!

What Did I Learn? What Adjustments Had To Be Made?

I learned that it is inexpensive and easy to attract birds. The only element that may need adjusting involves the hummingbirds. They come to the feeder throughout the day but seem especially active around 6:00 pm when I am active, too – at the kitchen sink. They shy away if there is any movement in the house so I keep an eye out for them while I am cooking and cleaning up and stop my movements while they take their drink. It is worth it for the time being to get such a close-up look at those amazing birds!

While working outside the other day, I could have sworn that a little airplane had buzzed my head. When I looked up, I saw that it was one of my little hummingbird friends flying by on her way to the feeder.

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