Attracting wildlife to backyards is a matter of being a good host

Part of the excitement of the arrival of spring is the return of migratory birds, starting with redwing blackbirds in the first half of March, and followed by many other species in the following weeks and months, Outagamie County Master Gardener volunteer Tammy Borden of rural New London told fellow members and guests at the organization’s “The Nature of Things” late winter conference.

That experience can be greatly enhanced by being a good host for birds and other wildlife species on one’s property, Borden pointed out. This is done by providing annual and perennial plants, shrubs, vines, trees, and nests for the birds, she said. Among Borden’s favorite birds are wood thrushes for their singing ability, catbirds for their call mimicking cats, and chickadees for their willingness to perch on a human’s hand.

What’s especially fascinating about migratory birds is how they travel thousands of miles round trip and yet find their way back to the same neighborhood or backyard year after year, Borden observed. Food, running water, and shelter are the three ingredients for continuing to attract them, she indicated.

Among food choices, Borden lists black sunflower seeds as the favorite for many birds, sterilized thistle seed for finches and siskins, millet for small songbirds, safflower seeds for mourning doves and to repel squirrels, suet for hairy and downy woodpeckers, jelly and dried fruits for pileated red-headed woodpeckers, and corn for squirrels. Milo is an item to avoid not only because it is a seed that is too hard for most birds but also because it is used as filler in cheap birdseed mixes, she warned.

Special food or habitat preferences include grape jelly and orange halves for Baltimore orioles, sunflowers for red-breasted grosbeaks, thistle seed for indigo bunting, a nearby body of water for purple martins, a drink of one part sugar to four parts water and tubular plants such as hostas for hummingbirds, wetted meal worms for eastern bluebirds, the availability of mud for barn swallows, and dead trees for woodpeckers, Borden stated.

To keep order at the feeders and to get the food to the birds for whom it is intended, it is often necessary to put up barriers, Borden noted. She mentioned metal sheets and baffles as top choices for keeping squirrels and raccoons at bay but also pointed out that feeders should not be under or close enough to trees from which squirrels can jump.

For other animals, Borden suggested a 10-foot fence, the placement of Irish Spring soap, the Plantskydd deer and rabbit repellent, or a crater activate sprayer for deer and tree wraps for smaller chewing animals. To distinguish between sources of young tree or shrub damages, she explained that deer leave a rough ending while rabbits make a sharp cut.

Some birds also wreak havoc on one another, Borden observed. She mentioned how house wrens invade bluebird nests, how cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of other species, and how starlings are very competitive with other birds.

Hang fishing line in front of the holes in bluebird or other box houses to keep the cowbirds from entering, Borden advised. Although there is legal protection for the nests of many birds, Borden noted that it is acceptable to kill house sparrows or destroy the nests of starlings because they are unwanted non-native birds.

To property owners who put up bird nests, Borden explained that bluebirds need an open space not immediately adjacent to a woodlot, that they are territorial in relation to another pair, and that putting a nest for tree swallows next to one for bluebirds is acceptable because the two species tolerate one another. Regarding bird nests, she recommended removing the debris once the nest is empty and washing the box with soap water or bleach.

For attracting one or more types of butterflies, Borden listed annual plants such as butterfly weeds and bushes, New England and stokes asters, marigolds, Mexican sunflower, starflowers, verbena, zinnia, and lantana. For birds, the top attractions include asters, black-eyed susans, coneflowers, coral bells, hostas, lavender, monarda, penstemon, phlox, and salvia.

Among shrubs, bushes, vines, and trees, those which provide birds with some mix of food, shelter, or nesting space are the flowering crabapple, hawthorn, mountain ash, serviceberry, black chokeberry, American bittersweet, dogwood, winterberry, American highbush cranberry, elderberry, staghorn sumac, cherry (pin, choke, or black), honeysuckle, holly, upright juniper, taller roses, hemlock, arborvitae, yews, clematis, white birch, and coniferous trees.