At my house, bird watching and bird feeding is a year-round activity. To make the birds safe in your space, think about adding ‘cover’ so they can approach. For cover, if your space is large enough, add taller trees like native oak, cherry, or willow, then understory trees like dogwood and redbud, native evergreens, a shrub layer too. If you have some garden discards, make a ‘stick pile’ where birds can hide or lurk, you will enjoy seeing your Carolina Wren all year searching for insects in those sticks! And maybe you’ll be lucky enough to see a Winter Wren in the colder months doing the same behavior in that same stick pile. If you can, don’t deadhead or clean up your gardens until the new growth is well on its way in late spring, all those seed heads and cover are fantastic for your birds like the Dark-eyed Juncos and White-throated Sparrows that come to Virginia in winter for the food resources. With a mix of height and evergreens for a quick getaway, the native birds like Tufted Titmouse, Northern Cardinal, and a variety of woodpeckers will flock into your space.A simple dish of water will really entice birds to your area. Do not worry, birds have high metabolism and fresh water in winter will mean a drink and often a bath! Birds must keep their feathers clean all year and this is important in winter when feathers are not just for flight, they are providing insulation. If you can put in a heater, then the bird bath stays ice free all winter. A simple plastic container like what goes under your large planter that is only an inch or two deep is a simple, inexpensive bird bath. Add a few rocks so birds can judge the depth of the water. Most songbirds have an instinctive fear of drowning so they will not go into water that is too deep. Rinse the water out in the bath every few days all year long, so that fresh water will not grow any unwanted insect pests in warmer months.Adding bird feeders is another way to support bird life all year. Just remember that most of our songbirds need protein rich insects to raise their young, so those seeds you provide in summer won’t be enough -- except for our American Goldfinches that are adapted to a seed only diet. The best all-around seed is the black-oil sunflower which most songbirds can crack open> If you don’t like the shells under a feeder, you can pay extra for a hull-free mix. Watch out for cheap seed mixes at grocery and big box stores, they are often full of the grain millet (a cheap filler) that is not a favorite of most birds (https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/types-of-bird-seed-a-quick-guide/). For fun, add shelled or unshelled peanuts to your seed offerings, the Blue Jays and woodpeckers will really get excited for this high protein food.
We enjoy having a suet block out all year. In the summer, we only offer suet cakes that are resistant to melting in the heat, plus we keep the suet in the shade. Juvenile Red-bellied Woodpeckers are hilarious trying to learn from their parents how to get to a suet cake treat. If you don’t want suet out all year, you can offer it in fall and winter. If you notice any birds with conjunctivitis, the eyes are swollen or even closed from an infection, stop feeding, remove feeders, clean with hot, soapy water, rinse feeders completely several times with water, and wait a week or two before your resume feeding. The eye infection moves easily and quickly between finches at the feeders, so removing the feeders can save your birds.Setting up your space to support birds is really a three-step process. Make sure there is some vegetation for cover so the birds can get to your space safely. If that vegetation can be native and add berries, like viburnum, spicebush, and dogwoods, even better. Remember, the native and non-native berries might have the same amount of carbohydrates, but the native berries are much higher in fat and so much better for birds all year (https://web.colby.edu/mainebirds/2016/01/04/fruits-from-invasive-versus-native-plants-which-do-birds-prefer/). Keep the seed heads, leaves, and vegetation in your garden all winter as additional food resources. Add water, the high metabolism of birds means they need constant access to fresh water. Just put a plastic dish with some rocks on the ground, rinse with the hose every few days to keep the water fresh. If you can, add a heater to keep the bird bath ice free all winter. Finally, add a feeder or two for extra calories to the birds that stop in.
Happy Gardening!
Robyn
