A bird-friendly yard includes food, water, and sheltering shrubs.

Attracting wild birds to your yard is easy – they have pretty specific needs and patterns, and they’re not picky about the solutions. That means that if we bird-lovers provide them with ways to meet their needs, they’ll come, it’s as simple as that.

While you don’t even NEED a yard to enjoy attracting birds to a feeder, a few simple ideas incorporated into your lawn and garden design will increase your bird populations and give you even more enjoyment.

Here are some landscaping tips that can turn your yard into a haven for wild birds.

Think variety – birds are attracted to an atmosphere of abundance.

The Basics

When adding elements to your garden for the birds, keep in mind that the three basic needs of birds aren’t all that different from our own.

1. Food

2. Water

3. Shelter

Providing for all three needs will attract bird populations that stick around, nest, raise their young, and come back next year.

Birds enjoy the seeds produced by Black-Eyed Susans.

1. Basic Need: Food

Wild birds eat a wide variety of plant and animal matter, including seeds, nuts, berries, insects, worms, and grubs. While some birds really seem to enjoy bird feeders, others prefer to get all or part of their food from natural sources. Here are some tips for providing food for birds:

• Bird Feeders: Install a variety of bird feeders, including seed, nut, suet, and nectar feeders. Check out our articles on Wild Bird Feeding Basics and How to Make a Suet Bird Feeder for more information.
• Flowers: Planting annual, perennial, and flowering shrubs and trees can provide food for birds. Look for a variety of colors, textures, and bloom times. Birds will be attracted to seeds, nectar, and the insects buzzing around your blossoms. Leave some flowers to set seeds and fruits.
• Berries: Birds love berries, so adding plants and shrubs with berries can really help. Choose varieties with different fruiting seasons for year-round bird feeding.
• Go Organic: Don’t use insecticides and herbicides on your lawn or garden. Not only can birds be harmed by ingesting the chemicals, but they’ll reduce their natural insect prey, causing birds to hunt elsewhere.

Consider a birdbath to provide clean, safe water for the birds.

2. Basic Need: Water

Birds need a source of shallow water for drinking and bathing. Some tips:

• Birdbaths: Birds will use any source of standing or lightly trickling water, but most gardeners prefer to offer a birdbath that can be kept clean and free of mosquito larvae and bacteria.
• Water Features: Small streams and fountains are also great ways to offer water for birds.
• Design: The best water sources have a graduated “beach-like” entry, a nonslick surface, and are less than 3” deep. Add smooth gravel to the bottom for perching and balancing.
• Location: Wet birds aren’t as agile, so place your water feature near some trees and shrubs as a handy place to escape predators and dry off.

Hollies provide both shelter and food for winter birds.

3. Basic Need: Shelter

Birds need places to rest, escape predators, and build their nests. A garden with plenty of shelter is sure to have lots of birds. Tips include:

• Variety: The best bird shelter includes a variety of trees and shrubs with varying textures and heights.
• Borders: Mixed shrub borders are perfect, because you can include a wide variety of plants that offer food, shelter, and nesting spots; and they’re usually far enough away from the house that the birds feel safe.
• Hedges: Birds love the deep shelter provided by hedges.
• Safety: Consider some prickly or thorny shrubs to provide added security from predators.
• Evergreens: Conifers and evergreens are great shelter choices because they stay green year-round. Many varieties also produce berries or nuts, which provide an additional food element.
• Birdhouses: Artificial shelter can be provided in the form of nesting boxes, such as bluebird houses. Choose nesting boxes specific to the birds in your garden, as many birds will not use a basic bird house.
• Nesting Materials: Include a variety of plants with different textures, including grasses and fluffy plants, to give birds ample material to build their nests. Grass clippings are perfect if left mulched into your lawn. You can also put out small bundles of nesting materials, but it needs to be done properly to prevent injury to the birds. Check out our article on How to Attract Birds to Your Yard with Nesting Materials to find out more.

Birds appreciate a natural garden that isn’t overly manicured.

Landscape Design Tips

• Use Borders: Birds like landscapes that have “edges,” with groupings of sheltering plants and trees connected by open corridors. Plant larger trees and shrubs in clusters, with multilayered planting beds around the borders. Tuck flowering plants, bird feeders, and birdbaths in these sheltered borders.
• Go Native: When possible, choose native plants. Native plants attract the right insects and provide food and shelter at the right times to keep your little ecosystem balanced and full of happy birds.
• Think Variety: Plant using different heights, colors, and textures. While some birds are attracted to specific plants, in general they’re looking for a nice place to call home with plenty of food and nesting opportunities.
• Limit Pruning: Spring and summer are nesting seasons, so hold off on any heavy pruning until your birds have had a chance to raise their young safely.
• Go Wild: Allow some areas of your garden to “go natural.” Brush piles, leaf litter, and fallen trees are gold mines for insect-eating birds, and they also provide great hiding places. Don’t deadhead every blossom and leave some fallen leaves in the beds. Find a balance between over manicured and a bit wild, so you and the birds will both be happy.

Further Information

• Landscaping for Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology)
• Hummingbirds in the Garden
• Birdbaths (Video)
• Wild Bird Feeding Basics
• How to Make a Suet Bird Feeder
• All About Birds (Cornell Bird Identification Guide)

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