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Landscaping for the Birds Or Planning to Plant for Wild Birds A 1990 survey by the United States Department of Interior reported that over 60 million people actively plant their landscaping with wild birds in mind. That figure is rapidly growing, for good reason: feeding birds brings the beauty of nature and the wilderness of nature up close. Lets get started. Visualize this as "Landscaping for Birds" and your goal will be to plant an assortment of trees and shrubs that will attract birds. If you plan carefully, it can be fun for the whole family. First decide what types of birds you wish to attract, then plan around the needs of those species. Listed below are seven types of plants important for bird habitat. Conifers Conifers are evergreen trees and shrubs that include pines, spruces, firs, arborvitae, cedars, and yew. These plants are important as escape cover, winter shelter, and summer nesting sites. Some provide sap, buds and seeds. Summer-Fruiting Plants This category includes plants that produce fruits or berries from May through August. Among birds that can be attacted in the summer are catbirds, robins, thrushes, orioles, cardinals, grosbeaks and waxwings. Examples of summer fruiting plants are various species of cherry, chokecherry, honeysuckle, serviceberry, blackberry, grape, mulberry, plum and elderberry. Fall Fruiting Plants This landscape component includes shrubs and vines whose berries ripen in the fall. These foods are important both for migratory birds which build up fat reserves prior to migration and as a food source for non-migratory species that need to enter the winter season in good physical condition. These plants include dogwoods, mountain ash, winterberries, cotoneasters and oregon grape. Winter Fruiting Plants These plants have berries that remain attached to the plant long after they first become ripe in the fall. Many are not palatable until they have frozen and thawed numerous times. Examples are glossy black chokecherry, red splendor crabapples, snowberry, bittersweet, sumacs, highbush cranberry, virginia creeper and firethorn. Nut and Acorn Plants These include oaks, chestnuts, walnuts, hazels. The meats of broken nuts are eaten by a variety of birds. These plants also provide good nesting habitat. Grasses and Legumes Grasses and legumes can provide cover for ground nesting birds - especially if the area is not mowed during nesting season. Most varieties provide seeds for food as well. Nectar Producing Plant These type of plants are very popular for attracting hummingbirds and orioles. Flowers with tubular flowers are especially attractive to hummingbirds. Mock orange, buddleia, honeysuckle, trumpet vine, and daylilies are good varieties of this type. |
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