Spring is right around the corner, and there’s nothing quite like transforming your backyard into a haven for our feathered friends. As someone who’s been watching birds for over five decades, I’ve learned a thing or two about creating the perfect bird sanctuary.
Bring Woodpeckers & Nuthatches To Your Yard
Check PriceHere are some proven ways to make your yard the most popular spot in the neighborhood for spring birds.
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1. Create a Multi-Level Habitat
Cardinals prefer a bird feeder that is close to natural cover. Smaller trees and shrubs offer protection at the feeders and on the ground.
Ground-level feeders are their favorite. They will also feed at pole-mounted and hanging feeders, which you can encourage with varying levels of cover plants.
How you combine your plants is also important. Think carefully about how you can create rich, lush, and layered planting to give a meal for hummingbirds – both nectar and insects – and provide them with nesting sites, shelter, and other things they need.
2. Install a Moving Water Feature
You can further enhance your garden’s appeal to many species by adding a water feature of some kind. This might be a fountain feature or a waterfall feature trickling into a pond.
This may also be a bird bath or other water feature somewhere else in your garden. Of course, birds need water to drink, and for bathing.
But many birds are also attracted to water due to the insect life it attracts. And many species will also be drawn to a space by the sounds of running or moving water.
3. Plant Native Berry-Producing Shrubs
Shrubs (fruit and berry bushes, evergreens, and deciduous species…). Shrubs native to your area can also be very important in a wildlife-friendly garden.
Many bird species will be attracted to stand-alone shrubs and especially hedgerows, which are wonderful avian habitats for a range of species. These too can provide perches, shelter, nesting and brooding sites, and a wealth of food – both plant foods and insects that can also be attracted to shrubs – especially flowering ones.
If you cannot easily grow cranberries or other related berry-producing shrubs like blueberries or huckleberries where you live, then you may wish to consider planting other native plants which provide fresh fruit or berries for birds in your garden.
4. Provide Nesting Materials
When a female hummer begins to build her nest, she will gather nesting materials like grasses, small twigs, and other plant materials she can find within the landscape. She builds a nest layer by layer, using spider webs to bind all the materials together.
Nests: Males usually build domed nests of twigs, grass, moss, and other materials in hidden spots, often cavities. Females may add lining materials like fur or feathers.
Males also construct extra non-breeding “dummy nests.”
5. Maintain Dead Trees Safely
If you can safely leave a few dead trees in your yard (or in the woods near your yard), do it! These dead trees and branches provide important habitats, security, and food to woodpeckers.
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Dead trees or tree trunks create a snag. That may not sound very attractive to the average homeowner, but it is beneficial to have in your yard for wildlife.
6. Create Brush Piles
You can also build a brush pile close to the ground feeder as a weather barrier and for a place the wild birds can flee to in case of a predator. Wrens are some of the most endearing of all backyard birds, and you can encourage them to visit your home by offering them a scruffy corner of the garden, full of weeds and brush piles where they’ll love foraging for insects and invertebrates.
7. Plant Native Wildflowers
Perhaps the very best habitat to attract and support hummingbirds is a wildflower meadow. Even if you only have a small backyard, planting a small area of wildflowers can do wonders for native birds, as well as insects, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals.
A native plant garden is great for hummingbirds since it includes plants that provide nectar over the key seasons (and over as much of the year as possible). And also because the diverse native planting will attract insects to the space for hummingbirds to eat.
8. Offer Multiple Types of Feeders
What window feeder you buy will depend on the kind of birds you want to attract. Different bird species prefer different types of food and feeder designs.
Hummingbirds need nectar feeders with perching spots, while finches prefer tube feeders with small holes. Cardinals and larger birds need platform feeders with enough space to land comfortably.
Consider the birds you see most often in your yard and choose a feeder designed for their feeding habits. Studies have shown that cardinals prefer ground and platform feeders.
A hopper feeder with adequate perches, or a large tube feeder with a tray underneath, can provide a similar experience. Suet feeders are a great cold-weather option for feeding cardinals.
9. Reduce Lawn Space
It’s not just your lawn that could benefit birds by being a bit less managed and tidy. Leaving other wild and less managed areas in your garden can help to boost biodiversity and add food for wild birds.
Plant native flora and avoid using pesticides on your lawn. While we think of most birds, finches included, as seed-eaters, they also eat insects in warm months.
A diverse yard full of plants and insects goes a long way to making sure birds find a suitable home in your yard.
10. Provide Dust Baths
Create shallow depressions filled with fine sand or dry dirt for birds to use as dust baths. These areas help birds maintain healthy feathers and control parasites.
Place these baths in sunny spots where birds can easily spot approaching predators.
11. Install Roosting Boxes
While nesting boxes are popular, don’t forget about roosting boxes for nighttime shelter. These boxes have perches inside and entrance holes near the bottom to help retain heat.
They provide essential shelter during cold spring nights and can attract birds to stay in your yard long-term.
12. Add Natural Perches
So make sure that you provide perches in trees or shrubs in your garden – planting to provide this as well as food wherever possible. When waiting for these plants to grow, you might also place man-made perches to make your garden optimal for birds to use.
13. Minimize Chemical Use
Avoid using pesticides – Pesticides can kill the insects that bluebirds rely on for food, so it’s best to avoid using them in your yard. If you must use them, be sure to apply them only to the areas that are affected and not to the entire yard.
Pesticides are also linked to lowered rates of reproduction in bluebirds. Create an insect-friendly garden by avoiding chemical fertilizers, weed-killers, and pesticides.
These chemicals impact your insect population, reducing the likelihood that you will bring hummingbirds to your home.
14. Maintain a Seasonal Schedule
Yes, feeding birds year-round is ideal. With varying seasonal needs, your backyard birds will appreciate the constant source of food.
Bear in mind, however, that different seasons may require different types of food. A good, reasonable schedule to stick to is cleaning your feeders about once a month.
If you have a big uptick in the number of birds visiting your feeders, or if you go through a heat wave, you may need to increase that frequency.
Spring yard checklist
| Spec | What our writers say |
|---|---|
| Cover levels | Smaller trees and shrubs at ground, pole, and hanging feeders |
| Water | A fountain, waterfall, or bird bath, plus the sound of moving water |
| Shrubs | Native fruit and berry bushes, especially in hedgerows |
| Nesting | Grasses, twigs, and spider webs |
| Dead trees | Leave them if they will not fall on people or property |
| Brush pile | Near a ground feeder for weather and a place to flee |
| Wildflowers | Even a small backyard meadow helps native birds |
| Feeders | Nectar, tube, or platform depending on the species |
| Lawn | Leave some of it less managed and skip the pesticides |
| Perches | Trees and shrubs, or temporary man-made perches while plants grow |
| Cleaning | About once a month, more in a heat wave or busy spell |
