Gifts for Birds

When we moved into our current house in 1984, our yard was largely grass and little else.   We immediately planted trees.  After putting our addition on in 1990, we added shrubs to attract birds.  We put them in stategic spots so that we could watch the birds from our windows.    By picking hardy plants well suited to our harsh climate that provide fruits to the birds, we expected to see many more birds and haven't been disappointed.

Cedar waxwings are a particular favorite or ours.  These birds are working on a northern holly, a native plant I used to see when deer hunting in the fall.   Other than needing a male plant to polinate the female, it has been a reliable plant.  The only problem is that the cedar waxwings will show up in flocks and strip the fruit within a few hours.

As you can see,  the bushes and birds are right next to the window, much to our cat's frustration.   And it's not hard to get a good picture of the birds as long as the glass is clean.  All these photographs were shot through closed windows.

People think of robins as pulling up earthworms in the summer but in the late fall they are small-fruit hounds.  We planted a weeping crabapple seven feet outside another window on our addition.   Robins - who are present more consistently than cedar waxwings - work our crabapple trees both in the fall and spring.   Crabapples have fruit of differant sizes and as a rule, the smaller fruit gets taken earlier.

We see several members of the finch family out our windows - this is a house finch.

I'm throwing this picture of a Downy Woodpecker in because this suet feeder hangs from another shrub/small tree that I like, a pagoda dogwood.   The birds like the trees and shrubs in our yards - they use them for perches and some cover when the small hawks that prey on songbirds show up.

We have an apple tree in our front yard near a big picture window.   Other than the hollowed out center of the tree providing a nesting place for chickadees, this doesn't seem to be as useful a bird tree.  We will get crows taking chunks out of apples in the fall, which would bother us except that we have so many apples from our orchard that we often don't pick this tree's fruit.

Looking at others yard, I don't see many have planted with birds in mind.  Although shrubs and trees take some work, they require no more work than grass and are vastly more interesting.    The bird-friendly trees and bushes that have worked for me in Minnesota are crabapples, northern hollys, pagoda dogwoods, serviceberries, red-leafed roses (rosa rubrafolia), and white cedars.  Please keep our feathered friends in mind.