Need suggestions for attracting birds to my yard ....

I found a huge increase with 'moving water'. Especially with the hummingbirds. Doesnt have to be a huge deal....even a birdbath with small fountain does the trick..

Can someone speak a bit more about plantings that will provide nourishment for birds? My plan is to plant trees and bushes this coming Spring, and i haven't fully fleshed out my order list. Am i correct in assuming that any kind of fruit tree and berry bush would be particularly appealing to birds?

You can plant perrenial plants that provide seed for birds and nectar for hummingbirds.

I have the most birds at the coneflowers, echinacea pupurea. I get both finches and hummingbirds on the echinacea.

I also get finches (and warblers) eating the seeds out of the columbine, aquilegia canadensis.
I get tons of finches eating the seeds from the rosinweed, cupplant and compassplant,(all are silphium species) sunflower-ish plants.

Specifically, for hummingbirds, I have cardinal flowers (lobelia cardinalis), royal catchfly (silene regia) and penstamen. I see hummingbirds feeding on these flowers when they are in bloom all the time.

If you want to plant a berry tree specifically for birding the best is considered serviceberry (amelanchier canadensis). It has beautiful spring flowers and fruit that is a bird favorite. I just put one in last fall. Its only a small stick right now, but I am looking forward to it growing and attracting more birds in the coming years.

estreya any fruiting berry tree. They love figs, holly, blueberries. mulberry, serviceberry, spicebush

Becky,

Here's a forum you might be interested in reading.......

Bird Watching: Show me your feeders! http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/681289/

One of my feeders is just like the one Gardenpom pictured. It is great and the birds love it! I just add sunflower seeds to mine (shelled and unshelled together). I got mine at Lowe's in 2006 (think it's $9.99 or $19.99 or somewhere in between).

We've been feeding the birds every day, year round since December 2000. It's a treat to see the 'babies' in the Spring/Summer months.

I also added a second peanut feeder that I got at Wild Birds Unlimited in 2006. It's the taller one on the right of the photo. (got both there, years apart).

The birds went crazy for the new, longer, and wider one! They ignored the smaller one (for weeks), so I just stopped filling it and just use the new longer one. I also get my peauts for the feeder at Wild Birds Unlimited. They have a seed sale the whole month of October and February.

In the pic is the old fence post that was here before we built the house. I add Jip extra crunchy peanut butter (every day, year round) for the Woodpeckers and other birds. There is a Downy (or a Hairy) Woodpecker in the photo eating some nuts and peanut butter.

Marilyn

Nice pic., Marilynbeth.
Looks like you got plenty of trees.

Ginger,

I wish! ;-))

We don't own the land on the other side of the old fence post.

Marilyn

Got seed today at Lowes and they have changed back to the other brand which is fine since it is cheaper and just as good a seed

Donna,

That's where I buy all my seeds (except for peanuts). What brand did they go back to?

Marilyn

Garden Treasures Marilyn. The Deck & Garden blend with the finch seed, peanut chips, sunflower chips and cracked corn is 5.49 and the Finchseed is 4 something. National Geographic brand was running me almost 8 dollars a bag

Thanks Donna,

I'll have to check the bags the next time I go back to Lowe's. Hopefully, they're doing the old price and old brand here too.

Marilyn

Wow! So much great info. I really, really appreciate it. I like the screened bottom feeder that Gardenpom and Marilynbeth are using. I will definitely check out Lowes for that and also for some seed. The prices you are paying at your local Lowes store are very cheap compared to some online stores I have looked at! Thanks for that info Donna. I will also check out the Garden Treasures brand of seed to see if they are selling it here. :-)

I just discovered an unusual problem. My small water fountain pond has definitely been getting a lot of feathered visitors! There is bird droppings all over it. I noticed the pump suddenly quit working after a large flock of birds were drinking from it. So I went out to see why it had stopped. It was all clogged up with seeds! It is a very shallow pond so I can not raise the pump to try to avoid the seeds being pushed into it from the water current. I guess that will be a chore that I will have to do every few days! LOL

Becky,
I recommend doing whatever can be done to minimize droppings in the birds' drinking water. :o

Donna,

I had bought birdseed at Lowe's today and left it in the SUV. I went to check on the bags and they are Garden Treasures!

Becky,

We have 2 bird baths and I notice seeds in it all the time.

I know this National Wildlife Federation link has been posted before on other forums but I thought it might be useful here---as you mentioned, Joepyeweed, besides birdfeeders it is fun to have things growing in the garden for the birds and the NWF gives some good guidelines for what to plant on their site:

http://www.nwf.org/backyard/

The site gives planting recommendations for different regions and includes plants for butterflies, too, which are also lots of fun to attract to the garden.

And, while we're all getting our bird feeders up and running at maximum levels, don't forget the Audubon Great Back Yard Bird Count in February--

http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/

It would be nice to put all of our bird watching to some 'good' for the birding community!

(Sorry, I know I'm a little off topic, but couldn't resist the plug! And it's fun to do, too!)

Becky, your Firebush will attract birds. A lot of them love the winter berries, especially the Mockingbirds.

gardenpom - Thanks! My firebush is still very small. I hope it starts growing this year. :-) And I do see Mockingbirds around my house. Along with blue jays, cardinals, black birds, and the painted bunting. And the occassional Sand Hill Crane. :-)