Flyway Festival
A garden without birds is like a day without sunshine. Birds bring song and spirit, mirth, merriment and movement. It is an honor when a bird alights in the garden, atop a tree and trills out a song to the skies. Their presence tells us that our environment is fairly safe from pollutants, they are a sensitive indicator of how we are doing as a society, keeping toxins out of the food chain. We have done worse, and we can do better. They are voracious eaters of insects that bug us and our gardens, and assist in pollination of flowering plants and are responsible for a wide distribution of seeds. Many an aberrant plant that springs up out of nowhere is thanks to an airdrop from a passing bird. The Mockingbird will eat beetles and grasshoppers, Robins love wireworms, cutworms and caterpillars, and the Flicker will eat ants, caterpillars, beetles, and even cockroaches.
Bringing birds to your landscape is not hard if you think like a bird. A bird will need food, water, shelter and a place to hatch their young. A variety of trees, shrubs, grasses and seed-bearing flowering plants for food and shelter; a pond, or bird bath for a cool drink; is "home, sweet home" from a birds-eye view.
A few trees that birds use as food sources are Fruiting figs, Betula nigra, any of the Acers ( Maples), the Oaks (Quercus), Crataegus (Hawthorne), Abies (Fir) which also serves as a dense cover for nesting birds, the Prunus sp., plums, not only the fruiting types that we like to eat, but the Caroliona Cherry (Prunus caroliniana), the Holly leaf Cherry (Prunus ilicifolia), and Lusitanica cherry (P. lusitanica). Pines, Liquidamber, Crabapples, Hackberry, Sumac, California Pepper, and California Bay trees are choice food stops for a hungry bird. Shrubs that fruit or berry to attract a bird would be Holly, Pyracantha, Rhamnus californica (Coffee berry), Elderberry, Vitis (Grapes), Privet, Mahonia, Ribes (Currents, or Gooseberries), Snowberry, and Vibernum.
The annuals and perennials bring dots of color, and are sources of seeds. I often leave these plants in the garden far past their prime, because they are forage for the birds. My favorite is Amaranthus (Love Lies Bleeding), which produces seed that is used to make a type of flour for human consumption as well as food for the birds. Calendula, the pot marigold, which loves winter, and blooms through the gloomiest months, Sunflowers, with their heavy nodding heads invite finches to a quick fast food restaurant.
If you want to feed the birds via feeders, it is best to do some research first to see determine what kind of bird likes what kind of food, and by which kind of feeder. Chickadees, Nuthatch and Grosbeaks like black oil sunflower seed; white millet is especially attractive to mourning doves, and house sparrows. Black niger thistle seed is the seed of choice for the finch and starlings like peanuts and hulled oats. Finding a feed that the resident bird population prefers will save you money, and a lot of weeding since most of the seed that is shoveled out of the feeder will germinate on the ground below the feeder. The success of the feeder will also depend on how high off the ground it is placed, and whether it is a hopper type feeder, a platform feeder of a tube feeder. You can experiment with various feeders to see which configuration brings in the most birds. Chickadee, goldfinch and finch prefer an elevated tube feeder, whereas a platform feeder placed low to the ground is the choice of magpie, jays, and red-winged blackbirds. Mourning doves, pigeons, and house sparrow prefer an elevated platform. Most bird will use a hopper type, but it is not the favorite of the majority of birds. A hopper, or tube feeder does allow protection of the seed from weather, and squirrels, to a degree. Squirrel resistant feeders are always popping up on the market, like the search for the better mousetrap. Squirrels have an uncanny ability to get to a feeder if they really want to. A metal feeder with screening over the seed opening, on a post is a start. There are some feeders out that close the seed drop opening on the hopper when large, heavy birds or squirrels perch on the edge. There are also plastic domes that can be affixed below the feeder on a post to keep them from shimmying up to get the goodies. If all fails and they get there anyway, you can add hot peppers, or chilis to the seed that may deter them, the birds don't taste the hot, but the squirrels do. However, I think our squirrels may have a taste for Mexican cuisine.
Protecting the bird population from cats is our responsibility if we invite them into our yard. A hanging birdbath instead of a ground basin may be kinder, install or a small, 18" tall fence around the birdbath to give the birds time to take flight. Avoid planting right below the birdbath, it only gives the cats a camouflage cover to stalk from. Some owners put a collar with a bell on the cat.
Another safety check you can do for the birds, is to bird proof your glass window. Every year birds are killed as they crash into glass windowpanes, especially if they see light of another window as they try to perform a fly through. There are decals of hawk silhouettes that can be stuck to the glass to warn birds away, or keep the drapery closed so they don't see the light at the end of the tunnel.
January is the month when shorebird numbers are at their peak around here. The San Francisco Bay Area is host to 225,000 waterfowl and over 1 million shorebirds that migrate through, or winter over on the Pacific Flyway, a kind of aerial highway that travels the entire Pacific coast line.
A natural event of such magnitude calls for a festival- a Flyway Festival! This is a three- day event for family wildlife exploration and birding. During the festival you and your family can canoe the wetlands, bird-watch, build bird boxes, discover historic Mare Island, visit a wetland restoration site, make paper from recycled materials and learn about the world of endangered species and illegal trafficking. This free of charge festival will be held January 23-25th, with exhibits and demonstrations held at building 505 on Mare Island on Saturday the 24th. Additional outings are scheduled for Friday and Sunday. A complete schedule can be attained by calling festival coordinator Myrna Hayes at 557-9816. This is a ton of fun; it really shouldn't be missed.
Carol de Maintenon is a member of Garden Writers of America and owner of Benicia Garden & Nursery.
