Providing Natural Habitat for Birds & Other Wildlife

The problem with bird feeders is they upset the balance of nature. While it is wonderful to feed birds, putting all of the food in one place sets up a situation that is potentially dangerous for birds because it causes them all to congregate in one place and pay more attention to competing with each other than to their immediate surroundings. This makes them easy pickings for cats, or occasionally, birds of prey.

This is why I believe it is a good idea to take a holistic approach to helping maintain the bird population. Rather than just providing a large, unnatural source of food, I provide habitat. My yard is densely planted with native and naturalized trees and plants to provide a natural food source, as well as good nesting places, for my birds and other wildlife.

Here in Texas, my hackberry and mulberry trees and my privet hedge provide berries to eat and plenty of good hiding and nesting places for sparrows, doves, blackbirds, cardinals, jays, and our state bird, the mockingbird. Sunflowers also provide good eating, and native plants attract native insects that birds and other local fauna enjoy.

In your own state, look for the trees that grow the fastest, then encourage and allow them to grow in your yard. If you want a thriving population of birds, let your trees and bushes grow fairly naturally. Just prune what gets in your way and dead branches. Leave as much growth as you can. Birds need good cover and thin branches high enough off the ground so that predators can't bother them.

In addition to food, you will want to provide water, but don't put it in a birdbath! Instead, provide a few shallow dishes at various points around your yard. In this way, your birds will have a choice of places to drink. They will never be crowded up in one place competing for a drink and making a target for a cat or a hawk. As an added benefit, your dishes of water will provide a place for other beneficial native wildlife like toads, lizards, box turtles, and grass snakes to drink. Whenever you provide water, keep it fresh so mosquitoes won't breed.

To provide habitat for birds and other wildlife, be sure not to use pesticides in your yard. Pesticide is not discerning. If it kills "bad" bugs, it will kill beneficial bugs, too. In turn, the poisoned bugs will kill birds and other wildlife. If you let things be, nature will keep them in balance. Your birds and other beneficial wildlife will keep your pests at bay.

Providing habitat for wildlife takes a little bit of work at first, but in the long run, it is not at all labor intensive. It is extremely interesting and satisfying. When you turn your yard into a mini-wildlife preserve, you actually do a great deal to help nature. You also give yourself a source of fascination and pleasure that will change day by day, evolve year by year, and help you to be deeply connected with the natural world.