Spring is arriving. So are the migratory birds who have spent the winter in warmer climes. Over millennia, birds have evolved to arrive when the insects emerge. 96% of bird species need insects to feed their nestlings. Even seed-eating birds will feed insects to their babies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a problem looming: insect populations are declining due to climate change, pesticide use, human development, and habitat loss\u2014including invasive species intrusion. Non-native plants are not good supporters of our native insects. Some non-natives which have brought few or none of the insects and pathogens that curb their growth in their native habitat, are now out-competing the native plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can help by gardening for birds which really means gardening for insects. Provide food, water, and shelter or space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Food:<\/strong> Replace invasives with native plants that have overlapping bloom times that host native insects. Broad plant diversity will mean a wide variety of insects attracting a wide variety of birds. Pollinators prefer flowers in clumps rather than one here and there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want birds, do not use pesticides! Do not buy plants grown from pesticide-infused seed because all parts of the plant will be toxic to insects. Buy organically-grown plants to support organic growers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Water:<\/strong> It can be as easy as an upside-down garbage can lid filled with water and nestled on a rock wall. Clean your bird bath every three days. More complicated but fun is a garden pond with a fountain or waterfall. Birds are attracted to the sound of water. Add a few fish and tadpoles to your pond to eat mosquito larvae.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shelter or space: <\/strong>A variety of spacing and layering of plantings, from tall trees, shorter trees, shrubs, meadow, and garden will provide lots of nooks and crannies for a variety of critters to nest, eat, and take shelter. Keep dead or dying trees to provide cavity-nesting opportunities and increased insect supply. A brush pile will provide shelter in bad weather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lawns are great for badminton and croquet players, but only the occasional robin. They cost money, time, and fossil fuels to maintain. If you have a large lawn, convert some to meadow. The Insects and birds will soon flock to it. If the neighbors complain, put up a \u201cConservation Area\u201d sign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Especially in these difficult times, gardening can be therapeutic, joyful, and educational for you and your family. Thank you for helping the birds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n #<\/p>\n\n\n\n Author: Katharine Dodge is an artist, and a long-time naturalist and environmental educator with the Northeast Pa. Audubon Society. For more information about Audubon and its programs, visit their website: nepaaudobn.org or call them at 570-253-9250.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spring is arriving. So are the migratory birds who have spent the winter in warmer climes. Over millennia, birds have evolved to arrive when the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1470,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-outdoor","category-popular","category-summer"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1491,"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490\/revisions\/1491"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goodstuffconnections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}