Three Ways to Welcome Birds to Your Yard This Season
Nature-inspired holiday décor has a long tradition of bringing life indoors when winter feels dark and dreary. Many popular ornaments feature cardinals, chickadees and owls—year-round, easy-to-spot residents of the Credit River Watershed.
With a few simple steps, you can create bird-friendly spaces in your yard and transform it into a winter wonderland for local birds. It will look as if you decorated your trees and shrubs with living ornaments, spreading holiday cheer to everyone who passes by. Here are three ways you can get started.
Add Evergreens
Winters in southern Ontario are cold and snowy. Birds that spend their winters here need somewhere warm to rest, such as under the dense cover of cedar or spruce evergreen trees.
The small and adorable northern saw-whet owl can be found decorating the inner branches of these trees. A popular winter bird to spot, this owl breeds in Northern Ontario, but spends the winter in our watershed.
Well-camouflaged, these owls can be hard to find, but angry-sounding black-capped chickadees can often signal their hiding spots. Watch where the chickadees gather and check branches near the tree trunk. With any luck, the chickadees will lead you right to the owl.
Include Berry-producing Shrubs
Many bird species have distinct berry preferences, relying on their favourites for the energy needed during migration. The berries produced by native shrubs are rich in the sugars and protein that migrating birds require, and most are eaten before the first snowfall. Some native shrubs have berries that cling through the winter and only become a common food source later in the season.
Planting shrubs like winterberry or highbush cranberry in your yard can attract common bird feeder visitors, like cardinals. Both these shrubs and birds give the dreary monochromatic colour scheme of winter a pop of red.
Don’t Cut Back Flower Heads
Planting seedy wildflowers can support birds through the colder months when other food sources become scarce.
Many native wildflowers produce an abundance of seeds that winter birds rely on. The tiny seeds of purple coneflower, wild bergamot and goldenrod are a favourite of finches and provide an important winter food source.
American goldfinches, a common winter finch, often go unrecognized because their bright yellow summer feathers transform to ones that are more subdued. Their winter colour may not pop out like a bright star, but it’s still fun to watch them try to balance on the sturdy stem of a plant.
Get Inspired
While it may be too cold now to plant the native trees, shrubs and wildflowers that birds love, inspiration for your next spring garden project is always available. Consult our native plant lists to get started on creating your own bird-friendly winter wonderland.