Attracting Birds

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Learn how to successfully attract orioles and other birds with sweet fruits.

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Nothin’ Fancy


Perhaps one of the best things about oranges is the low maintenance. You don’t need a snazzy feeder. Simply hammer a nail to a deck railing or fencepost and stick an orange half to the nail. Or set a couple of orange halves right in your platform feeder. Easy peasy!


Early Bird Gets the Orange


Try to anticipate when orioles will arrive in your backyard. You’ll have the best chance of success if you put oranges out early. If orioles heading north find a good feeding spot, they may just stick around for breeding season and beyond, which means oriole guests for the entire summer.

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HOW TO ATTRACT GOLDFINCHES WITH YOUR GARDEN

With the right flowers and plants that attract birds, your backyard can be a sanctuary for beautiful goldfinches. Read more >
How to Attract Goldfinches With Your Garden
How to Attract Goldfinches With Your Garden
With the right flowers and plants that attract birds, your backyard can be a sanctuary for beautiful goldfinches

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When it comes to choosing plants with the most long-term benefit to the birds in your backyard, you can’t go wrong with native trees. Trees offer a whole buffet of food options in the form of seeds, fruit, nuts, sap, nectar, leaves, pollen and insects.


If you don’t have many trees in your yard, or if they’re not helping you attract birds you’d like, try these suggestions.


Take stock of what you have. Make note of the trees in your yard. Decide which existing trees provide shelter, breeding sites and food, and then remove any that don’t make the grade—especially if the tree is unhealthy, unsightly or unsuitable for your yard.


Determine which wildlife attributes are still lacking and what types of trees will help fill those needs. The number of trees will vary according to your space, but a good rule of thumb for an average-sized yard is one or two large trees, at least one grouping of smaller trees and shrubs, and one clump of conifers for winter shelter.

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Plants have a lot more to offer than just beautiful flowers. Why not get the most out of your garden by growing plants to feed birds? Here, you’ll find 8 great blooms that offer seeds for birds.


Black-eyed Susan


This is a garden classic birds adore. The traditional black-eyed Susan has dark centers and bright-yellow flowers, but now there are even more varieties to choose from. Grow in full sun to light shade for blooms in summer through autumn.

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Grow berries for birds to attract a multitude of birds, like this cedar waxwing.


There’s something inspiring about seeing a cheery flock of cedar waxwings suddenly settle into your backyard, stretching to pluck every berry within reach. They gulp the fruits down one after another before leaving as quickly as they arrived.


You can revel in this picture-perfect scene, too. Not only are berries among the most natural and essential food sources for birds, they’re also easy to grow. Translation: You don’t have to be much of a gardener to grow berries for birds!


Take a look at my top 12 picks for backyard berries, compiled with the bird-watcher in mind. (My editor made me add the botanical names.) All of them are easy to grow in small spaces, yield good crops and will bring birds to your backyard for years to come. From one birder to another, I hope this advice allows you to simply plant, walk away and then get your binoculars ready to enjoy the view.

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Add nest boxes to your birdscape, because it’s heartwarming to watch your bird family grow up. But keep an eye out for other nesters, too. Some birds even nest right on the ground, so be alert for the cheep of alarm that tells you you’re trespassing.

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Put up a feeder, pour in some seed and you’ll attract birds. Yes, it really is that simple. Food is the first step to winning the hearts of birds, and keeping a feeder makes you feel good, too.


But a feeder is just the beginning. To really bring in the birds—more birds, of more species—you need to make nesting birds feel at home in your yard. And the way to do that is with plants.


“Birdscaping,” as some people call it, is a lot simpler than it sounds. All it takes are some common sense and a few lessons from the very best gardener of all, Mother Nature.

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Dwarf conifers attract birds, like this chickadee sitting in a pine tree.
When it comes to attracting birds, there is a guaranteed recipe for success. Birds are attracted to a backyard that provides the tempting trio of food, shelter and nesting sites. And what’s a great way to offer all three? Conifers!

Seed-filled or berrylike cones offer food, while dense branches provide four-season refuge as a place to nest or hide from predators. Problem is, if your yard doesn’t already boast a few conifers, you may not have the space to grow a full-sized fir or large Colorado blue spruce.

That’s where dwarf conifers come in. These compact versions of the large trees offer beauty, versatility and the qualities that attract birds.

With sizes ranging from low-growing ground covers to small globe shapes to pyramidal trees growing 5 feet tall, dwarf conifers easily fit into yards of all sizes. And, in addition to making your place more bird-friendly, their small stature and interesting colors and needle textures satisfy a broad range of landscape needs.

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