Landscaping for Birds

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Avid birder Molly Hoffman of Grand Marais, Minnesota, began recording bird songs for a local radio program several years ago.

“Bohemian and cedar waxwings favor mountain ash berries in the winter,” Molly says. “It’s a tremendous tree, a good weedy tree that will come up from the stump if part of it dies off. And the flowers are great for hummingbirds.” Molly also observed an interesting relationship between hummingbirds and yellow-bellied sapsuckers. “When hummingbirds return in the spring, even some of the spring ephemeral flowers aren’t open yet,” she says, “but sapsuckers make holes in trees, and the hummingbirds feed off the sap and the insects attracted to that sap.”

Food and fun – year-round

Carrol calls elderberry, which is used by 40 songbirds, an “ice cream plant” because the birds eat the fruit as soon as it appears, whereas he refers to high bush cranberry as a “spinach plant” because the fruit is bitter when it first emerges but hangs on through the winter months becoming sweeter after a couple hard frosts. Hardwood trees and shrubs that produce acorns – white oak, American hazel, shagbark hickory and butternut – provide important fall and winter food for wild turkeys, pheasants, ruffed grouse and other species.

Once established, a natural landscape has ecological benefit, is easier to maintain and offers good opportunities for birds and bird watching. Consider going wild in your backyard, and your efforts will be for the birds – literally.

Margaret Haapoja takes time from her busy schedule to entertain feathered friends in Bovey, Minnesota.

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