How to attract more birds to your garden

For many gardeners, visiting birds are as interesting as the plants. These simple tricks work a tweet.

A blood finch flying among the bottle brush.

For many garden owners, the birds that visit bring as much pleasure and interest as the plants. It’s not just the lorikeets’ colourful plumage or the antics of the honeyeaters – it’s the knowledge that diverse birdlife is a sign of a healthy and balanced ecology.

A female fairy wren.

Of course, it’s a whole lot easier to attract a range of birds if you have a large property; in a small city garden it’s a challenge to provide the triumvirate of food, water and shelter. Plants provide both shelter and food, so the types of birds that might visit will depend on our choices – and placement – of trees, shrubs and grasses.

Australia has more than 800 species of native birds but in the suburbs there have been big changes to the species we see as habitat is lost. Little birds such as fairywrens, wagtails, finches and silvereyes have been disappearing for decades as the bigger rainbow lorikeets, noisy miners, wattlebirds, cockatoos and magpies proliferate.

Young kookaburra.

One reason is the large-flowered plants we love to grow. Grevilleas bred with ever-bigger, year-round blooms such as ‘Robyn Gordon’, ‘Superb’ and ‘Moonlight’ drip with nectar, as do bottlebrushes and hybrid flowering gums like Eucalyptus ‘Summer Red’. It’s not just natives, as anyone currently watching the birds feeding on sasanqua camellias knows. These are all nectar magnets for the big bullies, especially miners, which drive out other species even when they’re not direct competitors.

Small birds need shrub cover for refuge. They love thickets, ideally with spiky leaves, where they are safe from larger birds and pets. “The structure of the planting is more important than the particular plants,” says Darryl Jones, professor of ecology at Brisbane’s Griffith University. “The ideal is to have low, medium and high plants with dense foliage, which connect to provide continuous cover up and down.”

Many small birds eat grass seeds but they are voracious consumers of insects, industriously searching every leaf, twig and crevice for a meal. It’s another good reason to avoid pesticides and attract these willing workers instead. Jones stresses the need for leaf litter as habitat for all sorts of insects, lizards, grubs and worms. “The majority of birds are after insects for protein. Even the so-called honeyeaters can’t live on nectar.” Growing a variety of flowering plants means attracting a more diverse range of insects.

Clean water is essential for drinking and bathing. Ponds should have emerging rocks or logs, or shallow edges for perching. Birdbaths must be emptied, cleaned and refilled regularly. Their position is a compromise between a place where you can watch the birds and having foliage cover nearby for refuge. According to Jones, about two metres is far enough away to prevent cats pouncing but close enough for escape from larger birds.

The same rules apply to siting feeding tables or hangers, if you are one of the many that feed wild birds. Jones addresses whether bird feeding can be ethical, responsible and sustainable in his recent book Feeding The Birds at Your Table (NewSouth, $24.99). He points out that although foods such as seeds and berries are seasonal, feeding wild birds is “more for our benefit than theirs”. It’s a great read for anyone who loves birds in their garden.

Tips & tricks

When feeding birds, only put out small quantities and keep the feeder clean. Commercial seed mixes, fresh greens, fruit, fruit peels and rolled oats are good choices. Avoid bread, processed meats, mince, honey, and sugary or fatty foods. Little birds love tussocky grasses for seeds and shelter. Try native kangaroo grass, wallaby grass and meadow rice grass. Dot clumps near ground-hugging shrubs so they have a continuous safe zone to forage. Compact grevilleas with dense foliage and small flowers include G. rosmarinifolia, ‘Firecracker’, ‘Pink Midget’, and ‘Lady O’. Seed sources include grasses, eucalypts, banksias and wattles. For berries: lillypillies, blueberry ash and many rainforest trees.

Q&A

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I always thought agapanthus thrived on neglect but I’ve seen mealybug infestation causing malformed flowers and leaves. As mealybug is hard to eradicate, will agapanthus have less weed potential? Dianne Parkinson, Melbourne

Agapanthus used to be indestructible, but mealybug seems endemic in them now. Because these white, fluffy sapsuckers live down within the centres and on roots, they thrive unnoticed until the leaves expand, distorted and stunted from damage done months earlier to young cells. Sometimes white residue remains on the leaves. Repeated fortnightly sprays with Eco-Neem mixed with Eco-Oil will treat them. As mealybug weakens plants and limits flowering, this will reduce agapanthus’ weed potential.

After the late rain my pumpkins finally got going. When should I pick them? Michael Power, by email

Pumpkins need a long, warm growing season; the flowers and shoots are edible too until the vines die off in autumn. This is when you harvest the pumpkins, before frosts, keeping 5cm of stalk intact. Fruit should sound hollow when tapped. A week in the sun will harden the skin for longer storage.

We have an 8m-tall foxtail palm only 2m from the house. Should it be so close? Nick Dyer, Rockhampton

Native to far north Queensland, Wodyetia bifurcata only came to botanists’ attention in 1978. In cultivation they usually stay under 10m. As the old fronds fall off they could cause damage. The roots grow deep to survive the dry season, but are a compact mass of fairly narrow roots and although it’s not impossible, they’re unlikely to damage the house at that distance.

Send your questions to: [e-mail] or Helen Young, PO Box 3098, Willoughby North, NSW 2068.The best question for April wins a pair of Chore Classic boots from Muck Boots worth $145.