How to Attract Birds to Your Garden
One of the great and constant delights I have in my interest in birding is to witness the constant movement and activity of birds in our garden. Many of the articles on this blog come directly from observations of birds in the garden. Many of the photos appearing on this blog and in my photo gallery have been taken in the garden or nearby.
People who have an interest in birds often ask “How can I attract more birds to my garden?” There are some simple ways of ensuring a greater number of birds in your garden which will, in turn, bring many hours of pleasure over many years. Here are some simple “rules” to help you:
- Water: Provide a constant source of water, such as a pond, bird bath or dripping tap into a bowl.
- Food: Provide a variety of native trees and bushes that become a suitable food source. (In Australia – never put out food like parrot seed for them).
- Protection: Never let your cat roam the garden – and actively discourage neighbour’s cats from entering your garden.
- Safety: Provide a safe environment for the birds by not using any poisons like snail bait in your garden.
These are simple and effective methods of ensuring a safe and happy habitat for the birds in your garden.
For more information, go to the Bird Observers Club of Australia website. They have available two downloadable leaflets on attracting birds to your garden. Highly recommended.
Links:
- Attracting Birds to your Garden – part 1
- Attracting Birds to your Garden – part 2
- Bird Observers Club of Australia – one of our largest birding clubs.
- Garden Birds – over 80 articles from my archives about birds in gardens, mostly our garden.
New Holland Honeyeaters
Small bird tries to fly a plane
This report recently appeared in the Daily Times newspaper in Pakistan.
A flight was delayed for several hours after a tiny bird flew into the cockpit of the plane and refused to leave. The bird came in through an open door of the plane as passengers boarded at the Ben Gurion Airport, near Tel Aviv.
All 178 passengers of the Israeli airline EL Al flight to Vienna had to leave the plane while the airline brought in a professional bird-catcher. They had to wait in the passenger lounge for hours until the bird had been caught and removed from the plane. A spokesman of the airline called the incident ‘extremely rare’.
I guess the major problem was that this bird didn’t have a licence to fly.
I and the Bird #45
The latest edition of I and the Bird #45 has been posted over at Journey Through Grace. This edition celebrates a special birthday and every contribution is a wonderful gift just waiting to be opened.
As usual, my gift to you is a part of this bird carnival.
Links:
- I and the Bird #45 – this week’s edition.
- Journey Through Grace – this week’s host.
- I and the Bird – home page of this carnival. It includes links to all the previous editions of this carnival.
Birding Bloopers #16
It is amazing the difficulties that birders get themselves into from time to time. Over recent weeks various birders have shared the errors of their ways while out birding. Some have made very strange identifications but today’s contribution is a beauty. The size, shape, colour and sound all indicates a non-bird ID, but no… well read for yourself.
I have too many to list but I’ll happily pass on someone else’s birding blooper.
We were at Phillip Island in Victoria, watching seabirds from the cliffs on the ocean side. I was looking out to sea, my friend was looking back at the muttonbird colony.
She nudged me and said, ‘What bird is that?’
I trained my binoculars on the object that was emerging from behind the bushes.
It was the rescue helicopter.
Thanks to Snail from A Snail’s Eye View for this contribution.
To read more in this series click here.
Question for readers:
When did you experience an embarrassing birding moment? Perhaps it was a mistaken identification. Perhaps you didn’t look carefully enough and were later proved wrong. Maybe the bird itself fooled you in some way.
I invite readers to submit their birding bloopers in the comments section below. If it’s good enough I might just feature it in a post of its own, with a link back to your blog (if you have one).