Birdscaping your yard

Birds represent the visible soul of the garden for many of us, and watching them move through the landscape is both fascinating and comforting.

Properly placed feeders can also bring birds close to a window for an observer who may have limited mobility. My mother's favorite indoor perch when she could no longer garden was her window chair near the birds and birdbath.

Birds can be attracted by specific plants, but they're more connected to the form of the landscape as a whole. If your garden has layers — tall, medium and short levels — birds will find necessary protection. Also consider a brush pile, often recommended for birds, but sometimes difficult in a small city garden where aesthetics are vital.

Shrubs with low branches sweeping the ground will also provide shelter; a spirea or forsythia can be a haven replacing brush piles.

Water, consistently offered year-round, gives another necessity. Water sources need not be complex like streams and fountains, but all require frequent cleaning and refilling to keep them fresh.

When choosing garden plants for birds, also consider the year-round presence of the plant. Flowering trees offer nectar in spring for butterflies and hummingbirds; conifers attract insects and form seed-bearing cones.

Many birds, including hummingbirds, need insect protein, and the birds benefit from a varied landscape that draws insects. Keep all insecticides and other pesticides out of the bird-lovers' garden so that insect diversity is enhanced.

Mulch, leaf-litter and duff under trees will attract ground-feeders like juncos.

Gardeners tend to see plants with visible berries as bird-attracting, and this is certainly true, but birds pick at some and gobble others.

A flock of American robins and varied thrushes swept through my garden this week, and since they are fruit-lovers, they sampled the Cotoneaster parneyi, now covered in stunning red berries.

That's not their favorite; they prefer berries from the madrona (Arbutus menziesii), with deep-black clumps of fruit. Madrona blooms in spring, with white flowers that provide nectar for butterflies and hummingbirds. Another favorite berry-filled shrub is serviceberry (Amelanchier alnifolia) with similar nectar-laden flowers.

Deer browse on serviceberry, so it must be tucked behind protective fences to allow bloom. A truly generous gardener would offer blueberry bushes (Vaccinium corymbosum) and native huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium.)

Oaks can join our garden scene, offering tasty acorns and shelter. A good one to plant in moderate shade is the native Garry oak (Quercus garryana), growing slowly to 40 feet. Holly oak (Quercus ilex) gives evergreen presence and will tolerate clipping, although pruning removes bloom and seed. Tall conifers including Douglas firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii) combine shelter, insects and seeds.

We may not notice all the different ways birds use our plants, since shelter often equals invisibility. We also can't expect birds to relish what we do, although there are certainly overlaps. Robins can eat poison ivy berries but decline salal (Gaultheria shallon), which humans enjoy. Salal does, however, make good bird cover.

As a child, I strung cranberries and popcorn and orange slices for outdoor Christmas trees to honor the birds that remained through Ohio winters. Unfortunately, the presence of raccoons, opossums and even less-desirable rats means we can't put out edibles like this in our gardens now.

The answer is to install a mix of native and exotic plants that will feed birds inoffensively without attracting nuisance critters.

My wish for gardeners is that we all find quiet time to observe the movement of birds through the year. Being still and watching will teach each of us what birds favor in our individual gardens.

An informative book is Russell Link's "Landscaping for Wildlife in the Pacific Northwest" (University of Washington Press, 2002; $29.95).

Garden expert Mary Robson is a retired area horticulture agent for Washington State University/King County Cooperative Extension. Her e-mail is marysophia@olympus.net.