Cape Town - The sites and habitats of birds are important environmental indicators, and on Birding Big Day on November 23, people will monitor the number of birds seen in a particular area or in a garden.
How many birds visit your garden?
To make your garden more bird-friendly, you will need to provide shelter, food, water and nesting sites. Visit natural areas to see bird habitats and replicate these as closely as possible with plant species of similar growth habits, suitable for your climate, to create a successful bird garden.
Planting in layers:
Different birds need varying heights and layers of vegetation for feeding, roosting, shelter and a place to build safe nests. This multi-layered planting can be used as a basis in many parts of the garden, and nesting material and food can be found in all these layers.
A tree plays an important role in a bird garden for building nests – in the fork or a cavity in the tree’s trunk. Providing they are not endangering people or properties, dead trees or dead branches make ideal nesting holes.
Alternatively, sisal nesting logs or nesting boxes can be bought and attached high up in trees. Position boxes so that the entrance is protected from rain.
If the garden is too small for a tree, plant a thicket of shrubs in a secluded part of the garden where birds can find protection and a place to build their nests. Palms are a favourite source of nesting material for weavers. Fallen leaves and dry twigs under shrubs and hedges will provide nesting material as well as food for foraging thrushes and robins.
A low garden wall built of horizontal logs can become a home for insects and birds.
Food:
Birds need food for different reasons – for energy to feed their young, to help survive winter, and to build up fat reserves for migration. Plant a variety of plants that will provide nectar, berries, seeds and fruits through the seasons, and attract a number of birds.
Plant in groups so they become easily visible to birds. This way of planting is also aesthetically pleasing in a garden.
Birds are attracted to the nectar in the orange and red flowers of aloes, Bauhinia galpinii, Burchellia bubalina, callistemon, erythrina, kniphofia, Leonotis leonurus, protea, russellia and Strelitzia reginae.
Tubular flowers such as those found in phygelius, pineapple sage, salvias, fuchsia and crocosmia, attract sunbirds, which are also attracted to the curved orange flowers that cover the trunk and branches of the tree fuchsia, Halleria lucida, whose berry-like fruits are enjoyed by small fruit-eaters like white-eyes.
Cape honeysuckle (Tecoma capensis) is an indigenous evergreen shrub with tubular flowers of orange, yellow or salmon that attract sunbirds.
This is a useful shrub for screening, or grown as a hedge.
In early summer, the deep red flowers of the weeping boerbean (Schotia brachypetala) provide a feast for nectar feeding birds. This makes an attractive ornamental tree with its spreading growth habit, but should be positioned where the dripping nectar does not cause a problem.
Encourage fruit- and seed-eating birds to your garden by growing carissa, ochna, olive and sunflower. Don’t be too tidy in a bird garden. Leave some spent flower heads to go to seed.
Enjoy watching birds as they perch on stems and feast on the seed of non-invasive grasses.
Grasses also provide birds with nesting material.
If the garden is small and cannot accommodate many shrubs, make use of bird feeders and bird tables filled with fresh, good-quality birdseed every day.
Feeders should have a roof as protection from rain, as damp seed can become mouldy.
Hang feeders near a large shrub or tree so that birds can fly there for protection from birds of prey, but shrubs should not be so dense that cats can lie in wait.
Birds such as hadedas and wagtails will look for insects and worms in open habitats, and in lawns. The garden and lawn in a bird garden must be free of herbicides and pesticides.
Water:
Birds need fresh water for drinking and bathing, and a natural pond with shallow sloping sides will attract birds. Grinding stones, or replicas of these, make attractive natural birdbaths. Shallow birdbaths are best. Place a rock in deep birdbaths so birds can stand and drink without getting wet, especially in winter.
A birdbath on a pedestal is the answer if there is any chance of a visit from cats, with some low-growing thorny shrubs planted at the base to discourage cats.
The water in birdbaths should be kept clean at all times, and they should be scrubbed to remove algae.
GARDEN TIPS
* Butterflies are attracted to the brightly coloured flower clusters of verbena. Verbena’s creeping growth habit makes it an attractive subject for containers, rockeries and spilling over low walls.
* Sow seed of salad crops fortnightly so there is a continuous supply of tender young leaves. Spread straw between rows to retain moisture, discourage weeds and stop mud splashing on vegetables. Provide strong stakes and supports for climbing beans and vines of tomato, zucchini and cucumber.
* Planting flowers among vegetables attracts beneficial insects such as bees, which aids pollination. Many bee-pollinated flowers are yellow, blue or white. Bee flowers often have nectar guides on their petals in the form of spots (foxglove) or lines (pansy) that point the way to the interior of the flower where the nectar is located.
* As well as adding bright colour to the summer garden, marigolds are grown as a soil cleanser because they contain a substance that is toxic to nematodes in the soil. They can be grown as a cover crop where other plants are to be grown, and between rows of vegetables.
* Alyssum, a favourite of bees, spreads sweetly scented carpets of white, pastel pink, lavender, violet or purple flowers in a sunny position in six weeks from seed. For even quicker results, plant alyssum seedlings.
* Large yellow and black beetles that damage flowers, especially roses, can be hand-picked, but as a precautionary measure wear gardening gloves as some beetles emit a substance that can blister the skin.
* Tigridias were popular summer bulbs in grandmother’s day. The tigridia is known as the peacock flower or tiger flower, because of their dramatic open-faced flowers in red, yellow, pink, purple and orange, with centres spotted in a contrasting colour. Individual flowers only last a day, but each stalk produces several flowers that open successively. Plant bulbs in groups 50mm deep, in well-drained, rich soil in a sunny position. - Weekend Argus