Growing Wild: Gardening for Birds and Nature

I live in southeastern Pennsylvania in a mixed rural/residential landscape. I am keenly aware that development has encroached on habitats for many creatures and birds. When we moved into the house, I was delighted with the large flower garden created by the former owner. But after observing the birds, and particularly the hummingbirds, I have started removing the hybrid cultivars planted by the former owner and am phasing in native plants. The change is remarkable - I now have butterflies I have never seen before, and the hummingbirds return every spring!  This winter goldfinches and juncos are feasting on the rudbeckia seeds! So, it is well worth going the whole way to plant all natives.  We have dozens of mature white pines, and some deciduous trees - but we need some understory plants and bushes.  The goal is to add some bird houses - and have plants that the deer won't devour!

I live in the dense, urban part of Seattle, and for a year I have lived in an apartment with a small balcony that is North facing, but with a good bit of access to Western light as well. There are two very large trees in the alley next to the balcony that have a lot of wildlife, especially for being in the middle of the city! I often see sitting in the tree: hawks, bushtits, dark-eyed juncos, robins, multiple types of woodpeckers, crows, stellars jays, and the most common: Anna's hummingbirds. Also as a squirrel that lives there and for a few weeks a racoon sleeping in squirrel's nest during the day. I love having this habitat right outside my window and I want to learn how to complement it with the limited space on my balcony. I think my options will be limited given the North orientation, but I am excited to give it a try!

We have lived in the St. Croix Valley of Minnesota on about 2 acres with almost 100 red pines situated around our house for almost 30 years.  We have created a beautiful garden space that many birds come to, nest and breed during the spring, summer and fall.  We also feed them year-round.  We have been birdwatchers for many years but I am now formalizing this process for myself as I am on the cusp of retirement.  I'm hoping to increase my learning of what to add to this garden to improve the bird/insect attraction and build an additional wildflower garden space in an area where we had to take down some diseased pines last year.

We live in southeastern Michigan and are fortunate to have a park and golf course nearby, providing green space in an otherwise heavy residential area. We have a large lawn area that I hope to gradually change to have more native plants and trees. Our backyard is part woods, and when we sit outside in the evening we can see and hear all kinds of activity, including owls and doves.  I am hoping to attract a wider variety of birds into my yard- a bird sanctuary of sorts.

We live on a residential street in Los Angeles and will build a “granny flat” in our small backyard for my parents.  This means our green space will be reduced to a small patio space (for us) and an L-shaped narrow corridor for my parents.  We will have a common area in our driveway and have a thin green perimeter of tenuifolium pittosporum (had to look that up) that Black phoebe and maybe some finches seem to like.  A phone line is a favorite spot of some doves, but not sure what type (we have experienced the absence of mourning doves, when we used to hear them all the time). I want to make sure we design our green space to maximize hospitality to our local birds.  I like working in my front yard to tidy it up, but haven’t given a lot of attention to actually gardening.  I am new to birdwatching (pandemic-related) and so all of this is quite new, and I admit a little exciting, to me.

I live in a house we recently bought in Northern New Jersey.  We like to read, eat, and watch birds in our yard.  Right now it's a lot of grass and, thankfully, many old (and healthy) trees.  We have everything from hemlocks to a Maple to a holly tree.  I'd like to eliminate a lot of our grass with colorful native grass, and turn the leftover grass into a clover lawn.  I'd also like it to feel more fairytale/magical-like in general.  The folks who lived her before us had it highly landscaped- bushes cut into shapes- the whole nine yards. As for current birds, we have five feeders and have managed to attract, house sparrows, white-throated sparrows, dark-eyed juncos, bluejays, house finches, white and red-breasted nuthatches, black-capped chickadees, cardinals, robins, and both American and fish crows.  Also, downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers, and yellow-bellied sapsuckers.  The smaller birds definitely love hiding in our bushes, so putting in a lot more different kind of ground cover makes sense. During spring migration we got a few warblers- I'd love to get many more.

I live in Lebanon, NH and have noticed over the past 3 years a decline in the number of birds and bird species. If there's gardening to be done that will help the birds, I'd like to try to help them.

We moved to a new house this past summer.  My backyard is wide but not as deep and almost a blank slate.  We do have 2 mature trees              (a sycamore and pin oak) and an area the previous owners used as a vegetable garden.  I have a suet feeder and block feeder up to supplement the black oil sunflower seeds.  I do get downy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers, house finches, house sparrows, and a few cardinals.  I see juncos in the winter.  I think part of the problem for the birds is they have no place to hide from predators except in the trees.  In the winter, the bare trees don't offer much protection.  I also have very little gardening experience.  In our last house, we had the landscaping all done professionally.  I am not opposed to this, but would like to try to do some planting/designing on my own.  My front yard is also pretty bare, minus 2 ash and 1 maple. A garden with colorful native plants and shrubs would be nice.   I would like to attract butterflies and plan on adding a bird bath too.  I do know it will take time for the plants to grow.   Any suggestions would be appreciated.   I'm in Zone 5b.  I know there's a lot to unpack here.  

We just rented a home in San Luis Obispo, CA. Despite an under-abundance of funds and the fact that our home is rental, I just have to do this for the neighborhood! This yard has so much more to give. Plus we've been given free reign over the yard. We love to be outside; coffee, sunbathing, birdwatching. But there are virtually no birds in my yard. As a bird biologist and birder, this is a source of daily melancholy. My yard is dominated by thick grasses (non-native? Seems like quack grass), Bermuda buttercup, petty spurge, musk stork's bill. We have a Taiwan firethorn that a mockingbird sampled once, a lemon tree, and a stately Chinese elm. Nothing native as far as I can tell. What we do like is the size of the property, the 10x10 raised garden bed, the angles of light (plentiful!), and that it is essentially a blank canvas. We also think the elm is nice, but could use some companion veg to make it an appealing perch.

One of my favorite birds is the Eastern bluebird. This tagged male is back again for the fifth season. His first mate was also tagged but she did not return last March 2021. He has a new mate :) To date, I have identified 46 species but know that I could attract more birds, butterflies, and beneficial insects with a thoughtfully planned out "naturescape."

We live in Wilton, New Hampshire and have 5 acres of forest and gardens.  We abut several hundred acres of conserved mixed forest and fields which adds to the habitat quality of our property.  This is our third home and we are long time birders and conservation activists so have always focused on improving our properties to optimize habitat for birds and wildlife.  Our last home was Certified Habitat for Wildlife by National Wildlife Federation.  When we moved into our home in Wilton, we had to uncover gardens and prune old apple trees.  We also cut some trees and shrubs to make pollinator gardens.  I raked and then dug into the soil to open it up an area for seeding native wildflowers.  Goldenrod and asters germinated and added to the Purple Coneflowers, daisies, clovers, phlox,lupine, and other wildflowers.  We created  a small pool which is enjoyed by the birds, frogs, and even an American toad which laid eggs in it and we had toad tadpoles.  Wood and brush piles are scattered around our forest and we added native shrubs/vines that offer fruit like dogwoods, virginia creeper, serviceberry, raspberries and high-bush cranberries.  At last count, we have had 110 birds migrate, breed, visit or live on our property over the past 7 years.

We live on 1.3 acres of land above a bird preserve called Potter Marsh in Anchorage, Alaska.  I have fenced, raised gardens for moose free vegetables, and some flowers beds that are generally buffets for the local feral rabbit population.  A large portion of the front is in lawn.  Although I have seen an increase in the numbers of bees since I started throwing clover seed out every spring, it is still pretty sterile from a native plant standpoint.  I am hoping to build native plant islands to encourage more butterflies and birds to spend time in the yard.  We can only have bird feeders out for the winter since we need to be mindful of the bears visiting, so finding plants that the birds will enjoy is going to be a fun project.

I live on a hill.  At the top of the hill, about 50 ft from my windows are my birdfeeders, water, and native grasses.  Down the hill a way, is my cultivated raised garden for veggies and cutting flowers, native perennials and a pollinator garden.  Beyond that is a grass field and pine/deciduious forest.  I get common birds (morning doves, sparrows, finches, cardinals) flying in for the birdfeeders but rarely see them in my gardens.  Question:  Are they just taking the easy way to get food?  Is this not helpful for them?  Should I not have feeders when I have so much natural diversity?

We live in western Massachusetts high on a hill that we fondly refer to as hawk knoll. Yes, lots of hawks soaring overhead We have an overgrown garden that is challenging as it is shaded off and on during the day. I would like to replant it with mostly large perennials and shrubs. I am hoping to learn more about bird attracting bushes for my planting zone from this course. We have many redtail hawk, owls, some piliated woodpeckers, indigo buntings, Northern flickers and many gold finches to name a few of our visitors. I am a novice in bird observations. I am sure we have many other species. Now in January we have few feathered friends. But come spring the yard will be teeming. I watch mostly from my sun porch office with windows on three sides. In some ways this is ideal as I don't frighten the birds away and I can observe them. Some of the mating dances are quite entertaining.  

My husband and I purchased 5.5 acres in 2020. In 2021 we planted 12 fruit trees, 25 chokecherry saplings (from our state forestry service) and numerous perennials. It's been amazing to see the number of pollinators that have visited this first year. I'm hoping to plant more native trees and shrubs in the coming years to provide both food and shelter for the birds. While I fill many feeders, I want to be able to plant a natural buffet for the birds as well.

My husband and I just moved from a large city to his family's ranch in Northeast Texas after both of us retired.  The ranch has forests, hay pastures and water sources.  Our home is on 1.8 acres with mostly oak and pine trees.  We have one flower bed in the front of the house.  We have been birders for many years and are very excited about improving what is already a good habitat for birds.  We have documented over 120 species of birds on the ranch and are currently enjoying our wintering sparrows, Brown Thrashers and Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets among others.  During recent colder weather, I started putting out Sunflower seeds as supplement for the birds. My husband gave me this course as a Christmas present and we are anxious to see what we can do to improve our space for the birds and ourselves.  Supporting our year-round resident birds, in addition to the migrants, Summer nesters and Winter residents is an important goal for us as we plan our retirement activities in this beautiful place.

Native plantings and how flowers evolve through the seasons: May-daffodils; June-geraniums, shasta daisies; July-daylilies, coral bells, coneflowers. Would like to attract more berry-feeding birds and discourage feeding on blueberries.

We have a small property in Eastern PA.   Whether I realized it or not, it was the landscaping that sold me on the home when we bought it.  However, I had no experience in gardening - just a love of beautiful flowers and birds inherited from my mom and the beautiful Central VA area when I grew up.  Over the years I’ve grown to appreciate the value of natives and less lawn.  All the stories here are so inspiring!!  We added a small pond to our backyard a couple of years ago and the birds are over the moon with it.  Love the little frogs that call it home too.

We live on Bogue Banks in NC. We are working on our native plant gardening in Maritime Forest which is low light and sand. We have pots for herbs and raised bed for other food plantings. Our biggest challenge is using the outdoor space. In our area mosquitoes are present and very active 24 hours a day and about 9 months of the year. Not wanting to cover ourselves in DEET just to sit or work outside we miss a lot of the enjoyment of our yard space. Wanting to protect our bee population and insect feeding species, we do not spray our yard to control the mosquitoes. Are there any suggestions for natural mosquito controls for a mosquito challenged area like ours? Thanks and Happy Planting!

I live in Laramie, Wyoming - elevation 7220, zone 4 if we're lucky.  We just moved into town from a prairie setting that had wonderful native birds (mountain bluebirds, goldfinches, 3 hummingbird species, tree swallows..).  We are starting from scratch with a front and back yard that are mostly grass, and that we are excited to convert to pollinator and bird habitat.  Audubon Rockies has a habitat hero program, which has good information for this area.  Our bird feeders and bird baths are attractants for a lot of invasive bird species (Eurasian collard doves, English (aka house) sparrows, starlings), so we have realized we need to focus on habitat and food sources for the native bird species.  We have mountain chickadees, red-breasted and white-breasted nuthatches, flickers, and downy woodpeckers regularly visiting.  Any/all suggestions and ideas are welcome!

I live near Georgian Bay in Ontario Canada. We have large gardens and lots of birds. I want to plant more native species that support bug and bird life. This will likely mean swapping out some of our plantings.

I live in northern Virginia and have a busy bird feeder: chickadees, downy woodpeckers, tufted titmice, nuthatches, cardinals, bluebirds, a few goldfinch...  And I'm the proud host of two groups of baby bluebird hatchlings for the first time this summer.  I love throwing clover seed into my lawn.  Most of my favorite plantings get gobbled by deer, and we have some actively-munching caterpillar varieties, too.  On one side, there's a fairly busy road, so I want to plant some more plants to reduce the noise from the road and create 'quieter' areas for visiting birds.

I live in central Alabama, with wooded/forest on 2 1/2  sides of my back yard. I enjoy watching birds coming to my feeders.  Each year I see more and more.  The cardinals have homes nearby in the forest--sometimes I'll see as many as 12 (6 male/6 female). My favorite is the Carolina Wren.  Also have frequent visits from Tufted Titmouse, Chickadee, and Mourning Dove.  I want to grow natives that cater to the needs of birds and pollinators and use feeders more as a supplement for them. I have also created raised beds and hope to grow fruits and vegetables for myself and neighbors--see if we can co-exist.

We just bought our property in October and we are lucky to have a Native Plant Identification group. Since our land was "properly landscaped" to sell, it seems there are mostly invasive plants (including 2 trees) and almost all nonnatives. We have a large front yard and sizeable backyard, a long driveway with land behind it that is a new mound septic system that we would like to turn into a wildflower meadow. We also live next to and across from a wooded area. I would like the front yard to have some sitting spaces for birding and nature journaling. I would like to have some paths and  garden areas sectioned off for plants and wildflowers. We get robins, woodpeckers dark-eyed juncos, white throated sparrows, some cardinals and starlings. I would like to attract hummingbirds, tufted titmouse, chickadees and cedar waxwings. I would like to see a greater variety of birds. The previous owners left a birdbath which I believe brings up water from underground but I am unsure how it works.  They also left a pond kit which is not installed and am hoping to install it this spring. We have a window bird feeder but our birds are more interested in seeds I throw on the ground. I have a couple of other feeders I have yet to put out, I need a place to hang them.

We have a couple of acres of land in Kentucky that we are trying to increase overall biodiversity on.  Some is fairly mature deciduous forest like in the picture (taken from my hammock), but much was just grassy yard.  We are trying to plant native plants and replace much of the grass.  I have already planted over 90 small trees and many shrubby plants as well.  We are a little limited in the front yard due to our ground mounted solar array.  We have several bird feeders and a river/lake at the bottom of the property.  We have a good beginning but look forward to more natives in the future!