One of the unexpected benefits of planting native species is that they thrive on neglect. With the tough drought summers that we've been having in the Midwest recently, the native plants are doing much better than the introduced ornamental plants in the yard. I'm no gardener, but the sad forgotten swamp milkweed that we planted in September of last year grew five feet tall this year, and I basically didn't water it at all. Meanwhile, the astillby wilted as soon as the sun came out. Native plants are great for lazy/neglectful gardeners as well as being good for the environment and birds and such.
We put in a native plant garden in the front yard this year, and the biggest beneficiary wasn't the birds- it was the (recently declared endangered) monarchs. We had loads of caterpillars on the plants even in the first year of planting the milkweed. Native species benefit bugs too!
My mom found a bunch of branches, bark, and tree stumps somewhere and left them in my backyard "for the birds". Now I know why. During the winter they're mostly serving as a squirrel napping site, but hopefully come spring, they'll be a good source of bugs for the birds as well.