How to Attract Birds & Butterflies to Your Yard
For the Birds
American Gold Finch
Here are examples of what to plant for specific birds.
- Cardinal
- Hackberry, red mulberry, elderberry, American cranberry bush, coneflower
- Tufted titmouse
- Hackberry, serviceberry, pines, oaks, sunflower, blackberry, grapes
- Nuthatch
- Chestnut tree, elderberry, sunflower
- Hummingbird
- Bee balm, bleeding heart, foxglove, columbine, trumpet vine, scarlet lobelia
Bird checklist:
- Food – Plant trees and shrubs that provide native food. Keep feeders up all year with: suet, black oil sunflower seeds, and thistle seeds.
- Shelter/cover – Plant thickets; bushes and trees close together for the birds to use to hide.
- Water – Supply small ponds, birdbaths, and streams. Water that is dripping or running brings the birds quicker than still water. Hang one hummingbird feeder filled with water.
- Places to raise young – Bluebirds like bluebird houses with the proper size opening. Plant pine and spruce trees where chickadees like to nest. Spruce trees provide excellent year-round nesting, roosting and winter shelter for a great variety of birds.
- Nesting materials – Put up a nesting material box with string, hair, dryer lint. I leave straw and hair in the pasture, gifts from my llamas to the birds. Let the thistles grow because the Goldfinches use the down for nesting.
Unidentified Baby Bird Resting
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