By Tammy Thornton
“Spring is here! Spring is here!” the birds sweetly sing. Though if you’ve kept your window open through the night, you might not perceive their early wake up call as a pleasant song. Nevertheless, our feathered friends have returned, and we gardeners welcome them gladly. Early spring is the time to roll out the red carpet to entice birds to spend the spring and summer in your garden.
Usually a love of gardening and nature go hand-in-hand and attracting birds to your garden is enjoyable and beneficial. While we offer them seeds, we also hope they will eat the unwelcome insects and bugs that plague us. This time of year, birds are seeking places to mate and nest. If the prospective tenants don’t find food and water in your backyard, they may set up house elsewhere.
Not all birdseed is created equal. Knowing which food attracts certain birds will make your bird-watching experience more enjoyable and efficient.
Safflower seed attracts chickadees, house finches, cardinals, and other birds. On rare occasions, I have been blessed to see an Eastern towhee in my backyard, and a rose-breasted grosbeak another year. Both times it was early spring and they were eating the safflower seed that had fallen to the ground. Safflower has the added benefit of being distasteful to menacing squirrels and annoying grackles.
Goldfinches stand out in the garden with their striking yellow and black feathers. They are actually present all year, but almost unrecognizable in the winter because they don a brown coat. But in spring, their vibrant colors appear seemingly overnight. Most any website you consult will tell you that Nyjer is their food of choice, but this has not worked for me at all in the last few years. Goldfinches are very finicky about their Nyjer. It must be very fresh and cannot get wet. Even though I’ve purchased brand new food, and kept it dry, I have had no luck. In the summer, goldfinches can be seen balancing delicately on the tiny purple flowers of verbena (bonariensis). Later in the year they will eat the thistle-like centers of purple coneflowers. In the meantime, offer goldfinches black oil sunflower seeds. These seeds also attract tufted titmice, nuthatches, chickadees, and woodpeckers.
If you enjoy woodpeckers coming to your garden, offer peanuts. In my garden, I often get the downy woodpecker, the Northern flicker, and the yellow-bellied sapsucker, and red-bellied woodpecker. My favorite food to offer them is a nut and fruit mix.
Another bird that returns in spring is the catbird. This bird isn’t as skittish as others and seems to watch me curiously as I work in the garden. When I’m inside, I toss apples, grapes, and oranges out of my window and they eagerly fly over to enjoy these fruits.
Hummingbirds have arrived in South Jersey. Two were spotted in my yard a few days ago. Since they are in constant motion, it is difficult to get a good look at them. However, if you hang your hummingbird feeder from a clothesline or thin rope, the hummers will rest on the line between drinks. Fill your feeder with a mixture of one part sugar dissolved into four parts water. In late spring, they enjoy drinking from the purple blooms of hostas. Once summer rolls around, they are constantly seen on my red bee balm (monarda).
Offer birds food and water early in the season and they will become welcome guests that will reward you with their beauty and songs. Plant flowers and trees that will encourage them to visit year after year.
Shore Local News would love to hear about your backyard birding experiences. Write to the: shorelocalgardener@gmail.com with comments, questions, and anecdotes. Send us your gardening photos to publish in our next edition.
Tammy Thornton is a mom of four, a substitute teacher, and a Sunday school teacher. She is passionate about gardening and cooking, and loves the beach.
