A garden without wildlife is a garden without soul. I’m pretty sure this is a quote by someone famous, and though I can’t track down the author, it’s a mantra that I’ve been really keen on since I started gardening enthusiastically a decade ago. These days, I find it hard to imagine a garden without scurrying lizards and twittering birds. I’m not engaging in hyperbole to suggest that I’d be inclined to give up gardening altogether if I wasn’t able to share my patch of dirt with some friends in the animal kingdom. So long as they’re not pests.
In our previous Toowoomba garden there were feral birds galore. Indian Mynas were the main pest. These birds are highly intelligent, extremely territorial, and have the dubious distinction of being named one of the world’s top 100 invasive species and the Most Hated Pest in Australia. They are known as the flying cane toad, and in surveys are more loathed than foxes and feral cats.
Thank goodness there’s none here at Thistlebrook. In fact, since moving here three and half years ago, the one and only feral bird we’ve spotted on a single occasion was a pheasant. This bio-secure status hasn’t come about through any particular effort on our part – for some reason I’m yet to put my finger on the ferals just aren’t here.
What is here is a growing list of native bird species. There’s a colony of blue wrens that produce a new generation each spring, a family of willy wagtails, native swallows, finches, tawny frogmouths, various parrots and plenty of honeyeaters. My favourites of the lot are the wrens. But the avian highlight of our time here was watching a soaring wedgetail eagle spot a rabbit in the neighbour’s paddock, then bomb dive from the thermals with all the daring of a kamikaze pilot. It was a thrilling sight that resulted one less bunny to ringbark my young fruit trees. Thanks Mr Wedgie.
Providing habitat for birds is basically the same as providing habitat for people. Like us, they have three main requirements: water, food, and shelter. Provide these in the garden, and it’s a case of “build it and they will come – birds will inevitably take up residence because they find the conditions habitable.
A water source can be as simple as a glazed terracotta saucer, topped up every day or two, or it can be as elaborate as a specially designed wildlife pond. Just make sure it’s permanent. I live opposite a creek, and though it’s mostly dry at the moment, the occasional pool provides year round water.
Food sources are a bit trickier, because different species have different needs. Wrens and wagtails are flycatchers who feed on small insects. That’s welcome, and easy enough to accommodate by avoiding the use of chemical insecticides. Let the birds do the work for you. Honeyeaters and other nectar feeders go for flowering plants like grevilleas and bottlebrushes. Finches prefer grass heads and seeds. The moral of the story is that if you want to attract a diverse range of birds, you’ll need to supply a diverse range of food plants.
Shelter is also easy enough to create, as long as you’re prepared to lighten up. In my view, very formal gardens such as those with a limited plant palette and a very tidy appearance aren’t overly friendly to anything but the garden owner. If you want to attract birds, it’s important to recognise the value in leaving some parts of the garden unkempt, for these are the areas that birds seem most attracted to. Consider planting a small meadow or woodland corner, and don’t clip everything to within an inch of its life. Give nature its head, at least to some extent.
In terms of plants, small birds such as wrens and finches like building their nests in dense, prickly shrubs because these give them protection from predators. The wrens in my garden nest in an old may bush, but I’ve also seen them in a Viburnum tinus and one year there was a nest in a small rose bush. Perhaps the best bird attracting shrubs of all are the grevilleas, especially the pricklier types like ‘Canberra Gem’ and ‘Robyn Gordon’. Parrots generally prefer to nest in hollows, while swallows for example make mud nests under the eaves of sheds. Create a range of shelters and nesting sites, and you’ll get to enjoy a diverse range of birdlife.
First published in The Chronicle 7th November 2009. Photo by Julian Robinson via flickr.com
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
May I use this photo to accompany a story about birds and pollination of banksias, that I wish to write to post on the ABC website called Pool – in the ‘Birdland’ project.
It is just to use as a ‘thumbnail’ to attract readers to the story.
It will be a summary of some of the stuff I discovered while researching my PhD at University of Western Sydney on the smell of banksias, and will touch on the research of Rob Whelan at Uni of Wollongong on pollination by small, nocturnal marsupials. But it will talk about people, birds, insects and pollination in general.
See http://www.pool.org.au/group/birdland
And for all my postings, see http://www.pool.org.au/users/d
The photo is available under a Creative Commons licence via flickr.com, and is credited to Julian Robinson.
Hello,
Would you be able to give some advice about how to encourage a band of swallows to make their mud nests in the back garden instead of over my front door.
There are around 10 – 15 of these lovely little birds but they are making my front door a very unattractive place & I am concerned about the health aspect of their building the new homes where they are.
I can put up with the mud but it is the droppings which concern me.
I am having to wash down the front door & tiles on a daily basis.
I have lived in my home for 6 years and this is the first time I have come across the swallows (well that is what someone told me they were).
Any suggestons or advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.
Regards
Carolyn
Hi Carolyn,
In many parts of the world, a swallow’s nest above your front door would be considered very lucky! They are beautiful little birds and fantastic to watch performing their aerobatics in an open paddock. But I can understand that they might not be so welcome doing their business at the entry to your home.
If you persist in knocking down their nest they will eventually relocate of their own accord. Before attempting to remove them, check that the nest doesn’t contain any eggs or chicks. If it does, you might want to put up with the mess for another couple of weeks until they fledge. There’s no sure fire way to encourage swallows to nest where you want them to. They prefer a protected position under the eaves of a house or in a shed, especially where the wall and soffit joins in a right angle. Your best option is probably to stop them building a nest where they’ll make too much mess, and hope they choose a different location.
Hope that gives you some ideas.
Cheers,
Justin