Create Backyard Habitats

Migration is an extremely dangerous time for birds-but they’ve been doing it for a heck of a lotta years and it works for them. What makes a migratory journey successful is being able to find reliable migratory stop over sites-places for fuel up for the next leg of the journey. They also need high fat food to get them through the winter. This is absolutely crucial for their survival. Unfortunately, its getting tougher to find suitable habitat for this. Sadly, only 10% of important stopover sites are protected, which means they are open to a free for all as it pertains to development, logging, and basic destruction. This is where we come in.

As natural habitat decreases, our back yards can become critical links needed to create contiguous habitat corridors for wildlife.

Planting native bushes, trees and other plants that provide food, protection from predators, resting spots during migration, and nesting spots during breeding season. You can do this whether you have a tiny backyard or a big one. You can even have a container garden if you don’t have any property! Why natives? In a word: insects.

Why Insects Matter

Almost all land birds - 96%, in fact - require insects to feed their young. Even seed-eating birds must often provide insects to ensure their babies survive.

Insects are incredibly nutritious and life-sustaining for baby birds. Did you know that, ounce for ounce, insects have more protein than beef?

Native Plants = Insects

But to have insects, we need native plants. Native plants and insects co-evolved over millions of years, creating relationships that are essential to healthy ecosystems. Our native insects are generally not adapted to feed on the alien plant species that dominate many urban and suburban landscapes.

This coevolution means that up to 90% of plant-eating insects have developed highly specialized relationships with particular plants - matching seasonal timing, evolving unique mouthparts, and tolerating plant toxins and other defenses.

Baby Birds Needs LOTS of Insects

According to Doug Tallamy, professor of entomology and wildlife ecology at the University of Delaware and a pioneer of the “bringing nature to our backyards” movement, a single pair of chickadees must find between 6,000 and 9,000 caterpillars to raise just one clutch of young during the breeding season. That is A LOT of caterpillars. Imagine one family of chickadees nesting in your yard, another family the next yard over...

Native vs. Non-Native Plants

To see the difference between native and exotic plants, consider this classic comparison:

Oaks (genus Quercus), our native trees, host over 550 species of caterpillars, while Ginkgo, a common ornamental tree from Asia, supports only 5 species.
Native cherry or willow trees host over 400 species of caterpillars, while nonnative Callary pears support about four.
Native dogwoods host over 100 species, whereas popular Asian Kousa dogwoods support virtually none.
Blueberries host over 200 species and even perennials such as the goldenrod and aster species each host over 100 species.

For a bird feeding its young, this is a life-or-death difference. It’s clear that native trees help feed hungry chickadee nestlings, while nonnative trees do little to support survival.

Don't Rely on The Neighbors

Don’t assume that a neighbor’s oak tree down the road solves the problem. The further chickadee parents must travel to find food, the greater the risk—and they’re competing with other birds for those limited resources.

Boosting Biodiversity

Studies show that planting native trees can increase local biodiversity by up to 30%. That’s because native trees provide food, shelter, and breeding grounds that local wildlife has relied on for millennia.

Try to have at least 70% natives in your yard for the greatest biodiversity!

Leave the Leaves

Leave your plants alone—the birds will thank you. Seeds from your flowers can last through March and provide food for early spring migrants.

Goldenrods are especially spectacular: they’re top host perennials, their seeds are edible, and they shelter insect larvae inside the hard, round galls in their stems—which chickadees and woodpeckers love to excavate.

Depending on your location, bee nesting sites may include hollow stems of goldenrod, raspberry, sumac, blackberry, and other plants. You don’t want to destroy their nests!

Aim for a cascade of flowers that produce seeds for finches, sparrows, and other birds—food that lasts throughout the winter.

Bottom line: Deadheading is not cool…unless you ARE a deadhead. Then you’re totally cool. 😎

Leave Dead Trees and Snags

Leave tree snags—standing dead trees—whenever it’s safe. Snags provide habitat for approximately 1,000 species of animals nationwide. Many cavity-nesting birds are struggling because development has removed so many snags.

Snags provide homes for birds like tree swallows, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, owls, and woodpeckers.

They also give birds places to rest and perch while hunting for insects.

Mammals, including raccoons, flying squirrels, bats, and chipmunks, also rely on snags for shelter.

Fallen logs aren’t wasted—they slowly break down and return nutrients to the soil, providing habitat for other critters along the way. When it comes to trees, after death, there really is an afterlife.

What You Can Do:

If it’s safe, leave the snag standing—at least ten feet tall.
If it’s within striking distance of your house, consider removing only the section that could hit your home, leaving the rest intact.

Leave the Leaves!

Raking up leaf litter is not just a waste of your precious time - it also removes critical micro-habitat for wildlife.

Numerous species rely on the leaf layer for shelter, including salamanders, chipmunks, wood frogs, box turtles, toads, shrews, earthworms, millipedes and countless insects.

In addition, many butterflies and moths overwinter in leaf litter. This includes Luna Moths, Great Spangled Fritillaries, wooly bear caterpillars (which grow up to be Isabella Tiger Moths!) and Red-banded Hairstreaks. Some overwinter as eggs, others as pupae and some even as adults.

When you remove fallen leaves, you are removing these beautiful and beneficial insects, many of which are important pollinators. Fewer leaves means fewer insects, which in turn means fewer birds in your yard.

Ground feeding birds such as juncos, sparrows, and cardinals depend on the food sources concealed beneath the leaf cover. Even some bats use leaf litter for overwintering and rely on its insulation to survive cold temperatures.

By leaving the leaves in place, you are supporting a thriving, healthy ecosystem - right in your yard!

Put up a Nest Box

When many people think of birds’ nests, they picture a woven basket tucked into a shrub or perched on branches. But some birds take a different approach—they nest in cavities, either natural holes in trees or ones excavated by woodpeckers. In North America, about 85 bird species are cavity nesters.

Cavity nesters fall into two groups: primary and secondary. Primary nesters, like woodpeckers, chickadees, and red-breasted nuthatches, excavate their own cavities using their strong beaks. Even among these, there are differences: strong excavators, such as woodpeckers, can peck into both hard and soft wood, while weaker excavators, like chickadees, need softer or rotting wood.

Secondary nesters, on the other hand, don’t create their own cavities. They rely on natural holes or cavities made by primary nesters. Birds like swallows, owls, titmice, and others fall into this group. Once a cavity has been located or excavated, it serves multiple purposes: it can be a nest for eggs and young, a roost, or a shelter.

Unfortunately, suitable cavities have become prime real estate. Habitat loss, selective removal of dead or dying trees, and competition from aggressive non-native species have made cavities harder to find. English House Sparrows and European Starlings are both cavity nesters and highly aggressive. House Sparrows may even kill bluebirds in their boxes, and starlings have been known to kill adult Red-bellied Woodpeckers—normally dominant at feeders—to take over a cavity.

What Can You Do?

Install a nest box! Start by identifying the birds in your yard and researching which species are likely to use a box. For example, Red-bellied Woodpeckers usually won’t, but Northern Flickers will. Chickadees take to nest boxes as well as House and Carolina Wrens, Eastern Screech Owls, and even Wood Ducks (if you have the habitat).

See Eastern Bluebirds around your place? Get those nest boxes up!

The key is choosing a well-designed nest box. Factors like box size, entrance hole diameter, placement, drainage, and ventilation all influence whether the species you want will take up residence.

A great starting point for research is NestWatch.org, which provides recommended dimensions and other guidance.

By providing a thoughtfully designed nest box, you can help give birds a safe place to nest, roost, and raise their young—and become part of the solution to cavity competition in your area.