Attract More Birds to Your Yard: Build a Brush Pile for Wildlife

 Brush Piles Are Awesome!

I am very fortunate to live in the woods!  Here is my newest brush pile, which includes lots of small branches and saplings that have fallen in windstorms, or just because they didn't receive enough natural light.  The leaves are mostly oak--they are the last to come down in the autumn.

Here's another brush pile that I started in August.  You can see that a small animal has already made its way into the complex network of branches and leaves.  Inside a brush pile animals and birds can find all sorts of small invertebrates, larvae, rootlets, seeds, moss and all kinds of marvelous food!

I have seen juncos enter and exit from this brush pile.  They spend a lot of time around these areas, foraging for insects and getting away from snow and windstorms.  They also sleep in these piles at night!  I know they use them for nesting places as well, because I have seen fledgling birds perching just outside this entrance hole.

Male Junco perching on a branch near one of the brush piles.

 Small animals like chipmunks love to hide their food in these piles.  They also create warm nests in the spring and fall, but come winter weather, they head underground by burrowing beneath the brush pile.

You have to clean up your yard anyway, right?  So why not make a beneficial habitat to attract more birds, just as Mother Nature does.  Even if you don't have a large yard, maybe you have a garage or shed near which you can start to build your brush pile.  Just make sure you aren't offending your neighbors, or upsetting your local code enforcer!

Have Fun!

Grandma Pearl

How to Build a Brush Pile for Birds & Small Animals

Learn More About Dark-Eyed Juncos

Plant a Climbing Hydrangea Vine to Help Protect Birds

Climbing Hydrangea Vine (Hydrangea anomala petiolaris) from urbanext.illinois.edu

My climbing hydrangea vine has come a long way in 3 years!
from Grandma Pearl

Vines Provide Birds With:    

• Food in the form of seeds, berries flowers and nectar, as well as caterpillars and lots of other insects
• Fragrance, which in turn attracts insects
• Shelter from bad weather and hot sun
• Safe Nesting Places
• Nesting Materials
• Vantage Points from which to Watch for Approaching Predators
• Hiding Places from Predators

Climbing Hydrangea Flower Bud
from Grandma Pearl

Climbing Hydrangeas produce fast-growing stems that yield aerial rootlets capable of clinging to almost any surface; this plant is slow to start, but once established it will dazzle you with white lacy blooms and dense green foliage.  Mine has been growing for over 3 years now, and you can see its progress from the 3-foot stick I bought at an Autumn nursery closeout sale!   

A-Frame Shingled Bird House will attract all sorts of songbirds
from Grandma Pearl

This little bird house is mounted on the side of my house among the lovely hydrangea leaves and branches.  It’s just right for most songbirds like chickadees, wrens, sparrows, finches, nuthatches and downy woodpeckers.  This vine will keep the bird house cool and dry while baby birds are growing big and strong.  More than that, it will discourage a whole host of predators from trying to reach the eggs and baby birds.  When it comes time for baby’s first flight, the nearby branches will make great practice landing spots for their first tentative flights.

Climbing Hydrangea Requirements:

• Full sun to part shade
• Rich evenly-moist soil, but will tolerate less than perfect soil conditions
• Thrives in Zones 4-9
• Use organic mulch to retain moisture
• Amend with compost as needed
• If desired, pruning should be done after plant has flowered in the summer
• Provide a sturdy support for this vine, which can reach 60’ to 80’ tall if left unpruned

 I planted my climbing hydrangea on the east side where it receives about 5 hours of morning sunlight a day.  It's the perfect vine for a shaded area, but it will do very well in full sun, too.  The bark of this plant peels and has an interesting texture; and it can be used by birds to weave into their nests.  In addition to the bark, birds will find shelter and nesting opportunities in this versatile and beautiful long-lived climbing vine.

Detail of bark and leaves of Climbing Hydrangea Vine
from Grandma Pearl

Detail of aerial roots that help the plant to cling to surfaces
from Grandma Pearl

 If you wish to prune the plant, do so after it has flowered in the summertime.  It can grow to be 60 to 80 feet in height, and will live happily in cold hardiness zones 4 - 9.  It's not fussy, but does best in moist, well drained rich organic soil.     Butterflies and beneficial bees are attracted to the fragrant creamy white flowers that remind me of Queen Anne’s lace.  

            
Be sure to water your hydrangea vine regularly to encourage deep roots and vigorous stem growth.  Use soil that is rich in organic matter to ensure this vine will be healthy and gorgeous for many years to come.  Amend with organic compost as needed, and cover with mulch to retain moisture.  Since I have access to lots of sawdust, this is my preferred mulching medium.        

Although its stems and rootlets grow quickly, the climbing hydrangea is slow to bloom.  The average time before blooms appear is 4 years.  I expect that next summer this clinging mass of green will be loaded with lots of beautiful and fragrant flowers.  If you have an unsightly concrete or stone wall, or a chain link fence you wish to beautify, this might be the vine for you. Your birds, butterflies and beneficial bees will appreciate this excellent plant.
Grandma Pearl

To Purchase a Climbing Hydrangea Vine:

Climbing Hydrangea Vine
Giant Hydrangea Vine

Create Habitat to Attract Indigo Buntings

Male Indigo Bunting by Grandma Pearl

I absolutely love these beautiful little sapphire colored finches!  They have a lovely, bubbly song; but best of all they consume tons of insects.  Farmers love to see them working on the bugs in their fields.  Living in the woods, I appreciate these tiny powerhouse bug eaters.  My first sighting of the beautiful 5 1/2" male Indigo Bunting was on May 11, 2013.

About a week later I caught sight of a soft fawn-colored female Indigo Bunting.  She was flitting about rapidly in the understory of the woody shrubs that have multiplied throughout our woodlot.  That's their preferred habitat, along with hedges and thickets.

Because I love these little birds so much, I set about devising a plan last year to attract them permanently to my yard.  Before that they had stopped by in the spring just long enough to tantalize me with their beauty, then proceeded to leave without even a second glance back!  I was determined to find a way to attract my little blue finch friends and make them want to stay for the summer, before heading back to South America or Mexico at the first sign of cold weather in the fall.

So here was my plan:

1. Plant shrubs and vines that they love to use for shelter, nesting and food.
2. Be sure to add their favorite foods to the feeders first thing in the spring.
3. Place shallow containers of water low to the ground.
4. Add colorful quick-to-flower seed-bearing annuals in containers placed all around my yard.  

The raspberry canes and grape vines were installed in the backyard, which is within a few feet of the edge of our woods.  And it's one of the few sunny areas I have here because we are surrounded by large hardwood trees, as well as white pines.

Those berries will eventually ripen and please our little fruit-loving buntings, as well as cardinals, grosbeaks, orioles and waxwings, among many others.  As they mature, the thorns of the raspberries and the tangles of the grape vines will provide excellent shelter from predators; and lots of safe nesting spots.

In the meantime, by adding my special birdseed mixture to black oil sunflower seeds I have enticed my wonderful Indigo Buntings to stay around. 
SUCCESS! This time they didn't leave!  Birds have excellent memories.  If they find a good source of food, shelter and nesting opportunities, you can be sure they will remember and return.

Male Indigo Bunting eating a sunflower seed
by Grandma Pearl

My special mixture contains raisins, dried pumpkins seeds and cherries, millet, safflower seeds, chopped peanuts and other chopped nuts, including pistaschios and walnuts, and finally canary seed!  My little blue finches are ground foragers primarily.  Fallen seeds pushed aside by other birds are pounced on eagerly under the bird feeders by the buntings.
I have recycled some shallow round cake tins and placed them on bricks near the ground.  The smaller ground foragers enjoy a splash and a drink often.  Adding a flat stone or two, and making sure the water is fresh and clean daily has also pleased a lot of my birds, including the Indigos.  Be warned though, if you have neighborhood cats patrolling, do not put your birds in harms way!  There are hanging bird baths available that are much safer for birds that might otherwise fall prey to 4-legged predators!

Male Indigo Bunting loves to forage for seeds.
by Grandma Pearl

Planting cosmos, zinnias, marigolds, tickseed coreopsis, salvia and nasturtiums and other annuals that produce seeds will encourage seed-lovers like the indigo buntings to stick around.  Remember, it is very important not to use toxic weed killers or other toxic chemicals on your plants or lawn.  Those toxins are harmful to birds and fatal to the bugs they like to eat.  Make your yard and gardens bird-friendly and they will reward you by eating the bugs and weed seeds.  You will have a lot less gardening chores if you ask the birds for their help!
Grandma Pearl

 
How Do Birds Get Their Colors?