Bird-friendly Garden: How to Make your Garden Bird-Friendly

In addition to bird seed, there are many other ways to help birds survive in your yard or balcony. How to transform your garden into a true paradise for the feathered garden dwellers, you will find out below.

With just a few tricks you can turn your garden into a true bird paradise [Photo: Christian Gernert / Shutterstock.com]

Domestic gardens are an important habitat for a wide variety of bird species. In our increasingly monotonous and intensified landscape, wild birds find less and less food and habitat and are therefore increasingly fleeing to cities and settlements. But not all gardens are equally popular, because unnatural structures such as gravel areas and English lawns have no ecological value and do not offer a habitat for birds, insects or other garden visitors. How you can exploit the potential of your garden as much as possible and how you can design a bird-friendly garden with just a few tricks, we would like to introduce you to ten selected tips.

Tip 1: Plant native shrubs and trees

Exotic ornamental plants are often beautiful to look at, but they do not enrich the world of our garden birds. Native shrubs and trees, on the other hand, such as the dog rose, the snowball or the mountain ash, provide food as well as shelter and nesting opportunities for a large number of bird species. It should be noted that dense vegetation offers more protection from predators and that too much thinning of the plants is therefore not an advantage. And if invasive gardening is necessary, it should definitely be done outside of the breeding season.

Hedge trimming & Co. should be finished before the breeding season [Photo: nikolaborovic / Shutterstock.com]

Tip 2: create an insect paradise

Insect-friendly flowers, herbs or shrubs – a blooming garden attracts not only insects, but also birds. Because most bird species are at least partially dependent on insects as a food source and some, such as the common swift or the black redstart, have specialized exclusively in animal prey. An insect-friendly garden is therefore always a bird-friendly one.

You should avoid the use of chemical sprays in your garden as far as possible, because they not only damage the insect supply, but can also poison birds via the food chain.

Insect-friendly usually also means bird-friendly [Photo: Anouska13 / Shutterstock.com]

Note: Seed-bearing perennials and wild herbs not only provide a habitat for insects, but are also bird-friendly forage plants for grain-eating wild birds – such as the goldfinch or the chaffinch.

Tip 3: Offer bird food

A feeding place in the garden can be a great support for our native wild birds, especially in the barren winter time. It makes no difference whether you build a bird feeder yourself or not. It is important, however, that the feeding station is placed out of the reach of domestic cats and other predators and that the food itself is protected from moisture and other contamination. A particularly natural and nutrient-rich support for many garden birds are, for example, our Plantura tit dumplings made from insect fat and valuable nuts, berries and seeds.

Note: The tit dumplings are not only suitable for the garden, but are also excellent for feeding birds on the balcony.

Tip 4: create a water point

It doesn’t necessarily have to be a pond or a stream – a simple bird bath can be made from a shallow bowl or trivet. A small watering hole for garden birds is a great help, especially on hot summer days. Whether in the garden or on the balcony – in the cool water the birds can quench their thirst or take a refreshing bath. However, it is important that the water points are cleaned regularly, otherwise they can quickly develop into a breeding ground for bird diseases and parasites.

A watering hole in the garden is always a welcome refreshment [Photo: La Renaissance Girl / Shutterstock.com]

Tip 5: go with the seasons

If you are aiming for year-round feeding, you should make sure that you feed your birds properly depending on the season, because greasy winter food with large grains is poorly suited during the breeding season. The young birds do not tolerate fatty food very well and instead need proteins for their growth. And whole sunflower seeds or similarly sized components can lead to digestive problems and clogged stomachs. If you want to pamper your garden birds all year round, you should therefore rely on food suitable for young birds. Our Plantura year-round feed, for example, was specially developed for this purpose. It only contains nutrient-rich components that are suitable for the beak, as well as an extra load of protein-rich mealworms and fodder lime for egg production.

Tip 6: secure glass surfaces

Windows, balcony doors or free-standing glass panes for wind protection can be a serious problem for birds. Every year in Germany around 18 million birds are killed when a window pane is blown. If you want to make your windows bird-proof, you should use adhesive strips that make the windows and doors visible to the birds. However, the classic black bird silhouettes have not proven themselves in studies. You can find out which patterns and colors guarantee effective protection and what to do if you find a bird that has been struck by a window in our special article on the subject of “Bird protection at the window”.

Disc flapping is a common cause of death for songbirds [Photo: sulit.photos/ Shutterstock.com]

Tip 7: allow a trace of the wilderness

A completely tidy garden often offers little living space and biodiversity. For example, short-cropped lawns offer much less food than a lively meadow with wild herbs and flowers. Robotic lawn mowers, which are supposed to provide additional order, are also a danger to young flightless birds and other garden animals. So it is better to mow yourself and not so often. And old trees with partially broken or dead branches should only be removed if absolutely necessary, as they are important habitats for rare bird species and insects. The same applies to holes and caves in the walls and facades of older buildings. Better to think twice about whether you really have to close it, because here too there are nesting opportunities for many species of wild birds.

This opening in an old barn is inhabited by a black redstart [Photo: Rhian Mai Hubbart / Shutterstock.com}

Tip 8: Offer nesting aids and nesting material

Where there is a lack of natural nesting sites, you can help out with nesting aids. Cave breeders in particular often have a difficult time if there are no old trees or buildings, because holes and caves are usually not present in modern houses and young gardens. Nest boxes offer a good alternative that is accepted by many species of birds. It is important to note that different species prefer differently sized entry openings. You can find out which nest box is suitable for which bird species and what else you should pay attention to in our special article on the subject of “Building your own nest box”.

Blue tits like to take nest boxes [Photo: Ihor Hvozdetskyi / Shutterstock.com]

Nesting material can also be made available for free breeders and other bird species that do not accept nesting boxes. Brushes and small branches that are left over from the hedge can be offered in a small pile. And a small bowl of clay also provides excellent nesting material for house martins and barn swallows.

Tip 9: Handle cats properly

Relations between birds and cats have always been strained. Due to their large number in cities and settlements, domestic cats cause great damage to our native wild bird populations every year. You can find out how you can protect your garden birds and what you as a cat owner should consider in our special article.

Cats are almost too good hunters [Photo: Linda McKusick / Shutterstock.com]

Tip 10: learn from the birds

Once your garden is filled with the chirping of birds, you should enjoy it instead of just looking after the birds. Because the nice thing about a bird garden is not only the added value for the birds themselves, but also the great learning opportunities that are offered to you. Those who carefully observe birds can learn a lot about their lives and their needs and thus soon see for themselves what the feathered garden visitors like and what they don’t. In this way, you can design your garden entirely according to the requirements of your individual garden birds. Hands-on activities such as the “Garden Birds Hour” also make it possible to deal more intensively with the diversity of the bird world in your own garden.

If you are now interested in bird watching, take a look at our special article. There we give helpful tips to get you started in the world of hobby ornithology.