Three Ways You Can Help Songbirds Survive

Even if you can't identify the birds that sing these songs, I bet you've heard them. (Granted birds don't actually sing the words.) But unfortunately, you are probably hearing fewer bird songs now than you did 10, 20 or 30 years ago. That's because many songbird populations are in decline.

Support Land Conservation
With every new subdivision, mall or clear-cut, bird habitat is lost. Support initiatives in your local community that are working to reduce sprawl and conserve land. Large tracks of wilderness are important for birds. But so are small parks and woodlands that create a network of habitat in populated areas.

Your choices as a consumer also affect bird habitat. Try to buy products that promote land and habitat conservation. For example, coffee grown beneath a canopy of native trees will support far more birds than open plantations. Shade-grown coffee plantations in tropical areas are key winter habitat for many of our backyard birds.

Also, look for products made with wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. This certification program ensures the wood was harvested using methods that protect wildlife habitat-not destroy it.

Create Wildlife Habitat
Many birds thrive in areas close to humans. You can help them out by creating wildlife habitat in your own backyard. Not only will resident birds benefit, migrating birds will stop during their travels to rest or feed.

Plant a variety of trees, shrubs and perennials that provide habitat for birds. Read How to Build a Bird Haven to learn more. Incorporate native shrubs into your landscape. A recent study in Illinois found that birds that nest in non-native plants lose more eggs to raccoons and other predators.

And don't stop with your own backyard. Encourage local businesses, farmers and organizations to change their land management practices too. For example, not mowing fields during the spring allows ground-nesting birds to raise their young undisturbed. Airports, military bases, golf courses and corporations, to name a few, all manage millions of acres of land in the U.S. If every group managed their land for wildlife as well as people, an enormous amount of habitat would be created.

At Gardener's Supply in Burlington, Vt., we have dug a large pond, are planting wildlife habitat and are working with the National Wildlife Federation to become a certified corporate wildlife habitat site.

Control Free-Ranging Cats
Many of us don't want to admit it, but research confirms that cats kill many millions of birds every year. Domesticated cats are strong and well fed and have an unfair advantage over nesting or feeding birds. University of Wisconsin researchers estimate that cats kill about 8 million songbirds each year in southern Wisconsin alone.

Keep your cat indoors, especially early and late in the day when birds are most active. If you feed birds on the ground, install a low fence right around the area to make it more difficult for cats or other predators. When the cat jumps over the fence, the birds are more likely to see the cat and escape.

Supporting land conservation, creating habitat and decreasing predation will all help more birds survive -- and you get to hear more songs.

By the way, about those familiar bird songs? The vocalists are white-throated sparrow, robin, yellow warbler and tufted titmouse.

For More Information

Land conservation
The Nature Conservancy
The Audubon Society

Creating habitat
The National Wildlife Federation's Backyard Habitat Program

Reducing predation
The American Bird Conservancy's Cats Indoors program

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail: info@gardeners.com

Click here to read more Garden Activist articles.