Helping out birds

Richmond is full of wonderful birds. As we continue to urbanize the city, pushing birds to the outskirts, we need to give them a hand.

Spring:

• Check bird feeders
  • Replace broken ones or fix up anything broken
• Add a birdbath or clean out your current birdbath
• Plant native flowers
  • Include sunflowers – their seeds in late summer are a great food source
• Clean your birdfeeder
  • Spring is a great time to do some maintenance
  • It should be cleaned every two weeks or so
• Use only natural treatments on your garden
  • Any pesticides, herbicides or homemade remedies will have an impact on birds

Summer:

• Add a birdbath to your garden
  • Any shallow dish will work but terra cotta is preferred
  • Add stones for the birds to be able to perch
  • Birds are attracted to moving water – add a waterfall or a bottle with holes punched in to add moving water
  • Clean the bath regularly
  • Place it in an area safe from predators

Fall:

• Keep your garden a little messy
  • Leave seeds, especially sunflower seeds, in the garden as a food source
  • Keep foliage for birds to nest in or to build their nest from
• Put up a bird feeder
  • Add seeds, natural peanut butter or other nut butters, suet
  • Feeders allow resident birds to build up enough energy for the winter
  • Don’t put the feeder too close to a window to prevent collisions
• Leave fallen leaves under trees
  • This provides shelter for birds
  • Attracts insects that are another source of food
• Put up decals on windows to prevent bird strike
  • Migrating birds are at a higher risk of striking windows
  • They can be disorientated or distracted by light pollution
• Clean out bird boxes

Winter:

• Put up bird boxes in sheltered areas
  • Make sure they’re clean and windproof
  • Paint the in darker colours to absorb the most heat from the sun
  • Add nesting material so birds can fill holes
    • Woodchips, dry grass, dead leaves, animal fur
• Water is integral for bird survival in the winter
  • Be careful as birds can easily freeze if they touch ice or cold water then something metal
  • Place a plastic grate over the birdbath to prevent them from touching the water, but also lets them drink
• Fill the bird feeders with high-calorie seeds and suet
  • Black oil sunflower seed
  • Peanuts
  • Millet
  • Fresh or dried fruit, can be mixed into suet
• Add some salt to the bird feeder

**Try to avoid bird seed mixes that have a lot of corn, wheat, & milo