PLANTWISE

Backyard Habitat Certification

I did it – you can, too!

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Mar 06, 2010 at 01:00PM 2 Comments

The fabulous duo of Gaylen Beatty of Three Rivers Land Conservancy and Karen Munday of Portland Audubon came out to my house on a cold winter’s day and gave my garden their stamp of approval for nurturing wildlife. But I still have a ways to go towards improving things. I’ve already started working on it, ladies – come back soon!

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Out with invasives! I may love my unusual white-flowered, cream-variegated honesty plant (aka, money plant, known to botanists as Lunaria annua Variegata Alba) but I’d hate to contribute to Oregon’s already bad invasive plant problems!

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This 20-foot tall and wide shrubby flowering quince (Chaenomeles sp.) straddles my and my neighbor’s yard. It’s wild and overgrown, just like the birds like it. Hummingbirds and songbirds nest in there every year and it offers safety from predators, as well. It’s nice to have some untamed, wild places in your neighborhood.

As anyone who’s met me lately at a cocktail party can attest, I rattle on a lot about the native insects in my back garden. (Ever since I joined the Xerces Society, I’ve been a total pest about bugs!)

So when I found out about the Backyard Habitat Certification Program, a partnership of the Audubon Society, Three Rivers Land Conservancy and the East Multnomah County Water District, I immediately signed myself up.

This program is designed to help Portland area homeowners restore native wildlife habitat in their yards – that means for bees, birds, lizards (if you’re lucky), and other creatures. Oh, and plants, of course! For $25, you receive useful educational materials, valuable resources to help you get started (low-cost plants, coupons and gift cards) and individual feedback on your garden’s habitat-friendliness. The focus is on removing noxious weeds, replanting Willamette Valley native plants, managing storm water and basically creating beneficial habitat for native wildlife.

It all starts with a home site assessment. For this, a knowledgeable backyard certification staff person comes to your yard for a site visit. Together, you tromp around and notes are taken on invasive weeds, storm water issues (impervious surfaces, whether IPM methods are used, etc). Any existing native plants are noted and, if you qualify, the level of certification for which you qualify is awarded on the spot and you’ll receive advice on moving up to the next level. If you aren’t quite there yet, you’ll receive detailed information about how to create more valuable habitat for wildlife so that you can be certified.

There are three levels of certification. Silver is the first level – this was my certification level because I have 5% native cover. When I increase the native cover in my garden to 15%, and take further steps to create still better habitat for wildlife (such as installing a water feature for birds and butterflies to splash about in – or an orchard mason bee house) I would certify for second level “gold” status. Platinum level certification is the “top” level.

The walk-through was fascinating! As we strolled and talked, it was observed that I had an invasive species in my garden – a rather lovely white-flowered, cream-variegated leafed money plant (Lunaria annua ‘Variegata Alba’). I guess I hoped they wouldn’t recognize it (I do remove the tops after they finish flowering) but Galen Beatty (of Three Rivers Land Conservancy) and Karen Munday (Portland Audubon) know their plants. True, it’s variegated and marginally less aggressive than the straight green leafed, purple-flowered form. (There’s a picture in the slideshow.) But I do notice that it throws out the occasional green-leafed reversion. So out it will come, in the name of good environmental stewardship!

After the site visit, I received a Home Visit Assessment Report which detailed my property and the watershed I belong to. It outlined everything we discussed during the site visit, including the wildlife-friendly qualities of my garden and the steps I would need to take to make it increasingly wildlife friendly over time.

I also received an amazing wealth of resources including a fat Naturescaping binder providing all the basic information needed to envision and then create a haven for wildlife in your garden. Why are native insects important? What kind of a garden design is most useful to native birds? This volume addresses these questions, and provides planting diagrams and plans and numerous plant lists.

In addition, I got a file folder with more resources and ideas for cultivating the four main elements of the program: removing invasive plants and cultivating natives, developing a stormwater plan on your property, and attracting and preserving wildlife.

I am now the proud owner a sign which I will post near the front of my garden so that people who see the sign will ask me how I got it! Their goal is to help Portlanders think about and work toward creating a rich and diverse habitat for native wildlife. I’m all for it. How about you?

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Tags: Habitat, Wildlife

Our Feathered Friends

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Dec 19, 2009 at 05:00PM 2 Comments

American goldfinch, chickadee, Stellar’s jay and Anna’s hummingbird – all common in various parts of the Portland area in winter

Just up on the Portland Monthly website – a piece I wrote about winter birds – Winged Wonders. I love Garrett’s stylish illustrations of our native bird species. Make sure you click on the slide show, as you’ll find pictured there eight lovely wild birds commonly seen in the Portland metro area in winter, along with information about their native habitats, plants they associate with, and their preferred food sources. These are valuable things to know about if want to entice these lively creatures into your garden.

Many people who feed birds wonder about the politics of feeding wild birds. Is it really good for them to be fed at feeders instead of foraging for their own wild foods? After all, we’re told not to feed ducks at Laurelhurst pond and seagulls at the beach. How do we know which birds to feed and when?

I suppose the rule would be: if you want to butt in to birds’ lives by feeding them, feed them what they would naturally eat. Larger birds such as ducks, geese, crows and seagulls can become a nuisance in parks and urban areas when attracted to the chunks of stale bread people toss them. Bread is also not a natural, nourishing food choice for wild birds. So this practice is not recommended.

Bird feeders stocked with appropriate seed or suet are perfectly good, though: “wild birds don’t need feeders; they need native food sources and habitat,” says Karen Munday at the Audubon Society of Portland. “The main benefit of feeders is that they allow people to see wild birds up close. And,” she adds, “hopefully that inspires people to protect crucial wild bird habitat in the long run.”

Bushtits (foreground) at suet feeder and sunflower hearts tube feeder; gold finches (back) at thistle feeder

So by all means, set up feeders that are appropriate to the birds you want to attract. Just remember that feeders aren’t the whole story – habitat is the crucial piece of the puzzle for wild birds. And while you shouldn’t worry too much about it, it is worth maintaining feeders during extreme winter weather – for although wild birds are resourceful, they are also creatures of habit, and prolonged frigid temperatures can stretch their resources. Meanwhile, start working on a sustainable plan to create a haven-like habitat for wild birds in your garden.

ATTRACT BIRDS TO YOUR GARDEN – NATURALLY
If you live adjacent to a park, forest or body of water, you probably need no tips on attracting wild birds to your garden – birds surround you. But should you not have forest, open fields, streams, ponds or other wild bird-attracting features around, you may need to work on it a bit. To that end, here are a few basic bird requirements:

Natural food sources Trees, shrubs and herbs that supply fruit, berries, nuts, flower nectar and insect populations that are edible to birds. Different plants attract different sets of birds. Native plants are preferable but many non-invasive ornamentals are also rich sources of food.

Water Water can range from a pond or stream to a simple, 1-inch deep pan of water that is kept clean and fresh. Running water, still water, streams, lakes and ocean each attract different species. You may consider investing in a bird bath heater. But why make life easy when you can run out every hour or two during sub-freezing spells to pour boiling water over your bird baths?

Shelter Depending on the bird, ideal shelter could include gravel or rocky areas, brush piles, hedgerows and shrubby thickets, fields of tall grass, weed patches, tall evergreen trees or tree snags. Another important element of shelter includes safety from non-native predators – and that means keeping domestic cats indoors. If that is not possible, at least keep them indoors during spring nesting season.

DIVERSITY IS KEY
Everything revolves around habitat – and plant – diversity. Monocultures of grass or one species of plant don’t make for good bird habitat, whether it’s a vast sea of lawn or a massive hedge of English laurel. A monoculture of invasive species like English ivy, Portuguese laurel or garlic mustard is even less hospitable, as invasive plants smother native plant habitat that did once support wildlife.

Habitat… waiting to happen

Nectar and pollen diversity, as well as plants ranging from ground level to tree height. I bet there are a few tasty insects in there, too…

Not only species-diverse, but multi-layered plantings are best, with a tree canopy, shrub and herb under-story and ground-cover plants, as well as some bare soil for dust baths and grubbing around for insects. Tree canopies, wooded forest floor, brushy thickets, open areas and brush piles provide plenty of options for birds to feed, nest – and flit from one place to another to evade predators. And what’s good for the birds is good for the bees… and butterflies… and other creatures that comprise healthy, diverse habitat.

GETTING STARTED
Creating hospitable bird habitat is an ongoing process, not something you can do overnight. Start by setting up a bird feeder stocked with appropriate feed in a safe place. Soon, you’ll build a relationship with your local song bird population and begin identifying some of your avian visitors. You’ll notice which birds eat which feed – and what plants or areas of your garden serve as food or shelter for which birds. By observing the charming and complex behavior of wild birds in action, you will discover great delight during the cold, dark months of winter. The next step, naturally, is to seek out the plants and build the habitat that will sustain them in the future.

When I first began feeding winter birds, I worried that I was artificially luring them to stay in an otherwise inhospitable environment. Says the Audubon Society’s Karen Munday, “Birds come to Portland or stay in the area in the winter because of our mild, hospitable climate with good habitat and suitable natural food sources in the region – not because of an individual person’s bird feeder." In fact, most birds require a varied diet composed of seeds, fruit and insects. The importance of a varied diet is especially true for hummingbirds. “Hummingbirds can’t live on sugar water feeders alone: it simply provides them with an energy boost, the way a sugary candy bar does for a person. Hummingbirds need protein, minerals and vitamins supplied by insects, nectar in flowers, and other natural sources.

And since we live in an imperfect world, it must be said that there are some drawbacks associated with feeders. “Feeders artificially gather many birds into one place, which can lead to disease,” says Munday. “Birds fly to the feeder perch, eat, and poop – thereby transmitting any diseases there may be.” What to do? Scrub out feeders once per week with soapy water and then a solution of one part bleach to ten parts water. Allow it to dry completely before adding a one-week supply of fresh bird feed. The same goes for hummingbird feeders: every 4-5 days, wash and dry the feeder before setting it out again with about 4-5 days’ worth of sugar water. Suet should only be used during the cold months – or only set out enough to last a day. Rancid or melting suet is both unhealthy for birds and icky to clean up.

So feeders allow us to see and relate to birds and that is a wonderful thing. But still, natural food sources are best for birds. The Audubon Society encourages native plants as the optimal food sources for native insects and native birds, but there are non-native ornamentals that can be excellent sources of food and habitat.

It’s easy to keep hummers supplied with natural nectar sources in summer. During freezing winter weather, it can be a challenge!

There are several sources of good native plant lists and other resources for attracting and supporting native wildlife:

East Multnomah Soil Water and Conservation District
City of Portland Native Plant List
Metro
Xerces Society (What’s good for bees, butterflies and pollinators is good for birds)

• Buy bird supplies:
  Backyard Bird Shop
  The Audubon Society

Low-Emissions Hummers

(Where They Fill Up)

Posted by: Kate Bryant on Aug 30, 2009 at 09:00AM 5 Comments

This hardy Fuchsia speciosa is flocked with hummers all summer

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This hardy Fuchsia speciosa is flocked with hummers all summer

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Hummingbird magnet plant: flowering maple (Abutilon ‘Louis Sasson’)

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Mint hyssop (Agastache ‘Apricot Sunrise’)

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Fuchsia magellanica (also known as “ladies’ eardrops”) with a hot pink Salvia greggii in foreground.

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Hot pink Cape fuchsia. This isn’t really a fuchsia but a lookalike plant hailing from South Africa. Hummers love it.

We all love hummingbirds! These adroit creatures are a marvel to watch; their masterful hover and dive displays, the way they finesse the nectar from tubular flowers, and their penchant for dive-bombing people wearing red outfits is truly endearing. In our area, the two main species are the rufous hummingbird (migratory) and Anna’s hummingbird (year-round resident).

Observing these tiny, acrobatic creatures at a hummingbird feeder is a joy. But hummingbirds cannot live on sugar-water alone. They need insects to supply them with vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. And they need natural fuel – flower nectar. Lots of it.

To attract hummingbirds to your garden and keep them visiting, you can plant a year-round succession of suitable flowers in your garden. Natives are ideal – but many natives have a short flowering period, so you might need a few acres.

Or, you can plant a group of long-flowering perennials to fuel hummingbirds continuously from late spring through late fall and beyond. And while red is supposed to attract hummers best, they seem just as attracted to blue, yellow, white or any other flower color if it is rich in nectar.

My five favorite, long-flowering hummingbird plants that thrive in the Portland area are Cape fuchsia (Phygelius), hardy fuchsia (Fuchsia), flowering maple (Abutilon), mint hyssop (Agastache), and salvia (Salvia). These perennial plants flower non-stop from late spring to first frost and sometimes beyond. Yet each is so beautiful that it’s worth growing even if it weren’t a fantastic hummer pit-stop. Plant them and the hummers will come.

Recommended:
Phygelius ‘Moonraker’- sun to pt shade, unfussy about soil
Fuchsia magellanica ‘Riccartonii’ – sun to shade, unfussy about soil
Agastache ‘Apricot Sunrise’- full sun, very well-draining soil
Salvia guaranitica; Salvia greggii ‘Lipstick’ – full sun, well-draining soil
Abutilon megapotamicum ‘Red’ – full sun to pt shade, well-draining soil

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Tags: Flowers, Wildlife