Creating a Wildlife Garden: Food

Creating a wildlife garden can be one of the easiest and most rewarding experiences a bird watcher could wish for. All that wildlife require, are four features in order to call a place home – food, water, cover and a place to nest – and we can provide all this, and more even in a small environment. If for any reason you can not, then doing something for wildlife is better than doing nothing.

There are two kinds of food that we can provide; putting out bird seed and installing natural plantings that include berries. The former can be as simple as throwing out seed on a patch of bare dirt or filling bird feeders. This offers the ability to provide a variety of food in pleasing to look at feeders. The latter allows you to landscape your yard with native plants that will benefit wildlife throughout the year, and which in turn will provide essential cover for the birds.

The placement of bird feeders is crucial to maximizing your enjoyment. You want to place them where you are going to see them. Locating them a short distance from the window that you spend the most time near, such as the living room or dinning room, is perfect.

Many birds including this Blue Jay, are fond of the high fat content they get from eating peanuts. Peanut halves (above), as these are called, are placed in a wire mesh tube feeder and the birds can cling to the outside to feed themselves.

all photos © adrian binns