5 Simple Ways to Create a Bird-Friendly Yard

Here in the Big Horn Basin, the wind blows hard, the views are endless and our neighborhoods are full of beautiful birds. Some of the best birdwatching can happen right outside your kitchen window—if you know how to welcome them.

Living in this area means gardening in a high-desert environment with a short growing season and unpredictable winters. But with a little effort, you can turn your yard into a beautiful haven -- a place where songbirds of many species will feel right at home.

Here are five easy ways to create a mini sanctuary.

1. Plant for the High Desert

In our dry climate, native plants are the gold standard. They’ve evolved to thrive on minimal rain, they don’t need fertilizer and they provide the exact food our local birds (and bugs) need.

• The "Bird Buffet" Shrubs: Plant Saskatoon Serviceberry, Chokecherry or Buffaloberry . These hardy shrubs provide abundant spring blooms for native pollinators and nutrient-rich berries that birds seek out in the fall and winter. They can grow into thickets or beautiful flowering hedges that give birds a place to nest and to take cover from predators like the Cooper’s and Sharpshinned Hawks.

• The Seed Producers: Find a sunny spot and try a patch of Coneflowers, Blanketflowers or Sunflowers When these flowers go to seed, they provide a natural feast for many birds.

• Plant Native Trees: You won't get quite the same instant gratification, but future generations of birds (and people) will thank you.

• Read the labels if you’re buying from a nursery. Plants native to Africa and Asia, while beautiful, don’t provide local pollinators a place to lay their eggs. Wyoming caterpillars can’t eat Asian plants so the adult butterflies and other insects won’t lay on them and that deprives the birds of a food source as well as depleting the environment of beneficial insects

2. Rethink the "Clean" Yard

It’s tempting to head out in October and cut everything back to the ground, but for a bird, a perfectly manicured yard is a desert.

• Leave the Seed Heads: Don't deadhead your native perennials in the fall. Let them stand through the winter so birds can forage for seeds.

• Create a Brush Pile: When you prune your trees and shrubs, pile the branches in a back corner or behind a shed. This creates many benefits – a hiding place, a microclimate to provide warmth in the winter, an insect buffet.

3. Provide Water

In the high desert, water can be more attractive than food. If you provide a reliable water source, you’ll see birds you didn’t even know were in the neighborhood.

• Keep it Shallow: Use a birdbath with a rough bottom so birds don't slip. It should be no more than 2 inches deep. A big plant saucer is ideal – no fancy birdbath needed. You can add a couple of large rocks to give the birds something to perch on. If you have cats in your yard, a pedestal or hanging birdbath is safer than one placed on the ground or attached to a deck railing.

• Winter Strategy: Water is most critical when everything else is frozen. There are heated birdbaths out there, including solar-powered variations. Or you can set out fresh water during the warmest part of the day and just bring it in to thaw once it freezes.

4. Make Your Windows Visible

We love our big Park County views, but large windows can be deadly for birds that see the reflection of trees and sky instead of a glass pane. Some things you can do:

• Apply dots or decals to the outside of your most reflective windows. If there’s a window in your house that you’ve already heard birds thump into, tackle at least that one. Check out Feather Friendly for some decal options, including this one that's barely visible to the human eye but highly visible to birds: Bird Divert™ Clear UV Residential

• Acopian Birdsavers are a non-decal solution and can be purchased pre-made, or you can make your own with these step-by-step instructions: Make Your Own Acopian Birdsavers (DIY)

• Screens Help: If you have outside window screens, keep them on year-round. They also break up the reflection and may create a softer impact if birds still collide. Outside screens can be retrofitted to existing windows.

• Explore many more ideas at Bird Collision Prevention Alliance.

5. Limit the "Chemical Load"

Many of our backyard birds feed on insects and rely heavily on insects to feed their young.

Nurture the Bugs: Most of us know this already, but it bears repeating: avoid using broad-spectrum insecticides. A yard with a few "pests" is actually a healthy ecosystem. Think of caterpillars as "baby bird food"—without them, our local chickadees can’t raise their broods.

Birds have to work incredibly hard to find enough bugs to feed their families -- so anything we can do to help that process goes a long way.

Local Resources

Need help finding the right plants? Check out the Cody Conservation District’s annual seedling tree and pollinator plant sales. They specialize in species that can handle our difficult soil and "low-water" lifestyle.

Pollen Landscapes in Cody offers many beautiful bird-friendly plants, including Saskatoon Serviceberry, Snowberry and Buffaloberry.

Northern Gardens sells Blanketflowers and Coneflowers.

For more ideas specific to this area, visit Audubon’s Native Plant database and type in your zipcode. Native Plants | Audubon