Attract birds and butterflies to your garden

Birds and butterflies are a little like flowers on the wing. Though fleeting, their presence brings a beauty to your garden that nothing else can match. Cultivate a spot that invites them in to stay. It won't be the tidiest garden on the block, but one that has areas wet and dry, looks a little wild and has some weeds and flowers gone to seed. It will be a home for insects and earthworms, too (no harmful pesticides here), with something blooming from spring through fall. This welcoming place will keep birds and butterflies close till the change of seasons prompts most to move on.

Attracting birds
For me, one of my garden's most amusing attractions is a birdbath not far from the front porch. Birds visit almost every day, especially morning and evening, and especially during migration. Some of the most colourful small birds in my part of Ontario -- such as bluebirds, orioles and goldfinches -- partake regularly of this "spa."

Here are a few rules of birdbath location and care.

1. Place it where birds can spot possible predators, far enough from the house so birds will come to it and close enough so you can see them when they do.

2. Provide a perch nearby, such as a shrub, fence or even a branched stick.

3. Keep the basin filled with fresh water. In dry weather you'll need to fill it daily.

4. Keep it clean. Scrub it every few days.

Birdhouses and nesting sites may lure birds to stay all summer. Buy birdhouses or make your own. The size of the entrance hole determines what species will take up residence (a maximum size of 1-1/2 inches/3.8 centimetres accommodates most songbirds but keeps out nest-and-hatchling thieves such as starlings). Install birdhouses securely in a peaceful place. Some birds don't use them but make nests on building ledges, branches or in the knotholes of trees and fence posts.

Feeding birds
If you feed birds all winter, some, such as jays and chickadees, will stay throughout the year. For hummingbirds you can hang a feeder in the summer, but they will also visit many cultivated and wild flowers, especially those that are red and funnel-shaped. Other birds will come for insects, fruit and seeds.

Favoured by the insect eaters are airborne pests, such as mosquitoes and blackflies, and plant pests, including weevils and caterpillars. Trees and shrubs in declining health provide insects for woodpeckers and knotholes for nests, while an unraked spot under a large tree lets birds enjoy bugs hidden in the leaf litter. Elderberries, strawberries, saskatoons and cherries may be devoured by birds before you get your chance. Seedheads and rose hips left to ripen on their stalks are an attraction through winter. And shrubs and trees that hold seeds and fruit into fall -- such as crab apple, honeysuckle, pin cherry, chokeberry and dogwood -- will tempt migrating birds on their way south.

For the birds -- plant sources for food, nest sites or shelter

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