Planning The Perfect Bird Sanctuary
There are three elements that you have to plan for when you put together the perfect bird sanctuary or garden - food, water, and shelter. If you have those three elements, you will have no trouble attracting birds to your garden.The size of the garden is not the biggest element as, even the smallest of gardens can easily have enough of the ingredients necessary to attract birds. So what are these ingredients?
Planting fruit bearing trees and bushes is a start. Once they start to bloom, an apple tree, peach tree, or the like - especially in a big yard - will attract a great variety of birds. If your are limited to a smaller area, a hawthorn bush or a honeysuckle bush will serve the same purpose. Fruit bearing trees and bushes act as sort of a self stocking pantry and food source for birds which they will absolutely love.
The 2nd thing that will have birds flocking to your garden is a source of water. Like a bird bath. If you place a bird bath in an open area of your yard, you will provide the birds with an easy access to a place to drink and bathe. In addition, it provides a nice centerpiece to your garden. Some of the new solar powered bird baths help to keep the water fresh without being a drain on your electricity bill.
But, a pond might be something that is even better than a bird bath. Ponds provide a natural source of water for the birds. But, the other nice thing about them is that ponds give the birds a place to bath and they attract insects which the birds can feed on. Feeding on insects is one of those unappreciated things that birds do for us. Since insects account for a great part of their natural diet, they help to keep the insect population down in a natural way without you having to douse your garden area with pesticides.
The final thing that you need if you want to attract birds into your years are one or more shelter areas. Decide on which bird species you want to attract and place bird houses designed for those species at various places in the garden. Most birds love to find already build structures that they can take up residence in and raise their young. In addition to these shelter areas, however, you can also plant shrubs and bushes for those species that are not attracted to man made shelter areas. Planting a variety of dense shrubs will make them feel comfortable nesting there.
All in all, the combination of these three elements will ensure that you have a garden that will be filled with the sounds and songs of birds year round.