[HappyWife]

My grandmother used to have a lot of birds in her garden, and they were lovely. My garden area is mostly shady. Does anyone know what kind shade loving plants will attract birds? Is it even possible to have a bird-friendly garden in the shade? Maybe bird baths and feeders would help?

[aura]

Bird baths and feeders will definatley help! I have about 10 feeders in my yard and offer different kinds of food as well as a bird bath which the birds love. Our yard is mostly shady, lotts of large elm trees, and I have basically planted a shade garden. What zone are you in? I have alot of hostas and ferns but we are zone 3 here in Montana. You will be surprised how just adding feeders will increase the bird activity. Good Luck! Aura

[sfharper]

Birds like a perch tree like a japanese snowbell tree which we have growing in shade. Also viburnums have berries the birds like. Same with cotoneaster that will grow in the sun/shade margin areas. Another one for hummingbirds is bleeding heart which they love. Use a suet feeder to attract the woodpeckers and birds during nesting.

[WhiteLily]

Wow - I have never even heard of most of the trees you all mentioned! I live in Australia. I like to attract native birds and butterflies to our garden (butterflies have to be caterpillers first, remember, so some butterfly plants actually get eaten by caterpillers first! )

We do have a problem with aggressive immigrant birds from Indonesia/Malaysia chasing away our wild birds.

I asked the local plant nursery staff this very question - how do you attract native birds to the garden and still have shade? Shade is really important to us as we live in the tropics. The nurseryman said we could never go wrong if we planted native flowering or fruiting trees. There is such a wide variety of plants to choose from, some shrub height and some many times the height of the average house. Planting natives means the native widlife would be attracted to our garden, and the immigrant wildlife would not. And we can have some lovely shady trees in the garden this way too. Two problems solved by asking one question!

So I recommend you ask your local nursery people for advice about your particular area.

[sfharper]

Originally Posted by WhiteLily

I asked the local plant nursery staff this very question - how do you attract native birds to the garden and still have shade? Shade is really important to us as we live in the tropics. The nurseryman said we could never go wrong if we planted native flowering or fruiting trees.

Good point! We visited the Atherton area and worked with an Earthwatch trip with the CSIRO guys a couple of years ago. You are so lucky to have such wonderful variety in fruiting plants. They published a really neat book on the local plants.
The ones I mentioned are native to the Pacific NW with the exception of the tree. Up here we get so much shade that many fruit trees don't flower or fruit in the shade. Many of the Japanese varieties work well here because the temperate zone is similar. On

[sfharper]

One of my favorite books that covers this question well is Sunset's guide "Attracting Birds". Many of the Northwest birds are ground feeders -- these include junco's, towhee's, sparrows, wrens, finches, quail, pigeons. Ground feeders like corn, sunflower seeds, thistle, etc. scattered around the ground and will only rarely visit a hanging feeder.

[seeemilywrite]

I have a hummingbird feeder right by my back window. Its nice to sit and eat breakfast in the mornign and watch the bitrds stop by. i look forward to seeing some this season, its been a long winter.

[sfharper]

What kind of hummingbird feeders do you use? I find them hard to clean. The red ones with the yellow flowers both flat and hour glass shaped seem to work the best. Have you found ones that you prefer? How do you clean them?

[writehandgirl]

Originally Posted by seeemilywrite

I have a hummingbird feeder right by my back window. Its nice to sit and eat breakfast in the mornign and watch the bitrds stop by. i look forward to seeing some this season, its been a long winter.

I just bought a hummingbird feeder. It is one of the long, glass ones with the plastic "flowers" at the bottom. I've only had one hummingbird even look at it and he passed it up. Any suggestions?

[sfharper]

If you let the water/syrup mixture sit too long in the heat it will go bad and anything that tastes bad will be rejected. Make sure that when you wash it, all trace of chlorine is gone. Sometimes, when the hummingbirds first arrive, they check for a feeder and other flowering plants, then go off nest making before they come back. Hummingbirds also like a perch nearby where they can relax while playing king of the territory. Let me know if you need other suggestions.