Attracting bird life to your backyard

Do you know the types of birds visiting your yard, or want to know how to attract some native feathery friends? We delve more into the best ways of making a bird-friendly home.

Read our full article in Issue 11 of The Biscuit Magazine.

The best thing we can be doing to encourage birds to our backyard, is to make sure our cats are indoor companions and you keep an eye on your dogs too. You can read more about harness training your cat here so they can safely explore the outside world.

While giant lush trees and bushes are absolute bird magnets, often pot plants are a much more realistic option. Native plants are the way to go and while many of these are often in shrub form, plants like the Kangaroo Paw and Banksias can be potted. 

The Kangaroo Paw can bring honeyeaters, red wattle birds and eastern spinebills to your yard. Banksias are a great all-rounder. Not only do they attract nectar loving birds, they also have seeds, so birds like cockatoos will visit.

Grevilleas are fantastic for attracting nectar-loving birds and providing shelter. The Scarlet Sprite Grevilleas have dense foliage which attracts smaller birds like finches and robins. Firesprites also attract spinebills, robins and honeyeaters.  The Honey Gem Grevillea can also bring birds like rainbow lorikeets to your backyard. They get a bit of everything; eating the seeds, nectar and insects drawn to their foliage. 

Photo: Teale Britstra

Another great variety of natives are Callistemons or bottlebrushes, which attract a variety of birds like the insect-eating fairy wren.

Birds are also drawn to the colour of flowers on your natives too, especially red and yellow. 

Bonus Tip: Pick plants that flower at different times of the year. 

There are a range of insect eating birds that are drawn to your backyard, but using pesticides, herbicides and fungicides can lead to less feathery friends visiting your home. Keeping your home a natural ecosystem at-tracts insects, worms, frogs and lizards. These are all part of the food chain for birds like flycatchers, willie wagtails, owls, butcher birds and kookaburras.

Photo: Teale Britstra

Don’t forget to avoid using baiting poisons to control rodents as these can be ingested not only by your domestic companions, but also birds of prey!

You can also encourage birds to use your backyard by installing nesting boxes in your trees. An elevated, fresh and accessible water source also goes a long way.