‘Gardening for Birds’ initiative helping create backyard habitats

By Lethbridge Herald on June 5, 2021.

photo by Paul Madder / Birds Canada - A ruby-throated hummingbird hovers next to a bright petalled flower blooming among a bed of foliage.

Birds Canada recently launched a conservation initiative called “Gardening for Birds.” This initiative was created to promote the creation of habitats for migratory and local birds across Canada.
“Birds Canada created this new resource to empower people to be part of the conservation movement that’s literally meeting us at our doorsteps,” said Natasha Barlow, project lead for Birds Canada.
Birds Canada is Canada’s leading national charitable organization dedicated to bird science and conservation.
“Our website and all of our videos and associated resources are tailored towards enabling people to start helping birds at home. Anyone can develop their own customizable list of plants which are suited to their specific region in the country,” said Barlow.
Their website also offers summary information on the key things people should think about when making a garden. Whether it’s food, water and shelter which are the three things that people need to physically survive which also applies to birds, as well as information on other things like structural diversity for your garden.
“We created what’s called bird garden zones. With a consultation with a horticultural expert, we came up with a way to kind of break up the different regions in Canada based on bird diversity, regions, and different things like environmental conditions, climate, and horticultural zones to really help people,” said Barlow.
Since the conditions across Canada vary so much, being able to find specific information about your zone was something that Barlow and her team thought it was very important. This way people would have the opportunity to learn about local plants that would withstand their specific conditions.
Here in Alberta for example, we have varying conditions. Our weather sometimes changes within the same day. So having knowledge of species of plants that would survive here is key to be able to provide a habitat for birds all year round.
Barlow’s colleague in southern Alberta, Jody Allair, director of citizen science and community engagement for Birds Canada shared some information about the initiative from a local perspective.
“We’re trying to encourage people to plant native species, but also from species you can find locally. That is their best chance to naturalize and actually grow things that are going to survive the winds and the June snowfalls that we experience in Alberta,” said Allair.
This will provide the best chance of success for gardening, but also native species of plants whether they are trees or shrubs are also beneficial to insects and small mammals as well.
“Planting native is easier. It’s less work really, like you don’t have to do much because you’re planting the right thing in the right soil. Is going to just grow right and it has a massive benefit in terms of the local biodiversity,” said Allair.
“Gardening for Birds” is encouraging people to create opportunities for bird feeding in the summer and in the winter. To create nesting habitat for birds by planting shrubs and trees. This will also provide areas where things like mountain cottontails can be safe from predators.
“I really hope that this helps people either discover birds or uses their love of birds to discover the importance of creating habitats right. It goes both ways for me, birds have been there for us during the pandemic, they have given lots of hope to a lot of us. Birds are just wonderful, and this is kind of a great way to sort of give back to those birds that really helped a lot of us during the pandemic by creating habitat for them,” said Allair.
For more information regarding “Gardening for Birds” visit http://www.birdscanada.org