Some resources to learn more: “Native plants improve breeding and foraging habitat for an insectivorous bird” www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320717305153 “The ecological role of native-plant landscaping in residential yards to birds during the nonbreeding period” esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecs2.4360 “What do we know (and need to know) about the role of urban habitats as ecological traps? Systematic review and meta-analysis” www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969721016272 “Ecological and Evolutionary Traps” www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/abstract/S0169-5347(02)02580-6
I would argue that the birds that are largely declining are NOT those that come to your feeders. The are the specialist and insect feeders largely. IMHO I cannot think of a single species of bird that is regular to feeders is in serious decline. There is always the risk of contagious disease at feeders, but that is the main concern. The habitat building that you suggest though is an excellent idea as it will likely provide a number of niches for other bird species to occupy.
Thank you for the thoughtful comment! Yes, there are 2 separate problems I am hoping to invite more conversation around - (1) feeding adult birds, but not providing habitat that allows them to nest and feed their young (which leads to high mortality of nesting baby birds, particularly in urban and suburban settings), and (2) the extensive and pervasive habitat loss that is causing extremely heavy losses of certain bird species, like those that require grassland habitats. The second issue is heartbreaking because there is often little we can do as individuals, but I love Doug Tallamy's work on promoting conversion of home gardens back into quality habitat. I am hoping to continue this conversation with videos about topics like how to determine the type habitat that we should be building, since it is so region-dependent. And with this particular video I was hoping to prime some new ways of thinking for a continued series! Thank you for watching!
I agree that it's not the bird feeders themselves that are the problem (as i recall, studies show that birds use our feeders for only about 25% of their diet) but there are many common backyard birds in decline. Bobwhites, Grackles, Tree Sparrows are just a few that I recall seeing in abundance when I was younger
From Cornell Lab: "Common birds-the species that many people see every day-have suffered the greatest losses... More than 90% of the losses (more than 2.5 billion birds) come from just 12 families including the sparrows, blackbirds, warblers, and finches. The losses include favorite species seen at bird feeders, such as Dark-eyed Juncos (... down by 168 million) and sweet-singing White-throated Sparrows (down by 93 million)."
Had to come back to leave another comment for the Algo Rhythm. Only 2.5k subscribers??! I knew I'd love this channel based solely on the name and the thumbnail and it was exactly what I was hoping for. This is the answer to the question I didn't even know I was asking!
Thank you so much! So glad it might be useful to you! I also have that sense all the time as I learn more about habitat and habitat gardening - of getting answers to questions I didn't realize I was asking!
This was so incredibly helpful. I need to support the baby birds. I planed a ton of native plants last year to attract hummingbirds with the help of a local nonprofit that helps with regenerating local ecosystems. Thank you so much, I've subscribed WITH notifs on!
@@gardenforbirds We have a couple of really awful ones where I am in New York. I'm sharing your video on Nextdoor (It's like local facebook). I wish I could link in the local nurseries.
Thank you for sharing this important message! ❤ Here in New Jersey, we sadly don't have laws against non native plants yet. We have acres of wild wooded property and annually add new native plants, but fighting with the invasive non native plants everyone here puts in their gardens has been a struggle. They have good intentions, they think they're planning for the wildlife, but don't realize the destructive ripple effect that non native plants have on our local ecosystem. Informative videos like this are so important! Thank you!❤
The invasives are smothering Maryland too. Each time I have to drive my car requires seeing the extensive damage and trying to accept it. What gives me hope is that I can control what happens in my own garden - when we make space, nature will do her very best to heal!
Thanks for this video! For the naysayers on here, I would like to note that yes, even living in the Southeast, planting natives helped a lot. And...this is not really more expensive than traditional gardening. I really appreciate you noting that yards in different parts of the country should look different because the local ecosystems are different. As someone who recently moved cross-country, I'm happily discovering a whole new world of beautiful native plants. Hoping the birds will like them too!
I love hearing from people who move to new regions and come in with a curiosity to learn the new region! I think the historical practice has been to terraform everywhere to look like New England, everyone expects a lawn and everything to be a deep green everywhere. But I'm hopeful we can shift our thinking and expectations of what a landscape "should look like", and to assign value to these less traditional but equally gorgeous home landscapes - they are all beautiful ecosystems and so so worth the effort!
I've just watched 3 of your videos and have concluded that you, in fact, know wtf you're talking about. Your content doesn't strike me as the "study the night before" content creators. The level of detail and personal insight is outstanding 👏.
Thank you so much, that’s extremely kind! I’m definitely learning as I go, but am more of a “study every night” kind of nerd 😅 I find plant-ecosystem interactions are endlessly fascinating, as well as how we can translate that to our garden spaces!
i’ve been trying to get my parents to plant more native plants for years. they love watching and feeding the birds out back so i sent them this video and now my dad’s asking me to help him find, buy, and plant a bunch of native plants in the yard!! success :)
Sunflowers - The goldfinch is my state bird and they come in during the summer/autumn for the sunflower seeds so I grow LOTS of varieties/patches. Robins come in the late winter devouring the holly berries on a very large holly tree by my home. I grow scarlet runner beans for their orange flowers, which hummingbirds love more than a feeder spring through autumn.
Another fantastic video from you! Loved watching. Another thing about feeders is that they also can spread bird diseases. Especially any feeders where the birds can walk across the food. I used to have a really cool feeder that attached to my window, so my cats and I could watch the birds super close up. Unfortunately one day I noticed a bird poop right into the seeds....I took the feeder down and never put it back up. From then on I decided my plants would be the bird feeders. I already gave up hummingbird feeders long before that. I prefer the natural way. I have tons and tons of bugs now and the birds sing so so much. I've been seeing more species of bird each year. Another great reason to leave the leaves and the seedheads over the winter and year round, really.
Thank you! You are raising many important concerns about feeding stations! I'm totally with you, I'm too afraid of spreading disease to hang certain types of feeders, especially hummingbird feeders. If the garden can do the feeding, that's a much safer and more sustainable alternative! So excited to hear about your yard having lots of bugs and bird song! It's so wonderful to step outside to see and hear them, it lifts me up everytime!
As far as I know, the type of feeder shown in the video (and similar ones) is the preferable type as the birds can't walk on the food. Those birds, which prefer to search for food on the ground get the food that falls off.
@@leonlowenstadter9223yes! It helps to have the right feeders. And maybe it is also regional. There was a time a couple years back I think that we were told to take all feeders down, even the safer ones, down here in the south, because an illness was spreading through bird feeders. It was deadly to birds.😢
I planted a butterfly garden at my church. One day a person whose office ov😢the butterfly garden came up to and said not only did they see butterflies, but birds too. It was really cool that someone noticed. I love native plants
That’s so wonderful, what a lovely example! Churches and community centers are such an amazing place to add wildlife and food gardens - what better way to bring people together to learn about nature!
I like how this video can also be spread to other countries since it doesn't seem too specific to the US, even though the species are US based. Here in the UK our finches have been growing longer breaks because of bird feeders, and there was one study which showed that bird feeders are displacing secondary species in places where dominant species are eating too much during the winter, leading to a lack of spaces for secondary species to breed. I don't wanna tell people to not have bird feeders, because it makes a lot of people upset to not think they are helping the birds, but I really do think we need to know more about our gardens in how to best support local bird populations, without just putting down some fatballs and saying that'll do. Cheers for this :)
This is absolutely fascinating - I had not heard about the changes to beak structure! Here in North America, feeders have had a huge impact for some species - expanding territories, disrupting migration, etc. I agree fully - and feeders can have a positive role, especially in engaging people with wild birds and bringing lots of joy! But I believe there is a gap in the current dialog about what it means to "feed birds", and am hoping to push the conversation more toward habitat with feeders as a bonus but not the sole food source! Thank you for the lovely comment!
This is such a great video! Tons of amazing information and it's very 'digestible', overall just great work, easiest sub in a while! I myself recently started getting into planting more native flowering plants just for the pollination benefits and just using more natural methods of gardening in general. Using a mixture of woodchips and leaves for my pathways, a compost pile for kitchen scraps, I've noticed a lot of birds foraging in these areas, not really thinking they are there for the bugs its attracting because I also have a feeder close by, but with the need for protein this makes perfect sense. This is my second year with this garden so I can't wait to see what changes occur and see how much more wildlife and diversity I can attract.
Welcome aboard, excited to have you! That's awesome, sounds like you're building a beautiful habitat! I love your idea for using leaves for pathways - no need to clean the leaves out of your paths after they fall, and all kinds of critters will use the same paths!
I believe that there was a review in the Toronto Star back when it first came out in 2022. I ordered it off of Amazon and got my brother a copy too. I was going to also mention that I purchased a bag of McKenzie All Purpose Wildflowers mix [bee friendly] but I have discovered that some portion of the seeds are not native to my area according to the book 'A Garden For The Rusty-Patched Bumblebee'. So I will be returning the bag to the store and continue my search for a more appropriate [to my area in London, Ontario] mixture.
The mixed seeds can be tricky, often I don’t see them give latin names, so it’s not always clear what you’re getting. I recently saw a warning about planting western lupine species here in the east - apparently it’s being marketed as “wild lupine” but is causing ecological problems in the east. Need to do some more research, but they were warning about mixed seeds selling the western species. Frustrating we sometimes have to work so hard to source plants!
Extremely useful information. I started my garden straight from the lawn last year. This season I want to focus on making a buffet for natural wildlife. Your video came with perfect timing.
I have watched a lot of videos over the years and this is one of the best that I have ever seen. Your tone, expression and knowledge are excellent and very compelling. I have hundreds of native plants and work hard everyday to develop better habitats for the birds and your video inspires me to do better. Thanks for the boost!!
Always wash feeders properly every month. Because a lot of birds congregate around feeders, diseases can spread very quickly amongst them. Make sure that the bottom of the food is not mouldy or growing grass. Make sure that you always provide water for them even in winter. Make sure that the feeders are clean and dry before refilling them and putting them out. I give my wild birds fatballs, raisins, mealworms, bird food and peanuts. You get so many birds by giving them a variety.
Thank you! That’s awesome to hear! Deer resistant plants are important in my area too - and since the deer eat most of the forest understory here, I’ve been also trying to work in the shrubs that both the birds and deer love, but adding them in our protected areas so the birds at least have some access to those plant species.
Wow! Astonishing creation. What a great factual channel. Thank you for producing and sharing. The best moments of my life seem to always include feeding and seeing birds and watching plants grow.
Thank you so much, that’s very kind! Yeah, it’s amazing how significant an impact birds and plants can have on us - I love standing around our pollinator garden just staring at bugs lol
You know to put out some fruit peels or peices that go bad so the fruit flies gather , easiest way to get bugs when the flowers are not yet ready. Especially in warmer weather if fruit flies in your house , get a hanging container and put it near a half sunny spot and that gives birds a chance at all sorts of flies for protein
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻...... Such a good video. I plant indeterminate tomatoes in my back yard, along the tree line, for caterpillars. I've removed all the cheap Crepe Myrtles (i hate them) and replaced with native trees that produce tiny berries. This year I found a seed packet, i believe its from Botanical Interests, that grows plants for fresh birdseed.... So excited!!! Any little change for the native wildlife can make a big difference. 😊
New sub to support the algorithm. I've done lots of work in ornamental horticulture but have gravitated to natives as I've aged. It's easier long term and I want to enhance the whole system not just create pretty spaces. Gardening only for oneself is pretty selfish IMO. I'm in north Georgia, I loved everything about it the first time I came here 40+ years ago. I'm always astounded that people move to an area because of it's natural beauty then plant things that don't naturally live here, ugh! After years of paying attention to my surroundings, I've gotten good at recognizing native plants from their basal foliage and noticed what did well without help. THAT is what I want in my yard! I'm not opposed to non-invasive ornamental plants but they're a tiny fraction of what I grow. Free blooms and almost zero care PLUS food and habitat for wildlife, it's a no brainer! I do feed through the winter as I work on getting more natives, I adore my bird colonies!
Awesome, welcome aboard! I’m so with you - Couldn’t say it better! 😊 The response from wildlife when wet include them in our gardens is infinitely more dimensional than just considering a plant’s appearance. And the plants our wildlife needs are stunning, so there’s no sacrifice needed! 💓
@gardenforbirds Naw, I'm pretty sure they're all just hanging out with me, especially the ones that bite and sting. I looked it up, and a 45% decrease in 40 years is pretty scary.
@gardenforbirds I live in my car, so I get eaten alive by mosquitoes, yellow flies, and no seeums, and I manage to get a lot of fire ant stings when putting out my solar panels and putting them back away. Bugs can be pretty annoying when you're homeless, but I do understand how important they are to the ecosystem.
Wow. You only have under 2k subscribers. Your channel and mission deserve more than that. Your video is informative, not slow but not too fast, and visually pleasing. That's a lot of plusses! You bring up good and important points to consider when planning a garden. For all the 100s of videos that I've watched, I don't recall anyone making them. I hope that you keep producing content, and I hope that you are rewarded for your efforts. Subscribing.
I make suit cakes from rendered beef fat that I add fruit and meal worms to. The blue birds are here all winter in Maine and most bird prefer them over the store bought cakes. We have all edge habitat and lots of running water in the woods. Still I haven't seen a common Grossbeak in 30 years in Maine, and we had flocks of them when I was a kid.
I’ve been curious to try making my own suet sometime, bluebirds here love it too. I am sadly hearing more of these kinds of anecdotes, where people notice a difference now compared to their childhood. I have hope our gardens can help! 💓
Very nice surprise to have a new video from you. Thank you. We are thinking spring here in southern New Hampshire thanks to the unnaturally warm weather.
I wanted to have this one out 2 weeks ago, but February was just one of those months! We’ve been having beautiful weather here too, spring is right around the corner!
Well, here I can only see doves, sparrows, mockingbirds, hummingbirds and occasionally ravens. I live in the northwestern Mexican coast, so I wonder what else could I plant over here. It's true that I don't see too many caterpillars, though there are plenty of spiders, so at least someone is having nice lunches :3
You could check out the "ecoregions" in Mexico to get ideas for what to plant! Once you ID your ecoregion, you can read more about the plants and animals in your area and that might help you decide what to plant to attract which birds/butterflies, etc. A few resources to start you off: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ecoregions_in_Mexico lacgeo.com/tags/ecoregions-mexico#:~:text=The%20Marismas%20Nacionales%20Lagoon%20System,rich%20biodiversity%20and%20ecological%20significance.
Yep. We had a really thriving bird and breakfast… and then someone misunderstood where property lines were and mowed down the full sun part of our tiny garden patch. The space was probably 40% native, 60% invasive, but it apparently did the job for the birds in our area, and bird visits plummeted. (Admittedly, large parts of the East Coast are weird because it can be invasive to Massachusetts, native to Maryland, and used by the same species of bird, so what is invasive vs harmful to birds is a slightly different metric.) I spent the rest of the summer doing what I could to grow anything that would rapidly fill the space, was native, and wouldn’t break the bank, and amending the soil in the rest of the green space. The birds slowly came back, and I’m hoping this year there will be no noticeable difference. Since I’ll be traveling a lot during much of our growing season this year, I’m planning on a lot of direct sowing of wild flowers, augmented by maybe a bush or two and as many sunflowers as I can transplant.
Oh, that's awful and heartbreaking - I'm sorry that happened. I hope your property lines are respected this year, and signage might be an option to declare the space as a habitat. There are some really beautiful signs that show butterflies or bluebirds, and declare it a "no mow" zone. Maybe something like that could help to both protect your space and educate those who are confusing the intent of your garden!
@@gardenforbirds Thanks! We have some temporary fencing up, and one of the questions for our HOA is whether this year we will install proper fencing. If not, I think I’m going to encourage whatever native vining plants I can find to have fun on that gardening mesh “fencing.” (We are having other issues, too, with people who don’t understand that just because it used to be a vacant lot they could walk thru doesn’t mean it still is, and petty vandalism, like breaking all my sunflowers, when barriers are put up).
@@khills So sorry that's happening to you. I have lots of squirrels and can't grow a sunflower past a foot or two and have given up. Maybe squirrels have discovered your garden? They often will chew the stem of a sunflower plant to get it to fall to the ground. Hope that's the explanation rather than nasty neighbors.
@@sbffsbrarbrr Oh, no, it’s 100% nasty bratty children throwing tantrums, sharp broken stems footprints and all. If it was the squirrels, that would be ok - my husband is Australian, and all Australians turn into the dog from UP when squirrels are around. 😉 We feed them and leave them be, for the most part.
I have chosen to perma-culture my yard, food/flowers/shrubs/trees providing me food and attracting pollinators. I have noticed more birds in my yard, and every sq foot of grass I don't have to mow saves me money and resources. It is a win win. The birds will help you maintain the pests too.
Wow! I'm so glad this made it to my recommended. I have a bird feeder that I haven't put out yet, and as a vegan I have had concerns about how to manage insects when I begin growing my own food. I don't think there's any all-around solution better than this!
Feeders can be a wonderful way to attract birds and to get them to take notice of your garden, so I don't want to discourage your fun! Just hoping to expand the dialog around what it means to "feed the birds" - and to get people more comfortable with bugs! 😁 Thank you for watching!
This assumes that people who love birds also have yards and $$ to create more ideal habitats. There are other options, i.e. resources nearby; helping birds during winter and migration where nesting habitat isn't needed; perhaps providing less food but higher quality, that supplements diet; bird feeder hygiene; etc.
Great points, thank you for the comment! In future videos I'd like to talk more about how to save money when building up habitat gardens - there are often lots of ways to save! We can also get involved with the planning organizations that make decisions about what plants can be used in landscaping. This could be a local government that decides on the list of allowed plants for their jurisdictions, or if you're in a condo or apartment people could join the boards and start these conversations as well.
Well, actually you don't have to plant trees and bushes, there are quite a few small plants that you can grow on your (outside) window sill or in a few small planters. With view to bushes, there is a method to cut like sticks in summer stick them into the ground and a new bush will grow. That would be for free when you ask the owner of the bush if you or he can cut a few suitable sticks.
Is it bad to toss feed out on the ground especially around the bushes and trees where they live? I have 3 feeders but I get way more feeding on the ground. I've got about 13 species visiting with a solid 8 everyday. I'm going broke but it makes me happy. I know that as long as "everyone" in the yard including the squirrels are happy then they've got enough food:). But yes! All the natives--I'm getting better! Thank you. So happy to have found this channel as I've just gotten obsessed with my neighborhood birds this winter. I had a heater in the bird bath too! I felt like I was in a Snow White Trailer Park!
I haven't heard that it's a problem to scatter seed on the ground - I think the main thing to consider is if we can make it as safe as possible while eating. Cats in particular kill billions of birds every year, so the main thing is to evaluate your feeding areas from those perspectives. Having some kind of cover nearby would let them dodge in there if a predator came along! (And that's true of hanging feeders as well!) Awesome - sounds like you're making a beautiful and yummy space for the birds!
It's definitely scary, and still headed in the wrong direction. While it's not all fixable by changing our home gardens, there is a huge amount of power that land owners and land stewards (e.g. HOA decision makers) hold! I truly believe average people can make a big difference on these problems, and am hoping to continue that conversation with this channel! Thank you for watching!
Yes, it's true. I've been watching where the birds hang out and where their dropping are and which trees are above those droppings and planting more of those types of trees and my garden has more birds than any other area for miles around.
Not sure how this video wound up in my feed today (since I was watching mostly political commentary) but glad it did. Will have to look up more of your content. This was quite interesting.
Very informative. I have been wanting to give my garden over to a more native one and found an excellent book called 'A Garden for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee: Creating Habitat for Native Pollinators, Ontario and Great Lakes Edition' by Lorraine Johnson and Sheila Colla.
I just got my own copy of that a few months ago, small world! Where did you find yours? I'm in the US and had a very difficult time finding a vendor that would ship outside of Canada
I am planning an experiment this year with our veggie garden, to fold in plants that draw some more "beneficial predator" insects. If you're in North America, you might look at Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum is the latin genus, and there are many species). These are like a magnet for wasps - not the aggressive kind, but the kind that will help clean up your tomatoes! I'm interested to try out some companion plantings this year and see if I can catch the clean-up crews in action!
Thank you; subbed. I just put in two 13ft posts to hold bird feeders high above a hopeful natives garden that I'm still trying to figure out how to plant. In an adjacent yard, I have a bit of a tree park, for nesting. Behind my property is a bit of wild property cleared for 'water management' ... within it is a sort of small pond in a depression, & beyond this land is a flowing canal. I mention this because I wonder if anyone would strongly suggest that I make the extra effort to provide water, or just let it be?
Excited to have you aboard! Wow! Sounds like you have an amazing and complex ecosystem you're building! For water, if the source of water going to your depressed area is clean and potable, I don't think you'd need anything additional. The only caveat might be if that water is likely to freeze in the winter, then you could think about a second source for the colder months and a small heater to prevent freezing. Around your wet space, if you maintain a region that is not mowed, that should encourage lots of the pest-managers (frogs etc.) to make a home! You might enjoy Stefano Ianiro's RU-vid page - he is a bird photographer and does a lot of videos on providing natural water retention areas. His channel would be a great resource!
Great video !! I detest bird feeders when people don’t bother creating a garden supportive of wildlife . Also, don’t set up your yard for birds if you’re going to let your cats run around outside . Cats are very destructive and often kill when they’re not hungry .
Thank you so much! And wildlife gardens are so deeply fulfilling, they are so worth it! We have some neighbors who have barn cats that roam around and they definitely cause some damage, especially when baby birds start to fledge. It's heartbreaking. As you said, I think cats have the instinct to hunt even if they're well-fed, and sadly kill billions of birds annually.
This was very helpful. I am in Inland central Florida on excessively well drained sandy soils. Growing anything is a challenge as water percolates through quickly and dries out in hours. I am inspired to increase the natives for the birds. I have some already but using a lot of South African plants that survive drought. Need to visit some native nurseries.
I have been amazed to discover how many plants actually prefer to live in sandy soils - I just did a quick search to see what would come up, and these sites look like they might be helpful for your conditions! www.wildflower.org/expert/show.php?id=9125 www.flawildflowers.org/dry-landscapes/ www.nativenurseries.com/blog/2020/12/16/natives-can-thrive-in-sandy-soils
@@gardenforbirds Thank you. I also never use pesticides behind my fence in my gardens. I live in an HOA that required a nice lawn in the front yard so I hire a company to spray the front yard only. My back yard is alive with so many pollinators and insects. I have the native firebush and beauty berry. Birds love it.
Sadly, when I name videos with titles like "How to Best Support Birds In Your Area" they don't get very many views 🤷♀️ But that's exactly what this video is about!
I can remember the moment it dawned on me that my windshield was way too clean, compared to the roadtrips of my youth. That's surely saying something, to notice such a difference in our lifetimes. It's hard because systemic changes are absolutely needed, but I am hopeful that more dialog between all of us as individuals can lead to changes in the way we think about these things - and maybe we can at least shift the needle even a little bit. Thank you for watching!
@@gardenforbirdsIn Florida, cars used to get plastered with love bugs during love bug season, and there were swarms of them. Now, you just see a few of them.
Everything I have read says that Capsaicin from chili peppers does not harm birds. I don't think a lot of research has been done on whether it can cause gastrointestinal upset, but I have not seen any evidence that it does so I think it's sort of an unanswered question. Birds do not have the "pain receptors" in the mouth that cause the discomfort when eating Capsaicin, so it would not bother them - but it certainly would bother any mammals who go after it!
Thank you so much! I realized in editing that Stanley is probably a girl! 😅 So far I’ve been using the InShot app to edit. It’s very affordable compared to some other options, and has a pretty decent range of editing functions. Occasionally it can be glitchy but it’s mostly been very efficient for me so far!
How about stop maintaining huge lawns and just have vegetable gardens, fruit trees or just let lawn go wild as meadows? This would be low maintenance, no waste of gas on lawn mowers, no use of herbicides and no toxic chemical (i.e. roundup) runoffs. Vegetables naturally attract millions of worms and insects - any gardener would tell you that. Also, if people stop planting exotic, invasive decor trees and plant fruit trees instead it would provide habitat for pollinators and fruits for birds. You don't need fruit tree to eat, animals and birds eat fruits too. If municipalities and HOAs didn't insist on useless and harmful lawns maybe we, individuals, could somehow improve birds habitat situation. Whole mentality of landscaping needs to change to make a difference.
Fruit trees aren't really low maintenance and some can be a lot of work. We leave any fruit we don't eat on our trees and even some on the ground for animals to use but some of it inevitably ends up going unused and rotting. The plums and apples in our yard mostly shrivel up and then turn into volunteer tree shoots which if left unattended can become several trees that crowd out each other and anything else you're trying to grow there. The figs and pears, meanwhile, rot into a smelly, slipper sludge. Some of the birds like the flies it attracts well enough but it doesn't make a very pleasant ecosystem for humans. And if we tried to only grow native fruits most of the ones here wouldn't grow on trees at all. They're largely berries which come with their own set of maintenance especially if you get a bramble like blackberry or salmonberry. Plus fruit bearing plants can be incredibly invasive as well as seen by the Himalayan blackberry outcompeting our local variety.
I agree that the mentality of landscaping is desperately in need of an overhaul, and am hoping this channel will be a part of pushing that conversation. Less lawn is an absolute must. For anyone with an HOA, joining the committee and educating other members about all of these problems can have profound impact on making (relatively) large-scale changes!
@@BonaparteBardithion fruit trees are low maintenance compared to any other natural landscaping especially lawns. How hard is it to clean unused and fallen fruits under a tree ONCE a year? Is it more difficult than mowing grass every 2 weeks? Even then if you have permaculture garden it is not required to clean up unused fruits - it will compost naturally, so it is totally optional. If plums and apples produce volunteer shoots it takes literally few minutes to cut them. Even then it is not required if you are growing food forest. If you don't like smell of rotting figs and pears - just don't plant these trees. Plant something you enjoy more, who said you have to plant only certain fruit trees? Fruits don't grow in your trees? If fruit tree is not producing then replace with better variety. I am sure there is always some kind of variety suited for every region in planet Earth except Arctica and Antarctica. And blackberries are not trees, so not sure how invasive berries came into picture about low maintenance fruit trees. You sound like a person with too high standards. You don't like many things about fruit trees but not providing better alternatives. You can not convince me or anyone who deals with fruit trees that manicured lawns are easier to maintain than fruit trees. Things can be as easy or as complicated as you make them. Maybe fruit trees are not for you but doesn't mean it is hard to maintain them. Enjoy your manicured lawn.
Rural areas are usually better quality habitat than urban and suburban, but if you look closely at your woods you might find they’re not doing so great (the ones near me are not). Deer tend to eat much of the understory vegetation that birds rely on, and invasive species often get a food hold which all reduces the habitat quality of the woods. Wooded areas are often sadly not as healthy as we might think! 😣
😅 me either actually - I cropped it to remove a very unsettling version of an eagle's claw in the lower corner...and it also has the eagle headed straight for a cliff 😬
I am going to be experimenting some this year with companion planting in our veggie garden - including plants that are known to draw in more "beneficial predator" insects. I'm very curious to see the insect predation interactions if we focus these plants near our veggies!
Bluebirds love ants. I stopped feeding the birds around me. They didn’t want my suet block I paid a lot for, so I guess they don’t want seeds either. 🤷🏼♀️
It can take them a long time to notice and trust a feeder, I think weeks to months in some cases. So if it's something you're interested in, don't give up too soon!
@@gardenforbirdsI’ve lived here 3 years now. They use the bath, but they don’t care for my feeders, and I get mostly sunflower mix. None will use my bird houses. They only seem interested in my damn grass seed.
You know to put out some fruit peels or peices that go bad so the fruit flies gather , easiest way to get bugs when the flowers are not yet ready. Especially in warmer weather if fruit flies in your house , get a hanging container and put it near a half sunny spot and that gives birds a chance at all sorts of flies for protein
