Want to attract more birds to your feeders this fall and winter? Try adding some cover with native plants. Birds need cover to hide from predators, and many species only forage near plants that they can quickly dart into. Cover is one of the most overlooked components of a bird feeding station, and native plants are one of the best ways to provide cover, in part because they provide additional food in the form of fruit, seeds, and the insects they harbor.
Birds like kinglets, warblers, and vireos eat mainly insects and don’t normally visit feeders, but when they see a group of birds at your feeder, and there are plants nearby, they may come forage around your feeder. In the same way that many common feeder species, like chickadees, nuthatches, and woodpeckers, form the core of mixed species foraging flocks in the winter, their presence indicates to other species that a feeder station is a good area to look for food.
Plants with evergreen foliage are especially useful for winter cover, when deciduous species go bare. Many overwintering species choose to roost in the dense foliage of evergreen shrubs and trees. The obvious choices are coniferous species like Northern White-cedar (Arborvitae), Common Juniper, and Canada Yew. The latter two have fruits that often persist through the winter, in addition to harboring numerous insect species that birds can forage on.
Native evergreen broadleaf (non-conifer) species include Inkberry Holly and several members of the Blueberry family (Ericaceae). Mountain Laurel, Labrador Tea, and Leatherleaf are a few of these evergreen ericaceous species, many of which thrive in wet or shady areas, as well.
The hollies, including the more common Winterberry Holly, are representative of the other most attractive type of cover for many birds: plants with persistent berries. Winterberry Holly is one of the most significant winter fruits in Maine, hence its common name, and can hold fruits into the next growing season (if they don’t get eaten). Other native species with persistent fruit include bayberries, sumacs, and viburnums. Native vines like Virgina Creeper and even Poison Ivy can provide cover and food in smaller (or vertical) spaces unsuited to trees and shrubs.
Fruits and insects aren’t the only foods birds are looking for; many species mostly eat seeds. Smaller native trees like Speckled Alder and Gray Birch provide great year-round cover and also usually hold their seeds through the winter. Tall, herbaceous species in the Aster family (Asteraceae) like Canada Goldenrod and New England Aster, and native grasses like Eastern Wild-rye and Switch Panicgrass, hold seeds into the winter and can provide cover if they are left standing.
As leaves fall and plants wither this autumn, it’s a good time to take stock of where birds could use some additional cover. There is still some time to get plants in the ground before winter, and create habitat to shelter birds in your yard for years to come.
