By Ethan Mimnaugh from Mooloolah River Landcare
I think most of us enjoy the call of a magpie or the sight of a Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo flying overhead, but how often do we consider the different kinds of foods these animals eat?
By tailoring our garden to feed different kinds of birds, we can enjoy their presence at home, without needing to search far and wide for their different environments.
There are certain plants which are enjoyed by lorikeets and cockatoos, or other plants for magpies and kookaburras.
We can plant to create safe places for tiny birds, or for rare, ground dwelling birds.
Today I will begin to excite your imagination and creativity, and inspire you to try bringing in specific birds by planting their preferred food or habitat.
Birds have a wide range of diets. There are insect eaters, nectar drinkers, seed eating birds, and fruit eating birds.
Some birds eat small lizards or fish, while others eat larger quarry including other birds.
Many birds branch out into multiple groups, while some birds have very specific diets that only include a few species of plant.
The first step in attracting a bird to your yard is determining what that bird eats.
A great resource can be Birdlife Australia which have bird profiles on their website, which includes feeding habits.
Insect eating birds are often smaller birds, although things like the Tawny Frogmouth are also insect eating birds.
To attract these birds, you need to attract insects.
Flowers are a great way to attract insects, but so are certain trees such as Fig trees (Ficus species), Cheese Trees (Glochidion species), and Soap Trees (Alphitonia species) which often have a plethora of insects on them.
If you don’t have the space for big trees, then planting prolifically flowering plants such as the different Coleus species, or the Thyme Honey Myrtle (Melaleuca thymifolia) can also attract the food of insectivorous birds.
Nectar drinking birds require flowers. Blue Quandong (Elaeocarpus grandis), Silky Oak (Grevillea robusta), and Swamp Box (Lophostomen suaveolens) are all very prolific nectar trees and attract loads of nectivorous birds when they flower.
Birds which eat seeds may eat from specific trees, such as the vulnerable Glossy Black Cockatoo which only feeds on the seeds of two She-Oak species (Allocasuarina littoralis and torulosa), however many seed eating birds eat grass seeds.
This includes many different doves, quails, and also certain parrots like the Pale-Headed Rosella.
Native grasses like Barbed Wire Grass (Cymbopogon refractus), Kangaroo Grass (Themada triandra), and Blady Grass (Imperata cylindrica) will create masses of seeds, especially after a cool burn at the right time, and these can attract flocks of birds.
Fruit eating birds like the Wompoo Dove, or the Figbird, enjoy things like figs, Lillypillies (Syzygium species), and Bleeding Heart (Homolanthus populifolius).
These plants fruit consistently, at least once per year, and will attract loads of different birds to them.
Not all fruiting trees have consistent fruit, so if you want to attract a lot of fruit eating birds, you should aim for a lot of diversity, but also include the consistent fruiters I mentioned.
I’ve barely touched on a lot of the different diets that birds can have, but I hope you’re somewhat inspired to research a bit about birds, their diets, and the native plants which suit them and you.
Mooloolah Landcare has an extremely wide range of plants, so if you need something, don’t hesitate to come down, or give us a call.