If you’re the kind of gardener who is always looking for better ways to support the flora and fauna of your outdoor spaces, then you’ll be interested to learn more about nesting materials for birds. Make your landscape a haven for backyard birds by providing them with the natural materials they need to build their nests. Here’s some tips on how (and how not) to do that.
Bird Nesting Material Dos:
1. DO make small sticks, twigs and straw available to the birds
Natural materials like these—the kind of debris you rake from your lawn and garden beds once the snow and frost have gone—are exactly what most birds use as the base of their nests. Instead of bagging up that yard waste, make small, easily accessible piles for birds to scavenge from for their home building activities. Or stuff a handful of twigs or straw into an empty suet or other type of feeder and hang it near your backyard birds’ food supply. Clean hay is available at most garden centers and birds love it for their nests.
2. DO leave your grass clippings for the birds
Grasses may be second only to twigs on the list of favorite nesting materials for birds. If you’re already leaving your clippings on your lawn to compost after you mow—a great way to encourage a healthy lawn –then don’t change a thing! The birds will be able to find what they need. If you feel you must remove the clippings, then consider setting aside a small pile during the nesting season for the birds to pick through. One caveat: Don’t let birds access grass treated with weed killers or chemical fertilizers.
3. DO provide natural sources of fluff for birds’ nests
4. DO establish plants in your landscape that offer nesting material
- Milkweed
- Cottonwood trees
- Lambs’ ear
- Fine-bladed ornamental grasses such as fountain grass
Bird Nesting Material Don’ts:
1. DON’T put out long strands of yarn, string or ribbon
2. DON’T use human hair
Human hair is strong and very often long enough to be dangerous. It would be easy for birds, especially babies, to become injured by getting entangled in hair.
3. DON’T use dryer lint
Dryer lint doesn’t make good nesting material. It tends to disintegrate in rains and could potentially leave holes in the nests of the birds that build with it.
4. DON’T put out any plastic items
- Bags
- Ties
- Ribbon
- Wrapped wire
- Fishing line
An Easy Way to Dispense Nesting Materials for Birds
A cage-style bird feeder designed for suet makes a good dispenser of nesting materials. You can use it to offer yarn or fiber cord to birds, but only if cut into small one to two-inch pieces. You could also stuff it with natural nesting materials such as dried grass from your ornamental grasses, staw, or hay. Fiber from milkweed pods is another natural nesting material that is attractive to birds.
You’ve got food and nesting materials for your backyard birds, what else can you do to attract birds to your landscape and keep them healthy and happy? How about a source of water? Just a single birdbath will entice a wide range of thirsty birds and potentially bees and butterflies as well, that may perch at the edge of the water for a sip. Birdbaths can help wildlife survive during dry spells and there are many decorative birdbath options to enhance your landscape.
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