Questions tagged [birds]

Winged warm-blooded creatures, family Aves.

Birds are popular warm blooded flying creatures that have wings, are feathered, bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying and vertebrate. Classed as family Aves, they are closely related to dinosaurs and some authors class birds as "living dinosaurs".

Birds are important with regards to plants because plants often utilize them to spread their seeds using mechanisms such as . Plants provide habitat for most birds - e.g. roosts and shelter.

Use this tag for all questions about birds that are specific to gardens and gardening. These are questions such as how to encourage birds into your garden, and how to deter birds eating fruit. Questions such as "What is this bird I saw on my tree?" are off topic.

36 questions
24
votes
6 answers

How can I naturally encourage birds into my garden?

We love having our garden filled with birds, thus we have put up a variety of bird feeders. We also make lots of water available for the birds. The result is a 2½ year old that can identify about 8 birds in the backyard. We recently had a guest that…
Joseph Barisonzi
  • 703
  • 1
  • 5
  • 11
11
votes
5 answers

Bird-friendly weedkiller for patio?

Here in the UK we have many garden birds that feed from the small cracks in our brick-paved patio. Unfortunately, those small cracks are also full of various weeds and grass at the moment. What is the best way of killing it all, but without…
Codemonkey
  • 233
  • 1
  • 8
11
votes
3 answers

How can we protect a fig tree's fruit from birds?

We have a fairly large and productive fig tree, but we never get to enjoy the fruit because the birds always get to it first. What can we do to take advantage of this tree before my wife makes me cut it down for more yard space?
Cade Roux
  • 333
  • 3
  • 9
10
votes
1 answer

How can I keep mockingbirds off potted plants (ornamental peppers)?

I have a rectangular pot on the deck full of ornamental peppers ('Poinsettia' and Chile Pequin "bird peppers"). As is typical of ornamental peppers, they're about a foot high and covered with small fruit. At the moment most are green and few seemed…
winwaed
  • 20,373
  • 4
  • 61
  • 115
8
votes
2 answers

Is it ok to screw nesting boxes to trees?

I have a bunch of nesting boxes for small birds I am putting up. I am just wondering what is the best way to attach the boxes to various trees. I have seen screws used but I am not sure about that. I think it may damage the tree.
eeijlar
  • 203
  • 1
  • 3
8
votes
3 answers

Does this bird cause any harm to the garden?

Couple of days back we had a visitor to our garden. I've never seen this bird before. Does anyone know what this bird is? And does it do any damage to the garden? Sorry about the blurry picture. Its due to the mesh door. And I live in the pacific…
yasouser
  • 1,509
  • 2
  • 12
  • 20
8
votes
2 answers

How to get rid of mynah birds?

Mynah birds have taken over my garden, displacing the natural avian fauna. I would like to get rid of them, but my being in Australia means that I can't buy a gun. Any alternative suggestions on how to control them?
Gordon Stanger
8
votes
4 answers

How can I keep birds off my berries for cheap?

What methods have you seen work other than the standard netting over a plant for keeping birds off plants like blueberries?
black thumb
  • 8,786
  • 2
  • 30
  • 67
7
votes
1 answer

Who's been eating my corn?

Pretty much all my corn is like this. The tassle ends are all eaten. I doubt the stalk would support possums, so maybe rats, or possibly birds? In NZ near the Zealandia eco-sanctuary
Graham Chiu
  • 23,044
  • 5
  • 36
  • 92
7
votes
1 answer

Is it wise to let lonicera grow over a brush pile?

I have a sizable brush pile in my yard, 5m x 5m (16ft x 16ft), height 2m (6.5ft). Even a colony of sparrows lives in it. I toy with the idea of planting a Lonicera caprifolium (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonicera_caprifolium) just beside the…
VividD
  • 5,810
  • 3
  • 21
  • 63
7
votes
1 answer

What types of fruit are most likely to be eaten by vertebrate pests?

So there are tomatoes in my backyard, and for some reason, nothing seems to eat them even though lots of birds visit the backyard, which surprises me. Do birds and rodents (mice and squirrels) have a preference for certain fruits? Like high calorie…
InquilineKea
  • 261
  • 1
  • 6
6
votes
3 answers

Should I avoid hybrid species of native plants for birdscaping?

I'm trying to pick out the best plants to attract birds to my yard, and have become very interested in serviceberry trees for this purpose. Should I avoid the hybrid varieties of this species (such as Amelanchier × grandiflora) in favor of versions…
Empiromancer
  • 507
  • 4
  • 12
6
votes
2 answers

Prevent green parrots dominating the bird feeder

We have a number of bird feeders hanging in our garden, and a reasonable number of different, interesting bird species visit them. We regularly see Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Woodpeckers, etc., as well as the usual starlings, etc. There are large flocks…
6
votes
3 answers

How do I stop woodpeckers from killing my beloved apple tree?

I have a really old Apple tree in the yard that seems to only produce every other year. (Anybody know what's up with that?) The woodpeckers have done such a number on the trunk's bark, that it looks like a sieve. Questions: How do I keep the…
Snix
  • 61
  • 2
6
votes
2 answers

How many trees are needed to attract birds as significant pests?

If I grew a bunch of large fruit trees of a sort very, very desirable to birds (robins, mockingbirds, etc.), out in the middle of nowhere where few birds had previously dared to roam (no trees besides mine), would this increase my harvest potential,…
Brōtsyorfuzthrāx
  • 17,794
  • 4
  • 27
  • 65
1
2 3