How we think about habitat will inform the ways in which we approach the important work of creating places for our wildlife. We’ll look at examples from nature, and our less- managed lands, for inspiration. We’ll discuss considerations including site, aesthetic desire, budget, and more. We’ll talk about some good online resources that can help with plant selection and planning for home-scale habitat restoration in the northern Sacramento Valley. Carla Resnick is the Program Coordinator for Altacal Audubon’s Certified Neighborhood Habitat Program. Mary Muchowski is Executive Director of Altacal Audubon.
The ten thousand species of birds in the world come with tremendous variety. The ostrich can stand nine feet tall, tip the scales at 280 pounds, and run at over forty miles per hour. The bee hummingbird is less than two and a half inches long, weighs one twentieth of an ounce, and can’t run at all, or even walk.
Bee Hummingbird
A red-breasted merganser flew even with a plane at an air speed of over 80 mph, ground speed over a hundred. Peregrine falcons stooping on prey have sped to at least 186 mph. Hummingbirds can hover in place, a flight achievement of zero mph.
The engine of a plane in Africa sucked in a Ruppell’s griffon vulture–at an altitude of 36,100 feet! Penguins “fly” only under water. New Zealand’s kiwi has stubby little wings, perhaps as useful as a T-rex’s hands; it cannot fly.
Killdeer nest in open flats, maybe gathering just a couple pebbles to mark the site. Orioles weave hanging baskets of plant fiber or other debris. Cliff swallows build with mud, swiftlets use saliva, and hummingbirds gather and form lichen and spider webs. Kingfishers nest in tunnels they dig, as much as eight feet into the ground. Emperor penguins’ feet serve as nests. Eagles build with sticks, adding more as they re-use the nest over years and generations; a nest in Florida was 9.5 feet across, 20 feet deep, and estimated to weigh over two tons. Gyrfalcons in Greenland use a cliff nest that is 2500 years old.
Chimney Swift on Nest
Osprey flap over water looking for fish to catch. The thick-billed murre has been found swimming 690 feet under water.
Goatsuckers and owls wear camouflage feathers that blend into the gray-brown bark they press against. Tanagers, orioles, and honeycreepers blaze brilliant colors with stunning richness and iridescence.
Western Screech-Owl
All this variety of behavior and physical features is the result of the distinctive habitats that grace our planet. The diverse opportunities, requirements, and happenstance of survival hone the qualities of plumage, flight, size, color, and nest building, as well as the shape and strength of feet and bills, flocking behavior, and everything else about the birds.
The thing about these adaptations is that they do not just permit living a certain way in a certain habitat; they require it. An eagle can’t catch flies from the air to have its dinner. A woodpecker can’t paddle like a duck and skim algae off the water. Like all living things, birds need the habitat they are designed for.
Amazon Fires
But now the world is changing. The Amazon is burning, the ice caps are melting, and the reefs are dying. What are the birds to do?
Many have begun the spiral toward extinction. Depending on how fast and how extremely the changes come, some will adapt, as they always have on the changing Earth.
The uneven pattern of evolution is normal. The biologist Stephen Jay Gould termed it punctuated equilibrium, long periods of relative stability “punctuated” by brief periods of rapid evolutionary change.
Generally speaking, when change comes fast, creatures with short generations do well. Bacteria, for instance, can “grow up” and reproduce–which in their case means divide in two–in as little as twenty minutes. The quick regeneration allows for more mutation and more rapid genetic development of adaptations to the new environment. We humans reproduce more slowly, so don’t do well by this measure. However, we are capable of considerable non-biological adaptation–say, build and operate an AC unit.
For birds, yard after yard after yard adds up to a lot of potential homes. Backyard sanctuaries are pleasant for people, too, and fairly easy to provide. Just consider the basic elements of habitat: food, water, and shelter.
Providing food does not require filling feeders. Feeders can be fun because they draw birds for easy viewing, but they also require periodic cleaning to minimize spreading disease—say, once a month with a nine to one water to bleach solution. Hummingbird feeders require cleaning and refreshing every 2-3 days in the summer.
Plants will feed birds with less fuss. Berries and seeds on shrubs, grasses, and trees are all natural food supplies. Flowers, especially tubular ones like fuchsia and penstemon, offer nectar to hummingbirds. Benign neglect of gardens leaves old seedheads for winter consumption and unraked leaves for scratching through for the food they hold. Even without bird-edible fruits and seeds, plants feed insects, which become the main source of protein for songbirds around the world. Native plants are usually best, as they have evolved with the birds and insects of the area and usually support them most effectively.
Cedar Waxwing and American Robin
Of course, avoid pesticides and herbicides. At worst they poison the birds, and at best they kill off the birds’ food source.
Plants also offer shelter. Some birds roost high in trees, others in shrubs, still others on the ground under brush. If décor and fire safety call for pruning up, consider retaining some low shrubbery for sparrows or quail. Woodpeckers carve numerous holes in dead wood, creating homes used by many bird species. You may choose not to leave whole snags standing, but just a standing trunk can invite excavations that bluebirds, wrens, flycatchers, titmice, nuthatches, and swallows will readily use.
Western Bluebird Male
Those familiar cavity-nesters will also use home-made nesting boxes. To find bird-house directions, at wintuaudubon.org see Places to bird/Attracting birds. In our area, it’s best to mount your birdhouses in shaded areas.
Ash-Throated Flycatcher
Of course, ensure that your yard is as feline-free as possible. Outdoor cats kill 15-20% of North American birds every year, including nearly 50% of suburban fledglings.
Water remains the elixir of life. A shallow pan, refreshed every day, makes an easy start. A trickle of running water invites many more visits. Small pumps are inexpensive and can run a home-made fountain if electricity is safely available. For permanent pools, mosquito-fish are available from Shasta County at (530) 365-3768.
Consider commercial fountains carefully. Songbirds prefer shallow puddles; a sloping edge will accommodate birds of different sizes for both drinking and bathing. Steep edges inhibit use.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Birds have lost vast swathes of former habitat. The wildfires are hardly the worst of it. If we can curb the super-sizing of them, fires are natural, and the cycle of light burn and fresh regrowth benefits many species. The more devastating disruption is the permanent and widespread habitat conversion of historical oak woodlands, wildflower fields, and riparian meanders into row crops, monoculture orchards and tree farms, pavement, and buildings. Now climate change is expected to further eliminate half the seasonal range of 314 North American bird species. It’s a tough time to be dependent on an ecosystem.
We can shape our yards to offer the food, water, and shelter that will help many birds still find homes.
