Ruud Kleinpaste: How to look after birds in your garden during winter

Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

A week away from winter – Everybody feels that – especially the birds in your garden.

Food is becoming scarce, unless you’ve planted a heap of trees and shrubs that provide nectar and honeydew to keep the nectivores happy.

Some species of Eucalypts are flowering right now; so do Tagasaste, some puriri and Banksia. Mexican Orange blossom does its best too, judging from the silvereyes that descend on those flowers.

Nectivores are often attracted by sugar water, delivered in all sorts of ways: bottle feeders are available in garden centres and can be filled with dilutions of that sugar water. Do NOT use honey water as that may spread bee diseases from hive to hive.

Be aware that we have heaps of Native Nectivores in Aotearoa: tui, bellbird, silvereyes to name a few.

A lot of people feed birds dodgy supplements such as stale bread and food scraps; yes – sparrows and starlings (as well as mynahs and the odd blackbird) might initially seem to appreciate your gestures, but so do rats and mice (who are also looking for fodder). A Bread meal is often quite detrimental to birds – if they drink water afterwards, the swelling of the bread can rupture their stomachs.

A number of bird species enjoy some seeds: sparrows greenfinches, gold finches and such introduced creatures; blackbirds don’t mind some seeds covered in fruity stuff.

Julie has a different view on the matter: “Blackbirds are there to rip the mulch off the garden”, whether or not they want to catch worms or any other invertebrates…

Another point we need to consider about feeding birds in your garden is that you’ll need to keep going till spring; Your generosity is something the birds rely on and when you stop, there will be consequences for the artificially-high populations created by extra feeding!

I tend to target nectar feeders in winter. The afore-mentioned Tui, bellbird and silver-eyes are beneficial species! Silver-eyes are particularly useful insect eaters, specialising in scale insects, mealybugs, aphids, psyllids, whitefly and a heap more of those quite damaging garden pests.

I hate spraying systemic insecticides, so birds’ help is always welcome.

And this is how I attract them to my garden from June onwards:

Lard blocks made from dripping and contained in an old onion bag or in a small, metal “cage” where the birds can hang from. This last contraption feeds a wide range of birds that over-winter in my garden.

Replenish frequently and remember to place the feeders in a spot out of reach from neighbourhood cats. 

A source of water might also be handy as – even in winter – birds need water

My goal is to get the largest flocks of silver-eyes on the lard blocks and sugar-water stations throughout winter and right into spring, when the silver-eyes start to disperse to go breeding.

You might think you will have “lost” them from the garden... they are getting very secretive around nesting time, but they will remember your place as a heaven full of food, so...

In spring and summer they’ll come and do the pest control business for you by scouting the scale insects and aphids from your plants, to feed their kids.

Tui and Bellbird will probably do a significant job of pollination in your garden.

What’s not to like?

LISTEN ABOVE.

Silvereyes on MeatballSilvereyes on lard block

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