Bird Sanctuary Planting Weekend: Building bird habitat made easy!

By Elaine Kolish

Are you a bird lover with bird feeders and bird baths that you keep clean and full and who delights in seeing chickadees, titmice, woodpeckers and more flock to your bird feeders? Or, are you someone who loves birds, but is too busy to keep up with maintaining bird feeders? Or, are you a bad bird watcher (with aspirations to be a better one), who looks up every time a bird flies by but with no idea what species it is?   Whatever category you fall in, you are just the person to participate in Plant NOVA Natives “Bird Sanctuary Planting Weekend,” October 26-29, 2024. You can join other communities and individuals throughout Northern Virginia in creating a sanctuary or adding to habitat already in your yard to support songbirds. It’s simple. All you have to do is plant a native tree and two native shrubs.

Plant NOVA Natives has created a simple, step-by-step guide on how to create your own bird sanctuary. https://www.plantnovatrees.org/bird-sanctuary-planting-weekend  It details everything from how much turf you need to remove, what size plants to use, how to space and install the plants, how much mulch you will need, and when and how much to water. It offers great suggestions on where to place the sanctuary in your yard and elsewhere in the site provides lists of native trees and shrubs that you can choose among, depending on your site.

If you are wondering why a tree and two shrubs, it’s because planting a tree by itself helps songbirds only so much.  Native understory shrubs and ground level plants are also important for providing habitat for birds and for the insects that are such an important part of their diet. If you love birds, insects are critical to your ecosystem. For example, baby birds cannot crack seeds and depend on their parents to bring them fat, soft sacks of protein, fats and other nutrients—otherwise known as caterpillars. While many caterpillars are found in native trees (with oaks being known to support the largest number of them), some caterpillar species require native shrubs instead, and many birds nest at lower levels. Keep the leaf litter in your sanctuary, as caterpillars need to burrow into the dead leaves to shelter or to spin their cocoons. Where there are not enough leaves, a thin layer of mulch (but not lawn) can substitute.

The bottom line: for a modest amount of work during Bird Sanctuary Planting Weekend (or any time),  you will have a lifetime of satisfaction of knowing you helped our feathered friends and the enjoyment of seeing them use your sanctuary.