Former Bird Club member, Jim Cubie, has developed a website filled with information on making your yard more friendly for birds. Most of this information has previously been on the Bird Club site, but rather than maintaining two sites with the same information, we are providing links to the Bird Friendly Yard site making this wonderful resource only one ctrl click away. Many thanks to Jim for his tireless work protecting birds.
Bird Friendly Yards
The Sun City Bird Club has a variety of resources that you can use to plant healthy, inviting gardens for our feathered friends. We especially urge you to use native plants, especially trees that are native to this area, since they provide as much as 35 times more food for birds than exotic plants.
In order to successfully raise a brood, songbird parents must feed their nestlings more than 8,000 insects. These beneficial insects, including butterfly and moth larve, proliferate on native trees like oaks. Migrating birds also feed on beneficial insects.
The most important native plant in your yard is the oak tree. You must nuture it, but don’t spray it.
Native Plants: https://birdfriendlyyards.net/freeplans/
Window Strikes
Nesting birds in our yards are exposed to a danger they do not face in the woods — our windows. Birds do not see windows and crash into them and die — an average of 2-10 deaths per residence each year. On glass surfaces without screens, you need to install a system to protect the parents and juveniles from fatal window strikes. A few decals do not work. We invite you visit the website below to learn about options to protect birds:
Window Strike Prevention: https://birdfriendlyyards.net/consumerguide/