Author: Stephen Brooks

While walking my dog last year, I noticed a sign proclaiming bird-friendly habitat certification of a neighbor’s yard. My spouse Carey and I, who have been birding since the mid-‘90s, decided to pursue bird-friendly habitat in our yard too. So, we talked to the neighbor, who put us in touch with New Hope Audubon. We scheduled a certification visit on May 18. NHAS members Betsy Smith and Rachelle Roake spent nearly two hours with us on our land, inventorying plant species on our land and advising us how we could improve our house and land to make the property more bird-friendly. During the visit, Betsy and Rachelle taught us how native plants support bird populations. Native plants provide food for birds, whether it is seeds, nectar, or sap. They also shelter a wide range of insects, which birds eat. They can also provide birds a place to build a nest or hide from predators.

After that site visit, Betsy emailed us a five-page Bird Friendly Habitat Certification Report. It listed existing native and invasive plant species, a checklist of wildlife habitat improvements, and a detailed description of our property from a bird habitat perspective. We received a yard sign saying that we are working toward bird-friendly certification. Here are some of the steps we have taken so far:

Removing invasive plant species

The first thing we focused on was removing invasive plants. Our house, which we bought less than two years ago, sits on a property that is partially mowed and partially left alone. We decided to focus on improving the area that has been left “wild,” where it is easier to separate invasive species from others.

Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) is a common and very invasive grass, which makes up a large part of the backyard as well as the area we have left unmanicured. We have applied a couple of herbicides—a glyphosate-based herbicide (Roundup®) and a concentrated vinegar solution—to the stiltgrass in the wild area. We have had to apply the herbicides multiple times, but it is killing the stiltgrass. We noticed a variety of native ferns growing on the north side of the house, so Carey started weeding the stiltgrass from that side of the house to about two feet from the house. It is turning into a native fern garden!

Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense) is an ornamental tree in the olive family, which has become invasive in the southeastern United States. Carey cut down the one in our backyard, and I painted a highly-concentrated Roundup® solution on the stump immediately.

Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima) is another invasive tree. It outcompetes native plants across the United States. To kill it, you have to girdle it by cutting a narrow strip around the tree trunk, through the first two layers, the bark and the cambium. Immediately apply a highly-concentrated glyphosate-based herbicide to this ring around the tree. If you don’t apply it fast enough, the tree will sprout many more trees from its roots, which spread far beyond the base of the tree. We didn’t apply the herbicide with a high enough concentration, so we have been pulling up tiny tree of heaven sprouts for months now. Carey has also begun pulling up as much of the sprouts’ roots as she can, and treating the remaining root ends with glyphosate. We are seeing fewer tree of heaven sprouts now.

Planting native plants

Carey and I have added native plants to our yard. For example, we planted several varieties of milkweed, which provide food for the caterpillar of the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). We planted two elderberry bushes. Most recently, we planted a wax myrtle and two cedar trees.

Improving wildlife habitat

We are already doing some of the things on the wildlife habitat improvements checklists, including providing a birdbath; not spraying chemicals to kill mosquitoes or rodents, which harms birds; leaving snags (dead trees) and logs where they are, which host insects that birds eat; using an electric lawn mower and string trimmer, which pollutes the air and ground less than gas-powered tools; and leaving fallen leaves in place, which contain many insect larvae that hatch in the spring. Carey filled the crawlspace window wells with pea gravel and put wire covers over them, to keep frogs and toads from falling in and dying. We are improving the safety of our house windows, by putting decals on them and closing the blinds at night while our inside lights are on, which helps keep birds from flying into the windows because they can’t see the glass. We bought a bluebird nest box, which we will secure to a post in our yard.

What’s next?

We asked NHAS to come back and reassess our property for bird-friendly certification. Going through this process has really helped Carey and me think about how we can use our land to help support bird populations. We enjoy learning about the animals and plants in our yard, and their role in the ecosystem.