How to attract a wider range of birds
Q: This year I noticed many spring migrant birds in my neighbors' yards. What can I plant this year to attract May migrant birds to my yard next year such as warblers, tanagers, orioles and buntings?
A: Migrating birds travel many miles in the spring so they need stopover sites to bathe, drink, eat and restore their energy. You can get them to stop in your yard if you reduce your lawn and replace it with gardens that have layers of large and small trees, flower- and berry-producing shrubs, seed-head producing flowers and grasses, and ground covers.
If you provide a drip bath, fountain or water feature for birds to drink and bathe, along with a layered landscape, your backyard can become a stopover spot.
Native trees, shrubs, flowers, grasses and ground covers have evolved along with the insects, caterpillars, fruit and nectar birds need to eat, breed their young and gain strength for their long journeys. Birds also require no pesticides to do well in your yard.
A partial list of the native tall and small trees that the birds mentioned in your question find appealing are American basswood (Tilia americana), black cherry (Prunus serotina), black oak (Quercus velutina), downy serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea), Eastern arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis), Allegheny serviceberry (Amelanchier laevis), paper birch (Betula payifera) and redbud (Cercis canadensis).
Some native shrubs that are good for these birds are nannyberry (Viburnum lentago), fragrant sumac (Rhus aromatica), winged sumac (Rhus copallinum), Northern spicebush (Lindera benzoin), common winterberry (Ilex verticillata), red bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), American hazelnut (Corylus americana) and American witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana).
Native flowers with seed-heads that these birds will eat if you leave them throughout the winter and into spring (don't deadhead) are black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) and Eastern purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea).
Native grasses these birds like are little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) and sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula). A ground cover they like is Virginia strawberry (Fragaria virginiana).
It is important to think of the gardens from tall to short, keeping in mind the type of soil and amount of sun each type of plant requires. If you plant a tall canopy tree as the anchor of the garden and then add smaller edge trees and shrubs, you can finish off with tall grasses and flowers out in the sun. Ground covers and dappled shade loving plants can be used in the shaded areas to fill in.
Put your fountain or drip bath near your gardens and you have a habitat birds will love.
— Nancy Degnan
• Provided by Master Gardeners through the Master Gardener Answer Desk, Friendship Park Conservatory, Des Plaines, and University of Illinois Extension, North Cook Branch Office, Arlington Heights. Call (847) 298-3502 on Wednesdays or email northcookmg@gmail.com. Visit web.extension.illinois.edu/mg.