SANParks.org Forums

It is a problem that you do not have huge trees, so it will take some time before you will have lots of birds. But they love oranges!

We had a bird feeder up and used to put wild bird seed and fruit out, but we broke it down about a year ago (my iguana took over the garden). But nether less we still have all the birds that used to come and eat in our garden.

We have a pond and a waterfall feature. 99% Of the time they shower and drink at the waterfall and seem to leave the pond alone.

But the best is to put up nests. We have a breeding pair of Black-collared barbets, Crested Barbet and Red-billed Wood-hoopoe.
The barbets stay there permanently and the Wood-hoopoe's have returned now for the 4th year to breed. They are already 7 strong.



O,ja, we also have a mirror against the wall with a platform in front. Believe me, no Pin-tailed Whydah can stay away from that! It's special to see how the tail grows and disappears during the year.

I agree with WH.
Nesting logs, particularly at this time of the year attract a lot of attention. Before my trees were big enough, I put the logs high up on the gable wall of the house. It was very successful. Preferably place them to face south.

There are a few smallish trees scattered around, but I am going to plant a lot more. I will try the nest boxes on the wall, there are some spots I can put some up.
Now, any bright ideas for water features other than ponds etc because we are in an area which is quite water stressed?

TaraLB, try and make it as natural looking as possible. We have 2 koi ponds with a shallow stream flowing from the one to the other. They love the shallow running water. The moment I switch the pump on in the morning birds fly in from all directions. We usually have a whole spa going!

That's a good idea JenB. But I suppose having two Siberian Huskies wont excatly attrack birds. I keep them in the back though and are trying to make the front garden into a birds haven, but it will propably take a while as there isn't much big trees.

YET

Dont forget the mirror as well !

O,ja, nesting boxes does not work - only use logs.

I got lazy this winter!

So, instead of putting together the normal suet and peanutbutter treat with minced/ chopped niknaks, this year I just packed the pine cones with "saw dust" from my butcher. I have not really been watching what visited this feeder, but when this weekend weather forecast dumped a bucket of chill on my birding plans, I decided to stake out the feeder to see what pops up.

Here are some of this weekend's visitors...









The bokmakierie and glossy starlings were first time visitors... uhm... that is, the first time I SEE them at the pine cone!

WOW, fantastic Johan

I think that I must pay my butcher a visit

super to have these birds around

like you, I give something to eat, only if the snow "disturb" and water during all the year and I have also a bunch of interesting birds

Most importantly, plant indigenous plants as far as possible. We've got a large garden, most of it only indigenous and then a mini-orchard of exotic fruit trees such as orange, apricot, plum, lemon, naartjie, olive etc. Only the white-eyes visit the exotic fruit trees most of the year (to catch insects! ). When the guava is in fruit, we'll get some green pigeons and mouse birds visiting it, but that is a short time of the year. The indigenous trees are much better for attracting bird life.

Now some specifics:
Karee trees (e.g. Rhus/Searsia pendulina (white karee), Rhus/Searsia lancea ("gewone" karee), Rhus/Searsia leptodictya (mountain karee) and other species of Rhus/Searsia) are always a hit with the birdies (fruit and insect eaters).
Jacket plum (Pappea capensis)
The various wild raisins (Grewia species)
Puzzle bush (Ehretia rigida)
Acacias (if your garden is large enough, a paperbark thorn (Acacia sieberiana) is a great option that creates a good habitat for many birds (and it does not take that long for it to grow to a decent size), a smaller garden will benefit from sweet thorn (Acacia karroo), or various other smaller thorn trees that are all good for attracting birds.

All kinds of (especially) aloes and red hot pokers (Kniphofia species) are great for attracting sunbirds, and when the aloes are not in flower, they will catch insects in the karee and thorn trees

Trees with loose bark will attract scimitar bills (wood hoopoes) who'll dig under the bark for insects, and tree with many flowers such as the bush elder (Nuxia floribunda) will attract lots of insects that will in turn attract many insect eating birds.

A large open lawn will attract African hoopoe and wagtails, but most birds (e.g. southern boubou, olive or karoo thrush, cape robin, weavers, and widow birds feel safer and prefer a less neat garden where there is lots of shrubs and undergrowth under the trees where the can hide and search for food.

If you have to cut down an unsuitable exotic tree, leave the stumps lying here and there throughout the garden, it will slowly rot and attract a variety of insects and then insect eating birds.

We've tried planting a meadow of a mix of indigenous grasses and indigenous bulbs, but with uneven success. The seed eaters (widowbirds, weavers, finches, mannikin) seem to prefer feeding at a bird feeder , but we feed them only from about June/July until the veld grasses are in seed again. Last year, just about all the natural veld in our area burnt down due to purposely and accidentally set veld fires, and we had to literally spend thousands over a few months trying to save the local seed eaters from dying out or moving away , it was so bad that even grey go-away birds tried to eat the seed in the feeders, causing us to also have to set out fruit and mince for the fruit and insect eaters . I hope the idiots who set all the fires last year will just stay away from matches this year - maybe they will be more careful if they are fined appropriately

Water is an important resource in a dry country like South Africa and will attract many birds to a garden. However, deep ponds with steep sides (e.g. Koi ponds), and gushing fountains or fast moving water features will be inappropriate for most garden birds. They will be in danger of drowning from most of the above and will stay away. Very shallow ponds, that gradually deepens toward the middle and thus mimics natural ponds, are ideal. If not possible, shallow (flat) bowls/plates (much shallower than dog and cat drinking bowls) placed around the garden and filled regularly with water will also be good. It is a good idea to place a stone or two in each bowl/plate to give the little birdies a place to sit safely when drinking water. One resourceful "water feature" that I've seen was simply a shallow plate (like those one put under flower pots) placed underneath a very slowly dripping garden tap (the tap dripped just fast enough to ensure the plate stays filled with water without overflowing!) - the birds loved it!

With many/most of the above in place, we recorded at least a 130 species of birds (not all at the same time!) in our suburban garden over a period of about 10 to 15 years

I forgot to say, our garden is in Pretoria, and the species mentioned is more-or-less appropriate for this area.

It is important that you select indigenous plants (and this count especially for the trees and shrubs, one can be a little more lenient with bulbs and flowers and grasses), that occur naturally close to the area that you live. Besides having to worry less about getting the plants to survive, the birds will also "recognise" the flora and move in naturally as if it is just another piece of natural veld...

The bone meal pine-cone feeders is a solution Johan! I'm going to try that this year

If you want to know how to change your garden to attract more birds, then look no further. You have an expert on this matter on this forum, Imax.

For those who subscribe or buy the African Bird and Birding magazine, you would have seen his super articles in the last few issues.

Great work Imax!

Bone meal is very popular in our garden too