Like many people, we’ve had songbirds in our gardens for years. But until something extraordinary happened last summer, I never gave them much thought. They were just a garden perk we enjoyed

Then this thing happened. It was late afternoon and, because the day had been hot and dry, I was out watering the garden. I’d adjusted the hose nozzle so a long misty spray arched over the flowers and vegetables.

I’d been spraying water for a long time, my mind out in the stratosphere, when an iridescent flash of green caught my attention. Less than 10 feet from where I stood, a hummingbird had stopped midair just inches from the streaming water. I held the hose steady. A second later the bird zoomed through the hose spray. Then it wheeled around and took a second bath before disappearing into the sky.

That WOW experience got me speculating about the ruby-throated hummingbird, our smallest avian species in North America.

Like other ruby-throats, the one I saw likely over-wintered in the jungles of southern Mexico and northern Panama. And I wondered: Did it zoom through waterfalls down there as part of a cleansing routine?

Even if it didn’t encounter waterfalls during its winter migration, I theorized, bathing this way was part of its genetic inheritance. And here it was in Richmond, Maine, doing its species’ ancient practice in water streaming from my garden hose.

That line of reasoning got me thinking about gardens and birds in general, and how, with only a little effort, we can turn our gardens into life-saving islands for our summer and winter visitors.

“Never before,” writes the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, “has suitable habitat for birds been in such short supply. Urban areas are expanding constantly, altering or destroying natural areas. By creating bird gardens, we provide oases for birds.” 

BIRDS AND WATER

Just a common shallow birdbath positioned among garden plants provides a place for birds to rehydrate and bathe. Species that will make use of birdbaths include hummingbirds, goldfinches, robins, warblers, blue jays, phoebes and thrushes, among many more.

You need to change birdbath water often and scrub the bottom of the birdbath with a wire brush. But why stop with a birdbath?

Maine nurseries and garden centers have birdbath drippers and misters easily hooked up to a garden hose. Water sounds made by these devices bring in the birds. There’s even an inexpensive battery-powered device called a Water Wiggler. It keeps the water surface of a birdbath in continuous ripples that mimic a natural watercourse.

Then there’s the water garden. Water gardens have become popular in the last 15 years and — besides being aesthetically attractive — they’re a great help to birds. Fountains, streams and waterfalls are among the many features you can add to a water garden. Water gardens attract frogs, and serve as an oasis for birds. 

ANNUALS AND PERENNIALS

Hummingbirds arrive hungry. Greet them with petunias that may be purchased as bedding plants already in bloom. Buy petunias with trumpet-shaped flowers. Multi-petaled trailing petunias such as the wave series are great little flowers but less useful as a nectar source for hummingbirds.

Solomon seal, the 3-foot-tall spring-blooming annual that grows just about everywhere, is a lifesaver to just-arrived hummingbirds. Bee balm and bleeding heart are other choices. Later in summer when the flush of nectar-producing flowers is in short supply, nicotiana is a big favorite of hummingbirds. Dahlias are yet another food source for the little guys, along with foxglove.

Red geraniums are unbelievable magnets to hummers. Sometimes they hover in spring outside our kitchen windows, wondering no doubt how to reach our windowsill plants. An apple blossom-type geranium called Patricia Andrea is their all-time favorite.

Window boxes, when planted with hummingbirds in mind, become vegetative feeders second to none. Pinch spent flowers in window plantings. Fertilize the soil, water often and you’ll have hummingbird visitors into September.

Annuals and perennials for seed eaters? Think sunflowers. The common tall Russian type provides a late summer feast for nuthatches, chickadees, jays and many more. Coreopsis brings in seed eaters, as do calendulas when flowers are left on the plant.

TREES, SHRUBS, VINES FOR BIRDS

Most homeowners plant shrubs and trees for beauty and shade. By choosing species where birds can feed and nest, your life-saving bird-oasis works that much better.

Red or white-blooming crabapple trees appeal to just about every homeowner. Their fruit and seeds also feed robins, bluebirds, thrushes, catbirds, cardinals and cedar waxwings, among others. Many crabapple trees also provide nesting sites a decade or so after planting.

Serviceberries give food and nesting area for tanagers and cardinals. For southern Maine gardeners, flowering dogwood is a good midsize tree. Dogwood’s scarlet berries that appear in fall attract robins, bluebirds, catbirds and others. It’s also a fine nest site tree.

Wild grape (Vitis species) is an easy-to-grow common vine providing food and cover for more than 50 species of birds. It can turn an ugly wire fence into a thing of beauty. And it’s a great feeding station for migratory birds. Another vine, Virginia creeper, is favored by pileated woodpeckers, bluebirds and warblers, among others. 

COVER AND NATURAL HABITAT

Chokecherry grows like a weed on our property and I used to try to eradicate it. That was before I noticed that chokecherries ripening late in summer are a magnet to cedar waxwings. I leave them alone now, and there’s a lesson here.

In cleaning and fixing up their property, homeowners can inadvertently downgrade an area that might otherwise be a sanctuary to birds seeking relief from the asphalt jungle.

So don’t run for the chain saw when you have a tree that’s old and hollow. It’s a potential nesting site for bluebirds and woodpeckers dependant upon just such increasingly rare trees for nesting sites. If the tree has some dead limbs, leave them unless they’re a danger to people or your house. Insects beneath their bark are a source of food for nuthatches, woodpeckers and chickadees.

Spare that brush pile, too — or build one for your feathered friends. It will give them protection in harsh weather and help protect them from predators.

“The first step in designing a bird garden is to evaluate your yard from a bird’s perspective,” advises the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

So please do consider a bird-friendly garden. Your fellow species will reward you for being considerate. 

Lloyd Ferriss is a writer and photographer who lives in Richmond.