Winter may have hit Port Macquarie, but that’s no reason to let drab weather get you down or stop you from enjoying the great outdoors.
Add a bit of colour to your life this cold season by encouraging Australian native birds, like the Little Friarbird, to visit your garden.
Backyard Buddies wants you to know that attracting birds is a lot easier than you think, and extremely rewarding to boot.
Backyard Buddies is a free program run by Australia’s Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife.
Visit www.backyardbuddies.net.au.
“Little Friarbirds are honeyeaters that will be heading north this winter in search of food and warmer weather. In the north of Australia, Little Friarbirds are locally nomadic and travel from place to place in search of flowering Eucalypts, Melaleucas, Grevilleas and Banksias,” said Ms Susanna Bradshaw, CEO of the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife.
“Little Friarbirds are great backyard buddies for your garden as they pollinate many native plants. They also eat insects and help keep your bug numbers down, the natural way.”
“There are a lot of simple things you can do to turn your backyard into a thriving environment that provides food and shelter to native birds like the Little Friarbird,” said Ms Bradshaw.
- Provide a bird bath or container of water for birds to drink, bathe and play in. Keep it clean and the water fresh.
- Position your bird bath near dense shrubs so that birds have somewhere nearby to hide if a cat or other predator appears.
- Keep cats indoors or install a cat run so that your cat can go outside without harming birds.
- Avoid using pesticides or chemicals in your garden, as a bird that eats a contaminated insect could become sick or die.
- Ask for local native Eucalypts, Melaleucas, Grevilleas or Banksias at the nursery and plant them in your garden to provide food and shelter for native birds.
- Include plants of many different heights and densities in your garden to encourage lots of different kinds of birds. Small birds like finches, for instance, prefer densely planted, spiky shrubs and understory plants to hide in.
“Winter is a great time to plant natives in your garden. Planting now will give native plants a chance to establish themselves before summer rolls around with its predominantly dry, hot days. It will help ensure that your natives will survive the warmer months,” said Ms Bradshaw.
“Some Grevilleas and Banksias also flower during winter, which will add colour to the garden during the cold season as well as attract birds.”
