For many people, their interest in birding starts, or expands, when we invite birds into our yards by creating habitat and providing select foods and water to make your yard a stopover space. During fall, some birds will spend a portion of a day, a few days, or part of the entire season. Every yard evolves as plants and trees grow, and as we modify and add new avian attractions. Fall is a key period to enhance your yard – for the week, for the season, and for years ahead. With that in mind, you can get a creative edge on fall birding improvements to your yard next Wednesday by checking out the new online presentation: Inviting Birds In: Fall Migration.
Next Wednesday, September 30 at 6:30 pm CDT, Dudley Edmondson will deliver his online video presentation: Inviting Birds In: Fall Migration as a "Garden for Birds" webinar, presented through the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Dudley Edmondson has been landscaping for birds for decades and has created a biodiverse space around his home in Duluth, Minnesota that is a magnet for regional birds as well as a favorite stopover site for birds that are migrating along Lake Superior. As an accomplished author, photographer, and speaker, Dudley will inspire us with his incredible photography while sharing stories about his yardscape and favorite backyard visitors. You can register now, and this webinar will be emailed to everyone who registers at Webinars – Garden for Birds
Managing Leaves to Maximize Biodiversity
While we await next Wednesday's much anticipated webinar, you can enjoy an insightful fall season topic: What to do as leaves color our world and cover the ground in a way that will benefit birds in your yard. Autumn leaf removal is a widespread landscaping practice, but new research indicates leaving some leaves as ground cover provides important foraging areas for migrating birds, especially thrushes, thrashers, towhees, juncos, native sparrows, and even some finches. Leaf cover along a line of bushes or garden area is especially good foraging habitat where birds can find urban insect populations that depend on leaf litter for fall and overwintering habitat.
Available for viewing now, this recent "Garden for Birds" presentation discusses the ecological function of fallen leaves for birds, native butterflies and moths, and other beneficial insects. In this recording of a live online event from September 11th, Max Ferlauto discusses autumn leaf removal and maintenance, and the ecological function of fallen leaves for beneficial insects. Max also provides information about leaf management strategies to protect and increase the biodiversity of yards, including inviting and benefitting birds. You can access this interesting webinar now at Webinars – Garden for Birds
Enjoy all the birds that find and utilize the resources you provide in your backyard oasis this fall, and share your backyard birding experiences and photos with The Birding Wire at editorstbw2@gmail.com