Turning Your Backyard into Wild Bird Habitat:
What the Birds Tell Us about Our Environment

Bird watching is the fastest growing hobby in North America; it has created an increased sensitivity to the roll of the environment in the well being of our wild birds. Feeding the backyard birds helps us see the connection between healthy bird habitat and the overall health of the ecosystem.
Every time we destroy natural habitat to build houses and shopping malls, wild birds lose their homes. If each of us made the effort to turn our backyard into wild bird habitat, we could make a difference one yard at a time. It’s important for us to invite birds into our backyard; provide them with food, water, cover from predators, and places to raise young. Birds are a vital component of our environment: they eat fruit and disperse their seeds, they pollinate flowers, and they control insects. Improving habitat for birds improves the general condition of the environment, which will contribute to an increase in overall diversity.
The diversity of the bird population is an indicator of the overall health of the ecosystem and can reflect habitat loss. Studies have concluded that a lack of songbirds is often a sign that the area is in poor ecological condition. For instance, in a city area with few trees or in a house-dense suburb, you are likely to see only robins, sparrows, crows, and starlings. Well-treed suburbs and rural areas will also attract goldfinches, catbirds, titmice, and blackbirds. Unspoiled, forested land will support warblers, woodpeckers, and tanagers.
What are the birds telling you about the condition of your neighborhood’s ecosystem? Get together with your neighbors and invite wild birds into your yards. You can make a difference in the health of our planet’s environment – one yard at a time!