Helping Birds At Home
updated 5/14/22
How can we best help birds in our home spaces?
Reduce Sources of Light Pollution: Science is discovering that all species need darkness to effectively complete their lifecycles. Background video from University of Delaware: UD explores how light pollution affects migrating birds - YouTube
The Cornell Lab’s BirdCast develops and maintains tools that predict and monitor bird migration. Migration tools - BirdCast And they offer tips: Here’s how you can go Lights Out! - BirdCast
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Hooded Warbler killed by cat, forestpath/Shutterstock
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Keep Cats Indoors: Predation by domestic cats in the outdoors is the number-one threat to birds in the U.S. and Canada.
The American Bird Conservancy offers facts and promotion of responsible pet ownership: Cats and Birds | American Bird Conservancy (abcbirds.org) |
Prevent Window Collisions: Birds don’t have the ability to perceive transparent glass and they perceive reflected images
as real, especially when they appear to be inviting shelter or food sources. The American Bird Conservancy’s collision experts offer answers to the most frequently asked questions and advice: https://abcbirds.org/blog/truth-about-birds-and-glass-collisions/. |
Window imprint from bird collision. Photos by David Fancher
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- Dr. Daniel Klem’s book, Solid Air – Invisible Killer: Saving Billions of Birds from Windows is a new resource for architects, legislators and homeowners that is backed by 44 years of research that describes and summarizes the challenges and solutions to this important conservation issue for birds and people.
- • Individuals can help by making windows visible to birds by using products likeFeather Friendly DIY tape:
- Crisis - Feather Friendly.
Act Now: Support the Bird-Safe Buildings Act to Reduce Collisions! (abcbirds.org).
• Ohio Bird Conservation Initiative also offers some helpful suggestions: At Home – Ohio Lights Out

Plant Native Plants: To reintroduce biodiversity into our monocultured home spaces to better provide bird food, our landscapes should contain about 75% native species. Native plants co-evolved with their fauna and require less water and don’t need pesticides. Request straight native species from our local nurseries and know that most cultivars and nativars do not allow for the full life cycle of insects. Join forces with the Homegrown National Park to Get on the Map! and help spread the word to others:
https://homegrownnationalpark.org
National Audubon Society and National Wildlife Federation can help you choose plants for your area by zip code: Plants for Birds (audubon.org) or https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder/.
https://homegrownnationalpark.org
National Audubon Society and National Wildlife Federation can help you choose plants for your area by zip code: Plants for Birds (audubon.org) or https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder/.
Identify and Remove Invasive Species: These plants provide no benefits to wildlife and are rather insidious because they
take over and often mimic natives or create hostile conditions for them. Using the Seek app on a cell phone, you can identify the offenders: Seek by iNaturalist · iNaturalist Common examples are Bradford Pear trees, Garlic Mustard and
English Ivy, Buckthorn, Japanese Honeysuckle, Multiflora Rose.
take over and often mimic natives or create hostile conditions for them. Using the Seek app on a cell phone, you can identify the offenders: Seek by iNaturalist · iNaturalist Common examples are Bradford Pear trees, Garlic Mustard and
English Ivy, Buckthorn, Japanese Honeysuckle, Multiflora Rose.
Add a Water Feature Birds and wildlife, including insects need clean and attractive sources of water throughout the year, and they love the sight and sounds of moving water. This short video provides some inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m9kodUegzA
Drink Bird-friendly Coffee: Bird Friendly® Coffee is coffee that comes from family farms in Latin America that provide good, forest-like habitat for birds and allow families to earn a living wage on their properties. Rather than being grown on farms that have been cleared of vegetation, Bird Friendly coffees are planted under a canopy of trees. These trees provide the shelter, food and homes migratory and local birds need to survive. Does Bird Friendly Coffee Matter? A Farmer’s Perspective - American Bird Conservancy (abcbirds.org) or How can coffee help or harm birds? | All About Birds All About Birds
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