Creating a bird garden does not take an expert gardener! Believe it or not, you can actually make life easier for yourself when you decide to devote your property to birds. Here’s why: traditional, high-maintenance landscapes like large manicured lawns that require mowing, fertilizer, weed killer and pesticides surrounded by shrubs that need to be pruned and fertilized, take more effort than a more natural “birdscape”.

The less-managed look of a natural landscape will require just a bit of maintenance, very little watering, no fertilizers and pesticides since you are using vegetation that grows naturally on Grand Bahama Island.

A meticulously mowed lawn surrounded by boxy hedges may attract compliments from your neighbors, but it will not attract many birds! If you have not yet cleared your property of the native Caribbean Pine or any species of hardwood trees, simply clear the space where you intend to build your home and leave a 6 – 10 foot perimeter along your property line of native vegetation. Gumelemi or Gumbo Limbo, Sea Grape, Pigeon Plum or Caribbean Pine all are stately trees and provide excellent fruit or seeds for resident and migratory birds, such as the Stripe-headed Tanager, Antillean Bullfinch or Black-whiskered Vireo. The blue or white berries of native Sabal or Thatch Palm will also attract a variety of birds to your yard. If a large Poisonwood tree grows in an out-of-the-way place on your property, you may want to consider leaving it for the benefit of our attractive native White-crowned Pigeon that will certainly feast on the yellow berries of this tree!

If you left the above mentioned trees standing on your property, you will probably have a natural understory beneath them consisting of Wild Guava producing succulent blue berries, as well as Golden Dewdrop and Powderpuff, attracting butterflies and Cuban Emerald or Bahama Woodstar Hummingbirds with their nectar-producing blue and pink blossoms. You may also enhance these areas with imported shrubs like Hibiscus, Ixora, Lantana or Penta that are available in local nurseries.

However, if your property was already denuded of all native vegetation and your manicured lawn attracts nothing but chinch bugs, beetles and other pests, stop spraying pesticides and contaminating your water supply! Create islands of native trees and shrubs at various locations on your lawn. These will give food and shelter to a variety of birds that   will eat the nasty little critters that turn your lawn yellow!

You may also want to stop mowing a corner of your lawn and watch it grow into a meadow that will soon produce such wildflowers as Shepherd’s Needle, Blue Porterweed or Grass-leaved Golden Aster – all of ecological importance to insects that in turn become food for insect eating birds like migratory Northern Parula, Prairie Warbler or native La Sagra’s Flycatcher.

Now, that your yard has become a bird-friendly garden there is one item you do not want to forget: water for drinking and bathing. Birdbaths are locally available. Make sure you place it in the shade of one of your trees or bushes or the water may become too warm. Change the water frequently and keep it clean just by scrubbing the basin with a brush, never use any detergents or bleach   - birds may get sick or even die!

You have now created a bird-friendly landscape that will allow you more time in your life by taking away the monotonous drudgery that a meticulous landscape demands. This will free up your schedule to do other important things, like bird watching!