Bring the Birds Back

Food, water and cover turn any yard into a bird stop. Layer your garden with groundcovers, grasses, shrubs and trees, and leave a few dense or prickly shrubs where small birds can shelter. The plants below are all locally native and available at Paten Park Native Nursery.

PLANTS

Trees

• Black She-oak (Allocasuarina littoralis): seed
• Coastal Cypress Pine (Callitris columellaris): seed + dense shelter
• Snowy Tea Tree (Melaleuca irbyana): flowers + insects + shelter
• Native Frangipani (Hymenosporum flavum): flowers + fruit
• Scrub Cherry (Syzygium australe): flowers + fruit
• Queensland Blue Gum (Eucalyptus tereticornis): flowers + insects

Shrubs

• Flat-stem Wattle (Acacia complanata): flowers, seed + insects
• Forest Hop Bush (Dodonaea triquetra): seed
• Bolwarra (Eupomatia laurina): flowers + fruit
• Chain Fruit (Alyxia ruscifolia): prickly shelter + fruit

Grasses & Herbs

• Blue Flax-lily (Dianella caerulea): ground cover + insects
• Dichelachne micrantha: seed + tussock cover
• Kangaroo Grass (Themeda triandra): seed + tussock cover
• Rice Meadowgrass (Microlaena stipoides): seed + ground cover
• Billy Buttons (Chrysocephalum apiculatum): flowers + insects
• Emu Foot (Cullen tenax): flowers + insects

Climbers

• Native Sarsaparilla (Hardenbergia violacea): flowers + insects
• Wombat Berry (Eustrephus latifolius): fruit + cover
• Scrambling Lily (Geitonoplesium cymosum): fruit
• Cockspur Thorn (Maclura cochinchinensis): fruit + prickly shelter

WATER & FEATURES

• Offer a bird bath or shallow dish, and clean and refill it every few days.
• Raise it off the ground and keep open space around it, so birds can see a cat coming.
• Have shrubs close enough for a quick escape, but not so close that a cat can hide beside the water.

HABITAT ACTIONS

• Layer the garden: groundcovers and grasses, then shrubs, then trees.
• Leave some dense or prickly shrubs for small birds like fairy-wrens.
• Leave leaf litter and seed heads in place, because they feed insects and the birds that eat them.
• Skip pesticides. Insects are bird food.

Plant the host plants, skip the spray, and watch them arrive. The star is the Richmond Birdwing vine — and please remove any Dutchman’s Pipe, a toxic look-alike that kills the caterpillars.

Trees: Acacia maidenii (various, including Blue Jewel, Line Blue and Tailed Emperor) · Myrsine variabilis (White Line Blue) · Acronychia laevis (Orchard Swallowtail) · Neolitsea dealbata (Blue Triangle) · Cryptocarya laevigata (Blue Triangle) · Pararchidendron pruinosum (Tailed Emperor)

Shrubs: Breynia oblongifolia (Grass Yellow) · Senna acclinis (Grass Yellow) · Hovea acutifolia (moths) · Acacia aulacocarpa (various, including Blue Jewel, Line Blue and Tailed Emperor) · Pittosporum revolutum (Bright Cornelian) · Hibiscus heterophyllus (many moths) · Cordyline sp. (Miskin’s Swiftail) · Pavetta australiensis (flowers, food for adult butterflies; moths)

Herbs: Themeda triandra (Evening Brown, Common Brown, Yellow Banded Dart) · Pseuderanthemum variabile (Blue Argus, Australian Leafwing, Common Eggfly) · Dianella sp. (Yellow Banded Dart) · Lomandra sp. (various Skipper butterflies) · Goodenia rotundifolia (Meadow Argus)

Vines: Pararistolochia praevenosa — Richmond Birdwing vine (Richmond Birdwing, Big Greasy) · Melodorum leichhardtii (Four Barred Swordtail, Pale Green Triangle, Blue Tiger) · Parsonsia straminea (Common Crow) · Smilax australis (Black-spotted Flash, Miskin’s Jewel, Cephenes Blue, Snake Vine Moth)

Tadpoles feed on algae and decaying plant matter, grazing the microscopic life that grows on native water plants. A small pond with the right plants — and no fish — is all frogs need.

Floating (in the water): Ceratophyllum demersum (Hornwort) · Myriophyllum sp. (Water Milfoil) · Lemna sp. (Duckweed)

In pots or planted: Vallisneria nana (Ribbon Weed) · Baumea rubiginosa (Soft Twig Rush) · Juncus usitatus (Common Rush)

Pond margins: Lomandra hystrix (Creek Mat Rush) · Dianella sp. (Blue Flax Lilly) · Gahnia sp. · Carex appressa · Cordyline sp. · Alocasia brisbanensis (Cunjevoi) · Adiantum hispidulum (Rough Leaf Maidenhair) · Doodia aspera (Rasp Fern) · Asplenium australasicum (Bird’s Nest Fern)