Bird Lady: Weather Has No Effect on Bird Activity

Birds nest in Alaska too. Keep that in mind after struggling through our cold spring, wondering about our nesting birds.

When a torrential rain dropped more than two inches on the yard, the robins in the beauty bush were uppermost in my mind. The pair had been feeding their young for weeks. A launch date was close. Thanks to the rain, that bush turned into a giant pink ball. Its weighted limbs drooped to the ground.

This left a nest once snuggled within thick boughs exposed to the weather and the crows. The parents and the babies weren't happy. Two days later, those youngsters were hopping about the yard trying to look like they knew what they were doing. A few days after that, the female was gathering nesting material for a second nest in the same bush.

Weather doesn't change June's activity when it comes to the house finches either. Flocks of noisy youngsters constantly fly back and forth throughout the yard. They follow the male parent to the feeders and the bird bath. He introduces them to the world and teaches them how to survive. The female prepares to start another brood.

If let loose, the Akebia vine makes a wonderful nesting tangle. Last year, ours was used by robins. This year, a pair of house finches moved in. Like the robins, they're freshening up or building a new nest now that their first brood has fledged. Both of these nests are in shrubs near the house and the nesting activities are easy to observe.

June's heavy rains always give me some concerns about the yard's nesting birds. Then I remind myself of a hummingbird nest we watched one year. It wasn't in our yard. It was in the Olympic Peninsula's Hoh Rain Forest. There's a large nesting population of hummingbirds on the Hoh - heavy rain or not.

Dense deciduous shrubs, mature vines and thick evergreen plants and trees are desirable plants to include in our landscaping. They provide one of four elements needed to create a backyard sanctuary. The importance of nesting habitat can't be over emphasized. The more there is, the more nesting birds the yard can support.

Bird houses can fill some of the need, but only a small number of birds are cavity nesters. Swallows, chickadees and nuthatches are the common species we can attract to bird houses. In some areas, house wrens and bluebirds also nest in manmade structures. Flickers can sometimes be attracted to bird houses, but starlings usually take them over. The secret to attracting a larger mix of nesting birds is to provide what they naturally seek out in the wild.

Spring has been cold and wet. Many of us are behind in our yard work. When the warm weather comes to stay, we'll be haunting the nurseries well into summer. Make a list before you go and put some bird friendly plants on it. Flowering plants are great but don't forget the trees, vines and shrubs that will harbor a nest full of baby birds.

Sharing daily temperatures with Juneau and Anchorage isn't much fun, but Alaska's nesting birds deal with these conditions every spring. Thanks to abundant wilderness with the needed nesting habitat, they also produce an abundant bird population.

Contact Joan Carson at or P.O. Box 532, Poulsbo, WA 98370.