Maine Gardener: Native birds do better with native plants
18.05.12
Staff Writer
Native plants will attract more birds to your property, because those native plants will provide more food for the native birds.
That piece of information, from a joint Maine Audubon Society/Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens program called "Attracting Birds to Your Native Habitat," did not surprise me. But the type of food did. It's the insects more than the berries and seeds that are going to support the avian population.
"There are 530 species of lepidoptera that feed on native oaks," said Bill Cullina, executive director of the gardens.
Lepidoptera include moths and butterflies, which go through a development state as caterpillars. And those caterpillars are a major food source for many birds.
And it isn't just oaks. Insects as well as birds will feed on the seeds, leaves, nectar and pollen of native perennials and shrubs as well as the big trees.
"The native plants and birds developed together over a long period of time," Cullina said, crediting the 2007 book "Bringing Nature Home" by Douglas Tallamy for best explaining the interrelationships. "I'm talking thousands of years, and the longer the time together, the more connections they have to each other."
Source: Press Herald