For the Birds columnist speaks at Molbak's seminar

Purple Finch
Photo by Christine Southwick

For the second year in a row, Molbak’s Garden and Home, in Woodinville, invited Shoreline Area News columnist and PSBO President, Christine Southwick, to speak on Creating a Bird-friendly Habitat: How to Make Your Garden a Sanctuary for Both You and Our Native Birds.

Evening grosbeak warbler
Photo by Christine Southwick

March 9th opened as a sunny, spring-like day to welcome the sixty-three people who attended this talk, filled with lively discussion and questions, and proven tips on how to attract birds into your back yard. 

Her talk had examples, pictures, and tips on how to grow fourteen of the native plants Christine has used to draw birds into her yard, coupled with pictures of 30 species that actually use these plants.

Townsend's Warbler
Photo by Christine Southwick

She emphasized the five requirements for a bird-friendly habitat: food, year-round water, shelter, places for raising young, and that the yard needs to be pesticide-free.

Varied Thrush, male
Photo by Christine Southwick

Christine stated that garden practices, such as making a brush pile, leaving seed-heads during winter, and mulching areas with wood chips or leaves provide shelter and food for many of our local birds.  Running water, plus trees such as Cascara, crab apples or willows, will bring in many of the migrating warblers. 

Presently, Christine’s yard count is 80 species, including such birds as Black-throated Gray Warblers, MacGillivray's Warblers, American Goldfinches, Purple Finches, Black-headed and Evening Grosbeaks, Band-tailed Pigeons, and all five local woodpecker species.