Learn how to design a backyard oasis for birds by providing essential habitat elements including food, shelter, and water. This publication discusses key considerations for incorporating bird habitat needs into landscape designs by laying out plants that provide shelter or food in a way that mimics the natural habitats of birds. The publication also discusses bird feeding and how to safely attract more birds into view in the backyard by providing the right types of food throughout the year.
This publication updates PM 1351D.
With their ever-present foliage, conifers make excellent screens, windbreaks, and hedges and provide year-round visual interest. The included list of recommended conifers is a guide for homeowners and landscape professionals.
A backyard oasis for wildlife uses native plants and other features like water or feeders to provide the things wildlife need from their habitats. Click here to learn more about this backyard scene or download our article on Attracting Birds to your Yard.
Attracting wildlife to the backyard is easy by providing what they need: Habitat. Habitat is made up of four factors: 1) food, 2) water, 3) shelter, and 4) space. Each factor is essential for a good habitat and varies somewhat by the species of wildlife and the season. To ensure the greatest variety of wildlife species, provide a yard with the largest variety of food, shelter, and cover by providing different types of plants, feeders, and houses.
Natural sources of food can be things such as nectar-bearing flowers, seeds, fruits, berries, and insects. Planting a variety of herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees provides a variety of species and a variety of structure. This ensures a wide variety of insects and other food sources.
For pulling wildlife in close for observation, you may want to provide supplemental feeding, especially in the winter months. Different types of feeders at different levels and locations, stocked with different types of foods (sugar water and insect larvae in the summer, for example) attract the widest variety of species. Check out our Feeding Wildlife page for more information on attracting wildlife with feeders.
All animals need shelter for cover, roosting, and raising you. Some species need more specialized cover than others. Plant trees and bushes for nesting birds, and add evergreen trees for protection against winter storms and winds. Standing dead and downed logs are important for over 50 species of Iowa wildlife. If they are not available on your property, you can provide constructed housing for many species. Our woodworking for wildlife page has simple designs for a few of Iowa's wildlife and wild places.
A source of water is essential for birds year round. Other animals are often attracted to it as well. Options range from a simple plastic bird bath to a rubber-lined backyard pond, complete with a recirculating pump to provide moving water. During the winter, a bird bath with a heater will keep the water from freezing and attract some birds that will not normally visit your feeders.
More Resources from ISU Extension and Outreach
Attracting Birds to Your Yard - An article from wildlife extension specialists at Iowa State with more details on attracting birds to your yard.
Gardening for Butterflies and Pollinators - A detailed article from extension entomologists at Iowa State about simple steps to help pollinators like butterflies and bees in your landscaping and gardens.
Introduction to Iowa Native Prairie Plants - Learn about native plants from Iowa's prairies, many of which make for beautiful landscape plants to attract birds, insects, and other wildlife to your backyard.
References and Resources for Prairies and Native Plantings - This general article from Iowa State Extension and Outreach provides lots of details about Iowa's native prairie plants that are great for wildlife in landscaping or in larger prairie plantings.
Prairies and Native Plantings as Outdoor Classrooms - Maybe you don't want to welcome local school groups to your backyard, but you can find many relevant resources in this guide about promoting native prairie plants in small patches or in landscaping around your house.
Rain Gardens: Filtering and Recycling Rain Water - Rain gardens are good for the environment and, when planted with the right native plants, can be great for wildlife too. Find out more information and resources on building your own rain garden in this publication.
Additional Resources
Visit the Garden for Wildlife page from the National Wildlife Federation, a wonderful resource with detailed information about making your yard and garden more hospitable for wildlife.
Use the Native Plant Finder page from the National Wildlife Federation to find native plants that fit for your backyard.
Landscaping: Low growing, annual that readily colonizes bare ground in lawn, garden beds, and other areas. Grows best in full to partial sun in moist, fertile soils, but can grow in a variety of areas.
Time to forage: Spring into Summer.
Identification: Low growing plant that spreads along the ground; leaves are oval shaped and opposite of one another; stems are succulent and have a line of “hair” that grows along them; flowers are white with five, double-lobed petals that are supported by five green sepals.
Where to find it: found in a variety of habitats from woodland areas to lawns, gardens, and areas with a history of disturbance.
Edible parts of plant: leaves, stems, flowers – chickweed can be eaten raw like sprouts or cooked; often compared to spinach.
Tips for foraging: There is not shortage of chickweed available, harvest as much as you will use!
Ethnobotany: Used for medicinal purposes by the Chippewa and Iroquois, additionally used as chicken feed by the Iroquois.
Importance to natural resources: non-native but naturalized throughout the United States, often fills areas that would otherwise be bare ground, serve as cover for small invertebrates and flowers are used by pollinators.
Nutritional value: high in vitamins C, A, and B.
Recipes: Can be used as a substitute for spinach; tossed in salads or cooked in various dishes.
Overview: Low growing native perennial, produces berries in the summer, found in woodlands but highly adaptable to different environments.
Landscaping: Low growing cover spreads by stolons and rhizomes, semi-evergreen, great use to fill bare ground in full sun to partially shaded areas of the yard. Grows best in fertile well-drained soils. Will not tolerate wet locations.
Time to forage: Berries ripen from June to July, leaves throughout the growing season.
Identification: Semi-evergreen toothed leaves in groups of three; flowers consist of 5 white petals with yellow centers; berries are conical in shape, red, and have seeds protruding from the sides.
Where to find it: Found in woodlands and forested areas, highly adaptable to differentenvironments.
Edible parts of plant: Berries are highly desirable, smaller than cultivated berries but said to be sweeter in taste; leaves can be eaten raw, cooked, or brewed into a tea.
Tips for foraging: Pick berries, ensure that the berry is free from the “hull”; beware of the look-a-like false strawberry, which has a berry with a bumpier surface and does not taste sweet.
Ethnobotany: The Potawatomi have used the berries as a food source, often preserving them for winter use. The roots have also been used for medicinal purposes.
Importance to natural resources: Native to Iowa, berries serve as a food source to many different kinds of wildlife including grouse and songbirds, plants often fill in the “bare” ground space and provide cover for smaller wildlife, flowers serve as a food source for pollinators.
Nutritional value (per 100 grams): Provides 7.5% of Vitamin A and 75% of the daily requirement per 100 gram serving (about 3 cups).
Recipes: Wild Strawberry Preserves:
• 1 ½ cups of fresh wild strawberries
hulled
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• ¾ cup sugar
• Pinch salt
Combine strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and salt and bring to a rolling boil, and cook stirring frequently for 15-20 minutes. Transfer the mixture to hot sterile jars, leaving ½ inch of headspace and seal. Process jars for 10 minutes in a water bath.
Overview: Low growing, perennial herb that can be found in a variety of habitats.
Landscaping: Short upright plants grow readily from seed. Plants are perennial but often behave more like annuals readily spreading and resprouting by seed. Grows best in moist soils and partial shade, but will grow in a wide range of conditions including full sun. Plants often take advantage of bare ground in lawns, garden beds and other human created landscapes.
Time to forage: Spring, Summer, Fall.
Identification: Low growing plant, reaches heights of 8-9” tall, stems grow outward along the ground but do not root; leaves are alternate and palmately compound and often resemble clover leaves; flowers are yellow and found above the leaves in clusters of one or two; fruit is a hairy, ribbed capsule. Clover like leaves but are more heart shaped.
Where to find it: Can be found in a variety of habitats including woodlands, fields, open forests, lawns, garden beds, and disturbed areas.
Edible parts of plant: Leaves, flowers, seed pods, and roots are all edible; can be eaten raw, cooked, or brewed into a tea.
Tips for foraging: Very hardy plant that is difficult to overharvest; can be pulled up by roots or can harvest stems/leaves judiciously.
Ethnobotany: The Meskwaki have used wood sorrel as a food source, and have boiled the plant to obtain an orange dye; rich in vitamin C and historically used to treat scurvy.
Importance to natural resources: Native plant to Iowa, serves as ground cover for small invertebrates, flowers are used by pollinators.
Nutritional value (per 100 grams): Provides 105% of Vitamin A of the daily requirement per 100 gram serving (about 3 cups).
Recipes: Wood sorrel can be used sparingly in salads. It has a mild, citrus flaver and is thought to have a refreshing quality.
Natural sources of food can be things such as nectar-bearing flowers, seeds, fruits, berries, and insects. Planting a variety of herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees provides a variety of species and a variety of structure. This ensures a wide variety of insects and other food sources.
