Geographe Community Landcare Nursery » Garden

This page is mainly about providing habitat for birds in the garden with the flora centred on Busselton in Western Australia. Birds are quite happy with pretty much any plants (and love spreading the seeds of the weediest plants), but here we concentrate our attention to the Busselton flora with bird associations.

[We actually don't know very much about these associations at all].

You might be able to help us: If you know of any interesting associations between birds and our local plants, please contact us.

under construction

Two aspects of birds in the garden:

You want them !

Whatever kind of garden you have, you are likely to have some birds, but there are many things you can do to make birds feel at home.
You don't want them !

If you have fruit trees in the garden, most birds will not be your friend!
- Parrots will bite off buds, flowers, immature fruit, and destroy growing shoots.
- Small birds will enjoy eating holes in the ripe fruit.
Protection from birds for fruit trees comes in several forms, from throw-over woven netting to more permanent protection.

If you want to grow fruit, you must consider protection from bird damage, but also be aware of the pollination requirements of each species - so in many cases, don't lock out the bees!

Information

Websites
- Birds in Backyards :a great website on birds in the garden. Although having a mainly NSW focus, it is still probably one of the best online resources for bird enthusiasts.
- Victoria has a great website called Wildscape on linking plants and fauna - including birds. Unfortunately we don't have a similar website for Western Australia for our flora.
- The ASGAP website has several good articles including:
Books

A list of books giving information for incorporating birds into your gardening plans.

It is difficult to find good information about the interactions between our local plants here - centred on Busselton, Western Australia - and birds. Hopefully, as we build this page, we can list some interactions.

Bird Calls
If you are really interested in the birds in your garden, you might be interested to know that we have one of Australia's best-known bird enthusiasts living in our region - John Hutchinson (1928 - ). He has been observing birds and recording their calls for over fifty years. His CDs and DVD are often available at local markets, and they are also available from the Australian Museum (Shop Online) and other outlets.
Birds Australia WA Bookshop
Brochures
The Swan Catchment Council (now the Perth Region NRM) produced several brochures on fauna and gardens including ones on birds, frogs, and butterflies. They can be downloaded from the Perth Region NRM website here.

Cautionary notes

Trees

Attracting a mix of birds requires that we pay attentionto the various requirements of the local bird population, and probably a cooperative effort from the surrounding community to grow a mix of local native flora. Whilst we may have a garden where birds live, it is highly probable that if the vicinity around your garden has tall trees and is generally bird-friendly, there will also be numerous bird visitors. Birds require space, so if there are street trees, or trees in a paddock nearby, or a park or reserve, we are likely to receive more visits from birds than if we lived in a 'desert'.
Large birds can frighten away small birds

If you are not careful, you can plant a garden of plants that attracts only the larger birds, frightening away the smaller birds. Each bird species has different requirements, some eating mainly seeds, nectar, fruit or insects.
See a note about growing exotic Grevilleas (that is, non-local grevilleas) on our Local Plants in Cultivation page. Although exotic Grevilleas will attract honeyeating birds, we have several local species in the Proteaceae family that will do the same job: it is not essential to plant exotic Grevilleas to attract birds to the garden!
Responsible use of garden chemicals - pesticides and herbicides
Rachael Carson taught us that careless human interventions in the natural world can have a chaotic effect. Producing havoc. A note on ecological responsibility here.
Soil life
Some birds also like the ground beneath plants. The 'litter' beneath plants produces an important food source for them. Natural mulches and the leaf/twig (etc.) drop from plants in the garden, together with shredded prunings from the garden, or prunings cut up into a rough mulch with secateurs, combine to produce the conditions necessary for the soil conditions to be right for these birds: constant raking 'unsightly litter' away will produce a tidy garden, but the soil health and the soil life, and the birds and fauna (lizards, ...) that depend on this life, will be the poorer.
A great Western Australian website on soil health - Soils are Alive.

A selected list of local (Busselton region) flora for attracting birds to the garden
[the species listed have a known association with birds]

Our flora is comprised of various divisions (more on this on our Classification page). Most of the divisions are self explanatory: ferns, conifers, cycads, and the flowering plants divided into monocots (grasses and grass-like plants), and dicots (the rest - trees, shrubs, herbs, etc.). Here, we are only listing monocots and dicots for which we have found an association listed in a book or online.

Common Name	Scientific Name	Family	N = nectar I = insect S = seed F = fruit	Nursery List
MONOCOTS
	Agrostocrinum hirsutum	ANTHERICACEAE	I
Blue Grass Lily	Agrostocrinum scabrum	ANTHERICACEAE	I
Tall Kangaroo Paw	Anigozanthos flavidus	HAEMODORACEAE	N	Nursery List
Mangles Kangaroo Paw	Anigozanthos manglesii	HAEMODORACEAE	N
Common Wallaby Grass	Austrodanthonia caespitosa	POACEAE	S
Prickly Conostylis	Conostylis aculeata	HAEMODORACEAE	N, I	Nursery List
	Dianella brevicaulis	PHORMIACEAE	S	Nursery List
Coast Sword Sedge	Gahnia trifida	CYPERACEAE	S	Nursery List
Pale Rush	Juncus pallidus	JUNCACEAE	S	Nursery List
Coastal Sword Sedge	Lepidosperma gladiatum	CYPERACEAE	S	Nursery List
Morning iris	Orthrosanthus laxus	IRIDACEAE	I	Nursery List
	Orthrosanthus polystachyus	IRIDACEAE	I	Nursery List
Purple Flag	Patersonia occidentalis	IRIDACEAE	I
Blindgrass	Stypandra glauca	PHORMIACEAE	I

DICOTS - UNDER CONSTRUCTION
In general: Much of our local flora is a home to insects, so most local species will attract birds to the garden. Some of our species produce nectar and they will attract nectar-feeding birds. These species also attract insects, so birds will also be attracted to insects on these species. Prickly plants can provide a safe haven for birds - they can hide from larger birds and cats, ...
Acacias or Wattles - for a more complete listing of local wattles, see our Browse page A.
Winged Wattle	Acacia alata	MIMOSACEAE	I, S	Nursery List
Rigid Wattle	Acacia cochlearis	MIMOSACEAE	I, S	Nursery List
Coastal Wattle	Acacia cyclops	MIMOSACEAE	I, S	Nursery List
Wiry Wattle	Acacia extensa	MIMOSACEAE	I, S	Nursery List
	Acacia incurva	MIMOSACEAE	I, S
Coastal Dune Wattle	Acacia littorea	MIMOSACEAE	I, S	Nursery List
Myrtle Wattle	Acacia myrtifolia	MIMOSACEAE	I, S	Nursery List
Rib Wattle	Acacia nervosa	MIMOSACEAE	I, S
Prickly Moses	Acacia pulchella	MIMOSACEAE	I, S	Nursery List
Summer-scented Wattle	Acacia rostellifera	MIMOSACEAE	I, S	Nursery List
Golden Wreath Wattle	Acacia saligna	MIMOSACEAE	I, S	Nursery List
Tail-leaved Acacia	Acacia urophylla	MIMOSACEAE	I, S	Nursery List
	Adenanthos meisneri	PROTEACEAE	N
Basket Flower	Adenanthos obovatus	PROTEACEAE	N
Peppermint Tree	Agonis flexuosa	MYRTACEAE	I, S	Nursery List
Sheoak TOO LARGE FOR MOST GARDENS	Allocasuarina fraseriana	CASUARINACEAE	S	Nursery List
Scrub Sheoak	Allocasuarina humilis	CASUARINACEAE	S	Nursery List
Horned Sheoak	Allocasuarina thuyoides	CASUARINACEAE	S	Nursery List
Lilac Hibiscus	Alyogyne huegelii	MALVACEAE	N
Sea Box	Alyxia buxifolia	APOCYNACEAE	S, F
	Aotus cordifolia	FABACEAE	I, S
	Aotus gracillima	FABACEAE	I, S
Moss-leaved Heath	Astroloma ciliatum	EPACRIDACEAE	N
	Astroloma drummondii	EPACRIDACEAE	N
Kick Bush	Astroloma pallidum	EPACRIDACEAE	N
Slender Banksia	Banksia attenuata	PROTEACEAE	N, S
Bull Banksia	Banksia grandis	PROTEACEAE	N, S
Holly-leaved Banksia	Banksia ilicifolia	PROTEACEAE	N, S
Swamp Banksia	Banksia littoralis	PROTEACEAE	N, S
Sott River Banksia	Banksia meisneri ssp. ascendens	PROTEACEAE	N, S

under construction