What You Can Do
Top Ten Ways to Help Nesting Birds

Tree Swallows by Jonathan Morgan (2)

1. Keep cats indoors
The more than 90 million cats in the United States kill hundreds of millions of birds every year. Nestlings and Fledglings are the most vulnerable. Learn more from the American Bird Conservancy's Cats Indoors Campaign.

2. Make your windows safe.
Windows kill at least one hundred million and perhaps as many as a billion birds a year in the United States alone. One of the most effective ways you can protect birds is to stretch bird netting (available at garden supply centers) a few inches from the window, which works as a trampoline when birds do fly at the window. Setting bird feeders directly on the window or within three feet also minimizes kills, because birds are more likely to notice the glass and haven’t reached their highest speeds if they do hit. See photos and learn other strategies at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's How to Avoid Window Collisions.

Laura Erickson has photos of some window treatments that protect birds on her webpage.


3. Stop using pesticides.
Pesticides, including common lawn weed killers and insecticides, kill an estimated 72 million birds in the United States every year. Learn about some of the effects of pesticides on nesting birds based on citizen science monitoring at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's "Pesticides and Birds." Learn about some excellent alternatives from Audubon At Home and Seattle Audubon.

4. Improve backyard habitat.
Plant trees, shrubs, grasses, and flowering plants useful for nesting birds. Find out which plants are most suitable for your area and get other helpful tips at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds: Landscaping, and Audubon At Home: Creating a Healthy Yard.

5. Provide nesting material.
A few choices include dully-colored natural fiber yarns, twigs, leaves, dried grasses, feathers, and pet hair (if the pet hasn’t been treated with flea and tick repellants). Don’t offer fibers longer than about 6 inches. Learn more at All About Birds: Attracting Birds with Nest Material.

6. Provide nest boxes and platforms.
Many birds nest in cavities but don’t excavate their own. Nest boxes of the right sizes and materialsi mprove the chances for these birds to successfully raising young.  Learn how to select or build nest boxes at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Resources for Nest-Box Monitoring.

7. Join NestWatch.
Discovering and monitoring nests provides a wealth of data that can be extremely helpful to scientists working to protect populations, and can even safeguard individual birds from imminent danger. It’s also fun! Learn safe ways to search for and observe nests without distracting or harming the birds, and find out how to submit your data, at www.nestwatch.org.

8. Provide calcium.
Producing eggs and young requires a great deal of calcium. Setting out crushed eggshells can help. Use shells from hard-boiled eggs, or bake uncooked eggshells at 250 degrees for 20 minutes (to protect birds from salmonella). André A. Dhondt  provides important insights in his 1999 BirdScope article, "Feeding Calcium to Birds.”

9. Delay mowing.
In fields and grasslands, delay mowing for as long as possible after the Fourth of July. Ground-nesting grassland species including meadowlarks, Bobolinks, Upland Sandpipers, quail, prairie grouse, and many native sparrows lose a great many eggs and chicks every year to mowing.

10. Know what to do if you find a nestling out of its nest.
If you find a songbird nestling, return it to its nest if at all possible. If you find a fledgling (a young bird that is covered with downy feathers, has a short, stubby tail, and is capable of hopping or walking), leave it alone or, if it’s in danger from a cat, car, or other imminent danger, place it in a nearby tree or shrub. Parent birds virtually always return to their fledglings as long as they don't detect nearby predators, including humans. All About Birds and the Wildlife Rehabilitation Information Directory have more information.

For permission to reprint all or part of this article, please contact Laura Erickson, editor, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 159 Sapsucker Woods Rd., Ithaca, NY, 14850. Phone: (607) 254-1114. email: lle24@cornell.edu