Don't Have Wilderness? Get a Patch!

Research by Charles Van Riper suggests that migrating birds make a series of decisions when they stop to rest and refuel. In the end they find a patch of vegetation that suits their needs. Sometimes they stay in a very small area for a day or more. This means we can provide a stopover area for some migratory species with a patch of vegetation as small as our back yard or neighborhood lot.

A curve-billed thrasher in a good thrasher patch
in my Tucson neighborhood 

This explains why, every spring, I see or hear birds in my neighborhood that don't winter or nest here: Lucy's warbler, Wilson's warbler, plumbeous vireo, etc. There are a few patches of vegetation, at least, that serve their needs during brief stopovers.

Some birds probably need a bigger patch, or a different kind of patch. One of my favorite things to do in late April or so is to find a mulberry tree with a lot of fruit in it. I haven't found one yet in my neighborhood, but maybe it's out there. The fruit attracts migrating orioles, grosbeaks and tanagers--and sometimes a flock of wintering cedar waxwings that haven't quite left yet. It can be very colorful!

Gila woodpecker at a feeder at
Tucson Audubon's Mason Center

No spring migrants yet around here. Resident and wintering birds are making a living on our patches--like the curve-billed thrasher above. Thorny trees and cacti make a great patch for them.

Putting out a bird feeder essentially makes a "patch." That's why we put feeders out, to create a place a bird can visit where we can see them. The Gila woodpecker at left started spending a lot more time in the bush outside my office after I put up a feeder.

Feeder patches offer only one thing--food. A bird also needs cover (places to hide from predators or the sun), places to nest and sometimes water (though some birds get the moisture they need from what they eat). That's why landscaping designed for birds--providing not only food but cover and nesting opportunities--can really increase the number and diversity of birds we see in the urban area. Native vegetation works better than feeders!

As spring comes this year I'll be looking around my neighborhood for patches that meet the stopover needs of migratory birds. I'll be thinking about how to make them better, to serve more varieties of migrating birds. At the same time I'll be looking at which of our regions nesting birds build their nests here. And I'll be thinking about what other species might nest here if we had more and better patches.