Seed Plants for Bird Habitat - notes

1/7/2013

Out of the Wilds and Into Your Garden

Seeds for Birds

C.M. Vadheim and T. Drake
CSUDH & Madrona Marsh Preserve

Madrona Marsh Preserve
Gardening with Western L.A. County Native Plants November 7 & 10, 2009
Project SOUND - 2009
© Project SOUND © Project SOUND

How do birds rate your yard? What every bird needs

 Excellent
 Good
 Fair
 Poor

 Food
 Shelter
What makes a garden a good habitat for birds?  Water
© Project SOUND http://aquafornia.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/garden-tour-2.jpg © Project SOUND

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To attract birds we need to understand
Like butterflies, some birds are ‘picky eaters’
their habits & preferences
 Generalists
 Eat many different kinds
of food – whatever is
available
 Well-adapted to different
– and changing –
environments
 Often are common in urban
& suburban yards – that’s
why many people know
them by name
 Examples: Crows, Scrub
Jays, Robins
http://www.uoguelph.ca/arboretum/WildlifeSightings/WildlifesightNovember06.htm


Like butterflies, some birds are ‘picky eaters’
Form follows function
 Specialists
 Eat selected kinds of foods –
at least primarily
 Raptors – meat-eaters
 Insect-eaters
 Fruit-eaters
http://www.calacademy.org/teachers/lounge/?p=624
 Seed-eaters
CA Towhee
 Often very well adapted to a
specific environment – have
‘developed together over time’
 Often are less common in
urban & suburban yards
 Examples: Lesser Gold Finch,
CA Towhee, Orioles, Tanagers
http://www.nps.gov/prsf/naturescience/images/crow.jpg
http://thebirdguide.com/washington/BigDayReport2007.htm
http://www.nps.gov/prsf/naturescience/images/black-phoebe.jpg

Audubon’s Warbler © Project SOUND http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/BirdBeaksA.svg/220px-BirdBeaksA.svg.png © Project SOUND

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SHAPE TYPE ADAPTATION So how are the seed-eaters different?
Seed eaters like sparrows and cardinals have
Cracker
short, thick conical bills for cracking seed.  Birds generally tend to select the food
items they can process faster
Birds of prey like hawks and owls have sharp,
Shredder
curved bills for tearing meat.  Food-selection experiments suggest that
the evolution of bird granivory (seed-
Woodpeckers have bills that are long and chisel- eating) has been mainly focused on the
Chisel
like for boring into wood to eat insects. development of morphologic adaptations
for the mechanical digestion of seeds
Hummingbird bills are long and slender for  Seed eating birds have modifications of
Probe the skull which allow them to exert lots of
probing flowers for nectar.
pressure on seeds but have a flexible hinge
that protects the jaw joint. Some birds are
Tweezer
Insect eaters like warblers have thin, pointed very powerful. The hawfinch, for instance,
bills. can crush olive pits. The amazing strength
in the upper and lower jaws of these
Swiss Crows have a multi-purpose bill that allows them http://ivytechlibraryftwpuppets.files.wordpress.co organisms allows the birds to deal with
hard pits and seeds by shearing forces.
m/2008/06/finch.jpg
Army to eat fruit, seeds, insects, fish, and other
Knife animals.
http://science.wannajava.net/scienceunits/units/current/01Bird_Feet_and_Beak_Adaptations.pdf © Project SOUND © Project SOUND

Why eat seeds? Many of our key seed sources for birds
 Readily available – formerly in large
are annual wildflowers & grasses
numbers (plants have to produce
many seeds to insure reproduction)
 Seeds are ‘super food’ – lots of
bang for the buck
 The bulk of most seeds consist of
stored food – needed by the
seedling
 That stored food is calorie-dense –
fats, oils, starches
 Both plants & animals can digest
that food – animals share lots of
basic enzymes with plants

 It’s not surprising that many
migratory birds eat seeds
http://asweknowit.net/images_edu/DWA%205%20plant%20seed.jpg

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Seeds that birds eat on the plant
Lesser Goldfinch - Carduelis psaltria
 The Lesser Goldfinch can often
be seen in the chaparral eating
Chamise and Wooley Bluecurls
seeds. They also like to feed on
Asteraceae (Sunflower family).
 Some other plants used are
Miner's lettuce, Red Maids,
Fiddle neck, Amsinckia spp. and
Dove weed, Eremocarpus
setigerus, Night Shades,
Solanum spp, Sage Salvia spp,
Catch-fly, Silene spp. Tar weed
Hemizonia spp.,

http://www.nps.gov/prsf/naturescience/images/lesser-goldfinch.jpg


Macoun's Cudweed – Pseudognaphalium macounii Remember, Everlastings also make good
cut flowers

http://www.labunix.uqam.ca/~fg/MyFlora/Asteraceae/Pseudognaphalium/Macounii/macounii.e.shtml http://www.woodherbs.com/gnaphalium.html


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Macoun's Cudweed – Pseudognaphalium macounii The Cudweeds
 Genera: Gnaphalium;
Pseudognaphalium
 A plant of N. America
 Other common names:
 Grows from Pennsylvania and
Arizona, north to Nova Scotia  Rabbit Tobacco – because
and British rabbits chew it like chewing
Columbia tobacco
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?fl
ora_id=1&taxon_id=250067390  In CA, found in many parts of  Everlasting – because the
state flowers (bracts) last a long time

 Grows in open places - open
Pseudognaphalium canescens
 Many uses:
woods, pastures, roadsides  Often used as a tobacco
substitute (chewed or smoked)
 Named after John Macoun  Often used medicinally
(1831-1920), one of the great  Are great all-round habitat
Canadian naturalists of the 19th plants – attracting both insects
Century. He was a prolific & birds
collector and cataloguer of
Canadian flora and fauna.
http://www.paghat.com/cudweed.html

© Project SOUND Pseudognaphalium californicum © Project SOUND

Characteristics of Macoun’s Cudweed Flowers are ‘everlasting’
 Size:
 Blooms summer/fall: usually July
 1-2 ft tall – perhaps to 3 ft.
to Sept-Oct in our area
 1-3 ft wide
 Flowers:
 Growth form:
 Sunflower heads – without the
 Herbaceous annual or biennial ray flowers
 Generally erect from a basal  On rather tall, many-branched
rosette of leaves http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/taxa/index.php?taxon=2297
flowering stalks
 Foliage:  One of the showier everlastings
 Bright to yellow-green above;  Sweet-scented
wooly-white below
 Seeds:
 Leaf bases are wide, extend
 Small, with fluffy wings – wind
down the stem
dispersed
 Plant is sweetly fragrant – some
say ‘balsam-like’ scent
http://www.wildflower.org/gallery/result.php?id_image=4549
 Roots: taproot
http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=GNAMAC http://saratogawoodswaters.blogspot.com/2009/09/rocky-outcrops-colorful-moss.html

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Everlastings = habitat Everlasting are easy  Soils:
 Texture: just about any; not
particular
 Foliage  pH: any local

 Provide cover for ground-  Light: full sun
dwellers and foragers
 Water:
 Provide larval food for
 Winter/spring: like any
Lady butterflies & for
http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabambc/construct-species-

annual wildflower – needs
page.asp?sp=Vanessa-virginiensis

other insects
good winter/spring rain
 Flowers  Summer: no water after
 Nectar attracts a whole flowering – needed for
proper seed development
host of insects
 Seeds are relished by  Fertilizer: none; likes poor soils
seed eating birds in
summer & fall  Other: may reseed itself on
bare soil; might want to save
some seeds
http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/taxa/index.php?taxon=2297
http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=GNAMAC

Garden uses for native
annual Everlastings
Medicinal uses of native Everlastings

 Make interesting, fragrant  Teas & infusions of leaves
pot plants – in general do fine  Gastrointestinal upsets
in containers  Respiratory illness; colds
 As a gargle for sore throats
 Look nice mixed with other
native wildflowers, flowering  Poultice of crushed or
perennials & grasses heated/boiled leaves
 Externally, to relieve swelling
 Fall-dry areas of the yard –
 Placed on cotton bandages and
may be out-of-the-way then applied to wounds as a
places
http://wisplants.uwsp.edu/scripts/detail.asp?SpCode=GNAMAC

compress

 In a ‘cut-flower’ garden or  Sometimes smoked or smudged
herb garden Resinous exudates have for ceremonial purposes
been shown indeed to have
 Dry spots near the vegetable antimicrobial or fungicidal
garden – attracts pollinators properties
http://www.paghat.com/cudweed.html

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1/7/2013

Southern Goldenrod – Solidago spectabilis var. confinis Southern Goldenrod – Solidago spectabilis var. confinis

 Mostly a CA native
goldenrod
 Mostly west of Sierras
 Also down into N. Baja
 Usually found on wet
streambanks, springs and
marshes to 7500' in coastal
sage scrub, chaparral and
yellow pine forest
 Locally, found near seeps
and marshes
 Still called Solidago confinis
in Jepson’s Manual – and may
be sold under this name
http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?609,1838,1842
http://www.jcsemple.uwaterloo.ca/goldenrod_figs.htm


The genus Solidago: the Goldenrods the genus Solidago: the Goldenrods
 ~ 100 perennial species  Propagation by wind-
 Most grow in meadows, pastures, disseminated seed or
along roads & ditches in North underground rhizomes (form
America patches that are vegetative
 Unfairly blamed for hay fever in clones of a single plant).
late summer/fall - Ragweed
(Ambrosia sp.), blooming at the CA Goldenrod - Solidago californica
 Goldenrod is a companion plant,
same time but wind-pollinated, is
the usual culprit.
playing host to beneficial
insects, repelling some pests
 Easily recognized by their golden
flowering stalks with hundreds of  Goldenrods are also important
small flowers.
CA Goldenrod - Solidago californica habitat plants for a wide range
 Their alternate leaves are linear of native insects, butterflies,
Goldenrods have been used to lanceolate. Their margins are birds, etc.
in British gardens for > 200 usually finely to sharply serrated.
years © Project SOUND © Project SOUND

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Little known fact: Goldenrod tires In nature, always in
winter-wet areas
 Inventor Thomas Edison
experimented with goldenrod to  Suggests possible places
produce rubber, which it contains for Southern Goldenrod
naturally. in the home garden
 His experiments produced a 12 http://www.jcsemple.uwaterloo.ca/goldenrod_figs.htm

foot tall plant that yielded as much Central CA Coast
as 12 percent rubber.
 The tires on the Model T given to
him by his friend Henry Ford were
made from goldenrod.
http://www.speedace.info/automotive_directory/car_images/ford_mod
el_t_henry.jpg  Examples of the rubber can still be
found in his laboratory, elastic and
rot free after more than 50 years.

http://www.basinandrangewatch.org/OasisHabitats.html
Mojave Desert

Southern Goldenrod is an herbaceous perennial Probably our showiest
Goldenrod
 Size:
 2-3 ft tall  Blooms: summer/fall - usually
 2+ ft wide, spreading in July or Aug. to Oct. in
western L.A. County
 Growth form:
 Stout looking herbaceous  Flowers:
perennial  Typical for Goldenrods;
 Fall/winter deciduous; dies showy flowering stalks above
back to basal rosette the leaves
 Flower heads are small – but
 Foliage: there are LOTS of them –
 Leaves lance-shaped – mostly spectacular
basal  Among our better fall-
 Leaves fleshy, bright to pale bloomers
green
 Seeds: small, ‘sunflower’ seeds
 Roots: spreads via rhizomes © 2003 Christopher L. Christie with a bristle
© 2003 Christopher L. Christie

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Goldenrods thrive in moist spots in the garden
Propagating
 Soils:
Goldenrods is easy  Texture: any local – sandy to heavy
clay
 From seed:  pH: any local
 Use fresh, dry seed (fall  Light: full sun to light shade
collected)
 Plant in spring – when  Water:
© 2006 Adonis (Don) Tate
weather warms up
 Winter: fine with plenty of water –
 Just barely cover seeds
takes winter flooding
 From divisions:  Summer: needs some water for
 Very easy good blooming – Zone 2-3 or even 3
is fine
 In winter/early spring
 You can just spade up new  Fertilizer: none needed – but won’t
plantlets – with a section kill it either.
of root containing at least
one plantlet - and repot
 Other: easy to grow with adequate
water; just dig it up if it spreads too
© 2006 Adonis (Don) Tate http://www.jcsemple.uwaterloo.ca/goldenrod_figs.htm © Project SOUND
© 2003 Christopher L. Christie
far © Project SOUND

Use Goldenrods for habitat and fall color Goldenrods (and others in the Sunflower
family) make great natural dyes
 Great in areas bordering
the lawn – can take the
extra water
 Nice addition to the
perennial bed
 As an attractive container
plant
 Nice around ponds
 A must for bird and
butterfly gardens
 Makes a nice cut flower
http://www.laspilitas.com/nature-of-california/plants/solidago-confinis
http://www.jennydean.co.uk/wordpress/?cat=15 http://www.fieryfelts.co.uk/index.php
http://www.laspilitas.com/nature-of-california/plants/solidago-confinis

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Why ‘sunflowers’ Other good native Goldenrods
are such good food

 Healthy unsaturated
fats, protein and fiber
 important nutrients
like vitamin E,
selenium, copper, zinc,
folate, iron
 Other phytochemicals
 All of this in a neat
little package – the
sunflower seed.
© 2006 Adonis (Don) Tate
Solidago californica Euthamia (Solidago) occidentalis

Other plants to attract ‘on the plant’ seed eaters Think about adding a birdbath

Encelias Heterotheca grandiflora

http://www.laspilitas.com/California_birds/Finches/Lesser_Goldfinch/Lesser_Goldfinch.html

Helianthus annuus Cirsium occidentale

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Seeds for ground-foraging birds To attract Mourning Doves
 Diet is typically 95% seeds or plant
parts.
 Eat a wide variety of seeds, waste
grain, fruit, and insects.
 They prefer seeds that rest on the
ground. Occasionally they eat in
trees and bushes when ground foods
are scarce.
 Favorites: native grasses & sedges,
Croton species, Sourberry (Rhus
trilobata), ‘Sunflowers’ & other
wildflowers
 Need bare ground for feeding

http://www.birdseek.com/bird/tag/mourning-dove/

Common Eucrypta – Eucrypta chrysanthemifolia Common Eucrypta – Eucrypta chrysanthemifolia
var. chrysanthemifolia var. chrysanthemifolia

 Central & S. CA (CA
Floristic Province) to AZ,
NV and Baja
 Common on burns and in
shaded places like canyon
bottoms to 3000', coastal
sage scrub, chaparral, oak
woodlands, disturbed
areas
 Dominant fire-follower
http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?4518,4538,4539,4541
http://www.timetotrack.com/jay/eucrypta.htm

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The genus Eucrypta Eucrypta in the wild
 Only two species, both native to
U.S. Southwest.  Why do wildflowers thrive
 Name Eucrypta means "well-
after a wildfire?
hidden", which refers to the  A few annual wildflowers
seeds being "hidden" in the small
need heat/smoke to
green bristled fruits.
germinate well; this is more
 Known generally as hideseeds. common with perennial
species, trees, shrubs
 Are annuals with sticky, aromatic
green foliage. The leaves are  More commonly, due to
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Eucrypta_chrysanthemifolia strongly lobed and look somewhat availability of resources:
like fern fronds. Some plants
have very few leaves and are  Sunlight
These are among the first plants to
spring up after an area has been mostly stems bearing flowers and  Winter/spring moisture
cleared by fire. fruits. http://www.lasmmcnps.org/geoffburleigharchive/selection/44.jpg
 Nutrients


Common Eucrypta – pretty little annual Flowers are little
 Size:  Blooms: in spring - usually Mar-
 1-2 ft tall May, depending on winter rains
 1-2 ft wide  Flowers:
 Small and dainty looking
 Growth form:  Bell-shaped with pale purple
 Annual wildflower markings
 Butterflies and bees attracted
 Foliage: by nectar
 Pale green to yellow-green
 Seeds:
 Leaves look almost fern-like
 Two kinds; round & wrinkled –
 Sticky, with characteristic different germination times
scent  Both eaten by ground-feeding
 Often grows with other birds
wildflowers and grasses http://www.calflora.net/bloomingplants/commoneucrypta.html

© 2004 Michelle Cloud-Hughes © Project SOUND © Project SOUND
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1423/1335818709_0f590ac2d2.jpg?v=0

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Eucrypta’s not demanding Garden uses for
Common Eucrypta
 Soils:
 As an attractive pot plant
 Texture: any, from sandy to
clay  Under toyon or Elderberry
 pH: any local  With common associates: Collinsia
heterophylla, Eschscholzia californica,
 Light: Eremocarpus setigerus, Lomatium
 Part-sun to shade utriculatum, Calandrinia ciliata, Solidago
californica, Salvia columbariae,
 Perhaps more sun on coast http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Eucrypta_chrysanthemifolia Uropappus lindleyi, Plantago erecta

http://www.catalinaconservancy.org/ecology/plants/species_detail.cfm?plants_id=99
 Water:
 Winter: need good rains for
germination and growth
Pretty easy to grow – like
 Summer: treat as Zone 1 (no
many native S. CA wildflowers summer water) after it
blooms

 Fertilizer: none; likes poor soils
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1259/1336701558_6786b2d742.jpg?v=0

Dove Plant/Turkey Mullein – Croton setigerus Dove Plant/Turkey Mullein – Croton setigerus
 A plant of the west:
 Drier (eastern) parts of
WA/OR to Baja
 Much of CA, usually in
ocean-influenced areas
< 2500 ft elevation
 common in coastal sage
scrub, valley grassland and
oak woodland

 A plant of disturbed
http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-
bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?3618,3660,

places (natural or man-
3661

made):
 Burned & flooded areas
 Roadsides, agricultural
lands

© Project SOUND http://www.swsbm.com/Maps/Eremocar © Project SOUND
pus_setigerus.gif

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Crotons are Euphorbias (Euphorbiaceae) Dove Plant is an interesting annual…
 Size:
 < 1 ft tall
 2-3 ft wide

 Growth form:
 Herbaceous annual
 Rather sprawly, mounded
CA Croton (Croton californicus) growth habit
Rattlesnake Plant - Chamaesyce http://www.calflora.net/bloomingplants/doveweed.html
A sub-shrub of coastal areas
 Foliage:
albomarginata

 Leaves heart-shaped, rather
stiff-looking, pale green
 Entire plant covered in
prickly hairs – need to handle
with care
 Foliage toxic to animals – if
crazy enough to eat it
Dove Plant (Croton setigerus) CA Spurge - Euphorbia miseraSOUND
© Project
 Unique, sweet scentSOUND
© Project
An annual wildflower

Two different seed
Flowers are weird
strategies
 Blooms in summer/fall: can
range from May to Oct.  Two different seeds:
 Uniform gray; may be flatter;
 Flowers: in a word, ‘unique’ produced later in season
 Separate male & female  Mottled; may be larger, rounded
flowers; male clustered  Two different strategies insure
above several female survival:
flowers
http://www.ransomseedlab.com/genus/e/eremocarpus_setigerus.htm

 Gray seeds germinate under drier
 Male flowers rudimentary – conditions; not eaten by birds due
no petals unpalatable taste of seed coat
 Flowers small, yellow-green,  Mottled seeds germinate under
very hairy wetter conditions; loved by
 Very interesting looking, ground-feeding birds
but not obviously showy  Common names (Dove Plant;
Turkey Mullein) from the affinity
 Fruit: a dry capsule
of Doves and Wild Turkeys for
containing 1 seed the seeds.
Steve Hurst @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database
© 2009 Neal Kramer

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Seed Plants for Bird Habitat - notes

Seed Plants for Bird Habitat - notes

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