Ep. 44: How to Start Birding in Your Backyard (and Help Birds During Nesting Season)

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (00:03.574)
We’ve all seen the meme about how nobody warns you how quickly bird watching sneaks up on you. One day you’re young and cool and the next you are desperately trying to spot the elusive yellow romped warbler you can hear in the trees somewhere. That’s how they get you.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (00:23.737)
Welcome to Sustainable in the Suburbs, a podcast for the eco curious who want to live a greener life and are looking for a place to start. I’m your host, Sarah Robertson Barnes, a soccer mom with a station wagon and a passion for sustainable living. Each week, I’ll bring you practical tips and honest conversations to help you waste less, save money, and make small doable shifts that actually fit your real life. Because sustainable living doesn’t have to be perfect to matter, and you don’t have to do it all to make a difference.

Hello and welcome back to Sustainable in the Suburbs, the podcast where we start where we are, use what we have and live a little greener, one small shift at a time. My name is Sarah and I am very excited to talk to you about birds today. But before we do that, I wanted to say thank you so much for being here. Support from listeners like you is really what keeps this show going. And one of the best ways to support the show is to share this episode with your networks.

as that really helps new folks to find us. You can also leave a quick rating or review wherever you’re listening today, or click support the show in the show notes. You can also head over to sustainableinthesuburbs.com slash podcast, where you can find the show notes for every episode, as well as a place to suggest topics or guests that you’d love to hear from on future episodes.

I am an avid podcast listener, especially when I am out walking my dog in the mornings. But lately I have been leaving my earphones at home because there is a much better show up in the trees. The birds are coming back and hearing all of my friends again fills me with so much joy. First I heard the chickadees and then the Cardinals and most recently the Robins and not just one or two.

layers of sound, different calls, different rhythms, all happening all at once. The kind of thing that I definitely would have tuned out years ago. But now I find myself standing there trying to pick it apart. Who’s back? Who’s new? And who’s looking for love? Because this is the time of year when everything starts up again. There is a lot happening, whether we’re paying attention to it or not. But somewhere along the way, without really planning to,

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (02:41.473)
I became someone who does pay attention. A proud bird nerd. So in this episode, I want to talk about what’s actually going on right now in our backyards, how you can get into birding, what birds really need during nesting season, and also clear up some of the advice that pops up around this time of year that sounds helpful, but often really isn’t. So let’s walk through what’s happening in our neighborhoods this time of year and where we actually fit into it.

It is now officially spring and this time of year things start to shift a bit. The mornings are a little brighter, the air feels different and the birds are coming back. Maybe they were always there, some do over winter, but now you can hear them. There’s more sound, more movement and suddenly you’re noticing it. You might stop yourself and think, who is that singing? Or suddenly wonder who is that in the bushes outside your kitchen window?

This is how birding really begins. You don’t need any equipment or expertise. It just starts with paying attention to what’s always been happening around you, in your backyard, out your window, or just on your stupid daily mental health walk. You start noticing these small, busy little lives that have been there the whole time. And once you start noticing the birds, you’ll start noticing other things too. You’ll start noticing which trees and plants they’re spending their time in.

You’ll notice their different calls and what they’re carrying around in their beaks as they make their nests. You’ll start to pick out their seasonal patterns. Who shows up in the spring? Who disappears in the fall? And who sticks around all winter? It’s a gateway into understanding your local ecosystem in a way that is really natural and accessible. And there’s also something deeper going on here too. Research has shown that just seeing and hearing birds is linked to improved mental wellbeing.

Birds tend to sing when they feel safe. And so on a really basic subconscious level, we associate bird song with feeling safe and content. It tells our nervous system things are okay. And in the early spring, when the birds start getting louder, there’s this real sense of life returning. After a long winter, suddenly there’s movement and sound and activity again. And it feels really hopeful, like a reset.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (05:08.932)
So if you found yourself paying more attention to birds lately, or you’re wondering what you’re hearing in your backyard, you’re not alone. The best part is that birding is for everyone. You don’t need any special equipment. You don’t need to know anything beyond that is a bird to get started. You can do it from your kitchen window, on your daily walk, just standing in your driveway. It just starts with really asking, who’s that? And once you start asking that question,

There are some really great tools that can help you figure it out.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (05:43.729)
You really don’t need much to start birding. You don’t even need binoculars. Although if your library has a library of things, I bet you could borrow a pair before you buy some. These days you can find some really great options that are lightweight, fairly indestructible and relatively inexpensive. I have a great little pair that I got from, I think Lee Valley in my birding bag. And so they don’t have to be coast guard level binoculars, just whatever little pair will work.

Your local library will also surely have a lot of great books on birds to get started. However, I cannot recommend the Merlin Bird ID app enough. So it’s made by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. And the really cool thing is that when you use it to identify a bird, it sends that info back to Cornell for them to help track bird populations around the world. So while you are listening to the rest of this episode, go download that app to get started. Okay, so this is how it works.

So first you’re going to want to set your approximate location and then download the info pack for your area. So for example, I’m in the greater Toronto area and I have the Canada East and the US Canada continental packs downloaded as these are the birds that I am most likely to observe in my area. So then scroll around a bit and see if you recognize any familiar friends to get started. When you click on any bird in the app,

you can explore more information about the species. So there will be photos of adult males and females, which can look quite different, as well as juveniles. There will also be a few audio examples of their different calls and songs and a map of their range during different times of the year. The app gives you two options to identify birds. So originally the app was just the step-by-step visual identification, which helps you to identify a bird by sight.

So even if you just saw it for a quick second, the app is set up really well to help you narrow it down. It’s going to ask you a few basic things. So your location, time of year, the approximate size of the bird. So between a sparrow and a robin, between a crow and a goose, the main colors that you observed, and then what the bird was doing. So was it in the bushes? Was it soaring? Was it wading in water, et cetera? So even if you only saw it for a second,

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (08:03.931)
It’s actually really good at helping you narrow it down to a few choices from here. It will give you a list of likely matches. And if you see your bird, you click, this is my bird, which I love. And then that info is recorded in your life list of birds and the data is sent back to Cornell. And so like I mentioned earlier, you can then learn more about that particular species. But the absolute best feature of Merlin is the sound ID.

So you simply press the mic icon and it will then begin recording and identify the birds you are hearing in real time. This is my favorite thing to do every morning in the spring and summer is head outside to my back porch with my coffee and see who I can hear singing in the neighborhood. It’s a really great way to match the songs that you hear to the birds that you are seeing as well. The trick then becomes whether or not you can spot the bird. So for me, warblers

are notoriously hard to spot, even though I can always hear them. Merlin is a great jumping off point if you are a beginner birder or if you want to do an activity with your kids. So I did this a few years ago with a homeschooling group. I took them nest box monitoring, which I’ll talk about in a minute. And then we also matched the birds that they saw or heard with their physical birding books that they brought from the library. And then they drew pictures of the birds and so on.

It also works globally, so be sure to make it part of your travel plans and add birds from around the world to your life list. I did this most recently on our trip to England and Mexico just a few weeks ago. So once you start paying attention to birds like this, it’s pretty easy to get pulled in a little deeper, which is the story of how I accidentally joined a birding club.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (09:56.464)
I was never particularly interested in birds until I accidentally joined a birding group when I first moved to my suburb. How does one accidentally join a birding group? You may ask. Well, I was at the public library with my toddlers. So this was 10, 12 years ago. And I saw a flyer for an upcoming talk by a local naturalist. And I thought, yes, this sounds like something I would like to do for some time to myself.

That talk was given by a lovely older gentleman who later became my friend called David Tomlinson, who was a lifelong birder and local activist for the protection of green spaces. Long story short, by the end of the evening, I had signed up to be a volunteer for a local group that monitors suburban wildlife population with birds as the main focus.

So our group monitors birds here in town in two different ways, both of which are citizen science programs through Birds Canada. And you can check with some of your local organizations or Audubon chapters for similar programs in your area. So citizen science or community science, as I prefer, is exactly what it sounds like. It’s regular people contributing to real scientific research instead of a small group of scientists trying to collect data.

across huge areas of land. Instead, thousands of volunteers gather observations in our own communities, and then we submit that information to larger organizations like Birds Canada or the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. And that data helps researchers track bird populations, understand changes over time, and can help local authorities make decisions about conservation and habitat protection. And on a personal level, it really changes how you see your environment.

you’re not just walking through it anymore. You’re paying attention, noticing patterns, and starting to understand how everything is connected. The first program that we participate in is called Project Nest Watch, and I will link that in the show notes. Project Nest Watch monitors breeding populations of cavity nesting birds across Canada. Cavity nesting birds build their nests inside a cavity, like a tree hole, or inside a nest box.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (12:15.541)
So in my area, these birds are typically black-capped chickadee, house friends, house sparrows, tree swallows, and very, very occasionally Eastern bluebirds. At this point, we have over 200 boxes placed in different green spaces around town from wooded trails, which chickadees prefer, and open grassy areas where we typically see more tree swallows.

Over the course of the nesting season, we go out every few days and check the boxes to see who is building a nest inside, how many eggs they lay, how many of those hatch, and then record the final nest outcome. This data is then submitted to Birds Canada at the end of every season. Quick disclaimer though, if you do see one of these boxes or a duck box or an owl box, please do not open it yourself. We are trained volunteers and our goal is to minimize disruption.

So I’ve taken all sorts of folks out with me from neighbors to homeschool groups to Instagram friends. So if you do see these boxes in your area, try to find out who monitors them and see if you can go out with them sometime. The other project that we are involved with is called Swift Watch, which monitors how many chimney swifts are roosting at a particular location. So these birds sleep or roost inside of old brick chimneys.

And it’s really cool to watch them enter the chimneys in the evening. You can find one on YouTube. I’ll try to link one in the show notes, but basically you get this big swirling circle cloud of birds over the chimney for a few minutes. And then very quickly they will start diving and darting in one by one. So we usually do this in May. We gather outside of an old school in town on our lawn chairs and we watch and then we all take a count and average it out. And we do this for several weeks over the course of May.

This project is also a really cool example of how ordinary citizens can protect habitat. So years ago, this old school building was being converted into condos and the developer had planned to cap the old chimney. So our group worked really hard to lobby both the town and the developer to not cap it, but to actually extend it to provide a roosting location for the Swifts who had been previously using it.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (14:32.758)
and we were starting to loosen in our area as more and more developers are knocking down these old chimneys. And we were successful and have since been able to demonstrate an increase in roosting swifts year over year. So simple action that had a big impact. One of the easiest ways to step into this world as just your ordinary average person is to go through something called the great backyard bird count. So every February,

There is a four day global event organized by Birds Canada, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Audubon Society, where people simply spend time watching birds and then reporting what they see. And that’s it. So you can participate for as little as 15 minutes or longer if you want over the course of the four days. You can do it from your backyard, at a park, just looking at your office window. It’s designed for everyone, whether you are brand new and only recognize a handful of birds or if you’ve been doing this for years.

So I’m going to link that down for you in the show notes as well. It’s such an easy entry point. You don’t need anything special. You don’t need any experience. You just need to be willing to slow down and look around and notice who’s already out there. It’s honestly, it’s a really lovely thing to do with your kids or with your friends.

Now every year around this time, I also see viral posts on social media about putting out nesting materials for birds. They are usually framed as a simple way to help. Little bundles of yarn or hair, maybe dryer lint or pet fur tucked into a feeder or basket and hung in a tree. And I understand why it resonates. It feels like such a simple and tangible way to do something good. You put it out.

bird takes it and it looks like you’ve helped. But this is one of those times where what looks helpful can actually be quite harmful. Birds don’t need us to provide nesting materials like this. And a lot of the things that we tend to offer according to these tutorials can actually cause harm. So if you look at the guidance from Birds Canada, the Audubon Society, Cornell, the David Suzuki Foundation, all linked below,

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (16:50.688)
They are very aligned on this. So here are some things to please never, ever, ever leave out for the birds. And I do have a blog post with a printable graphic that you can share on social media or pin up on your library bulletin board, et cetera. And I will link that for you in the show notes as well, because this is really important. So some things to please not ever leave out for the birds intentionally.

anything that is very long and string-like. So this includes human hair and yarn. These can wrap around the legs, necks, wings of fledglings as they’re growing. So even natural materials like cotton or wool have been spun to increase tensile strength. These can cut off circulation or cause serious injury. So just think about when you wrap a hair around your own finger, for example.

I have read some guidance that any hair left out should be shorter than one inch, but it’s best to just skip it altogether. Just put it in the compost bin. Dryer lint is another one that gets recommended a lot. And I see great gobs of it left out everywhere every spring, but it is not the same as moss or plant fluff. Most of our clothing is now made from plastic and therefore so is dryer lint.

It will also not hold up to moisture the way that plant material does. It just disintegrates. It falls apart, which will weaken the structure of the nest. So drier lint belongs in the trash only, please. Pepper is also often suggested because it feels like a natural option. Obviously you’ll see birds nipping a bit of fuzz out of a fox or what have you. But it’s coming from domesticated animals that are also typically treated with flea or tick medications.

Keep in mind that using dog or cat fur can also attract animals to a nest. And of course, it presents similar issues to human hair that I just talked about. Pet hair can be composted at home or in your local municipal bin, but please do not leave it out intentionally for birds. And then of course, there’s anything synthetic. So, ribbons, tinsel, shredded plastic, et cetera, for obvious reasons, these materials can be toxic.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (19:12.03)
They can make the nest more visible to predators, choke the birds, and so on. So I have pulled all manner of things from bird nests while I’m out monitoring. And unfortunately, I have observed the dead young that result. And I’ll say this from experience, and because I’ve seen it firsthand through nest box monitoring, birds will take these materials. But that doesn’t mean they’re safe. Dryer lint or housing insulation looks like moss. Yarn looks like long grass.

and so on, you get it. The main takeaway here isn’t that you don’t need to provide any nesting materials at all. It’s that birds don’t need our help building their nests. They need our help protecting their habitat. They need trees and shrubs and native plants and green spaces. They need access to the kinds of materials they’ve always used. And that’s already there. If we leave it.

So one of the simplest and most effective things you can do in the spring is not to rush a full yard cleanup. Leave the leaves a little longer. Let some of that plant debris stick around. Resist the urge to make everything neat and tidy right away. And by doing this, you’re not only keeping appropriate nesting materials available, you’re also supporting the insects that the birds will rely on to feed their chicks, as well as the broader ecosystem at the same time.

Now, if you do want to do a little nesting materials activity, like especially with your kids, keep it grounded in what birds are already using. So things like small twigs, dry leaves, bits of bark, moss, dry grass, feathers, pine needles, plant bluff like milkweeds or cattails, whatever is naturally available in your area. But truly the best way to attract birds to your yard is keeping it safe.

with lots of natural materials and native plants. As far as feeders go, I have mixed feelings. If you do want to put out a feeder, you’ll want to get a good idea of not only what your local bird friends eat, but also what the other local wildlife will eat. So here in the GTA, our black squirrels and raccoons have PhDs in engineering. So I do not put out bird feeders. They are not squirrel-proof to me.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (21:30.732)
but check with your local burden groups to see what they recommend for your area.

So let’s zoom out just a little bit more beyond our own backyards and neighborhoods. Birds are one of the clearest indicators we have of ecosystem health. And right now, the data is telling us something important. Research shows that bird populations have declined by nearly 30 % in North America since 1970 for various reasons, but that is alarming. This is part of why programs like Project Nest Watch exist.

When we’re monitoring things like how many eggs are laid, how many hatch, when birds are nesting and how successful they are, we’re not just tracking those individual birds. We are tracking trends in what’s happening in the environment around them. And I’ve seen this play out very clearly on a local level on my birding route. And so I have nine boxes on a wooded trail that follows a ravine here through my neighborhood. And my suburb has been dealing with the emerald ash borer for several years.

in our ash trees and a huge number of these trees have been cut down and chipped. And one year this happened on the trail I monitor smack in the middle of nesting season. So for two weeks straight cutting, chipping, cutting, chipping. And that year I had no birds. The boxes were empty and choosing to do that maintenance work then in spite of evidence and recommendations from our group had

a very profound negative impact that year. And that’s really the point. If we want to help birds, the most meaningful things we can do are to protect the spaces that they rely on. So this can look like leaving natural areas intact, planting native species, and being mindful of how and when we manage our green spaces. It could also mean turning up at town council meetings over and over until a chimney is extended or the maintenance schedule is changed.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (23:31.454)
It can also look like reducing some of the biggest everyday risks that birds face. Window collisions are a major one, and I think we can all relate to the absolutely terrible sound of a bird hitting our windows. Birds don’t see glass the way we do, and reflections can make it look like open sky or trees. So simple things like decals, pattern tape, or other similar products from places like Feather Friendly can make a big difference.

Cats are another important piece of this. After habitat loss, the single largest source of bird mortality in North America is domestic cats, with over 2.5 billion birds killed in the US and Canada each year. So keeping cats indoors is one of the most effective ways you can help protect local bird populations. There are so many ways to make a difference, and most of them are in the everyday choices we’re already making. You don’t have to be an

expert in all the types of sparrows to support them. Every little bit helps, not just for birds, but for the entire ecosystem that we are all a part of. At the end of the day, birds are going to keep doing what they’ve always done. They’ll come back, they’ll build nests, they’ll raise their young, whether we’re paying attention or not. But once you start noticing them, it’s hard not to notice everything else that shapes that experience. The trees, the noise, the insects, the way the space is used, what’s been left alone, what hasn’t.

who’s coming back. And that’s where it all starts to feel a bit more real. Because it’s not about doing one specific thing and getting everything right. It’s about how we can move through and care for the spaces we’re already a part of and the small ways that we can support what’s happening.

So for this week’s one small shift, I challenge you to leave your earphones at home for just one walk and listen to who’s around you. You have no doubt already downloaded the Merlin Bird ID app. So you’re going to make a new friend this week. See who you can add to your list and tell someone about it. For everything that we’ve talked about today, it is all down in the show notes. Like I said, I have a shareable version of the nesting materials do’s and don’ts.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (25:45.792)
for you to share far and wide. And you can get more info about everything that I talked about today down in the show notes. You can also get blog posts and weekly sustainable living tips by joining the newsletter at sustainableinthesuburbs.com slash newsletter. I hope you have a great rest of your week and that you spot some cool birds. So be sure to message me and tell me what you see. Until next time, start where you are, use what you have and live a little greener.

Sarah Robertson-Barnes (26:20.138)
Thanks for tuning in to Sustainable in the Suburbs. Every small step adds up and I’m so glad we’re doing this together. If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to follow the show, share it with a friend and leave a review wherever you get your podcasts. You can find me at sustainableinthesuburbs.com or at Sarah Robertson Barnes on all the things. Until next time, start where you are, use what you have and live a little greener. This podcast is produced, mixed and edited by Cardinal Studio.

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