Birds are disappearing from our skies and yards—30% of North American birds have disappeared in the last 50 years—but you can help bring them back by providing natural habitat.
Let’s start with food. Most birds in our yards must have caterpillars to feed their young. Without caterpillars, new generations of birds won’t make it to adulthood. How many caterpillars? A brood of tiny chickadees eats between 6,000 and 9,000 caterpillars to reach adulthood.
Adult chickadees eat mostly seeds, but their young—and the young of cardinals, titmice, and other seed-eating birds—must be supplied with insects. The top 5 host plants for insects in Arkansas are oaks, cherries, birches, hickories, and willows. Plant a native tree and help birds.