Mi Bird-Friendly Communities Lunch & Learn Webinar Series: Bird-Friendly Backyard Featuring Native Plants

Native plants are integral to a bird-friendly backyard. Birds depend on native plants for food, shelter, and nesting. Some 96% of our landbirds rely on insects to feed their young. Native plants produce four times as much insect biomass as their nonnative counterparts.

Native gardens don’t have to be “messy” or “wild.” They can be clean, aesthetically pleasing, and serve an ecological function for our feathered friends. Planting a native garden in your yard, no matter the size provides a little patch of Michigan habitat that will support birds, butterflies, pollinators, and other wildlife.

Join Carolyn Miller, Wildflower Association of Michigan president, to learn more about creating a bird-friendly backyard using native plants. We will cover the basics of a native plant-filled yard through a combination of planting, removing, or replacing plants. Learn how to best introduce native plants to your landscape and invite birds, pollinators, and other wildlife to your backyard.

Registration for the Zoom webinar here.

We will also be broadcasting the webinar live through our Facebook page and a recording will be made available following the event.

This event is a part of our Mi Bird-Friendly Communities Lunch & Learn webinar series. Each webinar takes place on the second Tuesday of each month at 12 p.m. and is free.

Webinar dates and topics:

Jan. 12 | Mi Bird-Friendly Communities Program Overview

Feb. 9 | Nest Boxes — Maintenance and Monitoring

Mar. 9 | How To Be a Purple Martin Landlord

Apr. 13 | Bird-Window Collisions

May 11 | Bird-Friendly Backyards Featuring Native Plants

June 8 | Invasive Species — Identification and Removal Techniques

July 13 | Mi Bird-Friendly Communities Program Overview

Aug. 10 | Chimney Swift Conservation Concerns and Monitoring

Sept. 14 | Lights Out and Global Bird Rescue Week

Oct. 12 | Fall Garden Clean-Up

Nov. 9 | Cats and Birds

Dec. 14 | Mi Bird-Friendly Communities — Year in Review

You can view past webinars in the Mi Bird-Friendly Communities Lunch & Learn playlist on Michigan Audubon’s YouTube channel.