The Master Gardener’s Bookshelf
Bird-Friendly Gardening: Guidance and Projects for Supporting Birds in Your Landscape by Jen McGuinness
Review by Susan Wilhelm, Extension Master Gardener
“No matter where you live, there is a way for you to positively impact birds.”—Jen McGuinness
Increasingly, gardeners are realizing the importance of creating outdoor living spaces that nurture nature as well as themselves. Bird Friendly Gardening: Guidance and Projects for Supporting Birds in your Landscape by Jen McGuinness is a handy guide for anyone interested in learning more about what they can do in their outdoor living space to support wild birds.
Sadly, birds, like many insects and other wildlife, face serious threats such as loss of critical habitat. However, there are things we can do as gardeners (and even non-gardeners) to help.
According to McGuinness, there are three main factors gardeners should consider when seeking to make a property more bird friendly. These are the availability of food, water, and places for nesting or hiding. Many gardens may already have these features. For those that do not, adding them may be easier than you think.
Birds eat primarily insects, so while feeders can play a role, McGuinness states the most effective way to provide food is planting native plants that attract the insects on which birds feed. Native plants also provide other food sources such as seeds, fruit, and nectar, as well as spaces for birds to nest or hide from predators.
Bird-Friendly Gardening has multiple suggestions for ways to add native plants depending on where you live and the size of your outdoor environment, be it a balcony, small urban patio, or large suburban yard. For example, small projects include a hummingbird haven for a balcony or patio garden, a native plant container garden, and a water-wise native garden planted along a walkway or driveway. Medium sized projects include a sunny hummingbird and songbird garden, while those with even larger spaces might create owl habitat or a coastal garden for migrating birds. Each project has a table of suggested plants indicating their size, water needs, preferred lighting conditions, United States Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zones, and whether they provide food, cover, or nesting materials or sites. The birds that each project may attract are also noted.
McGuinness identifies other ways to support wild birds too, such as best practices for using birdbaths, bird feeders, and photographing birds. Even the choice of coffee one drinks can positively impact birds, for instance, drinking certified shade-grown or organic coffee.
https://www.quarto.com/books/9780760382110/bird-friendly-gardening
https://www.quarto.com/books/9780760382110/bird-friendly-gardening
This book is written for a national audience, and some of the projects are for specific geographic regions. Even so, the suggested plants for a particular project often include some native to a broader geographic area and may serve as a source of inspiration.
Bird-Friendly Gardening: Guidance and Projects for Supporting Birds in your Landscape by Jen McGuinness is an empowering guide for how gardeners everywhere can support wild bird populations. It is available at the Alexandria Library, the Arlington Public Library, and the Fairfax County Public Library.
Bird-Friendly Gardening: Guidance and Projects for Supporting Birds in your Landscape by Jen McGuinness is an empowering guide for how gardeners everywhere can support wild bird populations. It is available at the Alexandria Library, the Arlington Public Library, and the Fairfax County Public Library.
Check out these Master Gardener of Northern Virginia resources to learn more:
- Free, Mary. 2013. For the Birds, Butterflies & Hummingbirds: Creating Inviting Habitats. MGNV.
https://mgnv.org/pollinators-wildlife/creating-inviting-habitats/ - Lewis, James. 2020. High-Rise Gardening: Nine Native Perennials to Brighten Your Balcony. MGNV.
https://mgnv.org/urban-agriculture/high-rise-gardening-nine-native-perennials-to-brighten-your-balcony/ - Mills, Elaine. 2025. Making Wise Plant Choices, Part 2: Keystone Plants, 2025. MGNV.
https://mgnv.org/climate-change/making-wise-plant-choices-keystone-plants-2025/ - Morel, Alyssa Ford. 2025. The Hospitable Gardener: Welcoming Birds to Your Garden. MGNV.
https://mgnv.org/mg-virtual-classroom/welcoming-birds-video-2025/