Interesting discussion of these sets of species. We've been in this
Anacortes house, close to protected forest lands, for coming up on four
years, so our records are brief. From the start we've had lots of Rufous
from spring through late summer. No Anna's -- for the first three years.
We've also had a few, occasional House Finches. No Purple Finches -- for
the first three years.

In our first spring we planted a hedgerow of mixed natives (snowberry,
salmonberry, twinberry, ninebark, mahonia, serviceberry, gooseberries,
dogwood), and we were delighted to see how the snowberry blossoms
attracted the Rufous (and insect pollinators) all through summer and,
eventually, the berries attracted Purple Finches in winter. Our first
Purple Finch sighting was in March last year -- she was feeding on
fallen snowberries -- and this winter we've had at least a dozen
sightings, of one, two, and three at a time feeding on snowberries.

House Finches we still see occasionally, actually less often than the
Purple Finches this past year; they have come to the snowberries too. As
for Anna's, we had our first here last year -- sipping nectar from the
snowberry blossoms. We're interested to see whether they begin competing
with the Rufous.

The lessons we draw from this short and small "study" is that long-time
native birds do like their native plants -- no surprise -- and that the
snowberry is underrated as a native landscaping choice -- a happy
surprise to us. Some of our friends who have been here a long time
characterize them as invasive pest plants. When ours send up a runner
where we don't want it, we just cut it back. We think they're beautiful
all year round, especially when thronged with wildlife. Birds love the
open-yet-safe cover of the bare thicket in winter. The other natives we
planted have been a pleasure too, and attract animals at different times
of year, but none are used as consistently as the snowberries. If you
don't have any, and you have some space for a wild thicket, think about
getting some bare-roots at the conservations districts' coming spring sales.

Good birding,
Kristi
--

_________________________________
Kristi Hein
Anacortes

khc
at
picturesandwords.com
_________________________________

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