Wild parrots are bright, colorful, and lovely birds that anyone would enjoy having in their backyard or on their balcony. For many, the best place to see these exotic birds is in the wild, in their natural habitat. If you also share the same sentiment, you can plant trees to attract them around your house. Which leads us to wonder, what trees attract wild parrots?
Parrots are generally native to tropical climates. So, if you want to attract parrots to your window or yard, you can plant tropical plants around your property. Although not all parrots are tropical, the ones that are may get attracted to the familiarity of the environment. If you live in an apartment, you can plant small tropical plants in a pot.
Attempts to attract the most intelligent species of bird to your home may prove to be a difficult challenge. However, if you plant the right trees that closely resemble the tropical climate most breeds of parrots are used to, it may not be an impossible challenge. In the rest of the article, I will share what trees you can plant to attract these beautiful and intelligent birds to your home.
Trees That Attract Wild Parrots
Like any other bird, parrots are attracted to places that provide them easy access to all their basic needs. The basic needs should include water, food, shelter, and a place to bathe in. If you are looking for ways to provide natural shelter for wild parrots in your yard or garden, the best way is to plant the right type of trees.
Tropical habitats are home to parrots. As a result, they are naturally drawn to tropical trees with huge leaves, such as deciduous trees. If you reside in an area where parrots are native, you can opt for planting native plants. Many tropical plants, however, may not survive in cold locations like North America.
In such circumstances, you may need to be a little creative with the soil to attract gorgeous parrots to your home. The following are some tropical plants that can thrive in a variety of soil types and colder climates:
- Fig trees.
- Maypop or passionflower.
- Neem tree
- Hardy banana
- Mango tree
- Jelly palm
- Elephant ears
- Hardy ferns
Other Helpful Ways To Attract Wild Parrot
Be it native residents, escaped pets, or established wild colonies, local parrots are bound to visit locations that provide their basic survival needs. So if you notice the sight of some beautiful parrots in your neighborhood, some special measures are in order to attract them. They are:
Provide Enough Food
No animal will resist the sight of delicious food set out for them. Putting out some food is almost always guaranteed to attract parrots where you want them to. Since parrots are frugivorous birds, you can set up feeding stations with seed cakes or mixed bird seeds offered on open, large platforms. This way the parrots will have enough space to flock and eat.
Another option is to feed the parrots tropical fruits. You can try planting tropical fruit trees like mangoes, bananas, papayas, oranges, or melons or just serve them on a large platform.
Set Out Some Clean Water
Parrots are known to eat a lot of fruits and drink a lot less water than other birds. Even so, these birds like taking a bath in birdbaths. If you intend to attract parrots, you should incorporate a birdbath in your yard, garden, or balcony. In comparison to other birds, parrots are large, thus the birdbath should be large enough to accommodate them.
The birdbath doesn’t need to be that deep, and 2-3 inches deep should be more than enough. For best results, I recommend keeping the water fresh and clean.
Create Nesting Sites
Parrots are huge fans of nesting and need a bit more space than other birds to do so. If you have dead trees or snags in your yard, you can leave them be for the parrots to come and nest.
However, if you don’t have a tree, a nesting box can do the job quite well. It may even give you a better chance to watch over any nesting parrots. If you want a lot of parrots in your balcony or yard, make sure to provide a lot of nesting boxes as well.
Provide Adequate Shelter
For parrots to feel comfortable and safe, you will need to provide the perfect shelter. For wild parrots, you can add different structures to your home. But it doesn’t always have to be an extravagant outdoor birdhouse. The best shelter to attract parrots is planting the right sort of trees around your property.
We have already talked about the types of trees you can plant to provide the best shelter for wild parrots and attract them. After setting up all these in your garden, balcony, or yard, you are more likely to see some wild parrots come to your home.
Reasons You Might Not Have Parrots In Your Yard
Even if you’ve planted all of the tropical trees in your yard and live in a parrot-friendly location, there’s no guarantee that parrots will show up. It’s natural to be frustrated after taking so many steps to lure these lovely birds to your home.
However, the harsh truth is that several external factors may affect whether the birds will visit your yard or not. More often than not, these factors may even be out of your control. The factors may include:
If you don’t see any wild parrots in your yard or garden, it is likely that you don’t live in an appropriate location for them. It is also possible that some species that used to live in your area have become extinct over time. So, if you are not in the ideal location, it might not be possible to attract any parrots to your home.
We can take the Carolina parakeet, for example, which was once present in the United States but went extinct in the 1900s. Then again, you will find almost 20 different species of parrot in tropical areas like Florida.
The Existence Of Predators
Cats, falcons, foxes, hawks, and numerous other animals are natural predators that parrots need to look out for. If you notice that the area you live in is home to many of these animals, parrots may have naturally depleted in numbers.
The existence of predators in an area influences the depletion of the local parrot population. The bird is also intelligent enough to avoid such areas. If this is the case, there’s not much you can do to invite wild parrots to your house.
Inadequate Food Supply
Naturally, any bird, including parrots, is more likely to favor areas where there is enough food. If the area you live in does not have a steady food supply for parrots, there is a good chance they won’t visit you.
To deal with this issue, you can try placing adequate bird feeders throughout your yard. Unfortunately, if parrots are avoiding the area entirely, it is unlikely that you will see them.
When you notice bright and beautiful parrots flying around in your neighborhood, it is only natural for you to want to attract them to your yard. If you were wondering what trees attract wild parrots, I hope now you have the answer.
Other than planting certain tropical trees, I have also included other helpful ways to attract parrots to your home, in this article. Thank you for sticking with me this far. Have a nice day!