Bird watching goes both ways
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Raptors might not have a preference, but pollinators do, and in the US that counts for a lot. Planting native species gives native pollinators a better chance against their more generalist invasive cousins, the European honey bee (A. mellifera) and paper wasp (P. dominula).
It's a good idea to do that, too, since there are a lot of species which native pollinators can pollinate, but invasive pollinators can't, which means these plants rely on native pollinators to reproduce. More than that, some native insects are closely enough coevolved with native plants that, in the absence of the latter, the former fail to thrive or die out entirely - monarch butterflies, for example, are struggling for this very reason.
Audubon's native plant finder is a good place to start - the email address is optional, all it requires is your ZIP code. https://www.audubon.org/native-plants
That said, being from Audubon, it's focused around serving bird species, rather than insects. For insects specifically, look to the Xerces Society, which is a conservation society parallel to Audubon but interested in invertebrates: https://xerces.org/publications/plant-lists
Doug Tallamy's Bringing Nature Home makes a convincing case for the importance of native plants to healthy ecosystems. (Hint: it's the insects.)
A strong reason to favor native cultivars is that the bred versions are bred for their appearance to humans. They are often sterile and devoid of nutrition or not attractive to the pollinaotrs, perhaps not quite as bad as paving the lot, but not a lot better.
Be very careful of the use of systemic pesticides. They are great (for some values of 'great') for keeping the nursery plants free of insect damage. They also reliably kill the insects that we want (i.e., NEED) to foster. Best option is grow your own from seed, or find nurseries that do not use systemic or persistent pesticides.
And yes - go to Xerces society to learn a LOT more!
Seattle is apparently known for its crows, and of course I’ve had plenty around. They’re very attentive to my dog walks and have shown a mutual respect because I always instruct pup not to chase them like she would other birbs.
I’ve also had a few visits by their corvid cousins, Steller’s Jays. One of whom perched under my roof, looked over my curtains and took a somewhat unnerving interest in me having a bit of private time.
This morning I was escorted by maybe 50 robins to the store, rooting around on the ground ahead of me then flocking together a few yards at a time as I caught up.
I’ve been visited by 1-10s of hummingbirds most days, and they hang out much longer if my attention is on them than on anything else.
A couple northern flickers have come to hop around and seemed to love posing for a camera. But I had a falcon come perch on my neighbor’s fence about 10ft from me, who stayed comfortably there as I turned to gawk until I tried to get a photo. That’s a lot more common: almost all the birds I see bail the moment I look like I’m pointing a lens (and I’d imagine they’d react the same if I’d pointed anything).
Lots of other birbs come by, and I’m sad I don’t know what the heck they all are. But they almost always have at least a cautious awareness of me, flying or flocking around if they see even a tiny motion on my end.
Less interactive, but I also see a regular flock of seagulls in the morning a couple blocks downhill, and twice in the last couple weeks seen a bald eagle fly by, once directly over my house.
I’m not gonna get to stay here much longer because there’s problems with the house and the owners plan to develop the property. But I’m gonna have this year of bird life to hold onto by memory forever and it’s really special.
I've found that those little guys will land on my hand for food [2]. They are the only bird species that has done that for me.
[1] https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Chestnut-backed_Chickade...
My toddler noticed a Northern Flicker the other day and it’s the first time I’ve seen one. We have at least 4 species of wood peckers that also stop by. There’s also a pair of red tail hawks that live close by. The female is huge.
How do you get crows to come close? They visit my woods but the trees are very high and they never come down.
If you do want to make friends, a buddy of mine has done really well leaving unsalted peanuts in shells.
They all pay pretty close attention to us when we are out in the yard. The juncos in particular, probably because they like to build nests directly in my garden and I respond by giving them mealworms when their chicks hatch.
[edited for typo]
https://birdsarentreal.com/products/birdwatching?variant=143...
>Recent studies show that 87% of Bird Poop in populated areas falls on people’s cars. Why is this? Confidential documents leaked in 2018 revealing that “Bird Poop” is actually a form of liquidated tracking apparatus. If you walk outside and notice some bird poop just “happened” to fall on your car, be aware that you are now being tracked by the United States Government
I’m spoiled that my backyard backs onto a patch of undeveloped scrubland. Baby brush turkeys are the cutest things in the world, and getting them out of my yard is cute, fun, annoying and quite silly!
Oh and never mind the Koels, Australian magpies, the butcher bird who’s claimed my roof as his territory and teaches his young to fly by zooming around my building as fast as they can go, and last but not least the dozens of noisy miners :)
I've gotten to the point where I can tell the Anna from the Allen and have named the most bold and curious one Rufus. His ladyfriend being Chaka Khan.
Their mating dance is incredibly impressive- flys wayyyy up high above the ridge and then dive bombs strait to they ground and swoops up right before getting crushed. He does loud showy chirps at the top too to call attention to his aeronautical wonderbird prowess.