In recognition of Mayor Ken Ladner's proclamation that April 21 is "Bird, Butterfly and Bee Friendly Silver City Day," Southwestern New Mexico Audubon (SWNMA) is offering free native plants at the annual Earth Day celebration. Distribution will begin at 10am under the pavilion at Gough Park. There is a limit of one plant per household but there will also be free packets of sunflower seeds available.

Native plants benefit pollinators like birds, butterflies and bees. They also make your yard more beautiful.

SWNMA will offer six different varieties of native plants obtained locally from Country Girls Nursery. All grow well here and produce flowers that hummingbirds get nectar from, or seeds that other birds eat. Many butterflies and bees will also visit the plants. New Mexico is home to over 500 species of native bees and 300 species of butterflies that rely on native plants for their survival.

Most typical landscaping plants are exotic species that are prized for qualities that make them poor food sources for native birds—like having leaves that are unpalatable to native insects and caterpillars. Nearly all bird species that visit us feed insects to their young, so planting insect-proof exotic plants is like serving up plastic food. No insects? No birds.

Audubon likes to think of our local yards as outdoor sanctuaries for birds, insects and other wildlife. Every spring, migrating birds visit our yards looking for nourishment and places to raise their chicks. Even if you don't have a yard, you can still use a container to enjoy native plants on a deck or patio.
In addition to the plants and seeds, SWNMA will have other useful information including a newly released brochure titled "We Need Birds, Butterflies and Bees." This brochure describes what you can do for a bird, butterfly and bee friendly Silver City. It offers advice on providing food, water and shelter and taking steps to provide a safe environment. It even includes the recipe for hummingbird nectar that is cheap and safe – one part sugar to four parts water. Feeders do not need red food coloring to attract the birds, and some studies suggest that it is harmful to hummingbirds. There is a listing of suggested trees, shrubs, perennial and annual flowers, and grasses that do well here and benefit our pollinators.

Also available at Earth Day are SWNMA activity books for kids that focus on why birds matter. There will be a fact sheet titled "Our Swallow Neighbors" that explains why Cliff swallows are desirable to have in our community in the summer. Spoiler alert, they eat mosquitoes that can carry diseases. SWNMA is also active in protecting our local trails so you can find out about those efforts and obtain a copy of the Greenways Guide to Silver City.

This opportunity to beautify Silver City and make it a better home for birds, butterflies and bees is made possible by two grants from National Audubon Society. A collaborative funding grant made the brochure possible and the Coleman and Susan Burke Center for Native Plants provided funds for the plants. It is part of an initiative called Plants for Birds that funded only 39 out of 454 Audubon chapters nationwide. Support to purchase additional plants was also provided by the Southwest New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce.

If you can't make it to Earth Day, the brochure will be available at local nurseries and the other locations around town. We also have it and other publications available on our website, www.swnmaudubon.org.