With Whom Do You Share Your Yard?

Whether your property backs to a wooded area, a meadow, a wetland, an alley or someone else's backyard, you likely share your space with any number of birds and other small creatures. 

Urban and suburban neighborhoods have become important habitats for wildlife, so why not give them a break and help make their lives a little less difficult? Not only does this help our feathered and furred friends, it can help our planet and make your yard and neighborhood more livable, too.

Wildlife of many types will be attracted to birdseed, but the type of seed you offer will determine the type of birds you attract. As for squirrels and other small creatures, they have less discerning tastes.

Many of our most beautiful feathered garden visitors actually prefer natural food. Coneflower, zinnia, globe thistle (a non-invasive type), sunflowers, black-eyed Susans (our state flower) and many other flowers with easily reachable seeds will attract house, purple and gold finches. Some of these same flowers will also attract lovely songsters and other garden favorites like cardinals.

If you grow a row of sunflowers, harvest the seed-heads when they are ripe but before the birds get to them and keep them in a cool dry place. I cut them about a foot below the flower and hang them upside down in my basement. Bring them out in the dead of winter, hang them from a bare tree limb and the birds will thank you by flocking to them. 

Zinnias, dahlia, lantana, verbena, coneflower and many flowering shrubs with sweet-smelling flowers will also attract butterflies and hummingbirds. 

Shrubs and trees that produce fruit or berries are also valuable food sources for wild creatures in our gardens. A mulberry tree will attract robins, cardinals, catbirds, mockingbirds, squirrels and many other animals. Most people plant fruit trees for their own use, but apples that fall from a tree and are left to ferment on the ground will attract more butterflies than all the flowers in your garden. Nut trees also provide food for native birds, so plant a walnut, chestnut or hickory tree.

Providing a water source is also important. This can be accomplished with a bird bath, a fountain, pond or a simple dish placed on the ground. As long as it is maintained so to always offer clean, fresh water, you will have many visitors to any water source you provide. While some animals like to drink from water sources at ground level, others like elevated options. Many birds will gladly use bird baths that are two, three or more feet off the ground and some birds, like robins and hummingbirds, even like to run through sprinklers on a hot summer day. 

Some of my favorite summer backyard birdwatching is centered around tossing a couple of handfuls of berries, like blueberries, cut-up strawberries or other red fruit out under the mulberry tree after it has finished fruiting for the season and turning the sprinkler on. I sit back on my patio and watch the robins and catbirds have a party—they eat, they happily run through the sprinkler and then they contentedly preen.  

My little dominant male hummingbird enjoys the sprinkler on a hot afternoon as well. He likes to fly though it and hover in the gentle spray. Once he has wet his feathers and cooled off, he will sit on a narrow branch and preen and sing his tiny little heart out. Seeing my bird neighbors enjoy something I can so simply provide for them never ceases to make me smile.

In addition to food and water for both drinking and bathing, providing shelter for hiding and nest sites is also part of a wildlife garden. My neighbors and I all provide a number of nest boxes as well as shrubbery for nesting sites. Birds that are typically cavity nesters or tend to nest in holes in trees or other enclosed places will appreciate a bird house or nest box. 

Other birds prefer to build a nest but need a secure, sheltered place to do so. Many small trees or evergreen shrubs like arborvitaes, thickets and vines, like honeysuckle, are favored by cardinals, robins and catbirds. Native plants, grasses and other low-growing greenery is good for ground-dwelling animals like rabbits and ground-nesting birds.              

Keeping it chemical free is also important for keeping backyard wildlife healthy as using pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers can be dangerous if not deadly to many animals. Even things like dyed mulch or mulch made from cocoa can be dangerous to wildlife as well as to pets. 

Staying as close to nature as possible is a good rule when hoping to attract and live side by side with wildlife. By providing these necessary elements for wildlife, you can apply to have your yard designated a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat™. This is a program that benefits you, our local wildlife, your neighborhood, our community and our planet.