CLOSE YOUR EYES,
relax those eyebrows and try not to think of the report that is overdue, the
bills piling up or the baseball practice that you have to run your kid to in
a couple of minutes.
Mellow out. Now, pick your favorite season of the year and visualize yourself outdoors. Perhaps you're surrounded by spring wildflowers on a hike through the woods. Or possibly you're on top of a grassy knoll overlooking the autumn colors of a river valley. Unleash your senses. Hear any mockingbirds singing or bullfrogs calling? See any yellow butterflies or green hummingbirds darting from flower to flower? Try spicing up your vision with the fragrance of pine or the taste of plump blackberries.
Now, mentally picture your backyard. Are any of those animals or plants
that you just pictured in your mind found in your backyard? Why not? Enjoying
the wonders of nature around the home is as basic as the Bill of Rights for
many of us. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, over 117 million
Americans (16 and older) enjoy observing, identifying, photographing or feeding
wildlife in residential settings. And, unless you live in a vast sea of asphalt,
concrete and smog, the urban backyard has just about as many opportunities for
materializing your vision as any other locality if you furnish the right habitat
and are reasonable in your expectations.
How does your yard compare to the surrounding community? No matter what you do, bald eagles and black bears are probably not going to visit your property. However, if species such as songbirds and butterflies have been seen in the neighborhood, they can probably be attracted to your yard. If less mobile species such as reptiles, amphibians and mammals are given access to your property through vegetated corridors or green spaces that serve as travel lanes, they, too, can frequent your backyard. The lack of a connective green-space system linked to your property will limit the diversity of non-flying urban wildlife you see.
Habitat is defined as the proper food, water and cover that an animal needs to exist and reproduce, whether it lives in a woods in the country or a backyard in the shrubs. When you consider attracting wildlife to your backyard, there are several basic habitat concepts to remember. The richer the habitat (the more food, water and cover in an area), the more likely you are to attract wildlife to your property and get them to stay around for you to observe and enjoy, and the healthier the animals tend to be. Also the more diverse the habitat is--the more types of vegetation in an area--the more diverse the wildlife species tend to be. Ideally, a diverse backyard would contain a mixture of trees, shrubs, vines and other greenery that produces different kinds of food and cover. For vegetative diversity, you should also keep in mind the months that plants flower and fruit, so you can offer food to wildlife at different times of the year. For year-round vegetative cover, plant evergreens (see accompanying tables). The more diverse a backyard community, the more resistant it will be against plant diseases and pests, thus reducing the need to use pesticides.
One last important concept is that wildlife habitat requirements vary widely from species to species. Highly adaptable gray squirrels can feed on acorns, berries, seeds or even household garbage. On the other hand, eastern bluebirds feed primarily on insects in the spring and rely mainly on unmowed fields (close to woodland and free from pesticides) to find insect food.
List Your Favorite Animals
What wildlife would you like to see in your yard? Perhaps you enjoy the chirp of the gray treefrog, (right) echoing through the night air. Or, come winter, you're pleased by the sight of evening grosbeaks (left) and hordes of other birds clustering 'round a feeder.
On a piece of paper, list all of the wildlife species that have been observed in your neighborhood over the last few years by you, your family and neighbors. Add to your list the urban animals that have been written up or photographed in local newspapers and magazines or that have been covered on the television news. Also, note the interesting wildlife species you have encountered in parks and conservation areas within about a 50-mile radius of your home. Gathering the whole family together, decide which species or groups of animals on you list are the most appealing. (In essence, you have just done some goal-setting and prioritizing.) During this process, however, remember that non-flying animals (with the exception of larger mammals that can travel long distances under the cover of night) will probably need green-space corridors to naturally immigrate to your property.
If you're like most people, songbirds and butterflies probably top your list. However, many people have different preferences ranging from screech owls to gray treefrogs. Some non-traditionalists have taken the time to build bat roost boxes for their backyards to help keep down the mosquito populations. (Each night, bats eat about half their own weight in soft-bodied insects such as mosquitoes.) There are even some people who have overcome their prejudice against snakes and welcome an occasional garter or black rat snake to their premises.
Evaluate Your Backyard
The next step in backyard landscaping for wildlife is to record what features you have on your property. Probably the best way to do this is to walk around your backyard and sketch the natural and human-made components. Record the larger types of vegetation, labeling shrub and tree species if you can identify them, and note any animals you see that were not included on your wildlife list. Be sure to note walkways, patios, overhead and underground utilities and to note walkways, patios, overhead and underground utilities and meters, drain outlets, easements, septic tanks, pools or ponds, and driveways. Also beaming your soil and the topography or lay of the land. If you have doubts about the quality of the soil, a soil test can probably be made for a small charge through your county extension office. Indicate on your sketch the grade or slope of your property, noting any erosional problems and particularly wet or dry area.
On the same sketch or preferably on a transparent overlay, record the activities that can be seen, heard, smelled or felt. Diagram the sun and shade patterns, as well as the usual wind direction. Indicate where garbage cans are stored and where pets have been trained to defecate. Note any views that you want to protect or screen and record any bothersome noises from traffic or neighbors.
Small fruits and seeds that last into winter will attract northern mocking birds (left) and other wildlife when food becomes scarce. Fleshy fruits like these sweet summer blackberries (right) are a favorite of many animals.
Next, think about how you and your family currently use your backyard. What about future uses? Consider space requirements for play, birdfeeding, access or movement of people and vehicles, entertainment, gardens, and pets. If dogs and cats are important to your family, perhaps your expectations for attracting wildlife to your property should be lower. Onto another overlay, diagram where in your backyard these activities are taking place or will take place in the future.
Select Wildlife Food Plants
Now, refer back to your list of favorite wildlife. From the accompanying tables, select those trees, shrubs, vines and ferns that benefit the desired species or wildlife groups and those that aesthetically appeal to you.
If you are laid back when it comes to lawn maintenance, you may want to opt for obtaining native varieties of plants that are adapted to the surrounding environment and generally demand less care. (Species with native varieties are noted in the tables.) If you enjoy outdoor landscaping as therapy for the soul, you may wish to choose more commercially-available, cultivated varieties which tend to require more TLC but may furnish more berries or bloom longer.
Large backyard trees (30 or more feet tall), small backyard trees and large shrubs (from 10 to 30 feet tall), and small and medium backyard shrubs (10 feet tall and under) are listed in the accompanying tables. Because of wid genetic variation in many trees and shrub species, strive to obtain local stock (or stock grown north of you) to help ensure winter survival. Deciduous vines used by wildlife are listed with special notation. Because of the nature of their growth, perennial vines require periodic pruning and should never be allowed to grow against wooden houses. To guide the growth of vines, furnish structural support with wooden trellises, wire mesh, fences, driftwood or rocks. Although some vines will tolerate partial shade, growing vines in full sun will increase flower and fruit production. Native backyard ferns are also listed because they offer vegetative cover to a variety of small animals, add natural elegance to the backyard, and are well-adapted to semi-shaded conditions.
There is a tremendous variety of wildflowers, cultivated flowers and other ground covers (beyond the scope of this pamphlet) that benefit wildlife. Since most flowers prefer sun, locate them around the edges of shrub and tree plantings or out in the open. And, if you have a large backyard, consider planting a flowering meadow. Contact local gardeners, botanist or wildflower enthusiasts for more information on this endeavor.
If you want to attract particular animal groups by selecting food plants, follow these general guidelines. For mammals, select vegetation that produces large fruits such as persimmon, pawpaw and crabapples and nuts such as acorns and pecans. Butterflies can be lured to your backyard by planting flowers that produce nectar for the adults and by planting vegetation that can be eaten by larval caterpillars. For more information about planting for butterflies, see references on back cover. Since reptiles and amphibians are primarily carnivores, furnish vegetation that provides food for their animal prey. However, one important factor determining whether or not reptiles and amphibians will be attracted to your backyard is cover (discussed in next section).
The eastern red cedar tree's evergreen foliage and delicate gray berries help provide cover and food for wildlife when winter's icy winds strike.
Birds are generally attracted to seeds and small fruits from such plants as hawthorns, dogwoods and elderberries. The seeds most birds prefer are typically row crops such as sunflowers and millets, which are not suitable for planting in more residential situation. (For supplemental seed-feeding information, refer to Backyard Birdfeeding listed on back cover.) When selecting fruit-bearing plants for birds (and many mammals), choose some with berries that ripen in the summer and others with fruits that persist into the fall and winter. Blackberries, mulberries and other fleshy summer berries are generally rich in high-energy sugars and are relished by many wildlife species. Typical fall and winter fruits such as hollies, hawthorns and viburnums are generally composed of low-energy lipids which resist rot. The fruits from these plants persist well into the cold weather and are eaten by birds and mammals when nothing else is available in the winter or early the next spring. However, there a few plants which have fall-ripening fruits containing high-energy lipids that would rot if not eaten. Notable examples include dogwood, spicebush, sassafras, black gum and Virginia creeper. In order to get animals to disperse the seeds found inside the fall fruits, it has been speculated that these plants gain the attention of fall migrating birds (that need the energy for migration) by turning their leaves bright red early, when most other plants still have green foliage.
If hummingbirds live in your neighborhood during the warm months of the year, providing food is the single most compelling way to attract them to your yard. Besides maintaining a hummingbird feeder, provide plants that produce red, orange and pink tubular shaped flowers. In addition to the hummingbird nectar plants that are listed in the tables (especially the vines), flowers such as columbine, coral bells, salvia, jewelweed and bee balm are excellent sources of nectar for hummingbirds.
Furnish Cover
Northern fence lizards and other reptiles (left) find cover around logs and rockpiles. The chipping sparrow (right) is one of many bird species you can provide a home for by planting trees and shrubs.
Vegetation is the natural architecture that many wildlife species use for protection from predators and weather and for a place to rest and raise young. Compact-growing, thorny branches of hawthorns, multi-stemmed shrubs such as viburnams and dogwoods, and evergreen boughs of cedars and spruces offer year-round cover to many birds and mammals. Ground cover of ferns, flowers and grasses along with lawn clippings or wood chip mulches offer cover to ground-dwelling small mammals, reptiles and amphibians. Ground-foraging towhees and thrushes also find these areas attractive. Non-living vegetation in the form of brushpiles and snags (dead or dying trees) is used as cover. Dozens of birds and mammals use cavities in snags as roost and nest sites. Since woodpeckers, nuthatches, screech owls, flying squirrels and many other backyard dwellers depend upon snags so heavily, you may want to leave a few standing dead trees in your yard if it does not present a hazard.
If you do not have any backyard snags, you may want to construct nest boxes. These should be built for specific wildlife species. The proper entrance hole sizes, dimensions and recommended locations are discussed in the booklet, Woodworking for Wildlife (see references on back cover).
Dead trees also serve as hiding places or resting spots for birds and mammals like the southern flying squirrel
If you would like to manage your backyard for herps (reptiles and amphibians), providing more structural cover on the ground and building some pools or small ponds are two important ways. Logs lying on the ground, rock piles and brushpiles furnish important habitat for lizards and snakes. In moist areas, rotting logs and stumps are excellent habitat for salamanders. Many frogs, toads, salamanders and turtles need permanent water for cover and breeding. Water needs will be discussed more in the next section.
Woo Wildlife With Water
Landscaping your backyard for wildlife is not complete without water. It is an essential habitat component. If you want to furnish water only to birds, traditional birdbaths on pedestals work well because they are up off the ground. To offer water to a broader array of animals, take the dish portion of your birdbath (or substitute a garbage can lid or hubcap), balance it upon a clay pot, and fill in underneath and around it with decorative large rocks and driftwood. The clay pot gives it a little height to help keep the debris out, and the rocks allow access for gound-dwellers. To offer some perches to stand on as the water fluctuates, place some clean pebbles in the water container. Misters, dripping hoses and other sources of moving water are especially attractive to wildlife. There are several devices available commercially that will keep the water from freezing in the winter.
A small pond can be a delightful addition to your backyard. Concrete, fiber
glass or plastic-lined ponds offer cover and breeding areas for many types of
amphibians. Flat stones can stabilize the edge of the pond; vegetation, rocks
and driftwood can offer a natural backdrop. Submerged potted plants can be added
for accent. More information on how to create a simple backyard pond can be
obtained for 50 cents by writing to the National Institute for Urban Wildlife,
10921 Trotting Ridge Way, Columbia, MD 21044.
NATIVE BACKYARD FERNS
Space centers of plants about 2 feet apart in soft shade
*=Cultivated
| Species Name | Height (Ft.) | Additional notes | Species Name | Height (Ft.) | Additional Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cinnamon Fern (Osmunda cinnamomea |
3-4 | Mammals eat fiddleheads (emerging fern leaf or frond). | Ostrich Fern (Matteuccia Struthiopteris |
3-5+ | Fronds resemble ostrich feathers. |
| Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides)* |
1-3 | Attractive foliage year-round. Tolerates more sun and less water than others | Rattlesnake Fern (Botrychium virginianum) |
1-2 | Eaten by deer. Attractive ornamental plant. |
| Lady Fern (Athyrium Filix-femina) |
2-4* | Lacy fern fronds. | Royal Fern (Osmunda regalis) |
3-4+ | Mammals eat fiddleheads. |
| Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum pedatum) |
1-2 | Limited cover value, but attractive ornamental plant. |
Create a Landscape Plan
Using your sketches and the information given in the tables, first decide if there are any trees and shrubs that are not wanted or causing problems and need to be removed. But before eliminating any large trees that represent many years of growth, check with local foresters, nurserymen or biologists to see if removal is in your best interest.
There are many kinds and combinations of plants to consider in creating a backyard wildlife landscape plan. Again, strive for vegetative diversity. In a small yard, you may be limited to single plantings of several species. With larger grounds, you can plan for clumps, hedges and mass plantings. Be sure to landscape with the view in mind. Water areas and birdfeeding stations will be a hub of wildlife activity, so locate these where you can readily view them from your home.
Begin your plan by considering tall or skyline trees first, and gradually work your way down to the smaller vegetation. If possible, locate larger deciduous plants on the south and west sides of your house to give you summer shade and to reduce cooling costs for your home. to help save on heating costs in the winter, locate evergreens on the north side of your house to help block chilling winds. After choosing the larger trees, fill in the understory with tiers of vegetation so that you will not visually block out or shade smaller plants with larger ones. Remember to select trees and shrubs that fruit at different times of the year. Diagram your landscape plan on another overlay, and see if it is compatible with the overlay of family use areas and if it aesthetically appears to you. To help landscape barren backyards, take inexpensive black-and-white Polaroid snapshots of portions of your yard, and draw in vegetation with a marker to give you an idea of how it might look with various plantings.
![[image of child with flower]](images/back18.jpg)
AFTER CAREFUL planning, begin planting. Unless you can afford to have the
work done or have dozens of friends who owe you favors, don't expect to do everything
overnight. Transformation will take time. In addition to benefiting wildlife
and enhancing the beauty of your yard, backyard wildlife landscaping helps filter
particulates out of the air, recycles oxygen, reduces noise pollution, provides
privacy, increases property values up to 20 percent, and saves on cooling and
heating costs for the home. And, possibly most important of all, it gives us
all a better understanding of nature, instilling both a sense of oneness with
other creatures of the Earth and a sense of stewardship for the land and its
wildlife.
Cover Photo by Jim Rathert: American robin nesting in hawthorn
TEXT: Dave Tylka
DESIGN: Martha Daniels
LAYOUT: Jill Stucker, Wendy Gibbons
TYPESETTING: Leila Kempker, Bertha Bainer
PHOTOS: Jim Rathert
Urban Wildlife Series--No. 3. NH - 2/91
Copyright 1991 by the Conservation Commission of the State of Missouri
