Wildlife could use your help, starting now.
When leaves start to fall, some folks view that as a call to start clean-up. But from a wild animal’s point of view, that means removing potential winter food and cover sources, leaving fewer resources for them to use.
• Leave dead flower stalks, leaves, and seedheads standing. ( Large seedheads like those of black-eyed Susans, sedums, purple coneflowers, joe-pye weed, and sunflowers are favorite wildlife foods. So are the seeds of zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, phlox, grasses and dianthus. ) They’ll feed wildlife and also provide cover.
• Ferns—which sometimes stay green well into winter—are used by wildlife for hiding from predators, from the weather, and as a food source.
• Berry-producing plants such as bayberries, junipers, and cotoneasters are a food source for many wildlife species, year round.
• Building a brush pile is an easy way to clear your yard of stray branches and twigs, and at the same time provide a safe hidey place for ground-nesting birds, chipmunks, rabbits, and even hibernating reptiles, amphibians, and insects. Create the brush pile in an out-of-the-way corner of your property, preferably close to food sources but away from buildings. Start with a layer of larger limbs, then stack branches loosely on top and add vegetation and leaves to create nooks and crannies of various sizes.
• A firewood pile, made with the logs piled crisscross can make spaces that offer temporary shelter to birds and small mammals trying to get out of the weather.
• Water is one of the most important resources you can provide for wildlife, especially in winter when their usual watering holes often dry up or ice over. Provide a dish of water near your home. If wild animals don’t have to search for water, they can save energy, which may mean the difference between life and death on the coldest days.
So, take a look out in your yard, and decide which things you can do there to help wildlife survive the coming cold weather. And enjoy winter wildlife watching.
2 comments:
Irene,
I once read that some corn farmers leave a small amount of their crop behind and standing for winter animals and migrating geese. Recently while driving through Ohio and Indiana I noticed this to be true, a few farms had small rows of corn left unharvested and ready for the winter animals.
Is there anything that we can do like this with our own small vegetable gardens? I am in the habit of cleaning everything right out in the fall so I have less work to do next spring, is this maybe not a good habit?
Ed, I love hearing from someone who wants to help wildlife, and is willing to be a little inconvenienced while doing it. Yes, leave any seed heads and stalks, or any extra foods from your harvest right in your garden. Birds and small mammals will be able to use much of it for food, and what's left will give your garden a boost when spring comes.
You're right, though, in the spring you'll have more work, but in the meantime you will have helped some critters make it through another tough winter.
Its a good trade off .
Irene
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