National Wildlife Federation®: Attracting Birds, Butterflies, and Other Backyard Wildlife, Expanded Second Edition E-Book

David Mizejewski

• Herausgeber: Creative Homeowner
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Seitenzahl: 189

Beschreibung

From renowned National Wildlife Federation naturalist and TV host David Mizejewski comes a new book to show you how to create a magical ecosystem right in your backyard! Invite beautiful songbirds, colorful butterflies, buzzing bees and other fascinating wildlife by nurturing a wildlife habitat garden. With more than 200 high-quality photographs, lists of the best native plants to support wildlife and 17 gardening projects the whole family can enjoy, from building bird houses to creating garden ponds, Attracting Birds, Butterflies, and Other Backyard Wildlife, Expanded Second Edition is a must-have resource for nature enthusiasts, gardeners, and animal lovers.

Leseprobe

National Wildlife Federation®

ATTRACTING BIRDS,BUTTERFLIES, AND OTHER BACKYARD WILDLIFE

Expanded Second Edition

National Wildlife Federation®

ATTRACTING BIRDS,BUTTERFLIES, AND OTHER BACKYARD WILDLIFE

Expanded Second Edition

David Mizejewski

Copyright © 2004, 2019 National Wildlife Federation®

This book may not be reproduced, either in part or in its entirety, in any form, by any means, without written permission from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts for purposes of radio, television, or published review. All rights, including the right of translation, are reserved. Note: Be sure to familiarize yourself with manufacturer’s instructions for tools, equipment, and materials before beginning a project. Although all possible measures have been taken to ensure the accuracy of the material presented, neither the author nor the publisher is liable in case of misinterpretation of directions, misapplication, or typographical error.

Creative Homeowner® is a registered trademark of New Design Originals Corporation.

Vice President-Content: Christopher Reggio

Editor: Jeremy Hauck

Copy Editor: Amy Deputato

Designer: Wendy Reynolds

Indexer: Elizabeth Walker

ISBN 978-1-58011-818-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Mizejewski, David, author. | National Wildlife Federation, issuing body.

Title: National Wildlife Federation : attracting birds, butterflies & other wildlife to your backyard / David Mizejewski.

Other titles: Attracting birds, butterflies & other wildlife to your backyard

Description: Expanded second edition. | Mount Joy, PA : Creative Homeowner, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019000507 | ISBN 9781580118187 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Gardening to attract wildlife. | Wildlife habitat improvement. | Wildlife attracting.

Classification: LCC QL59 .M59 2019 | DDC 333.95/4--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019000507

We are always looking for talented authors. To submit an idea, please send a brief inquiry to [email protected].

Printed in China

Current Printing (last digit)

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

Creative Homeowner®, www.creativehomeowner.com, is an imprint of New Design Originals Corporation and distributed exclusively in North America by Fox Chapel Publishing Company, Inc., 800-457-9112, 903 Square Street, Mount Joy, PA 17552, and in the United Kingdom by Grantham Book Service, Trent Road, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG31 7XQ.

To Mom and Dad:

All those years of muddy clothes, poison ivy, and the zoo in my bedroom paid off.Thanks for allowing me to pursue my passion for nature.

To Justin:

Thank you for building our own wild garden every step of the way with me.

Contents

Preface to the Expanded Second Edition

Introduction

CHAPTER ONE:GETTING STARTED

Assessing Your Property

Identify Your Plants

Restoring Native Plants

Garden Design Approaches

Your Place in Your Wildlife Habitat Garden

CHAPTER TWO:FOOD

Threads in the Food Web

Plants as Food

Bugs as Food

Food in All Seasons

Supplementing with Feeders

CHAPTER THREE:WATER

Birdbaths

Ponds, Water Gardens, Puddles, and Rain Gardens

Buffer Zones for Shorelines

Maintaining Your Water Feature

CHAPTER FOUR:COVER

Plants as Cover

Water as Cover

Constructed Cover

Critter Houses as Cover

CHAPTER FIVE:PLACES TO RAISE YOUNG

Natural Nesting Places

Nesting Places You Build

Finding Baby Animals

CHAPTER SIX:SUSTAINABLE GARDEN PRACTICES

The Importance of Using Native Plants

Follow Organic Practices

Conserve Water

Join the Movement

Glossary

Index

Photo Credits

Preface to the Expanded Second Edition

Natural places and the wildlife species that inhabit them face ever-increasing pressure from human activity. Today, there are few places on Earth that have not been affected in some way by the way we’ve altered the planet. As a result, natural habitat is disappearing at an alarming rate and wildlife is declining.

Wildlife species and the natural areas they need to survive are important and should be protected and restored. Imagine life without the song of birds and the chirring of crickets, the beauty of a windswept prairie, or the cool serenity of a green woodland. Imagine a child growing up without having the opportunity to watch a tadpole changing into a frog, to smell a wildflower, or to wade in a clear stream. Without wild areas, humanity, as well as wildlife, suffers.

It is easy to feel as if there is no hope for wildlife in our modern world of asphalt, smog, and traffic. But there is hope. You can choose to create a garden or landscape that helps restore habitat for local wildlife and the ecological balance. You can surround yourself with beautiful native plants that will attract an amazing array of birds, butterflies, and other backyard wildlife for you to enjoy, right outside your window, every day.

This book will teach you how to create a wildlife habitat garden, and how to have it recognized by the National Wildlife Federation® as an official Certified Wildlife Habitat® through the Garden for Wildlife™ program. In doing so, you will be doing your part to restore the ecology of the land on which you live and make sure wildlife thrives in a rapidly changing world.

Introduction

We need to reconnect our cities, towns, and neighborhoods back into the ecosystem they were once a part of.

Wildlife is declining at an unprecedented rate all around the planet. Unfortunately human activity is the most significant cause of this decline. Our land development and agricultural practices, pollution, alteration of rivers and wetlands, and climate change are increasingly changing America’s landscape in ways that render it barren for wildlife or kill wildlife outright. As a result, today more than one-third of America’s wildlife is at risk of extinction in the coming decades. While the situation sounds grim, you might be surprised to learn that you can help reverse this alarming decline for some species by creating your own wildlife habitat garden.

How can a garden save wildlife? You might think that wildlife conservation is something that only happens in wilderness areas far from human development. Protecting and restoring wild areas continues to be critical to ensuring wildlife populations remain healthy, but the scope of human impact on the planet is so great that many wildlife species can’t rely on wilderness areas alone. We need to reconnect our cities, towns, and neighborhoods back into the ecosystem they were once a part of by restoring the green infrastructure that supports local and migratory wildlife.

For example, thirty percent of North American birds are in steep decline, including some species that will use a well-planned wildlife habitat landscape in close proximity to people, such as bobolinks, wood thrushes, meadowlarks, Western tanagers, bobwhite quail, Florida scrub-jays, or rufous hummingbirds. Wildlife gardens can also help insects like the monarch butterfly, populations of which have plummeted in recent decades, or the once-common rusty-patched bumble bee, the first North American bee species to be listed as endangered. Wooded suburban yards have already helped the fisher, a member of the weasel family that was almost wiped out, to recover and expand its range. Backyard nesting boxes have helped bluebird populations recover from the loss of natural nesting habitat, and in many areas birds such as purple martins and chimney swifts are dependent on structures provided by humans for nesting. Gopher tortoises and the dozens of other species that rely on their burrows for shelter only survive largely because people have protected or restored habitat for them on private property. Similarly, the New England cottontail is no longer being considered for listing as an endangered species due in big part to farmers and landowners who made the effort to restore their brushy, forest-edge habitat. Many species like these can thrive right alongside us, but only if we make sure they have enough habitat—and your own property or other garden space can be one piece of habitat that helps do just that.

While wildlife habitat gardens aren’t going to save imperiled species such as polar bears or red wolves or sea turtles that require vast wilderness areas, they can make a big difference for many species of wildlife, helping to keep common species common and in some cases helping species in trouble. Research has shown that wildlife habitat gardens support twice the wildlife and a greater diversity of species compared to a conventional landscape of lawn and other non-native plants. They also give us a daily connection to nature that’s sorely lacking from most of our lives, yet important, not only for our own happiness but also to inspire us to support broader wildlife conservation efforts.

CHECKLIST FOR ENJOYING WILDLIFE

Field guide books and apps

Binoculars

Notebook and pencil

Magnifying lens

Camera

Comfortable viewing places

Creating a wildlife habitat garden is more than just planting a pretty landscape. In any given region, the plants, animals, and other living organisms have interacted with one other and the environment around them for millions of years, forming interacting communities called an ecosystem. Ecosystems are healthy when they are diverse, self-sustaining, and balanced, with no one species dominating all the rest. This is true in wild ecosystems as well as in those in our cities, towns, and even our own yards and gardens. If you understand this principle and apply it to your garden and landscape, you’ll create a beautiful mini-ecosystem that supports birds, butterflies, and a wide variety of other wildlife species.

Here’s how it works. Plants are the foundation of wildlife habitat. Without healthy plant communities to provide habitat, wildlife disappears. By preserving or planting the native plants that naturally grow in the area and that wildlife need to survive, you can restore habitat and invite the wildlife back to the land it once occupied. The act of planting for a purpose is the very definition of gardening. By planting native plants to restore wildlife habitat, you become a wildlife habitat gardener.

The National Wildlife Federation’s Garden for Wildlife program has been helping people do just this for over four decades. Millions of people have already restored natural habitat in their yards and other garden spaces throughout their communities. Hundreds of thousands have earned Certified Wildlife Habitat recognition for those wildlife habitat gardens. Today, these people host the wildlife that would otherwise be banished from our cities, towns, and neighborhoods. By applying what you learn in this book, you can join the National Wildlife Federation’s growing Garden for Wildlife movement.

CHAPTER ONE

Getting Started

Gardens by their very nature are works of art designed to welcome people. Your challenge is to create a garden that meets the needs of wildlife by restoring natural habitat but still draws you and your family, neighbors, and friends into it. Look to natural wilderness for design inspiration. Keep this guiding principle in mind when you design your wildlife habitat garden.

Monarch butterflies sip nectar from purple coneflowers. Monarchs have declined significantly in recent decades. Planting native plants that offer nectar can help them recover.

Assessing Your Property

Begin by assessing your current landscape to determine what you already have and its condition. Use the following lists as guides. You’ll find it helpful to actually write down the answers to these questions.

What plant species do you already have?

What plant communities are represented?

Which of your plants are native? Non-native? Invasive?

Are any plantings overgrown or out of place?

What percentage of the property is lawn?

How much lawn do you and your family actually use?

What types of soils occur on your property?

What is the direction of the prominent wind?

What is the sun exposure for each part of the property?

What microclimates exist on the property?

What is the topography of the property? Which areas are low and retain water, and which areas are higher and drier?

What is the location of any underground power lines?

Are there any entry points where wildlife might gain access to your house that need repair?

How will your neighbors take to a naturalistic landscape?

Create a wish list for the plants and other features you want in your wildlife habitat garden. Use the following ideas as a guideline:

What percentage of the property do you want to devote to wildlife gardening and how much needs to be kept mowed or open for human use?

What kinds of wildlife do you want to attract?

What is your budget?

What colors would you like to see in the garden?

What hardscape features, such as patios, retaining walls, gazebos, or other structures, would you like?

Do you need play areas for children?

Are there any special viewing points that you’d like to preserve or create?

What are the top priorities for this season? Next season?

Identify Your Plants

Identify the plants that currently grow in your yard and neighborhood. Take photos and use online gardening sites, garden plant apps, or gardening books, or bring your photos to your local nursery for identification help. You’ll be surprised to find that many of the plants used in landscapes are not native. Instead they come from other parts of the world and were chosen because of their beauty or functionality in the landscape. Ability to grow in poor soils, to withstand air pollution, to provide ornamental blooms and foliage, and to resist disease are plant characteristics that typically outweigh a plant’s value to wildlife when people choose plants for their gardens. Many common species that you’ve seen your entire life are really non-natives that have been introduced in just the last century. The fact that you are used to seeing them and may mistake them for natural parts of the ecosystem does not change their negative impact on native plant and wildlife species.

Restoring Native Plants

Plants are the tools you will use to create your wildlife habitat garden and connect your property back into the local ecosystem. Native wildlife species have evolved to depend on the plants that are also native to their ecosystem.

Native plants are adapted to the range of seasonal conditions in their region. This means that they have evolved to thrive in the natural soils, climate, weather, rainfall, and sun exposure of their native region. Wildlife species evolved to take advantage of the resources provided by these native plants. Without them, wildlife populations decline. As a result, only native plants provide the entire range of habitat benefits needed by native wildlife.

NATIVE CONDITIONS

The conditions that have shaped the native plant communities that naturally occur where you live include:

•Soil moisture and nutrient level

•Sun and shade exposure

•Climate and weather patterns

•Relationship with the other plants and animals of the ecological community

NATIVE TO NORTH AMERICA

This book is for gardeners and wildlife enthusiasts in North America. When the term “native species” is used it refers to species native to North America. Few species have a native distribution over the entire continent, so consult with your state’s native plant society, natural resources agency, or local naturalists to determine which species naturally grow locally where you live. Visit the National Wildlife Federation’s Garden for Wildlife website for more native plant resources at www.nwf.org/garden.

THE PROBLEMS WITH NON-NATIVE PLANTS

•Non-natives can become invasive and degrade naturally diverse ecosystems.

•Non-natives can introduce and harbor diseases that afflict native species.

•Non-native plants do not support native wildlife species.

•Some non-natives require costly maintenance and wasteful watering and chemicals.

•See page 136 for more info on non-native plants.

Native plants are great choices for your landscape. When planted in their natural conditions, they require almost no maintenance once they are established. While they are establishing themselves, native plants might need supplemental watering. It can take as little as a few weeks for natives to become established and rarely takes longer than one growing season. Planting natives can mean a significant reduction in the amount of pesticides and fertilizers released into the environment and can eliminate the need for supplemental watering.

With the knowledge of what makes a healthy ecosystem and an understanding of how your garden or landscape can play a role in restoring it, you can make a difference for wildlife where you live by creating a habitat and having it recognized by the National Wildlife Federation as a Certified Wildlife Habitat. You can start the process by learning more about the native wildlife in your area and how to provide the food, water, cover, and places for wildlife to raise young. The result will be a yard filled with the birds, butterflies, and other wildlife you wish to attract.

Purchasing Native Plants

Your wildlife habitat garden should have as many native plant species as possible. Native plants are the foundation of habitat in the wild and should be in your wildlife habitat garden, too.

Some native species have been garden center staples for years. For example, native dogwoods (Cornus spp.), coneflower (Echinacea spp.), black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia spp.), and blueberries (Vaccinium spp.) have long been cultivated as ornamentals. Even so, finding a great variety of natives at your local garden center can still sometimes be challenging. The horticulture and landscaping industries are just beginning to recognize the ecological and economic value of working with native plants. Some companies label native species to make it easier for native plant enthusiasts to find the appropriate plants.

FINDING NATIVE PLANTS

•Contact your local native plant society to learn what plants are native to your region and which are invasives or other problematic non-natives.

•Learn how to propagate plants from seeds and cuttings and grow your own native plants.

•Participate in plant swaps with other native plant growers.

•Organize a plant rescue at a construction site.

•Let your local nursery know you will purchase native plants for wildlife if they are available and clearly marked as native.

•Patronize nurseries that carry native plants.

•Visit www.nwf.org/garden for more native plant resources.

HOW NATIVE PLANTS ARE SOLD

Native plants are sold in a variety of different ways:

Seed. Herbaceous (see Glossary, page 161) grasses and wildflowers are generally sold as seed, although some woody (see Glossary, page 165) species are also available as seed. Work with a nursery that specializes in native seeds for your area. Don’t purchase seed mixes in a can as they often contain invasive non-native species.

Plug

Plug. Plugs are seedlings of both herbaceous and woody plants that are usually one or two years old. Plugs are usually grown in narrow containers and sold with a small, dense root-ball. Because plugs are small and relatively inexpensive, they are also a good choice for covering large areas.

Whip. Whips are the cut branches of willow, poplar, and other woody species that will root from branch cuttings. Whips can be planted upright directly into the soil or placed horizontally in a shallow trench and then covered with soil. Whips are often used on slopes to control erosion of wetland areas. They are also relatively inexpensive.

Bare-root

Bare-root. Both herbaceous and woody plant species are sold bare-root, which means all soil or other growing medium has been washed away from the root-ball. Bare-root plants are typically sold via mail order while dormant, and they are relatively inexpensive.

Containerized

Containerized or potted. Both herbaceous and woody plants are sold in containers or pots, typically by retailers. Like the balled-and-burlapped stock, containerized plants are usually too heavy for shipping and require significant care in the retail nursery setting, and are therefore more expensive.

Balled-and-burlapped

Balled-and-burlapped. Large woody plants are typically sold in a retail nursery setting with their root-balls, complete with soil, wrapped in burlap. The plant’s weight, size, and necessary care by a retail nursery (its overhead costs) increase the cost of balled-and-burlapped (often abbreviated as “B-and-B”) stock and make mail-order sales prohibitively difficult and expensive. But B-and-B stock will have an instant effect on the landscape.

Many native plant species are highly ornamental and available for sale at your local nursery. Some are long-time garden staples, like this flowering dogwood.

Many nurseries that sell native plants often offer only specially bred or cloned hybrids or cultivars that have been chosen for their landscape value or appearance. A variety is a particular type of a species. Varieties occur naturally or are created by people through selective breeding. A cultivar (short for cultivated variety) is a variety that has been created by people via breeding or cloning. Unfortunately, selective breeding for ornamental qualities alone often affects the qualities that made the original plant species beneficial to wildlife, and cloning can result in a loss of the genetic diversity that occurs naturally in the wild.

For example, cultivars with blooms that are larger or a different shape often prevent pollinators from accessing the nectar and pollen within. Insects such as bees can see ultraviolet light not visible to the human eye. Many flowers have ultraviolet coloration to attract bees that we cannot see. We can easily inadvertently breed out such features and render a cultivar useless to wildlife without even knowing it.

You can identify which plants are cultivars by looking at the names on their plant tags or plant descriptions. Every plant has a common name and a scientific name. The common name of a plant is written first, followed by the italicized scientific name in parentheses. An example of this is river birch (Betula nigra). Cultivars are given special names by their breeders or cloners. These special names are listed in quotation marks on the plant tag after the common and scientific names. A popular cultivar of river birch is ‘Heritage’. The plant tag for this cultivar would read River Birch (Betula nigra ‘Heritage’). Hybrids are indicated by an “x” in the scientific name. An example of this is the hybrid cultivar of two shrubs, fragrant sage (Salvia clevelandii) and purple sage (Salvia leucophylla), both western natives. The hybrid name is gray musk sage (Salvia clevelandii x leucophylla ‘Pozo Blue’).

Reading plant tags will give you important information that will help you make your plant selections. Cultivars and hybrids of natives aren’t necessarily bad choices for wildlife, and often they are the only options available through retail garden centers. Think of cultivars and hybrids as domesticated versions of wild plants. Releasing packs of domestic dogs into the wild isn’t the same thing as restoring gray wolf populations, even though all dogs are descended from wolves. Sticking to the original native plant species or cultivars that are as close to the wild native in appearance as possible is the best plan if you’re working to restore a functioning bit of the ecosystem. They are certainly better choices than lawn or non-native plants when it comes to wildlife habitat in a landscape or garden setting.

Native Plant Societies and Nurseries