How You Can Attract Birds, Other Wildlife to Your Place

By John York and David Allan.

The decision to buy your land was right. You have managed the down payment, rebuilt the house and barn, and planted the garden. The old orchard has been renovated, the county Extension agent has been pumped almost dry, and the Soil Conservation Service has planned, staked, measured, and probed nearly everything that couldn't run away.

The state forester helped with the Christmas trees; the county health services helped with the water and sewage. All in all you are pleased as you settle back on the porch for a cool drink and some peaceful thought.

The scraping of a cricket, the far-off tinkle of a cowbell, someone sawing wood back in the hills all tend to wring out the tension of modern living.

A flicker of color catches your eye it's a small bird frantically trying to catch a bug which is just as frantically trying to hide. A burst of bird song signals success, or is it failure? No matter. It sounds nice.

Human beings evolved in and with the natural world. As we become more urbanized, more complex, and have more social pressures, we seem to lose touch with nature. We tend to forget just how closely our lives are tied to the other living things around us. But the evening call of bobwhite, a visit from a friendly squirrel, or the romp of fox pups can ease you out of some very trying days. These interludes also add richness to life on a few acres.

All right! You're convinced. You have the land and you want wildlife. Which ones? Where? How long? When? Why?

Even on small acreages an amazing variety of wildlife can be observed. True, you can't expect to have a herd of deer, elk, or a flock of turkeys, but your land may be part of their range and they may pay a visit. Too often newcomers to the country have high hopes for large numbers of wildlife, especially il they are willing to improve their land. But with most things, certain rules must be followed in order to succeed.

Rule No. 1 Don't move a rock or a brush pile. Don't cut a tree, plant a bush, dig a hole, level a field, or build a fence until you have surveyed the land and know what resources you have.

Once you know your resources, write out a plan of what, when, and how you will proceed with development of the land. You will make fewer mistakes with a well-thought-out plan to guide you.

An example of this is a landowner who raised Cecropia moths for heart research. This moth thrives on chokecherry trees, normally considered a worthless weed tree in old field land. By inventorying the number of trees, the landowner determined how many moths he could expect to produce and the amount of netting needed for their protection. At the same time, he was also improving nearby habitat for songbirds that normally prey on the moth larvae. By planning the resource he could have both moths and songbirds.

Rule No. 2 Read, ask, and visit. Find out what wildlife should be on or around your land and what wildlife is actually there. Zoos, local, state, and national parks, game and fish commissions, universities, and some Federal agricultural agencies will be able to give you habitat requirements for both existing and potential wildlife.

A wealth of informational books about nature is on the market today. Use regional guides to learn about the birds, animals, wildflowers, or trees and shrubs of your area.

Walk over your land. Do this often and during all seasons to see the many changes. It is amazing what new things can be observed with each trip.

Have places where you can sit quietly and watch. This is the best way to see what shares the land with you. Learn to really look at things closely, such as scratch marks on a tree trunk. This will tell you what lives there or uses the area.

Rule No. 3 Manage your wildlife. Certain animals may increase beyond the available habitat. They need to be harvested or they will destroy their habitat or develop into nuisances. Trees and shrubs may grow beyond the reach of wildlife and become troublesome as weeds. They will have to be controlled and managed.

Planning for wildlife is like planning on the rest of the land. Wildlife, we a pygmy shrew or a moo, need food, water, and some d of cover. They set up territories just like humans. These things are part of the animal's "habitat". Each kind of wildlife requires specific items in the habitat. To add, maintain, or attract specific wildlife, You must know what they require. A few examples:

Woodcock need small, open fields where they can go through their mating ritual flights at dusk on a spring evening.

You might put out a log or mound as a loafing and preening area for male ducks who are guarding their territory on a marsh.

Songbirds such as bluebirds respond to certain size holes in birdhouses. This offers them protection from larger birds, like starlings, who are more competitive for homesites.

Food Needs

All wildlife requires some kind of food. Plant eaters some insects, elk, deer, rabbits, and porcupines, to name a few convert plant energy to protein and fats. Wildlife such as predatory insects, hawks, owls, bobcats, insect-eating birds, and grizzly bears feed on the plant eaters. This complex web of food links will collapse without plants.

Some wildlife feed on the ground, some in small shrubs. Some feed only on evergreens, while others subsist only on broadleaf trees. Plan your habitat so a wide diversity of seed, berry, and foliage plants will be available. This is especially true if you are planning for a variety of wildlife but no one kind in particular.

Many plants provide both food and cover. On the deserts, some plants provide food, cover, and water. Plant as many multipurpose types as possible.

Jeff Smith of Hollis, N.H., has successfully done this by converting an old apple orchard into a wildlife area. He Plowed and planted strips of sunflowers, sorghum, millets, and small grains as food plots between the orchard rows. Other strips have been seeded to legumes such as clovers, crownvetch, and Lathco flatpea for food. Every few years he plows under the legumes, which have enriched the soil with nitrogen, and replants with grain strips.

The old apple trees have been revitalized by severely cutting the tops back and grafting them to small fruited crabapples that hold their fruit through the winter. The gnarled and broken branches are full of holes that provide homes for birds and animals. Deer bed in the legumes, grouse eat the winter fruit and buds, and in the fall there is a riot of migrating birds feeding in the grain strips.

You can provide food not ordinarily available on a year-round basis to wildlife (feeding your chickens to a fox doesn't count). Birdseed, suet (beef fat), peanut butter, nuts, fruits, bread, sugar 'water, and the like can be provided in winter. Birds can also be fed in summer; for example, honey water tubes bring hummingbirds to your home, where they can be more easily seen.

Professional biologists are divided on the benefits wildlife receive from supplemental feeding. It is fun and probably the "pros" will balance the "cons". If you do winter feed, you must continue because wildlife become dependent on the source. If it is sporadic or cut off, they suffer and may die in severe weather.

Water, Cover

The importance of water for wildlife depends somewhat on where you live. Water is vital and a major wildlife attractant on the deserts in Arizona. If the land is surrounded by streams, bayous, ponds or springs, water development on the land is relatively unimportant. Some wildlife, such as kangaroo rats, need no free moisture at all. Others need a readily available and constant supply.

Water attracts all kinds of wildlife, from the truly aquatic species to those that just casually use it. A water situation can be as simple as a birdbath or a small backyard pool. it can be a permanent part of the landscape or a temporary Pool built of plastic sheeting. Farm ponds or tanks are more permanent types of structures. Small marsh developments provide habitat for wetland-loving wildlife.

On the Andrew Wyeth-James land along the coast of Maine, a shallow 2-acre marsh created in old field land attracted about 40 different species of sea birds and shore birds. They came to wade, feed, drink, or bathe in fresh water.

All natural wetlands such as potholes, marshes, swamps, bogs, ponds, or streams need to be considered in planning your land. Again, this brings us back to the basic rules of meeting the wildlife's needs.