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Gardening for Wildlife

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Gardening for Wildlife

Attract bees, birds, butterflies, and toads to your yard using plants native to our area to create a biologically diverse habitat.

Bats

Click here to view the Bat page.

Bees

Master Gardeners throughout the state are classes on how to attract pollinators to your garden thanks in part from a Haagen Dazs grant. Further info under the Pollinators section below. To learn about other Beneficial Organisms and what plants attract them read the Insects page.

Understanding Bumblebees: Making a Case for Conserving Native Pollinators by Alex Surcia, Penn State Cooperative Extension Research Assistant, Carlisle. Brief, useful historical and current info.

Farm Management for Native Bees: A Guide for Delaware In-depth PDF native bee guide for everyone; funded by USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and the DE Dept. of Agriculture.

Selecting Plants for Pollinators - In-depth PDF regional guide for farmers, land managers, and gardeners; MD, PA, VA, WVA, parts of GA, KY, NC, SC, TN. Funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and other organizations with oversight by the Pollinator Partnership.

Honeybee Decline

Honeybee Alert - Honey bee colony die-offs are occurring for unknown reasons, currently called Colony Collapse Disorder. Link is to MAAREC, the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium.

Nationwide studies are primarily at Penn State University and University of California-Davis. Honey bees are key pollinators for our apple crops.

What have pesticides got to do with it? - PSU report.

Birds

97% of our song birds feed their young insects. Native plants provide the biodiversity needed to attract a variety of insects. Non-native invasive plants form a monoculture which inhibits our native plants thus the diversity of our insects. See the Birding Resources page and the Creating a Healthy Yard section below.

Creating a Garden for Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology Bird Notes from Sapsucker Woods.

Bluebirds

Join the Bluebird Society of PA to learn how to protect and propagate Eastern Bluebirds and other cavity-nesting birds.

See the Planting for Bluebirds page to find out what plants bluebirds prefer and need year round. The plants are needed to attract insects to feed their young as well as for food and shelter the rest of the year.

If you have house sparrows in your yard consider using a Van Ert trap. House sparrows are an introduced species not protected by any federal laws. House sparrows may attack and kill any cavity nesting birds and destroy eggs and young. Only use a bluebird box if you are able and willing to monitor and prevent house sparrows from nesting. Read more at the Sialis website. An easy way to attach the trap to the inside of the box is to drill (use your tiniest drill bit) two tiny holes from the front of the box. This makes it easier to attach the screws from the inside of the box. You will need an angled or short Phillips head screwdriver. The angled ones seem to work best. Clear plastic 33 gallon bags are available at Staples.

Bluebird boxes may be paired 5 - 15 apart to attract tree swallows in one box who may help defend bluebirds from house sparrows. This does not always work though as even tree swallows may attack bluebirds. The paired boxes need to be 100 yards from the next set of paired boxes to give bluebirds adequate nesting territory. The nesting box opening needs to face away from prevailing winds and southern sun, therefore, in our area the hole opening should face north or east to prevent winds from blowing in the box or hot southern sun from shining in the hole. Bluebirds prefer open or semi-open grassland habitat and little or no understory, with sparse groundcover/low grass. Perching spots (fence, telephone line, medium sized trees) for hunting and nest guarding. Be sure no herbicides or pesticides are used in the area.

See the pdf file, What every bluebirder needs to know...LYME FACTS Susan Renkel 3.11.08.pdf,written by Susan Renkel, RN which was published in the Fall 2005 Bluebird Trails & Tails.

Further details on the Bluebirds page.

Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds arrive in PA in early May so if you put out a feeder for them early May is the time. Follow the National Audubon Society's guidelines when feeding hummingbirds with sugar water. Read below to understand the importance of native plants and arthropods for hummingbirds.

Such PA native plants as Aquilegia canadensis wild columbine, Campsis radicans trumpet creeper, Impatiens capensis jewelweed, Liatris spicata blazing-star, Lilium canadense Canada lily, Lobelia cardinalis cardinal flower, Lonicera semipervirens trumpet honeysuckle, Monarda didyma bee balm, and Phlox divaricata wild blue phlox offer hummingbirds significantly more nectar than cultivated hybrids. Read the Native Plant Landscaping page to find out what habitat these plants require and where to buy them. Plant the right plant in the right place. Remember though, female hummingbirds need the protein and fats of such tiny insects as gnats and aphids and arachnids such as spiders to feed their young. In the fall all hummingbirds need these arthropod sources of protein and fats for their long migration journey. Plant nectar only provides sugar, a carbohydrate. In other words avoid using pesticides and let cobwebs remain so hummingbirds will have the complete meals they need. Hummingbirds eat insects in the air as well as those on plants. Keep cats indoors to prevent them from killing any wild animal. Hummingbirds pollinate at least 19 native plant species in the northeastern U.S. Read the PSU Wildlife Publication No. 6 Attracting Hummingbirds and throughout The Hummingbird Society website for further details. Read the PA Game Commission Wildlife Notes on Ruby-throated Hummingbird as well as other pages by typing hummingbirds in the left-hand search box.

Butterflies and Moths

Butterflies and Moths of North America- online info provided by Montana State University. Distribution maps, photos, species accounts. Click Map Search to find in-depth info specific to your PA county.

Online

Butterfly ID source by Colorado State U., CONABIO Mexico, and U of Georgia.

Caterpillar ID with photos by an amateur but will get you started in your search for butterfly and moth caterpillars.

Caterpillar ID by Discover Life. Choose by body color, pattern, and hair density.

Create and maintain a Monarch Waystation - program offered by University of Kansas, information online or via mail.

Books

Caterpillars of North America, David L. Wagner, Princeton U. Press, 2005. Photos and info.

Pollinators

Pollinators include such creatures as bats, beetles, birds, butterflies, moths, and wasps. All help pollinate flowers which provide fruits and vegetables for humans as well as wildlife. In the summer of 2008 Union County Master Gardeners started a pollinator garden in the parking lot behind the Penn State Extension Office in Mifflinburg, map. In spring 2009 Union County Master Gardeners will start a pollinator garden at the Public Library of Union County in Lewisburg, map. Both gardens will contain plants native to PA.

Penn State program promotes pollinator friendly gardens 3.12.09

The Birds & The Bees Challenge - a comprehensive program initiated by Cornell University to engage children in observing birds and bees and add their observations to national databases to aid scientists in conservation concerns.

The Great Sunflower Project - a citizen science project started in spring 2008 by conservation biologist Dr. Gretchen LeBuhn at San Francisco State University to study the population of bees in North America; part of The Birds & The Bees Challenge. Expand scientists' knowledge of pollinators by counting bees on Lemon Queen sunflowers. Sunflower seeds provided by project or you may purchase Lemon Queen sunflower seeds. Details at the The Great Sunflower Project link. Over 40,000 people from preschoolers to Master Gardeners throughout the country participate in the project.

Further Pollinator Resources - Penn State Extension resource web page compiled by Master Gardeners.

Snakes

Snakes of North America Eastern and Central Regions, Alan Tennant, Lone Star Books, 2003. Photos and info.

Wildlife Publications

Penn State University Wildlife Publication series: 18 online publications:

Attracting Hummingbirds No. 6 - PSU.

Pennsylvania Native Plants for the Perennial Garden - PSU Consumer Horticulture; why natives, planting, care, suggested plants.

Landscaping for Wildlife:Trees, Shrubs and Vines No. 7 - PSU.

Neighborly Natural Landscaping:Creating Natural Environments in Residential Areas No. 10 - PSU.

Creating a Healthy Yard

Audubon at Home - In-depth information to create an environmentally friendly habitat by the National Audubon Society.

Learn how to certify your yard as a Wildlife Habitat site through the National Wildlife Federation.

Top ten native plants for the Northeast recommended by the National Wildlife Federation: Eastern red cedar, black tupelo, Northern red oak, Winterberry, Sweet pepperbush, Red chokeberry, Blue vervain, Rough-stemmed goldenrod, Cardinal flower, and New York Ironweed.

Read Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in our Gardens (pub. by Timber Press Nov 2007) by Dr. Doug Tallamy - Professor & Chair of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the U. of Delaware. Native Plant Information by Doug Tallamy states Dr. Tallamy's poignant explanation of our need to use native plants in our gardens. The chart ranks which woody plants and perennials attract the most lepidoptera. 90% of our song birds feed their young insects, one reason we need lepidoptera. One of his research projects includes the Impact of Invasive plants on Terrestrial Food Chain – quantifying the degree to which alien plant species are reducing populations of native insect herbivores and the animals that depend on them. Research title, Do Alien Plants Reduce Insect Biomass? News review here.