November 30, 2011

Helping Wildlife Get Ready for Winter

Simple steps to take each autumn to increase cold-weather survival for your wild neighbors

The Humane Society of the United States

by Debra Firmani

When autumn’s leaves have fallen, they become little more than a vast prairie of leaf litter to us—piles and piles waiting to be raked, bagged, and set by the curb for town pickup.

From a wild animal’s point of view, though, our annual clean-up is a blow: Just when the going gets tough, we are removing potential winter food and cover sources, leaving a bleak and uninviting landscape in which to survive the coldest months.

Letting go of our need for an excessively orderly yard will mean more relaxation time for us and more winter food and cover for wildlife. This autumn, take a look at your yard and see how you can help wildlife survive the coming cold weather by leaving well enough alone.

Keep those fading flowers

• Hold off on nipping and tucking your garden beds or patio container plantings until springtime. Leave dead stalks, leaves, and seedheads standing to feed wildlife and provide cover.
• Large seedheads like those of black-eyed Susans, sedums, purple coneflowers, joe-pye weed, and sunflowers are favorite wildlife foods. So too are the seeds of zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, phlox, and dianthus. 
• Hardy ferns—which often remain green well into winter—can be valuable as both cover and a food source.
• Berry-producing plants such as bayberries, junipers, and cotoneasters are year-round favorites for many species, particularly birds.
• Many wildlife species will forage the seeds of grasses, and birds will pluck old stalks and foliage for nest-building material in the spring.

Leave the leaves

• Think of fallen leaves as an organic windfall for your yard and garden.
• Leaves make a cost-effective, water-conserving mulch for garden beds, and they are ideal additions to a compost pile. 
• For mulch, leave the leaves where they fall or, better yet, shred and spread them uniformly in your garden.
• To best improve soil fertility and retain moisture, aim for about two to three inches in depth with mulches of any kind.

Give 'em shelter

• Building a brush pile is an easy and inexpensive way to clear your yard of stray branches and twigs, and the results will provide a safe haven for ground-nesting birds, chipmunks, rabbits, and hibernating reptiles, amphibians, and insects.
• Create your brush pile in an out-of-the-way corner of your property, preferably close to food sources and away from buildings.
• Start with a layer of larger limbs and stack branches loosely, adding vegetation and leaves on top to create nooks and crannies of various sizes.
• A firewood pile will occasionally be disturbed through the cold weather months, but it, too, functions well as shelter for wildlife.
• Pile your logs crisscross fashion in order to create internal spaces that invite your wild neighbors to come in from the cold.

Water sources

• Water remains one of the most important and beneficial elements you can provide for wildlife, especially in winter when reliable watering holes often dry up or ice over.
• Providing water close to home can save animals from having to search for it far afield, thereby saving them valuable energy, which may mean the difference between life and death on the coldest days.
• Invest in a quality heater for your birdbath or artificial pond to keep water ice-free, and you will be rewarded with a continuous flow of wildlife activity in your sanctuary.

As the temperature starts to drop and you reach for your favorite sweater or that warm bowl of soup, don't forget about your wild neighbors. Just like us, they need a warm place to curl up and some comfort food, too.

Create a sanctuary

Enjoy the company of your wild neighbors in your own yard. Every day, more and more wildlife habitat is lost to the spread of development. But you can help wild animals in urban and suburban areas by offering them sanctuary in your own backyard (or front yard, roof-top garden, or deck), no matter how small. Learn how your green space can become an Urban Wildlife Sanctuary.

Debra Firmani is a writer and long-time advocate for animals and nature. Her articles on wildlife, wild lands, backyard habitat creation, and nature education have appeared in print and online.