It is not necessary to own acreage in The Country Estates or to have a garden overlooking Tonner Canyon. Even if your outside space is limited to a balcony, you can enjoy the pleasure that comes with creating a certified wildlife habitat.   

When we first looked at our present home, my husband fell in love with the scent of the chaparral covered hillsides. An avid outdoorsman, he said, “It smells like we’re on vacation.” The natural vegetation surrounding our lot got us off to a neighborly relationship with indigenous flora and fauna. However, we need to keep clear, the flammable undergrowth.

We designed our garden with wildlife in mind. The resultant woodland opening garden has more than made up for displaced habitat. Generously planted with trees, understory and a lawn, our garden offers richer opportunities for wildlife than the tinder-dry brush did.

Providing Food

Our vision being an open-air aviary, the first order of business was to set up a birdie buffet. To call in the birds like a Las Vegas all-you-can- eat buffet calls in gamblers, we needed to load the grub into different feeders appropriate to what and how the bird species prefer their dining experiences. Seedeaters come in two types: swayers and standers.

Swayers; like gold and other finches, do not mind feeders swinging about like a ship swaying in rough seas. For these, I highly recommend hanging mesh sided tube feeders. The design requires the acrobats to pick out Nyjer seeds one at a time.  Otherwise, be forewarned, the darlings favor dumping the cargo of the gourmet thistle seed before the first sunset.  

Standers; such as dove, mockingbird and scrub jay, prefer a firmly footed platform.  We have found a tube dispenser with generous openings, filled and set in the center, works like small plates at happy hour. It keeps the customers coming while helping control the cost to feed.

In the tradition of semi-homemade, where store bought food is customized, this year I experimented with adding to the standard songbird mixes. From the lizard aisle at the pet food store, stirring in protein rich dried mealworms doubled the daily bird count.  From the cupboard, not quite fresh chopped nuts and dried bits of fruit were transferred to the feeder food. The mix beckoned in our first entourage of woodpeckers.   

Then there are the heavy-drinkers; birds who like their nourishment to come from nectar. Many hummingbird and oriole feeders are works of art to human eyes, even when the birds are elsewhere.

It took several years to entice an oriole for a stop-over. The bright yellow plumage swooping in is worth any wait. Highly migratory, finding what they want in accommodations, each year they linger longer. The key is when they land, the bright nectar must be fresh and filled, or they are on their way to juice-up elsewhere.

Supplying Water

Where there is water there is life. The gurgling of a bubbler in a fountain advertises a locale suitable for drinking and bathing. A beach of crushed gravel or glass created in a shallow bowl of water is the perfect puddle for butterflies to sip from.

Next to where our crops ripen, a sawed-off barrel sits refashioned as a fountain. The timer is set to send the gusher up when we are most likely to be able to watch the birds glide in and out. 

Our last water feature is what hikers and hunters know as a guzzler. Modeled after some seen at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, halfway down the back hillside we opened the underground drainage. Instead of unproductively disappearing into the civic guttering, run-off feeds a miniature pond. Any overflow is directed a short distance down cemented stones.

Deeper and more privately situated than the other water features, larger creatures sip from its banks. To walk to the edge of the main garden and have a hawk take flight so near that you feel the air pushed beneath wings is to feel the meaning of the word awe.  

Creating Cover

Before settling in, creatures seek escape routes away from danger. Thorns of roses and bougainvillea are flowering barbed wire. Clip back two arm's length distance from bird feeders. This creates a double defense in the bird's battle to survive. Climbers, such as housecats, won’t slide up close enough to pounce. Birds of prey aren’t likely to follow smaller birds fleeing in to a thorny thicket.

All creatures need a place to call home; a sheltering place to raise babies. A place away from people, predators that is buffered from nasty weather.

A little relaxation from the desire to have a yard scrupulously maintained is in order. A few twigs left untrimmed are nest building materials. More judicious use of pesticides helps everything up the food chain thrive.

Indicators

When you turn the soil, watch for worms; the wigglers are a lead indicator of how healthy the garden is. The longer we keep a wildlife garden, the more worms there are tunneling about.

At the end of winter, little tweeters have discovered security lights turning on are incubator warm. When chirping comes from the nest, we know, springtime has arrived.

Ready. Set. Certify.

There are over 140,000 backyard habitats across the United States. Using this article as a guide, you should be able to easily share the distinction of being part of NWF's Certified Wildlife Habitat program.

To learn more or certify your spot, link up here http://www.nwf.org/Get-Outside/Outdoor-Activities/Garden-for-Wildlife.aspx