(Gardening) Improving Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Do ogrodu, Ogrodniczy, ogrodnictwo
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Agricultural Extension Service
The University of Tennessee
PB1633
Improving Your
Wildlife Habitat
1
Backyard
Table of Contents
Wildlife Needs.......................................................................................................................................... 3
Wildlife Management Concepts ............................................................................................................... 3
Edge, Vertical Structure and Interspersion ............................................................................................... 4
Draw a Map .............................................................................................................................................. 5
Putting It All Together.............................................................................................................................. 6
Benefi ts of Landscaping for Wildlife ....................................................................................................... 6
What Should You Plant?........................................................................................................................... 6
Table 1 - Native trees and shrubs benefi cial to wildlife ........................................................................ 7
Table 2 - Native herbaceous plants that attract hummingbirds and butterfl ies...................................... 8
Providing Shelter ...................................................................................................................................... 8
Feeders and Nest Boxes ........................................................................................................................... 9
Table 3 - Food preferences of birds common to backyard feeders in Tennessee ................................ 10
SPECIAL CASE: The Eastern Bluebird ................................................................................................ 11
Table 4 - Dimensions of nest boxes.................................................................................................... 13
Water....................................................................................................................................................... 14
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................. 15
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Your Backyard
Wild life Habitat
Craig A. Harper, Assistant Professor
Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries
ildlife viewing is
becoming one of the most
popular forms of outdoor
recreation in America. Ob-
serving wildlife in one’s own backyard is not only
enjoyable, but convenient as well. In some areas (espe-
cially rural settings), excellent wildlife habitat exists
and viewing opportunities can be abundant. However,
in a growing number of areas (especially suburbia),
wildlife habitat has deteriorated or been destroyed
entirely. This is particularly true in many subdivisions
where the landscape was bulldozed and leveled-off
prior to home construction. In either case, there are lots
of ways to improve wildlife habitat around your home.
not be good for another. For example, squirrels will
not get much benefi t from a large lawn or pasture
where bluebirds are thriving on insects. Also, some
mammals (e.g., deer and bears) need a much larger
area to meet their habitat requirements than others
(e.g., rabbits or chipmunks) do. There is, however,
overlap in many habitat requirements. Many wild-
life species benefi t from a fruit-producing shrub or
bird feeder and a multitude of species will use the
standing dead oak at the edge of your yard or fi eld
for nesting, denning, roosting, perching and feeding.
Wildlife Management
Concepts
Before starting a plan to improve wildlife habi-
tat around your home, there are some basic concepts
of wildlife management you should understand.
Realizing that not all species have the same habitat
requirements, a diversity of habitats and vegetative
types will benefi t more wildlife species than an area
with homogenous vegetative cover. Increased plant
diversity gives rise to increased animal diversity,
where diversity is the number of species, not the
number of individuals. Food, cover, water and space
Wildlife Needs
Wildlife have four basic requirements: food,
cover, water and space. Considering these require-
ments, you can see where the area around your
home may be defi cient in one or more of these. In
most cases you can improve defi ciencies; how-
ever, in some cases, because of physical or spatial
limitations, you will not. These four basic habitat
requirements differ (to some degree) with each
wildlife species. What is good for one species may
3
Improving
W
resources are fi nite
and can be utilized
com plete ly. To this
end, an area can sup-
port only so many
animals, which is
expressed as the carry-
ing capacity (Figure
1). In many areas, the
carrying capacity has
been reached, yet no
animals are present!
That is because there
is insuffi cient habitat
to support any wild-
life. This is where
ac tiv i ties for im prove -
ment are much needed
and results can be astonishing.
Wildlife
Figure 3.
Edge is increased vertically
by Ñstair steppingÒ
vegetation starting with
low-growing herbaceous
vegetation, then shrubs,
small trees and large trees.
Figure 1.
ing on. Likewise, a fox is going to hunt most often
where the rabbit is — near the “edge!” Creating an
irregular border (as opposed to a straight one) with
your yard and ornamental plantings is the easiest
way to increase the amount of edge near your home
(Figure 2).
Edge is represented on both a horizontal and
vertical plane. Vertical structure is represented by
dif fer ent layers of veg e ta tion ex tend ing from the
ground up to the tree canopy (Figure 3). Vertical struc-
ture is important for several reasons. Most importantly,
it rep re sents dif fer ent lay ers of cov er for pro tec tion,
nesting, roosting and feeding for all kinds of animals
Edge, Vertical Structure
and Interspersion
“Edge” is where two or more habitats come
together. For example, an edge exists where your
yard meets the woodlot. Most often, many wildlife
species are found here. The reason these species
are associated with edges is because both food
AND cover are in close proximity. Escaping a hawk
or house cat is much easier for a rabbit if some
brushy cover is near the clover and grass it’s feed-
House
Figure 2. You can increase the amount of edge by creating irregular borders.
4
Figure 4. Establishing islands
in your yard is a great way
to increase edge and promote
diversity.
and
some
species “specialize” in being
able to exploit a particular layer.
Many small mammals and birds (e.g.,
eastern towhees and brown thrashers) feed on
the ground amongst brush and low vegetation. Caro-
lina wrens, northern cardinals and northern mocking-
birds forage for food in low-growing shrubs and trees.
Red-eyed vireos, scarlet tanagers and yellow-throated
warblers forage in the canopy of mature stands. Some
species (e.g., wild turkeys) prefer areas where visibility
is good and the vegetation is not too dense. Others
(e.g., rabbits) prefer areas with low-growing dense
veg e ta tion and re duced vis i bil i ty.
Interspersion is best described as the arrange-
ment of habitats. A mixture of habitats arranged in
a patchwork mosaic provides good interspersion.
Make your yard and surrounding area more at-
tractive for wildlife by arranging different habitats
close to one another. An island of wildfl owers or
shrub bery in your yard in creas es in ter sper sion while
breaking up large expanses of grass (Figure 4).
bound aries
and draw in your
house, driveway, fence, shed and then your shrub-
bery. Continue by identifying the location of all
trees, bushes, bird feeders, birdbaths, etc. Once
completed, step off distances (e.g., from house to
road, shed to garden, etc.) to get a rough check of
your map and correct any sign of errors regarding
scale. Now, what do you have? Look at the habitat
“holes” on your map and study the arrangement of
vegetation. This will help you see where you should
begin working.
Draw a Map
One of the fi rst steps in providing increased
habitat for wildlife in your backyard is to draw a
map of the area surrounding your home (Figure 5).
As accurately as you can, start with your property
Figure 5. Drawing of a backyard.
5
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