Bringing Nature Home
My father placed bird and squirrel feeders outside his dining room window on his Michigan gentleman’s farm and would spend many pleasant hours watching and identifying his visitors.
Fueled by his example, it became a goal for my wife Linda and me to pattern the development of our back yard to encourage visits of birds and wildlife.
After many years of thought and planning, our efforts seem to be working.
Our home is built on a ravine with a year around stream at its easterly edge. Linda loves to garden and saw potential in the sloped rear yard as a flower and vegetable garden. The yard was sectioned off with rockery to hold the land in place from erosion and also to make maintaining the garden sections easier. Paths were made of river rock carefully gathered over the years. Flower beds were often lined with semi precious rocks and petrified wood gathered on our numerous outdoor outings either by us or by my father. Flowers, trees and shrubs were carefully chosen to provide scent, color, and habitat for birds, raccoons and squirrels.
We work with a few of our neighbors to provide continuous habitat over a large area. Landscape buffers were designed with trellises of vines where less desirable views needed screening. Some large trees were removed to let more sunlight in, but smaller trees friendly to wildlife replaced them as required by zoning ordinances. One ordinance required that we leave a large 25 foot tall hollow stump where a tree had stood. Raccoons have raised their young there on many occasions. World Wildlife Foundation has even identified our yard as certified wildlife habitat.
Bird feeders keep several species near our home all year long. Numerous humming bird feeders both near both front and rear windows keep roughly six birds happy as regular visitors. Numerous flowers in bloom all year long help keep them also. Several bird feeders are carefully placed to attract wrens, blue jay, nuthatch, crows and woodpeckers. Regulars visit daily, but in the spring and fall migrating flocks of small birds swoop in for a quick feed before heading off to their final destinations. We, along with our neighbors, maintain squirrel feeders and watch about six squirrel’s daily try to pry loose corn and nuts from devices made to make them work at getting fed, and bury what they don’t consume on the spot.
A small pond was dug near the house with basalt like fountains keeping water aerated and circulating. Hummingbirds use fountains as their persona bird baths. Other bird baths are placed among the flower gardens to keep the rest of the birds happy. Goldfish inhabit the pond and careful design gives them protection from raccoons. We lose a few from time to time, but manage to get several survivors to stay to grow for more than a year. When numbers dwindle, replacement is inexpensive. A large big leaf maple tree acts as a rookery once we designated it as the bird house tree. Twenty bird houses of various designs are hung there, colorfully decorating it. We help insure that we have bird visitors for the future.
When it becomes feeding time, our outdoor family is not bashful about letting us know. Humming birds buzz nearby to alert us to feeders that may be empty, squirrels venture into the garden if food is not present, and goldfish come out of hiding to place themselves in visible feeding position when they become hungry. It seems to be a good trade. Wildlife entertains us with their antics in exchange for food.
