by Margaret Baird
Growing up in southern New England, my siblings and I
couldn't help but look forward to the seasonal transition from
August's humidity to the increasing crispness of September,
despite its association with the end of summer. And while the
departing summer's haze signaled that the lawn mower would soon
be put to bed for its long winter's nap—hurrah!—we knew we
would have no luck escaping from yard chores any time soon. The
plentiful assortment of trees on our property ensured that.
Once released to the ground, vibrant foliage became nothing
more than a sea of leaf litter—piles and piles waiting to be
raked and disposed. Endless loads to be hauled to the end of
the yard and pitched into the wooded lot next door or neatly
bagged and set by the curb for town pickup.
We could have saved ourselves a lot of time and trouble if
we'd stopped raking long enough to consider how our urge for
orderliness affected the welfare of our wild neighbors during
the coldest months of the year. Thankfully, in today's more
environmentally-aware age, a routine yard cleanup is no longer
on the must-do list for fall—and that's good news for wildlife.
Looking beyond providing the traditional seed and suet feeders
for birds and small mammals, there are plenty of other modest
efforts you can make around your sanctuary to help an even
greater variety of wild animals survive harsh weather
conditions.
Keep Those Fading Flowers
This year, try holding off your nipping and tucking of
garden beds or patio container plantings until springtime, and
resist combing your yard clean of leaf litter. Put yourself in
an animal's position: just when the going gets tough, potential
winter food and cover sources are removed, leaving a bleak and
uninviting landscape in which to survive the cold months. But
if you leave dead stalks, leaves, and seedheads standing in
your yard, garden, or apartment balcony over the winter, you
will not only feed and nourish wildlife but also provide much
needed cover for many species of wild animals struggling to
survive amid the season's dropping temperatures. Large
seedheads like those of black-eyed Susans, sedums, purple
coneflowers, joe-pye weed, and sunflowers are especially
favored by wildlife as food sources. So too are the seeds of
zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, phlox, and dianthus. As they often
remain green well into winter, hardy ferns can be especially
valuable as both cover and a food source, while berry-producing
plants such as bayberries, junipers, and cotoneasters are
year-round favorites for many species, particularly birds.
Here's an added bonus you may not have considered: Leaving
plant material in your garden beds can lend winter interest and
texture to an otherwise drab setting. In particular, the tall,
wavy, golden shapes of ornamental grasses and sedges such as
feather reed grass, switch grass, little bluestem, and broom
sedge can be magnificent to behold in the autumn landscape, and
are perfectly lovely beneath a powdery dusting of snow. Many
wildlife species will readily forage the seeds of grasses, and
birds will pluck old stalks and foliage for use as
nest-building material in the spring. An Organic
Windfall
Think of fallen leaves as an organic windfall for your yard
and garden. While you may want to remove at least some of the
accumulated leaf litter from your yard—depending on whether
your property contains many trees or just a few—know that
small, deep piles of leaves can provide cozy nests for
hibernating reptiles, amphibians, and insects; make a
cost-effective, water-conserving mulch for garden beds; and 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
With the gradual loss of foliage in autumn, wild animals
face an increasingly critical need for adequate shelter and
cover from predators. 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, reptiles and amphibians, insects, and small mammals such
as chipmunks, rabbits, and skunks. In choosing a site for your
brush pile, pick a spot in an out-of-the-way corner of your
property, preferably close to food sources and away from
buildings. Starting with a layer of larger limbs, stack
branches loosely, adding vegetation and leaves on top—this will
create plenty of nooks and crannies so that animals of various
sizes may enter and find a snug refuge from severe weather. And
although it will occasionally be disturbed through the cold
weather months, a firewood pile also functions well as shelter
for wildlife. Just pile your logs crisscross fashion in order
to create internal spaces that invite your wild neighbors to
come in from the cold.
Water Sources
Year round, water remains one of the most important and
beneficial elements you can provide for wildlife. While it
stands to reason that animals are drawn to water sources when
the weather's warm, it doesn't occur to many folks that access
to water when the mercury dips is probably even more crucial
for birds and mammals, since reliable watering holes often dry
up or ice over. Providing water close to home can prevent
animals from having to search far afield to slake their
thirst—thereby saving them valuable caloric energy, which may
mean the difference between life and death on the coldest
nights. Investing in a quality heater for your bird bath or
artificial pond will keep water ice-free and undoubtedly reward
you with a veritable stream 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.
