Preparing Your Yard for Fall Friends

Your yard provides a rich resource of food and shelter to wildlife all year round. In the fall it can be more so as food and a safe place to live become harder to find. While you might want to tidy up your yard before the winter months, here are a few reasons why it is good to hold off.

• If you leave your plants to go to seed, you will be providing a food source for wintering birds. If you leave the plants after they go to seed, the old plant stems can provide shelter to a variety of wintering insects including bees. The dead stalks can be used as building materials for birds building their nests in the spring.
• If you leave your lawn long, you provide shelter for wintering insects which in turn will feed newly hatched birds in the spring.
• If you leave a few little leaf piles, these can provide a safe place for animals like frogs to hibernate. Rock piles can provide this as well, especially near water.
• If you have brush piles, they can provide protection for small mammals such as marmots, chipmunks and hares.
• If you have a pond that ices over in the winter, keep a hole in the ice so animals are able to access the water. You can make a hole in the ice without cracking it by placing a container of hot water on the ice to melt it. This method ensures that the animals can access the water without the danger of them falling through the ice.

Your yard is a precious resource for so many species of wildlife, thank you for taking care of it.

If you see a bird that has exposed bone or blood, bugs or insects covering it, no feathers, or a bird that is sleeping, human intervention is required. Call Wildlife Rescue’s Support Centre at 604-526-7275. To help us return your call quickly, please leave your contact information and observation. We will make sure the bird is treated with kindness and compassion.

If you would like to help with the many efforts of the Wildlife Rescue Association, please click here to learn more.

Posted in Education, Uncategorized
Tags: bc birds, biodiversity, birds of bc, fall birds, save your local wildlife, wildlife, wildlife rescue bc, winter birds