Are you a nature enthusiast? Do you want to enjoy watching animal visitors come to your backyard? Are you interested in making your home give back to your ecosystem? It’s surprisingly easy to attract a wide variety of animal life to your home. Here are a few easy tips for making your home more inviting for wildlife.
The biggest attraction for animals of all kinds is a food source. That food source will vary, of course, depending on what kind or kinds of animals you’re hoping to bring around. If you’re a birdwatcher, consider setting up several different birdfeeders with different kinds of seed– some birds prefer a songbird blend, while others need a protein mix. Keeping all of these on hand will help to ensure that you have many feathered visitors all year long. Bird feeders tend to attract a few other animals as well, especially squirrels. Rather than trying to fight the squirrels, it’s best to give them their own feeder. After all, squirrels need to eat too. Squirrels particularly enjoy corn, so putting out a cob or two on a feeder will attract many of them.
Another way to invite animals into your yard is to provide them with a water source. A bird bath is a fun and simple way to draw lots of birds, and you’ll enjoy watching them come to visit. Motorized fountains that run continuously are a popular alternative to traditional bird baths, as they bring in birds without becoming a breeding area for mosquitoes. If you’re working with a very large space and are really committed, a pond is a huge attraction for wildlife of all sorts, including deer, turtles, and waterfowl.
Some of the plants you already have near your home might attract wildlife as well. Deer tend to enjoy areas with lots of oak trees, as they eat the fallen acorns. Certain flowering plants are popular with butterflies in the warmer months. Birds are likely to visit homes that have lots of leafy trees. Homes that are surrounded by heavily wooded areas are more likely to see animal visitors than those in the suburbs, of course. However, if your home doesn’t have much in the way of vegetation, it’s never too late to get started. Adding even a few plants will go a long way in making your home more inviting to the animal life in your area.
