Backyard Wildlife Habitats

Honda of SC in Timmonsville, SC is one of SCWF’s certified WAIT sites (Wildlife And Industry Together). Here’s a recent pic of some wildlife that is benefitting from the habitat they’ve created. Also check SCWF’s website for more pics from Honda and other WAIT sites.

How to Create Wildlife Habitat
at home, school, work, parks…all throughout your community!

 Habitat Stewards Introduction Workshop
Saturday, February 27, 2010 ~ 9:00 am until 3:00 pm
Sewee Visitor Center, Awendaw, SC

Over 60,000 acres of wildlife habitat in South Carolina are destroyed every year and turned into parking lots, roads, malls, etc.  Through the many habitat programs of the SC Wildlife Federation, community members work together to create wildlife habitat in backyards, parks, schoolyards, on business property, and at other places throughout the community.  As part of our workshop at the Sewee Center, we will be helping to create a Carolina Fence Garden at the center.  Come learn what you need to create and enhance wildlife habitat in your community! 

Topics covered include:

• Basics of a wildlife habitat – big benefits from small changes
• Types of birdfeeders and making your own suet
• Simple fresh water features
• Native Plants that provide food and cover for wildlife
• Nesting boxes to raise young
• Building a Carolina Fence garden
• Planning your habitat and finding resources

SPACE IS LIMITED!      Register no later than Tuesday, February 23rd.    

Cost:                     $10.00 per person (covers lunch & materials)

Click HERE for a Registration Form!

A group of volunteers has maintained a Carolina Fence Garden at the Irmo Branch Lexington County Library for a number of years.  They recently had an Arbor Day event at the garden and added some new plantings and did some general maintenance projects.  The garden looks great and is ready for the growing season!  Send me pictures of your community habitat garden and I’ll post them too! 

I did my count today at my in-laws house in York County.  As you can see, I had lots more birds to count.  Just a tiny bit of snow left up there on Sunday.  Hope you had as much fun counting this year as I did!  I can’t wait to see the results from the SC counts!

The GBBC website doesn’t ask about weather conditions usually, but this year they have added a section for you to enter snow depth.  I thought that was interesting, and was glad to have some to report!  When I did my count, all the snow was beginning to melt, and dripping from the roof and trees.  Large chunks of snow & ice kept falling from tree tops, scaring the birds into hiding.  Even still, there was a fair amount of bird activity in the yard.  It was 40 degrees at the time of my count.  I wish I could’ve counted longer, but I have 3 children, the youngest being only 3 months old, so I was very lucky to get 30 whole minutes to do my counting!!

Another note – the yellow-rumped warbler was eating from the suet feeder both yesterday and today.  I thought he was a goldfinch both times, until I saw a gold finch come to the thistle feeder.  Then, I realized the difference and looked this guy up in my book and online.  He was definitely the yellow-rumped warbler instead of the gold finch!  Interesting to have something a little different!

I did today’s count right before it’s supposed to start snowing…there are just a few flakes coming down.  It was 34 degrees, and overcast.  Very few birds around. 

Be sure your feeders and birdbaths are filled up this week so that the birds will be sure to visit your yard this weekend for the Great Backyard Bird Count! 

From www.birdcount.org:

“Bird watchers coast to coast are invited to take part in the 13th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, Friday, February 12, through Monday, February 15, 2010.  Participants in the free event will join tens of thousands of volunteers counting birds in their own backyards, local parks or wildlife refuges. 

Each checklist submitted by these “citizen scientists” helps researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society learn more about how the birds are doing—and how to protect them. Last year, participants turned in more than 93,600 checklists online, creating the continent’s largest instantaneous snapshot of bird populations ever recorded.” 

I have participated in this event for the last 3 years, and always enjoy it!  I usually sit on my screen porch in the back so I don’t scare birds away.  You simply count the species that you see, and submit the highest number of any species you see at one time.  It’s very simple, and I have learned quite a bit about identifying birds!  I use “All About South Carolina Birds” by Fred J. Alsop, III, and a good pair of binoculars.  Make sure your feeders are full, and settle in for some birdwatching! 

Let me know if you have any questions about this event.  I will post my tallies on this blog.  Let me know what you see too!

From Myrtle Beach Sun News 1/23/10

One of the guiding principles in gardening instructs us to put the right plant in the right place. Growers and nurseries provide plant tags filled with valuable information to help buyers select wisely. Some tags now even identify plants that attract hummingbirds and butterflies or deter deer and rabbits. However, no tag tells the whole story about what a plant will add to your yard.

Our best plant performers are able to endure through our particular coastal heat, humidity, erratic cold snaps, droughts and wet weather. They play a valuable role in the local ecosystem. They behave in such a way that they are not invasive, or needy with regard to water or fertilizer. They are also disease and pest resistant.

How does a gardener identify such wonderful low-maintenance performers? Native and adapted plants are the answer. The following notes and resources will hopefully help guide you beyond the plant tags.

Read the Full Article at:
http://www.thesunnews.com/127/v-print/story/1275973.html

From National Wildlife Federation Website - view full article

•To discourage use of dangerous pesticides, avoid fruits and vegetables imported from Latin America unless they are labeled “organic.”
•Buy shade-grown coffee that is organic and fair-traded to help increase tropical forest acreage for wildlife and encourage sustainable farming practices. For more, see www.nwf.org/birdsandglobalwarming.
•Promote sustainable logging practices that safeguard habitat by buying wood and paper products made from timber harvested in forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. See www.nwf.org/forests.

Bluebirds start looking for suitable nesting places in February each year.  Now is the time to clean out your bluebird box and make sure it is ready for the bluebirds! 

Bluebirds are picky about their nesting boxes.  They like them placed about 6 feet high in an open area.  They like to be able to sit on top and look all around the yard.  You don’t have to have a big yard, but it’s good to place the box in the middle of a grassy area.

Mount all bird nesting boxes on a metal pole with some sort of predator baffle on it.  Eggs and hatchlings are an easy target for predators, and there are MANY dangers for young bird families.   You can even grease the pole with a heavy grease like axle grease to keep out snakes and fire ants.  Also make sure your nesting box has a predator guard around the entrance hole – this may either be a metal ring or an extra layer of wood around the entrance hole to reinforce it.  This will keep squirrels, raccoons, etc. from enlarging the entrance hole for easier access to their dinner. 

Place the house facing the morning sun so the nest doesn’t get too hot in the afternoons.  If you have more than one bluebird house, make sure they are at least 100 feet apart.  If you’ve had the box(es) in the same place for a number of years with no success, try just moving it to a new location.

You can entice bluebirds into your yard by offering them mealworms.  Buy mealworms at Wild Birds Unlimited store, or Doctors Foster & Smith online.  You can put them in a dish on your patio, or buy a feeding cup to attach to your feeder pole or nesting box pole. 

Some other species that will use a bluebird house include: chickadee, tufted titmouse, house wren, nuthatch, and prothonotary warbler.