Please send your
question regarding habitat development and
gardening for birds to gardening@birdzilla.com.
We'll answer as many as we can and post selected
answers here.
Q.
Wildlife doesn't just randomly occur in a given
area; it is there in response to habitat which
meets its needs. What are the four essential
elements of a wildlife habitat, including for
birds? DF -
Atlanta, GA
A. Food,
water, cover (protection from weather and
predators) and space to raise a family.
Tom
Patrick is president of the
Windstar
Wildlife
Institute.
Tom's company provides training and
certification in wildlife habitat
development programs. Thanks to Tom and
some of his Certified Wildlife Habitat
Naturalists for answering the
questions.
Q.
Feeders are used to supplement the foods provided
by trees, shrubs, flowers, crops in food plots,
vines and ground covers. What are the different
types of feeders? TR - LA,
CA.
A. Cylindrical,
hopper, suet, hummingbird, squirrel and
fruit.
Pennsylvania
Plants for Wildlife Habitat & Conservation Landscaping
Do you enjoy
observing nature...hearing the song of the
chickadee...watching hummingbirds fill up on nectar
from trumpet vines...listening to the chattering of
squirrels...seeing the beauty and grace of a
monarch butterfly perched on a milkweed...
experiencing the antics of a Mockingbird...the
cooing of the Mourning Doves...the swiftness of the
Cottontail...and the brilliance of a Cardinal or
Baltimore Oriole?
If the answer is
"yes", you'll probably want to landscape your
property for wildlife so you can experience even
more from Mother Nature by attracting more wildlife
to your property.
Wildlife doesn't
just randomly appear in a given area. It is there
because of favorable habitat. The essential
elements that you must provide in your habitat are
food, water, cover and a place to raise a family.
To attract the most wildlife, you need native
trees, shrubs, groundcover, vines and wildflowers,
many of which will provide food and
shelter.
Native or
indigenous plants naturally occur in the region in
which they evolved. They are adapted to local soil,
rainfall and temperature conditions, and have
developed natural defenses to many insects and
diseases. Because of these traits, native plants
will grow with minimal use of water, fertilizers
and pesticides. Wildlife species evolve with
plants; therefore, they use native plant
communities as their habitat. Using native plants
helps preserve the balance and beauty of natural
ecosystems.
Remember the
function served by plants and structures is more
important than their appearance. In other words,
don't base your planting decisions solely on what a
plant looks like. Following are WindStar Wildlife
Institute's plant recommendations for wildlife
habitats in Pennsylvania.
Trees
Red and Sugar Maple; River Birch; Hornbeam;
Shagbark Hickory; Hackbery; Redbud; Flowering
Dogwood; Cockspur and Dotted Hawthorn; Persimmon;
American Holly; Black Walnut; Eastern Red Cedar;
Sweet Gum; Black Gum; Eastern White, Shortleaf,
Pitch and Virginia Pine; Sycamore; Wild Plum; Pin
Cherry; White, Scarlet, Pin, Willow and Red Oak;
Sassafras; American Linden; Eastern
Hemlock
Shrubs
Downey Serviceberry; New Jersey Tea; Pogoda, Swamp,
Silky and Red-osier Dogwood; Washington Hawthrorn;
Bush Honeysuckle; Box Huckleberry; Winterberry;
Spicebush; Chokecherry; Fragrant and Smooth Sumac;
Prickly Gooseberry; Thimbleberry; Elderberry;
Blueberry; Witherod Viburnum; Arrowwood
Wildflowers
Sweet Flag; White Baneberry; Thimbleweed;
Columbine; Jack-in-the-pulpit; New England, White
and Frost Aster; Butterfly Weed; Blue Wild Indigo;
Turtlehead; Maryland Golden Aster; Tall Coreopsis;
Dutchman's Breeches; Shooting Star; Joe-pye Weed;
Ox-eye Sunflower; Swamp Rose Mallow; Wood Lily;
Cardinal Flower; Great Blue Lobelia; Wild Lupine;
Virginia Bluebells; Partridge Berry; Beebalm; Wild
Bergamot; Yellow Poind Lily; Beardtongue; Sweet
William; Summer and Creeping Phlox; Solomon's Seal;
Black-eyed Susan; Cut-leaf Coneflower; Golden
Ragwort; Fire Pink; Blue-stemmed, Gray and Showy
Goldenrod; Foam Flower; Virginia Spiderwort; Blue
Verbena; Common Blue and Birdsfoot
Violet
Vines
Virginia Creeper; American Bittersweet; Virgin's
Bower; Coral Honeysuckle; Passionflower; Cross
Vine
Grasses
Indiangrass; Little and Big Bluestem; Sideoats
Grama, Broomsedge, Switchgrass, Bluejoint;
Bottlebrush; Prairie Cordgrass; Tall
Dropseed
The Allegheny
Mountains run diagonally from the southwest to the
northeast with piedmont and coastal plains in the
southeast triangle. The Allegheny Front, as it's
called, cuts a diagonal line across the state. In
the northwest, the plateau falls to the Lake Erie
lowlands and, finally, Lake Erie. The
Pennsylvania
Native Plant
Society can
provide lists of plants for a specific
region.
For more
information on improving your wildlife habitat,
visit the WindStar
Wildlife Institute web
site. On
the web site, you can also apply to certify your
property as a wildlife habitat, register for the
"Certified Wildlife Habitat Naturalist e-Learning
course, become a member and sign up for the FREE
WindStar Wildlife Garden Weekly e-mail
newsletter.
