Inviting Wildlife to Your Garden

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Inviting Wildlifeto Your Garden

• Key elements needed to attract a wide variety of
  wildlife.

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NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat

• Water
• Food
• Cover
• Place to Raise Young
• Sustainable Gardening

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Water Features

• Deep Water
• Beach
• Slow-moving Shallow Water
• Bog/Puddles
• Splash
• Drip
• Misters

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Food

• Trees/Shrubs Nuts, Berries, Fruit, Sap,
  Foliage, Twigs
• Plants Seeds, Nectar, Foliage, Flowers, Pollen
• Insects/Invertebrates Dragonflies, Butterflies,
  Grubs, Worms
• Birds, Small Rodents, Amphibians, Fish

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CoverWeather/Predators

• Woods/Large Trees
• Evergreens
• Thickets/Brambles
• Ground Cover
• Caves
• Meadows/Prairies
• Ponds
• Burrows

• Roosting Boxes
• Toad Abodes
• Brush/Log Piles
• Rock Piles
• Water Garden
• Leaf Litter/Mulch

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Place to Raise Young

• Allow for Mating/Courtship Behavior
• Habitat Materials for Nest Building
• Food Sources for Young
• Encompassed in Cover but with variations

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Sustainable Gardening

• Reduce Water Usage
• Xeriscaping, Rainwater Capture, Drip/Soaker
  Irrigation
• Reduce Erosion
• Reduce Chemical Pesticides Fertilizer
• Reduce Non-native Plants Turf Area
• Compost
• Mulch

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Butterflies Moths

• Best Website
• www.butterfliesandmoths.org

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Butterflies Moths

• Protected sunny, non-windy area
• Low traffic
• Specific Host Plants for caterpillars
• Nectar Plants for adults
• Boggy puddles
• Citrus wedges/nectar feeders

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Caterpillar Host Plants

• Swallowtail Dill, Parsley, Fennel, Queen Annes
  Lace
• Monarchs Milkweeds (asclepias)
• Silvery Blue Lupine
• Zebra Swallowtail Pawpaw (asmina)
• Buckeye Snapdragons (antirrhinum), Monkeyflower
  (mimulus), linaria
• Hummingbird Clearwing Moth Honeysuckle,
  Hawthorn, Cherries/Plums
• Great Ash Sphinx Moth Lilac, Aspen, Ash

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Butterfly Adult Nectar Sources

• Perennials

• Annuals

• Azaleas/Rhododendron
• Bee Balms (monarda)
• Butterfly Bush (buddleias)
• Honeysuckle
• Phlox
• Milkweeds
• Vibernums

• Lantana
• Snapdragons
• Verbenas
• Petunias
• Nasturtiums

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Dragonflies Damselflies

• Still Water (beach to 2 feet deep, 5-10 feet
  diameter)
• Protection from wind
• Underwater Vegetation (nymph hiding)
• Waters edge perching plants
• Light-colored flat sunny basking rocks
• Area free from fish
• Feeds on smaller insects (mosquitos)

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Amphibians Reptiles

• Best Websites
• www.herpnet.net/Minnesota-Herpetology/
• www.dnr.state.mn.us/reptiles_amphibians

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Salamanders Newts

• Eastern Newt
• Tiger Salamander
• Blue-Spotted Salamander
• Habitat/Food
• permanent woodland ponds
• leaf rotting log litter
• eat fish frog eggs, crawfish, water insects,
  earthworms, snails

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Frogs Toads

• Spring Peeper
• Eastern Gray/Copes Gray Tree
• American Toad
• Northern Leopard
• Green
• Bull

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Frogs Toads

• Eat Insects Invertebrates
• Great for controlling garden pests
• Habitat Permanent or Semi-permanent Ponds
• Burrows in cool damp leaf litter and loose soil
• More active at night, landscape lighting attracts
  prey

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Snakes

• Plains/Eastern/Red-sided Garter Snake
• Habitat Pond edge, animal burrows, Log piles,
  Damp woods, Tall grass/meadows
• Eats Anything. Earthworms, Frogs, Toads,
  Salamanders, Mice, Bird Eggs, Fish, Carrion
• Redbelly Snake
• Habitat Flat boards/logs in woods, dry sandy,
  near marshes
• Eats Slugs, worms, insect larvae

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Skinks

• Prairie Skink (5-8 long)
• Habitat Burrows under rock piles, boards or logs
  in sunny prairies, under railroad ties
• Eats Grasshoppers, Crickets, Beetles,
  Caterpillars

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Hummingbirds

• Multiple feeders, 41 watersugar
• Bright Ribbon in Trees/Shrubs (mid-march)
• Year-round blooming plants
• Snags within 50 feet of feeders
• Water misters drippers
• Encourage spiderwebs
• Large tree with horizontal/downward branches
  facing open area

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Hummingbird Plant Favorites

• Annuals in baskets (plant extra early!)
• Petunias, Verbena
• Tubular Perennials
• Honeysuckle, Trumpet Vine, Bee Balm, Cardinal
  Flower, Red Columbine
• Native Annuals
• Spotted jewelweed
• Other favorite annuals
• Nicotiana, Snapdragons, Nasturtium, Zinnia, Cleome

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General Songbirds

• Feeders that include both hanging and platform,
  away from windows
• Feed within 5-15 feet of dense shrub or evergreen
• Black sunflower, white millet, peanuts
• Add variety such as suet, mealworms fruit
• Slow-moving water 2-3 inches deep with rough
  surface

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Suet Recipe

• 1 cup Lard/Suet
• 1 cup Peanut Butter (crunchy or smooth)
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 3 cups oats
• 1 cup sugar
• Dried fruit (optional)

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Cardinals

• Feed
• Prefer platform, but will do perch
• Seeds sunflower, safflower
• Peanuts, raisins, meal worms, grape jelly
• Nest 4-6 feet above ground in dense low-traffic
  shrubs edging open areas
• Stake territory from tallest structure in
  neighborhood
• Attracted to shallow moving water year-round

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Baltimore Orioles

• April 15-May1st put out food
• oranges halved on spikes in trees
• grape jelly on platforms
• Hummingbird feeders with perches
• June 1st and beyond
• Add insects (mealworms) and suet
• Nesting material string pieces 8-12 in length

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Bluebirds

• Feed insects in a protected feeder
• Fall add berries, shelled seeds and suet (love
  raisins, dried cranberries and cherries)
• Nest boxes hole 1 ½ no perch, mounted on
  predator-proof pole within 5-10 feet of woods
  overlooking mowed grass/meadow, paired boxes for
  each bluebird
• Remove twiggy dummy wren nests from one box
• Monitor box weekly for blowfly larvae

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Waterfowl

• A resting spot in the sun
• Island in pond, Driftwood
• Tall grass near ponds edge
• Preferably with only water access and protection
  coming from other direction
• Underwater pond plants
• Bait in spring with barley or corn
• Variety of nest boxes

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Rodents

• Mice Voles
• Chipmunks
• Red Squirrels

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Native Mice Voles

• Northern Grasshopper Mouse
• Deer Mouse (Prairie Woodland)
• Western Harvest Mouse
• Meadow Vole
• Southern Red-Backed Vole
• Meadow Jumping Mouse
• Plains Pocket Mouse

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Native Mice

• Northern Grasshopper Mouse
• Grasshoppers, beetles, moths, flies, wasps,
  spiders
• Hunt in packs, defend against intruders, howl
• Deer Mouse (Prairie Woodland)
• Seeds (bush clover), keep stashes
• Burrows, under logs, hollow stumps
• Western Harvest Mouse
• Weed grass seeds, caterpillars, hide for later
• Grass nests at base of dense shrub or tall grass

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Native Voles

• Meadow Vole
• Greens seeds, garden produce
• Create tunnels in grass
• Southern Red-Backed Vole
• cache food seeds, nuts, fruits, leaves, bark,
  roots, fungi, and insects
• Forest dwellers, territorial, favorite source of
  food for predators

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Other Rodents

• Chipmunks
• Black-oil sunflower seeds, berries, other plant
  seeds
• Burrows, natural boulder walls, log piles
  (firewood)
• Solitary, fight over food, semi-hibernate, leave
  territory where born
• Red Squirrels
• insects, seeds, bark, nuts, fruits, mushrooms and
  pine seeds or cones. Young birds mice.
• Forests, hollows of trees, solitary, vocal

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General Predatory Birds

• Attract both nest habitat and food source
• Place the preys food source open travel distance
  from its habitat
• Provide a vantage point for the predatory bird to
  wait it out

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MN Suburban Predatory Birds

• Birds that feed primarily on smaller birds
• Coopers Hawk
• Sharp Shinned Hawk
• Birds that feed on rodents, amphibians, reptiles
  small birds
• American Kestral
• Barred Owl
• Broad-winged Hawk

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Fish-eating Predators

• Great Blue Heron
• Snowy Egret
• Green Heron
• Kingfisher
• Raccoons
• Mink

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Location, Location, Location

• Best Laid Plans

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• Put bluebird houses here

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www.happyponds.net
612-865-0440