Encouraging or Discouraging Backyard Wildlife

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(No Transcript)
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Encouraging orDiscouraging Backyard
Wildlife

• Eric Peterson, University Extension Educator
• Sustainable Management of Rangeland Resources
• Mountain West Area, WY

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Managing for Wildlife
Define your objectives

• List of Wants and Don't Wants
• Some things Mutually Exclusive
• Some things are Compatible

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Begin a Plan
Identify.............

• Objectives
• Requirements
• Resources

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The Requirements
These are mandatory! The more diversity - the
more wildlife

• Space
• Food
• Water
• Cover

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Requirements are Management Keys
Take required habitat components away, and
wildlife leave

• Attract desirables
• Discourage undesirables
• Conflict?
• Manage another critical element
• May not have everything

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Sometimes you cant have ALL you want

• Conflict
• Seasonality
• Of food
• Of cover
• Of environment
• Migration
• Your volume of space
• Your proximity to Wildland/Urban interface

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Desirable/Undesirable Wildlife

• Amphibians/Reptiles
• Butterfly
• Hummingbirds (Nectar Eaters)
• Songbirds (Seed/Insect Eaters)
• Rodents (shrews --gt rabbits --gt beaver)
• Bats (insectivores)
• Bigger Birds (omnivores/carnivores)
• Small Carnivores (weasels, feline, canine)
• Herbivores (Antelope, Deer, Elk, Moose, Sheep)

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Eight Plant components to Wildlife needs

• Evergreens
• Grasses and Legumes
• Plants for Butterflies, Bees, Moths
• Plants for Hummingbirds, some birds
• Summer fruit, berry and cover plants
• Fall Fruits, Grains, and Cover Plants
• Winter Fruits, Seeds, and Cover Plants
• Nut and Acorn Plants

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About Plant Lists. . . .

• Every habitat has different potential
• Soil
• Exposure/Aspect
• Protection
• Water Availability
• Elevation
• Latitude
• Management commitment
• Local Resources
• Localized Plant lists
• Localized Applications

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Evergreens
Often a limiting element in winter

• Shelter
• Rain
• Heat
• Wind
• Cold
• Escape cover
• Nesting Sites
• Nests
• Cavities

• Food
• Sap
• Needles
• Twigs
• Buds
• Seeds
• Insects

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Grasses and Legumes

• Food
• High protein foliage/leaves
• Deer
• Ground Squirrels
• Rabbits/Hares
• Seeds
• Birds
• Ground Cover

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Plants for Butterflies, Bees, Moths
Need Two Kinds of Plants

• Host plants
• Caterpillars eat foliage of host plants
• Egg Laying Sites
• Nectar Flowers
• Large upright single blossom flowers of bright
  colors
• Sunny, Leeward sites for sunning

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Plants for Hummingbirds, some birds

• Feed on tiny insects, spiders and nectar
• Tubular Flowers
• Prefer red
• Succession of
• varieties through time
• Perching and resting sites

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Summer fruit, berry and cover plants

• Birds
• Cover for nesting
• Summer Fruits
• Berries
• Reproduction energy
• Other mammals
• Fruit and berry food
• Select Staggered
• Fruiting species

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Fall Fruits, Grains, and Cover Plants

• Fall Energy
• Residents - Winter Stores
• Migrants - Traveling Energy
• Durability (ex. Grains)
• Cover (after leaf fall)

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Winter Fruits, Seeds, and Cover Plants
Remember that COVER is often the limiting element
in winter

• Persistent fruit or seed
• Accessability (elevated)
• Unattractive when immature - sweeten after curing

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Nut and Acorn Plants
(Probably not a real big concern here!)

• Mast for Food
• Cavities for nesting and cover

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Eight Non-Living Components
Things you can create, nurture, or preserve

• Nest Boxes
• Dead, fallen, or snag trees
• Brush and Rock Piles
• Cut banks, cliffs, caves
• Dust and Grit
• Salt
• Water
• Feeders

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Nest Boxes
Simulate tree cavities

• Bird Species have preferences to design
• Opening
• Perch
• Internal size
• Bedding material
• Location is important
• Height
• Aspect
• Sunny/Shade

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Dead, Fallen, Snag Trees

• Nesting
• Perching
• Food Sources
• Territorial purposes
• Courtship
• Boundary
• Sentry duty

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Brush and Rock Piles

• Nesting and Den Sites and Escape Cover
• Small mammals
• Birds
• Amphibians
• Reptiles
• Skunks, etc.

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Cut banks, cliffs, caves
Not something you are likely to create

• Preserve, appreciate and manage for
• Swallows
• Burrows/denning sites
• Bats
• Simulate for
• Swallows
• Bats

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Dust and Grit

• Bird External Parasite Control
• Very fine sand
• Soil
• Bird Digestive function
• Grit
• 2' X 2' tray near feeding area

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Salt

• Salt and other trace minerals
• Generally Sufficient
• Salt is not a requirement
• Salt is an attractant
• Some species crave more
• Certain trace minerals are required
• Deer Family
• Some birds

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Water
Different Wildlife - Different Water Sources

• Butterflies, insects
• Mud puddles
• Birds
• Shallow lt 3 inches
• Sloping sides
• Rough surface
• Ground or elevated
• Dripping
• Heated

• Amphibians
• Still Water
• Fish
• Warm Standing
• Cool Running
• Mammals
• Fresh Water

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Feeders

• A supplement to your habitat
• Artificial Increase of carrying capacity
• Nutrition balance important
• Food depends on animal

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Managing the Habitat to meet Objectives
Add or subtract elements

• To encourage the wildlife you want
• Add the elements they like
• Take away the things they do not
• To discourage the wildlife you do not want
• Take away the things they like
• Add things they dont

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Beneficial habitat characteristics

• The Most Important............. Diversity - in
  all things

• In structure
• Height
• Thickness
• Winter/summer
• In food
• Food type
• Food availability/Seasonality
• In cover
• Thermal
• Predator
• Reproduction

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Discouraging - strategies to consider
Ask yourself why they are there!

• Fencing
• Food management
• Pets (food - watchdog)
• Repellents
• (more later)
• Sanitation
• Monoculture
• Trapping

Prevention is long term, control is short term
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More on Repellents

• Visual
• Owl mannequin, Hawk silhouette, flashers
• Noise
• Rattle, Boom
• Smell
• Ammonia soap (rabbit, deer)
• Napthalene (rodents)
• Predator urine
• Taste (watch weather, length of time, timing)
• Hot pepper products
• Bitter Taste products

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More Problems and Solutions

• Management for desired species attract predators
  or scavengers
• Cats and bird bath or feeder
• Owls, small raptors
• Rodents
• Birds and Windows
• Warning ploys
• Placement of feeders

• Nest Boxes
• Proper design
• Feeder diseases
• Sanitation
• Mold, Fungus, Feces
• Surfaces

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Caution
Your neighbors may not understand!

• A diverse habitat is not orderly (generally)
• Stereotypic suburbia is often a monoculture
• Solution - a Sign!

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Backyard Wildlife Habitat Certification Programs

• National Wildlife Federation
• Local Clubs/Organizations
• Youth Groups

• www.nwf.org
• www.audubonathome.org

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Thanks!
A word of wisdom in matters of plant ecology,
habitats, etc......
The best time to have planted a tree was 20 years
ago. The next best time is now!
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Deer Proofing Tricks

• Plant daffodils instead of tulips
• Common lilac and cinquefoil are arent likely to
  be eaten either
• For hedges use junipers or rugosa rose
• Plant deer-resistant plants near entryways to
  keep them from entering property
• Use deer-resistant plants around the perimeter of
  the property to keep deer at bay
• Mix deer favorites in with deer-resistant plants
  making the favorites harder to find

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More Tricks

• Plant or use hardscape barriers that deer cant
  see through or over
• Keep grassy and brushy areas mowed or cleared so
  deer wont bed down there
• Plant favorites on the outskirts of property so
  deer wont be tempted to move into the yard
• Use low-water use plants as they can be tough and
  taste bad

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A note about feeding Deer
Easy to get a fight started!

• Wyo. Game and Fish Discourages
• Concentration
• Disease
• Parasites
• Poor Nutrition
• Easy poor nutrition vs.
• Difficult high quality nutrition
• Deer regularly die with a full stomach of grass
  hay
• Rumen Microflora
• Low Protein
• Naturally select a high quality (protein) diet
• Do it right! Alfalfa /or Protein Supplements