We’re trying to first provide the elements of nature creatures have always used for raising young, such as this arborvitae a robin used as its nest site. The picture shows the robin carrying some nest materials into the shrub.
Only then do we supplement these natural elements with man-made, artificial nesting places.
In our suburban yard, we’ve made special efforts to provide nesting places for birds, insects (especially butterflies, bees, and dragonflies), frogs and toads, and bats.
Nesting materials
As we started to observe our creatures more carefully, we discovered how important nesting materials are. Of course, this shouldn’t have surprised us, but it’s just one of those things people don’t think about.
It’s especially difficult for creatures to find these things since suburbanites are obsessive about cleaning up their yards, eliminating all the little bits of nature creatures need to build their nests.
Here’s more about our specific efforts in the sections for each of these creatures:
- Birds
- Insects: the foundation of the food web
- Butterflies raising young
- Black swallowtail
- Spicebush swallowtail
- American Lady
- Monarch butterfly (there are quite a few pages here)
- Bees
- Dragonflies
- Amphibians
Resources
- Humane Gardener:
Reflections
There is nothing in which the birds differ more from man than the way in which they can build and yet leave a landscape as it was before.
~ Robert Lynd (1879 – 1949), The Blue Lion and Other Essays