Wildlife conservationists have known for years that wildlife populations are dependent on four major factors – food, cover, water, and space. If you have an acreage, a farm, a yard, or an apartment balcony, you can usually provide at least two of these elements on your property – food and water. It then becomes important that wildlife has access to cover and space in nearby areas in order to survive.

1. How To Attract Wildlife W ildlife conservationists
have known for years that
wildlife populations are
dependent on four major
To Your Property factors – food, cover, water,
and space.
For more nature habitat information If you have an acreage, a
farm, a yard, or an apartment
Visit these helpful websites: balcony, you can usually provide
at least two of these elements
A Plant's Home on your property – food and
A Bird's Home water. It then becomes
A Homesteader's Home important that wildlife has
access to cover and space in
nearby areas in order to survive.
One of the secrets in creating
a successful habitat is to
provide a variation within each
of the four areas. Different
wildlife species need different
combinations of elements.
Having a variety in your
habitat means the difference
between seeing 200 or just 10
different species. Let’s
examine each of the habitat
elements.
Food
Food is one of the primary
necessities of wildlife. Every
species has its own food needs.
Often, this changes as the
species ages.
Food includes the nutritional
part of the diet, as well as
There seems to be among many of us a supplements such as salt. Also,
psychic need to connect with nature. many birds require grit or gravel
for grinding up food in their
Nature is humanity’s one universal
gizzards.
common bond.
It helps ensure our sanity. Some wildlife species eat a
variety of foods and others eat
– Scott Shalaway only a few different kinds. These
include fruit and berries, grain
© WindStar Wildlife Institute
Page 1 A Plant's Home

2. and seeds, nectar, nuts Also, we must not forget
(mast), browse plants such as aquatic plants such as wild rice,
twigs and buds plus forage and widgeongrass, pond weeds, and
aquatic plants. wild celery. They are a favorite
of ducks, geese, muskrats,
Fruits and berries are rich in beaver, moose, and sometimes
vitamins and carbohydrates deer.
and are usually available in the
summer and fall. These include The roots, bulbs and tubers of
elderberries, blackberries, plants which are underground
strawberries, raspberries, be found throughout the year. are consumed by moles,
cherries, grapes, mulberries, Seeds of conifers (evergreens) gophers, wild turkeys, ducks,
and apples. are also a good source of food. geese, and muskrats.
Some varieties, such as Weeds probably contribute the And nectar from plants is
mountain ash and holly, have most to food sources as they sought by hummingbirds, moths,
berries that stay on the bush are so abundant and many times and bees. Plants that
or tree and are available to are favored by wildlife (not successfully attract nectar
wildlife in the winter. property owners) over more feeders include trumpet
attractive yard plants. A good honeysuckle vine, cardinal bush,
One of the most popular example is pigweed. It can paintbrush, bee balm, petunias,
berries for birds is elderberries. contain nearly 100,000 seeds and morning glory.
Fifty-one different bird species per plant!
eat them. Other favorites are Wildlife will often use an
sunflowers, preferred by 46 Other favorite weeds are abundant food source almost
species, and flowering dogwood, ragweed, smartweed, dock, and exclusively when it becomes
favored by 45 bird species. crabgrass. available. Good examples are
nuts and fruits. Squirrels and
Fruits are also eaten by Grains raised by farmers, such Blue Jays store acorns, hickory
many different kinds of as oats, wheat, barley, rye, corn, nuts, and walnuts for later use.
mammals, including squirrel, grain sorghum, and soybeans Deer and bears develop a thick
fox, deer, bear, skunk, and provide abundant food. In recent layer of fat by feeding on
opossum. years, whitetail deer, which have acorns.
thrived despite urbanization,
Nuts are really fruits with a cause millions of dollars of crop Insects are another vital food
dry, hard exterior shell and losses for farmers, especially to source, especially for songbirds,
contain fats and proteins. corn, soybean, and hay fields. quail, and pheasants. If you use
Acorns from oak trees are insecticides to kill pests on
most widely available along with For example, in Maryland the your property, be careful and
pecans, beechnuts, and deer population has increased use with
walnuts. Squirrels and from 20,000 in 1981 to over restraint.
chipmunks prefer hickory nuts, 300,000 currently.
hazelnuts, black walnuts, and Providing a
butternuts. Vegetative parts of plants are variety of
sought by rodents, browsing and foods is
Grains and seeds constitute grazing mammals, and some probably the
the major food of many species gamebirds. Deer, antelope, and most
of wildlife. They mature in the rabbits are especially fond of important
summer and fall but some can alfalfa and clover hays. part of your
© WindStar Wildlife Institute Page 2 A Plant's Home

3. wildlife habitat. Selection can be And cover provides protection
made for a diversity of food from rain, snow, sleet, wind,
types for plants that mature heat, and cold. Many plants
at different times or for those provide both cover and food.
that retain their fruits well into
winter. There are many different kinds
of cover. It can be trees, shrubs,
If you can not plant trees or grasses, flowers, rock piles,
shrubs on your property, brush piles, field crops such as
establish a year-round feeding corn, grain sorghum and hollows at the base of tree
and watering station and offer soybeans, cut banks, hollow limbs, or puddles left after a
your wildlife sunflower seeds, trees, bird houses, burrows, rain.
thistle seeds, and perhaps bridges, abandoned buildings,
some grains such as cracked fence rows, and hedgerows. Plants also provide water.
corn or grain sorghum. Rabbits and rodents obtain it
It is important for cover to be by eating leaves. Mammals
Weather impacts mightily on close to food and water. The sometimes get it from dew on
food sources for wildlife. Early more exposed wildlife is, the grass. And a large source
heavy spring rains and early higher the mortality rate from comes from fruits and all types
frosts can curtail food predators. of berries which have a high
production. An early snow can water content.
cover all the fruit and seeds Hedgerows are one of the
that have fallen to the ground. most valuable types of cover, as One of your biggest challenges
Sleet and ice storms make it they also provide food in a is to preserve and manage the
impossible for wildlife to find protected environment. water in your habitat where it
food. Common hedgerow plants that exists and, if absent, add new
establish themselves naturally sources such as ponds,
Plant species also vary in are dogwood, honeysuckle, red fountains, or baths. Many hours
production from one year to bud, wild cherry, and, of enjoyment can result from
another. Sometimes acorns or unfortunately for the property watching songbirds take a bath
walnuts are almost non- owner, poison ivy. in your pond or bird bath.
existent and in other years
there is an abundant crop.
Water Space
Water is also essential for all Each wildlife species has
Cover wildlife species. They must have specific needs as far as
Cover is right behind food in it to survive. Usually a pond or territory or amount of space to
importance. It is needed for stream serves the purpose, roam in and to breed. A ruffed
wildlife to survive and to have along with rain collected in the grouse or quail pair need about
protection from weather and 10 acres, while others, such as
predators. Cover is critically wild turkey, may need 100 acres
important for nesting and of woodland.
raising of young. It is also
necessary when wildlife sleeps Wood ducks and purple
or rests. martins do not defend territory
around their nests. But,
Cover provides protection bluebirds need at least 300
through concealment and feet between houses and about
impenetrability to predators. five acres for each pair.
© WindStar Wildlife Institute Page 3 A Plant's Home

4. The first three habitat An example of species variety Or, if you have an acreage or
requirements – food, cover, and is when you want to attract all farm, maybe you want to
water can be manipulated by types of songbirds because you increase the number of
man but space may be more like to watch them eat at bird pheasant or quail on your
difficult Increasing a species feeders located near your property because you like to
variety can be achieved by house. This is possible by hunt.
providing a mixture of habitats providing different kinds of seed
with plants, trees, and shrubs in such as thistle, sunflower, or In order to attract the birds,
various stages of development. peanut. you might plant a few rows of
corn, grain sorghum, or millet on
your property, next to fence
BEST SHRUBS FOR WILDLIFE rows or hedgerows, and not
harvest the grain in the fall so
Shrubs Benefits for Wildlife Wildlife Attracted
it can be eaten over the cold
Arrowwood Berries, Foliage Grouse, Cedar Waxwing, winter months by wildlife. Make
Brown Thrasher, sure you also have adequate
Squirrel, Deer
water and cover available.
Azalea, Flame Leaves, Nectar Hummingbird,
Deer, Butterflies, You should know the needs of
other insects
each species you want to
Blackhaw Berries, Folliage Grouse, attract. The result can be a
Cedar Waxwing,
Brown Thrasher, stable and varied wildlife
Squirrel, Deer population. To attract a specific
Elderberry Berries, Nectar Woodpeckers,
species, you’ll need to
Blue Jay, Thrushes, manipulate vegetation so that
Grosbeaks, Rabbit, the cover, food, and water are
Squirrel
less limiting for that species. If
Mountain Laurel Nectar Butterflies, the species you want to
other insects
attract requires a variety of
Spicebush Berries Thrushes, Catbird, habitat needs, you’ll be able to
Kingbird plan for that also.
Sumac, Shining Fruit, Twigs, Quail, Bluebird,
Foliage Catbird, Robin,
Mockingbird, Rabbit, This article was written by
Deer Thomas D. Patrick, President and
Founder of the WindStar Wildlife
Sumac, Smooth Fruit, Twigs, Quail, Bluebird, Institute, a national, non-profit
Foliage Catbird, Robin, conservation organization whose
Mokingbird, Rabbit, Deer mission is to help individuals and
families establish or improve the
Sumac, Staghorn Fruit, Twigs, Quail, Bluebird, wildlife habitat on their properties.
Foliage Catbird, Robin,
Mockingbird, Rabbit,
Deer For more information or for the
name of a Master Wildlife Habitat
Wax Myrtle Berries Quail, Bluebird, Catbird, Naturalist in your area, please
Tree Swallow, contact:
Yellow-rumped Warbler
WindStar Wildlife Institute
Witchhazel Seeds, Twigs Grouse, Deer
E-mail: wildalife@windstar.org
http://www.windstar.org
Note: Plants mentioned in this publication are somewhat generic.
Please contact your state native plant society or department of
natural resources for appropriate native plants for your area.
© WindStar Wildlife Institute
Page 4 A Plant's Home