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Backyard Wildlife Habitat Stuff

Discussion in 'Nature/Habitat/Garden Corner' started by habitatvolunteer2, Jan 10, 2006.

  1. habitatvolunteer2

    habitatvolunteer2 New Member

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    (Reprints from the Broadlands Newsletter Regarding National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Backyard Habitat Certification Process)

    Broadlands Quest for Community Wildlife Habitat Certification :):) :) :) :) :) :) :)

    The Broadlands Habitat Team has been working diligently since August of 2002 toward certifying the community with the National Wildlife Federation. The project goal include: Administrative, Educational, Community Projects, and Habitat certification goals which include schools, parks, commercial and individual backyard habitats. All requirements have been completed except the individual backyard habitat goal.

    We are still looking for more homes in the Broadlands to become certified Backyard Wildlife Habitats. This is the last step towards achieving our Community Wildlife Habitat Certification. There are only nine communities in the US that have achieved this status and your habitat team is working hard to be the next one.

    At the time this newsletter went to press the Broadlands needed 19 additional certified yards to meet our goal. You could qualify! Certified Backyard Habitats can be single-family, town homes or apartments. The four requirements that must be provided to sustain wildlife are: food, water, cover and places to raise young.

    Applications for Backyard Habitat Certification may be completed quickly and easily on-line go to www.nwf.org and click on one of the "your backyard” buttons and find the link to certify. If you prefer paper, just print out the application and complete it. Applications are also available at the Nature Center (Monday-Friday, 9-5).

    Need help or got questions? Not sure how to complete the application? Can’t identify a plant or animal? We are here to help, contact your new Backyard Habitat Team Leader and Broadlands Naturalist who are listed inside the front cover of the newsletter.



    Backyard Wildlife Habitats
    by: Broadlands Habitat Team Members

    Creating a backyard wildlife habitat is a fun and easy project for the whole family. By creating a habitat, you are helping to preserve our natural surroundings. Watching wildlife in your backyard is exciting, whether it’s watching young rabbits chase each other or identifying a new bird.

    A proper backyard wildlife habitat includes four key elements: food, water, shelter, and a place to raise young. In the next four newsletters, the Habitat Team will focus on one of these elements each month, and give you information on how to provide that element within your backyard.

    Once you’ve created your habitat, you can go one step further and obtain certification from the National Wildlife Federation. The application for certification can be downloaded from the NWF website http://www.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat/ or get one at the Nature Center.

    Your certification will help Broadlands obtain national recognition as a Wildlife Community. Less than a dozen neighborhoods across the nation have earned this recognition (South Riding is one of them). Currently we have 125 of our 150 needed points to qualify.


    Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat – Providing Food
    (first in a series of articles aimed at creating a backyard wildlife habitat)

    A backyard wildlife habitat consists of four basic elements: food, water, cover, and a place for wildlife to raise young. This month‘s article will focus on food sources that can be added to your habitat. You may already be providing food and just didn’t realize it!

    Food for wildlife comes from a variety of sources. Plants can provide berries and fruits, seeds, nuts, and nectar. They can also serve as “hosts” for caterpillars, giving them leaves or petals to eat. When planning your habitat look for plants that provide food at various times of the year.

    You can provide food for caterpillars and butterflies, hummingbirds, song birds, frogs, rabbits, and any other animals you see (or want to see) just by varying what is planted. To attract butterflies, provide host plants for the caterpillars to feed on. Good host plants are sedum, spicebush, and milkweed. Butterflies prefer to eat from a platter, meaning they like flat flowers from plants such as yarrow, Joe-pye weed, and verbena. Hummingbirds like to eat from cones or tubes where they can stick their long beak to obtain nectar. Plants such as bee balm, purple coneflowers, weigela, and trumpet vines and are perfect for hummingbirds. You may have to put up with a few spiders and bugs, since they are also a food source for frogs, dragon flies, and birds.

    You will attract more wildlife by providing food with native plants. Wildlife is accustomed to finding its own sources of food in the area, so planting native vegetation makes it easier for wildlife to find your habitat. In addition, most native plants require less maintenance and are already adapted to our weather conditions.

    Here are some examples of native plants that serve well as food sources.
    Berries and fruit: Serviceberry, winterberry, blackberry bush, viburnum, cranberry bush. Nectar: Joe-pye weed, coreopsis, bee balm, verbena, weigela, coneflowers.
    Seeds, nuts: sunflower; witch hazel, oak.

    Bird seed and nectar feeders can be used to supplement the food supply, especially during the winter months when food supplies may be diminished. Feeders should be kept cleaned and free of old food. Dispose of any food that has been in a feeder for more than a couple of days or has been exposed to rain. Thistle (niger), safflower, and sunflower seeds are all ideal for attracting many different birds.

    By providing a greater variety of foods, you increase your chances of attracting numerous forms of wildlife. Once your yard is identified as a source of food, the same birds and butterflies will return.


    Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat – Providing Water
    (second in a series of articles aimed at helping residents create a backyard wildlife habitat)

    A backyard wildlife habitat consists of four basic elements: food, water, cover, and a place for wildlife to raise young. This month we will focus on water sources that you can add to your habitat.

    Water is a critical element in a backyard habitat. Wildlife depends on water for nourishment as well as bathing and sometimes breeding. The easiest way to provide water is through the use of a bird bath. You can also set out a shallow dish or build a pond or waterfall. A shallow dish provides a source of water for ground animals like rabbits, turtles, and frogs.

    Your birdbath should be replenished with fresh water several times a week and scrubbed clean at least once a week, especially in the summer. Birds like to dust themselves with dirt to keep cool in the summer, so one dip in the birdbath can make the water pretty dirty! The kids will enjoy watching the birds take turns splashing around in their bath.

    Be sure to place your birdbath or dish away from trees and shrubs. Wildlife wants to feel safe at their water source. Other predators may be lurking in low-lying shrubs near the water source.

    If your property adjoins Stream Valley Park, Bull Frog Pond, or any other common area that has a consistent water supply, you can count that area as contributing to your water requirement. Just be sure to preserve these areas in their natural state. Naturally occurring wetlands are also a good water source.

    Once you’ve added food and water sources, you are halfway to completing your backyard habitat. Tune in next month for another article focusing on backyard wildlife habitat basics. The National Wildlife Federation’s website at NWF.org is another valuable resource for wildlife habitat providers.


    Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat – Providing Cover
    (third in a series of articles aimed at helping residents create a backyard wildlife habitat)

    A backyard wildlife habitat consists of four basic elements: food, water, cover, and a place for wildlife to raise young. This month we will focus on providing shelter for wildlife in your habitat.

    Cover is needed to protect wildlife from predators and weather. Many of the plants that you already have as food sources are excellent sources of shelter. Consider plants that provide year-round protection such as evergreens and hollies. Other thick shrubs like viburnum and spicebush are also good choices.

    One of the easy ways to provide cover is to use sticks and branches that have fallen in your yard (be sure not to take any from the common areas) and create a small brush pile. You’ll be amazed at how many birds and small mammals will shelter in a pile. A rock pile is just as easy to create and provides great shelter for reptiles, insects, and other small animals.

    If your habitat includes a pond, be sure to add plants along the edges. Plantings where the water meets the land are great places for amphibians like frogs and salamanders as well as other animals to hide.


    Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat – Providing Places to Raise Young
    (fourth in a series of articles aimed at helping residents create a backyard wildlife habitat)

    A backyard habitat consists of four basic elements: food, water, cover and a place for wildlife to raise young. This month we will focus on providing a place to raise young.

    Offer wildlife safe places for courtship and nurturing young. Mature trees can provide den sites for squirrels and nesting places for birds. Evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs provide nesting areas for birds. Dead and dying trees (called snags”) provide nesting sites for many species such as owls, flying squirrels, and other cavity-nesters.

    Rabbits, shrews, mice, snakes, and salamanders lay their eggs or raise young under boughs of plants as well as in the rock, log, or mulch piles. Place nest boxes for bluebirds, chickadees, wrens, and purple martins in your backyard. Aquatic animals, such as frogs, toads, newts, dragonflies, and other insects, deposit their eggs in ponds, water gardens, vernal pools, and other wetlands.

    Host plants for caterpillars will ensure the presence of butterflies in your habitat. Butterflies require “host” plants that serve as food sources for them during their larval (caterpillar) stage. Butterflies almost invariably lay their eggs on the host plant preferred by the caterpillar, so make sure to include some of the host plants in your habitat.

    Be sure to offer wildlife safe places for courtship and nurturing young.


    ---------------------------------------

    Applications for Backyard Habitat Certification may be completed quickly and easily on-line: go to www.nwf.org and click on one of the “certify your backyard” buttons. If you prefer paper, just print out the application, complete it and fax/mail it in. Applications are also available at the Nature Center (Monday-Friday, 9-5). A yard need only be certified once, and it lasts a lifetime, and it greatly contributes towards Broadlands overall community-wide certification goal.

    Again, we are here to help. Please contact your new Backyard Habitat Team Leader and Broadlands Naturalist who are listed inside the front cover of the newsletter.
    -----------------------------------

    Everyone,
    Please feel free to post any questions you have about certifying your Backyard Habitat on this thread.
    And, feel free to post your own photos of wild critters you've seen in your backyard, too. :)
     
  2. JLC

    JLC Member

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    Is there someone we should inform if we’ve certified our backyard as a Wildlife Habitat?

    Thanks!
     
  3. habitatvolunteer2

    habitatvolunteer2 New Member

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    JLC
    It would be helpful if you notify Wes and Maureen (the HOA staff) and Julie (the new Audubon Naturalist) at the Nature Center, of your new backyard status. Their contact info is inside the front cover of the newsletter. (Also, hopefully, your status should show up on the bi-monthly report that NWF.org sends to Julie and Wes.)

    Thank you for certifying your backyard as a wildlife habitat! :) That brings Broadlands one step closer to getting their overall community certification.
    Again, very well done and congratulations!
     
  4. lilpea

    lilpea Member

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    The NWF sent our cert last week, as we too had our backyard certified. Should I send Wes & Maureen the certification #?
     
  5. habitatvolunteer2

    habitatvolunteer2 New Member

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    Congratulations Pea2001! Way to go! Just send Wes, Maureen & Julie your name and address to let them know, so they can track it on their master list. (No need to send them the certif #.) Well done! :)
     
  6. sharse

    sharse TeamDonzi rocks!!

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    I just certified and sent an email to naturalist @ broadlandshoa . com and nature @ smartneighborhood . net as noted above. I'll forward to Wes and Maureen too.
     
  7. Broadlandsnaturalist

    Broadlandsnaturalist New Member

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    Thanks every one for helping out the community and getting your yards certified. We are well on our way. :D
    Dont forget, if your yard was certified before the 1st of July, get your neighbor or friend to certify their yard as well, and you will be entered into our raffle. We have a variety of prizes including birdhouses, garden tools and the grand prize of "dinner for two" at Bonefish Grill.

    -The habitat team
     
  8. mom2two

    mom2two Member

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    Does anyone know where we can get the signs stating that our yard is a NWF backyard habitat? I've seen a couple of yards with the signs in them but I can't find them on the NWF website. Any one know?
     
  9. neilz

    neilz New Member

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    I seem to remember when you send in your applcation for certification, it has an order form to get these signs. However, if your yard is already certified, it will be registered at the site. Here's the URL to get the sign if you're already certified:
    https://secure.nwf.org/backyardwildlifehabitat/certify/signOrder.cfm
     
  10. mom2two

    mom2two Member

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    Thank you Neil Z for the info. Sign has been ordered and is on its way.

    How is life in the 'burg??? A lot different than here in the 'Lands, right.

    :D
     
  11. neilz

    neilz New Member

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    Much different ... in Loudoun, to get to the Lowes from Broadlands its about what, 5 miles and its a fairly straight route.

    Here, Lowes is only 1.8 miles as the crow flies, but its still 5 miles by car, as you can't get their directly from here as all the roads travel down the ridges into the valleys, then up again, then ... well, you get the picture.

    Cost of living is less, and there's a local 'mom & pop' luncheonette where I can have the breakfast special (3 egg ham & cheese omlette, home fries, toast) for only $4.59 !!

    I'm off for breakfast now !:poke:
     
  12. sharse

    sharse TeamDonzi rocks!!

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    Does NWF sell their membership lists? Perhaps its a coincidence, but ever since getting certified I seem to be on every environmental organization's mailing list. I applaud the work of many of those organizations but HATE getting so darn many solicitations in the mail every week.
     
  13. lilpea

    lilpea Member

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    We have the same issue, we Certified our property over the summer and for the past three months I have been getting marketing "junk" mail from several organizations (Sierra Club, National Zoo, ASPCA etc). Glad to now I am not the only one thinking that NWF sells their membership list.
     
  14. Broadlandsnaturalist

    Broadlandsnaturalist New Member

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    Yes, NWF does share their addresses with other conservation organizations. You can call their customer service line at 800-822-9919 and ask that your address not be shared. This should clear up the problem.
     

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