Wildlife Habitats For Your Backyard To Make or Buy
We share our backyards with all the birds, bugs, and critters that live in Powell River. We have taken over their natural environment, so it’s the least we can do to help them feel a little more comfortable and safe in the new environments we’ve created.
There are lots of things you can do in your backyard to create habitats for the local wildlife. Some of them are super easy ideas and quick changes you can make, some of them require a little more time and effort, and some of them are as easy as buying something that supports wildlife and adding it to your backyard.
How to Make Your Backyard a Welcoming Habitat
Like us, wildlife have a few basic needs to thrive in the world. That list includes:
Food
Water
Shelter
Safety
You can provide many of these things for local wildlife and turn your backyard into a welcome habitat for all sorts of critters. Not only will you improve local biodiversity and have a positive impact on local species, but you’ll also get to enjoy observing and learning about all the animals and bugs that decide to call your yard home.
To provide food for wildlife in your backyard, you can focus on planting native flowers, trees, and shrubs in your landscape. Adding water can simply mean a birdbath, or you can get creative and add a few different water sources.
Some ideas include a shallow tray filled with marbles and water to give bees, butterflies, and other bugs somewhere to land for a drink where they won’t fall into the water. A ground-level pond or fountain, even a small one, gives squirrels and chipmunks a place to drink. You can make your yard safer for wildlife by not using synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.
How to Provide Shelter for Wildlife In Your Backyard
Providing shelter for wildlife might be the most fun part of turning your backyard into a wildlife habitat. There are plenty of pre-designed products you can buy to provide a comfortable home for bees or birds. There are also many plans and ideas available online to build your own.
Owl Boxes
If you’d like to welcome owls into your yard, you can install an owl nesting box in March or April. Generally, owls nest between mid-March and May, so it’s best to get it up early. Make sure to add 2-3 inches of clean wood shavings in the bottom since owls don’t usually build nests inside boxes.
If you place owl boxes in an area with more trees nearby, you’ll be less likely to have starlings take over the box. There are plans online to build owl boxes, but you can also buy them pre-made if you like. Owl boxes should be hung at least 12 feet above the ground on a sturdy tree or post.
Bird Houses
Adding birdhouses to your yard makes your yard a welcoming habitat to various smaller birds, but keep in mind that smaller birds may not be too keen to nest nearby if you have a resident owl. There are tons of different birdhouse designs, from quirky and eccentric, to traditional and simple.
Basic birdhouses are pretty easy to build, and you don’t need much for supplies. A hammer, nails, creative ideas, and some scraps of wood will do the trick. Or a drill and some screws. You can also buy kits that come with pre-cut pieces for a birdhouse; you just need to put them together.
Paint them up in beautiful designs, or let the natural beauty of the wood shine without paint. Building birdhouses is a fun and easy way to get kids involved in learning about and helping out the community’s local wildlife.
Bee Houses
Bee houses are a great way to support local pollinator populations. Many different species of solitary bees need somewhere to live, which is really important to our ecosystem.
You can create a DIY bee habitat a few different ways, and there are plenty of other ideas online for how and what to create bee hotels out of. If you want to get something up fast, you can also buy bee hotels and hang them up for solitary bees.
Generally, the shape of a birdhouse is suitable for a bee house, but instead of a box, you’ll fill in space with materials that provide tunnels for the bees to move into. You can use blocks of wood and drill a variety of different-sized holes through the block. Or you can make bundles of bamboo canes and fill the space in with those.
During the summer, bee houses should be positioned about 3 feet off the ground in full sun. Solitary bees are coldblooded and rely on the heat of the sun to warm them up.
The most important thing about bee hotels is that they have a roof to protect them from the rain, and then in the winter, they should be stored somewhere cold but dry. They need to be cold for the dormant bees to hibernate properly, and it’s crucial that they stay dry.
Stop by the garden centre and check out our assortment of bird, bee, and owl houses. Purchase one for your backyard wildlife, or get some ideas to build your own wildlife habitat. We’ve also got everything else you need to make local wildlife feel welcome, from birdseed to birdbaths and fountains, to native perennials and wildflower seeds.