The creatures in Linda Blackburn’s back yard almost seem like part of her family.
In the spring the yard is a nursery with baby chickadees, nuthatches, doves, blue jays, flickers and red-bellied woodpeckers. There’s a shy yellow-bellied sapsucker, bold rabbits and, occasionally, a possum that quietly scurries across the grass about dusk.
The top of a pine tree is a favorite daytime perch for a great horned owl that sometimes returns at night to serenade.
“I feel like people are supposed to take care of animals,” said Blackburn, a former nurse who, with her husband, Bill, a urology surgeon, lives in Cherokee Park, near downtown Lexington, Ky.
Seven years ago the Blackburns began an effort to make their urban yard more enticing to wildlife by providing food, water, shelter and nesting sites.
Now they are among the 1,000 people to be rewarded this year by having their yards certified as Backyard Wildlife Habitats by the National Wildlife Federation.
Since the program was established in the early 1970s, close to 12,400 yards in the United States and Canada have been certified, most of them since 1985.
After a deluge of more than 30,000 requests two years ago for the free information packet on back-yard habitats, the federation now charges $5.25 for it. Certification costs an additional $15.
The most important aspect of the program is that it is educational, said Craig Tufts, director of the Urban Wildlife Program.
“We’re not going to save the whooping crane or one of the endangered mussels with these little parcels of property all over the country,” he said. “But we are creating a bunch of people who are self-educated and who have a very, very strong feeling for habitat.”
For a yard to be certified, the size doesn’t matter. Habitats range from 25 square feet to more than 1,000 acres, he said.
“No place is too small,” Tufts said. “We’ve certified patios and balconies. We evaluate properties on the basis of what people have tried to do. If they meet the basic criteria of providing food, water, cover and places to raise young, we’re going to certify them.”
Tufts emphasized that creating areas attractive to butterflies, hummingbirds, songbirds and small mammals doesn’t have to be complicated.
Blackburn lets her shrubs grow full and slightly shaggy. Chemicals are not sprayed on the grass. Dead trees are tolerated unless they pose a hazard to people or utility lines. When trees are cut, the branches are removed, but the trunk is left standing. Five or six woodpiles dot the yard. Tree limbs are hauled to a brush pile at the rear of the property.
In the summer, hostas, garden phlox, New England asters and purple coneflowers are rich sources of nectar for bees and butterflies. Instead of cutting spent blooms, Blackburn allows seed pods to form.
“Almost everything we’ve planted in the last five years has been a food source,” she said.
In addition, Blackburn fills feeders year-round with suet, thistle, safflower for the cardinals and her own bird seed mixture. Her recipe uses 50 pounds each of sunflower chips and safflower and 100 pounds of chicken scratch. Blackburn mixes 200 pounds of seed four or five times a year.
But even more important to wildlife than food, in her opinion, is water, especially in the winter.
“When the ground is frozen,” she said, “the birds and animals have no place to drink.”
She has five shallow containers on the ground and four pedestal birdbaths. Two are heated in winter.
For a Backyard Wildlife Habitat information packet (No. 79919) and an application for certification, send $5.25 to the National Wildlife Federation, 1400 16th Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036-2266.
THE 4 LURES
The National Wildlife Federation says that to attract wildlife, your yard needs to include these four basics:
– Food: Plants that are a source of seeds, nuts and nectar. Some to consider are pin oaks, hawthornes, Boston ivy, crab apples, buddleia or the butterfly bush, dogwood, tulip poplars, parsley, dill, showy sedum, New England asters, monarda and mulberries.
– Water: Wild creatures need water for drinking and bathing. Supply the habitat with a birdbath, small pool, recirculating waterfall, shallow dish or dripping hose. A dish of water placed near shrubbery will give birds and animals an escape route from predators.
– Cover: Dense shrubs, hollow logs, rock piles, brush piles, stone walls, evergreens, tall grass. The ideal habitat includes a variety so birds and animals can choose the appropriate cover needed for feeding, hiding, courting and nesting.
– Nesting sites: Mature trees, dense plantings of shrubbery, birdhouses, nesting shelves, hollow trees, a rock pile or a small pool.
