Winter Wildlife Tips

As winter approaches, there are many things we can do to help wildlife survive the long cold months. Here are just a few tips.

Shelter - Consider building a brush pile in your backyard. Even in a small yard a brush pile can provide shelter and foraging sites for birds and other critters year round. If left through the summer, some brush piles may even attract nesting birds. Brush piles can be life-saving when natural habitat has been destroyed. Wildlife use dense cover throughout the year for refuge when being chased by predators, shelter from cold and hot weather, and, for some species, likely nesting sites. Visit www.dnr.state.md.us or www.meckbirds.org for details.

During fall clean-up time, try to leave some leaves under shrubs or in other spots where they wont cover your lawn grass and where birds can find them. Leaf litter makes a great spot where birds such as towhees, sparrows, and others can forage for insects, seeds, and other foods.
Providing nest boxes for squirrels, owls, and other cavity dwelling wildlife is a wonderful way to help local wildlife year-round. WWI has plans for a variety of boxes and will be happy to mail them out to you.

• Supplemental Feeding - Whole corn (on the cob or off), apples, stale bread, alfalfa, and scratch or sweet feed are all attractive feeding supplements to a wide variety of wildlife, including white-tailed deer; raccoons; opossums; turkeys, pheasants and other ground feeding birds; ducks and geese; squirrels; and many songbirds.
  
• Reducing Road Kills - The riskiest times of day are two hours after sunrise and two hours after sunset - the times wild animals cross roads to find food. For deer, the riskiest time of year is October through December. About half of deer deaths occur during these months when they are the most migratory, evading hunters, mating, and establishing feeding grounds.
  
  Particularly be alert when you see woods on one side of the road and a lake, pond or river on the other side.
  
• Bird Baths - Consider buying a heated bird bath. Water is just as crucial as food in the winter months.
  
• Bird Feeders - Take the time now to clean and sterilize your bird feeders. House finch conjunctivitis (a contagious, bacterial infection that primarily affects finches) is on the rise this time of year. Bird feeders should be immersed and scrubbed with a solution of 9 parts water to 1 part chlorine bleach to eradicate any disease organisms.
  
  Rake up and dispose of all seed debris beneath your feeding station.
  
  Spend a little extra on higher quality bird seed. The bargain brands usually contain large amounts of seed most native birds will not eat. Better quality seed means more nutrition and less waste. Black oil sunflower seed provides the most calories for winter-feeding birds. Suet is also high energy.
  
  If birds-of-prey are decimating your bird feeder population, move your feeders to denser cover. Also, consider feeding early morning or early evening when birds-of-prey are less active.
  
• Keep Cats Indoors - Do keep cats indoors at all times. Every year, hundreds of millions of birds and small mammals are killed by free-roaming cats nationwide. All cats - even belled cats and well-fed cats - hunt and kill wildlife.
  
  Easing your outdoor cat into an indoor cat takes patience and skill. Gradually increase the amount of time your cat spends indoors. Spend time playing and interacting with your cat since most domestic cats need human companionship. Provide an interesting environment with toys and play things to keep your cat occupied.
  
• Invest in Future Wildlife Protection - Enjoy a winter walk with a child. Helping a child experience nature is a wildlife investment of a lifetime. And you dont even have to know a lot to do so. As Rachel Carson said, It is not half so important to know as to feel when introducing a young child to the natural world. Take the time and take a walk. Absorb all nature has to offer.