Inviting Wildlife
to Your Garden
Key elements needed to attract a wide
variety of wildlife.
NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat
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Water
Food
Cover
Place to Raise Young
Sustainable Gardening
Water Features
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Deep Water
Beach
Slow-moving Shallow Water
Bog/Puddles
Splash
Drip
Misters
Food
• Trees/Shrubs: Nuts, Berries, Fruit, Sap,
Foliage, Twigs
• Plants: Seeds, Nectar, Foliage, Flowers,
Pollen
• Insects/Invertebrates: Dragonflies,
Butterflies, Grubs, Worms
• Birds, Small Rodents, Amphibians, Fish
Cover
Weather/Predators
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Woods/Large Trees
Evergreens
Thickets/Brambles
Ground Cover
Caves
Meadows/Prairies
Ponds
Burrows
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Roosting Boxes
Toad Abodes
Brush/Log Piles
Rock Piles
Water Garden
Leaf Litter/Mulch
Place to Raise Young
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Allow for Mating/Courtship Behavior
Habitat & Materials for Nest Building
Food Sources for Young
Encompassed in “Cover” but with
variations
Sustainable Gardening
• Reduce Water Usage:
– Xeriscaping, Rainwater Capture, Drip/Soaker
Irrigation
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Reduce Erosion
Reduce Chemical Pesticides & Fertilizer
Reduce Non-native Plants & Turf Area
Compost
Mulch
Butterflies & Moths
Best Website:
www.butterfliesandmoths.org
Butterflies & Moths
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Protected sunny, non-windy area
Low traffic
Specific Host Plants for caterpillars*
Nectar Plants for adults*
Boggy puddles
Citrus wedges/nectar feeders
Caterpillar Host Plants
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Swallowtail: Dill, Parsley, Fennel, Queen Anne’s Lace
Monarchs: Milkweeds (asclepias)
Silvery Blue: Lupine
Zebra Swallowtail: Pawpaw (asmina)
Buckeye: Snapdragons (antirrhinum), Monkeyflower
(mimulus), linaria
• Hummingbird Clearwing Moth: Honeysuckle, Hawthorn,
Cherries/Plums
• Great Ash Sphinx Moth: Lilac, Aspen, Ash
Butterfly Adult Nectar Sources
Perennials
Annuals
• Azaleas/Rhododendron
• Bee Balms (monarda)
• Butterfly Bush
(buddleias)
• Honeysuckle
• Phlox
• Milkweeds
• Vibernums
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Lantana
Snapdragons
Verbenas
Petunias
Nasturtiums
Dragonflies & Damselflies
• Still Water (beach to 2 feet deep, 5-10 feet
diameter)
• Protection from wind
• Underwater Vegetation (nymph hiding)
• Water’s edge perching plants
• Light-colored flat sunny basking rocks
• Area free from fish
• Feeds on smaller insects (mosquitos)
Amphibians & Reptiles
Best Websites:
www.herpnet.net/Minnesota-Herpetology/
www.dnr.state.mn.us/reptiles_amphibians
Salamanders & Newts
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Eastern Newt
Tiger Salamander
Blue-Spotted Salamander
Habitat/Food
– permanent woodland ponds
– leaf & rotting log litter
– eat fish & frog eggs, crawfish, water insects,
earthworms, snails
Frogs & Toads
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Spring Peeper
Eastern Gray/Cope’s Gray Tree
American Toad
Northern Leopard
Green
Bull
Frogs & Toads
• Eat: Insects & Invertebrates
• Great for controlling garden pests
• Habitat: Permanent or Semi-permanent
Ponds
• Burrows in cool damp leaf litter and loose
soil
• More active at night, landscape lighting
attracts prey
Snakes
• Plains/Eastern/Red-sided Garter Snake
– Habitat: Pond edge, animal burrows, Log piles,
Damp woods, Tall grass/meadows
– Eats: Anything. Earthworms, Frogs, Toads,
Salamanders, Mice, Bird Eggs, Fish, Carrion
• Redbelly Snake
– Habitat: Flat boards/logs in woods, dry sandy,
near marshes
– Eats: Slugs, worms, insect larvae
Skinks
• Prairie Skink (5-8” long)
• Habitat: Burrows under rock piles, boards
or logs in sunny prairies, under railroad ties
• Eats: Grasshoppers, Crickets, Beetles,
Caterpillars
Hummingbirds
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Multiple feeders, 4:1 water:sugar
Bright Ribbon in Trees/Shrubs (mid-march)
Year-round blooming plants*
Snags within 50 feet of feeders
Water misters & drippers
Encourage spiderwebs
Large tree with horizontal/downward
branches facing open area
Hummingbird Plant Favorites
• Annuals in baskets (plant extra early!)
– Petunias, Verbena
• Tubular Perennials
– Honeysuckle, Trumpet Vine, Bee Balm, Cardinal
Flower, Red Columbine
• Native Annuals
– Spotted jewelweed
• Other favorite annuals
– Nicotiana, Snapdragons, Nasturtium, Zinnia, Cleome
General Songbirds
• Feeders that include both hanging and platform,
away from windows
• Feed within 5-15 feet of dense shrub or evergreen
• Black sunflower, white millet, peanuts
• Add variety such as suet, mealworms & fruit
• Slow-moving water 2-3 inches deep with rough
surface
Suet Recipe
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1 cup Lard/Suet
1 cup Peanut Butter (crunchy or smooth)
1 cup cornmeal
3 cups oats
1 cup sugar
Dried fruit (optional)
Cardinals
• Feed:
– Prefer platform, but will do perch
– Seeds: sunflower, safflower
– Peanuts, raisins, meal worms, grape jelly
• Nest 4-6 feet above ground in dense low-traffic
shrubs edging open areas
• Stake territory from tallest structure in
neighborhood
• Attracted to shallow moving water year-round
Baltimore Orioles
• April 15-May1st put out food:
– oranges halved on spikes in trees
– grape jelly on platforms
– Hummingbird feeders with perches
• June 1st and beyond:
– Add insects (mealworms) and suet
• Nesting material = string pieces 8-12” in
length
Bluebirds
• Feed: insects in a protected feeder
• Fall: add berries, shelled seeds and suet (love
raisins, dried cranberries and cherries)
• Nest boxes: hole 1 ½ ” no perch, mounted on
predator-proof pole within 5-10 feet of woods
overlooking mowed grass/meadow, paired boxes
for each bluebird
• Remove twiggy dummy wren nests from one box
• Monitor box weekly for blowfly larvae
Rodents
• Mice & Voles
• Chipmunks
• Red Squirrels
Native Mice & Voles
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Northern Grasshopper Mouse
Deer Mouse (Prairie & Woodland)
Western Harvest Mouse
Meadow Vole
Southern Red-Backed Vole
Meadow Jumping Mouse*
Plains Pocket Mouse*
Native Mice
• Northern Grasshopper Mouse
• Grasshoppers, beetles, moths, flies, wasps, spiders
• Hunt in packs, defend against intruders, “howl”
• Deer Mouse (Prairie & Woodland)
• Seeds (bush clover), keep stashes
• Burrows, under logs, hollow stumps
• Western Harvest Mouse
• Weed & grass seeds, caterpillars, hide for later
• Grass nests at base of dense shrub or tall grass
Native Voles
• Meadow Vole
• Greens & seeds, garden produce
• Create tunnels in grass
• Southern Red-Backed Vole
• cache food: seeds, nuts, fruits, leaves, bark, roots,
fungi, and insects
• Forest dwellers, territorial, favorite source of food
for predators
Other Rodents
• Chipmunks
• Black-oil sunflower seeds, berries, other plant seeds
• Burrows, natural boulder walls, log piles (firewood)
• Solitary, fight over food, semi-hibernate, leave
territory where born
• Red Squirrels
• insects, seeds, bark, nuts, fruits, mushrooms and
pine seeds or cones. Young birds & mice.
• Forests, hollows of trees, solitary, vocal
General Predatory Birds
• Attract both nest habitat and food source
• Place the prey’s food source open travel
distance from it’s habitat
• Provide a vantage point for the predatory
bird to wait it out
MN Suburban Predatory Birds
• Birds that feed primarily on smaller birds
– Cooper’s Hawk
– Sharp Shinned Hawk
• Birds that feed on rodents, amphibians,
reptiles & small birds
– American Kestral
– Barred Owl
– Broad-winged Hawk
Fish-eating Predators
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Great Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Green Heron
Kingfisher
Raccoons
Mink
Location, Location, Location
Best Laid Plans…
Put bluebird houses here
612-865-0440
www.happyponds.net