Native plantings
Just as with food, it may be most important just to provide the kinds of natural areas that creatures have always used, rather than something people have invented for the purpose. Interestingly enough, there has been research done recently that shows that there are critical advantages that native bushes have over just any bush that will grow. Nests built in non-native bushes had a higher predation rate. Yet another reason to focus on native plantings. Here's an excerpt from the conclusion:
Our results indicate that much more work needs to be done to understand the structure-function relationships by which plant species used as nesting substrate affect the fate of those nests. More immediately, the results indicate one more reason why prevention of invasion by exotic species is a conservation priority. And finally, they suggest that replacement of exotic shrubs with the native species they apparently displaced will improve not only the biodiversity of the native plant community, but also the ecological conditions for animal species using them.
Birds
I have three chickadee nestboxes, two wren nestboxes, and one nuthatch nestbox. Last year, the wren claimed all of the chickadee and wren boxes unfortunately. I leave them out over the winter, so they may be used as roost boxes.
This little wren is getting ready to leave the nest! This is the second year the wrens have selected this nestbox right next to the driveway. They don't seem to mind the people coming and going, although they scold us if we stop and watch too long!
Note that a good nestbox will have no perch. It also has ventilation, holes at the sides of the bottom for moisture to drain, the side opens up easily for cleaning, and it's the proper size hole for the target species. In addition, I checked the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website to find out the proper height and orientation for the nestbox. Finally, it's a good idea to put some sort of predator guard on the post, although it's not always possible.
When you place nestboxes, don't forget to research the placement and orientation of nestboxes you provide. This can make a big difference in whether they are used and whether your tenants successfully raise their young.
One of the best things you can provide for raising young is a dead tree. Nestboxes are necessary only because we have such an aversion to untidiness and especially dead trees. If you're lucky enough to have a dead tree, keep it! You can cut it off at a height where safety isn't an issue and wait for the birds!
That's the way it is ...
One frustration I've had is that house wrens take over all my chickadee's nest boxes. The male returns before the female and builds rudimentary nests. When she returns, he shows his assortment of nests and she then chooses which one she wants. The remaining nests go unused. Unfortunately, this means that the chickadees' hard work has gone to waste. I've learned to accept this as the natural course of events, but it's always a little sad. (Reminder: It's illegal and unethical to interfere with this natural process!)
Here's a picture of the chickadee nest that I removed from the nestbox at the end of the season. Notice (what I call) "wren sticks" on top of the nice mossy chickadee nest. This is one of the many nests the male wren offered to the female.
Other places to raise young
For years, we have had a pair of house finches nest in the artificial begonia basket hanging on our back entry ceiling. This was the first year they didn't nest here. They started building a nest for a few days, but the string holding the basket broke and they didn't restart their nest after we fixed it. They did bring their family back to eat in our back yard, however.
And insects need places to raise young, too!
Pollinators are important! The Xerces Society is working to protect our pollinators.
Butterflies (yes, they're an insect!)
Of course for butterflies, a "larval host plant" - a plant the caterpillars eat - is a place to raise young. One of the most well known examples is milkweed as the host plant for Monarch butterflies. But many people don't know that most butterflies have their own unique plant as a larval host plant.
Recently I was researching the Dutchman's Pipevine I just had bought so that I could hopefully attract a Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly to lay eggs there. I came across the following on a website recently which shows that not everyone looks at plants the way a habitat gardener does!
VINES Common Insects and Diseases
This is a brief listing of some common problems that may affect specific species. Weather, climate, seasonal and stress related conditions will sometimes influence a plants likelihood of being affected by insects and disease, it is always good to know which insects may affect a particular plant so that timely measures can be taken to correct problems.
Aristolochia durior - Dutchman’s Pipe
Subject to damage from the pipevine swallowtail butterfly, which feeds on and defoliates the plant. The feeding caterpillar is two inches long, brown and has four rows of orange spots and soft horn-like projections. The adults are blue-green butterflies with white spots on the under margins of the fore wings with yellow and orange spots on the hind wings.
This obviously is the "problem" I'm hoping to have! I have a hard time understanding someone who would rather have perfect leaves than swallowtail butterflies!
Larval host plants
If you want butterflies, you need larval host plants as well as nectar plants. A necessary larval host plant for Monarch butterflies is milkweed. Here's a monarch butterfly on swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), one of several varieties of native milkweed.
Here's a monarch butterfly on "regular" milkweed - Asclepias syriaca - the kind you might see in a field or alongside the road. These are very fragrant, but not quite as civilized in your garden since they spread underground.
Other insects
I've been fascinated watching bees lay their eggs in cells in bee houses.
I purchased one Orchard Mason bee house from an online website. Note the grass trailing out of one hole, dragged in by some type of wasp. Also notice that the holes have already been filled in with eggs in cells in Row 1/hole 3, Row 3/hole 5, and Row 4/hole 5. The colored things are plastic straws for easy cleaning next year after the eggs hatch and the babies leave. I'm trying the plastic straws since I can't find paper straws. I've found that some bees are using these plastic straw holes. Next year I might try using card stock and rolling it up in each hole.
Here's a close-up of a wasp preparing a spot for its young.
Here's a close-up of a bee preparing the final "cells" of the hole. It has brought in a piece of leaf and is chewing it up (or it least it seems so to me.) It then appeared to bring in mud or something to complete the cell. I spent quite a bit of time watching - it was fascinating! Although solitary bees don't have a hive, it truly was a "beehive of activity"!
A homemade bee house. My husband just drilled lots of different size holes into this assembled hunk of wood. He nailed three hunks of 2x4s (untreated) together and then drilled the holes almost all the way through. He added a roof to keep rain out. Different types of bees and wasps are using these holes, too.
Here's the contents of one of the straws I disassembled to see what was inside. It hadn't "hatched" so there was no great loss. I doubt that plastic straws are the best for this. I tried to find paper straws locally, but no one carries them. In fact, the teenaged girl at the register didn't believe there could even be such a thing - "But paper would get wet!" Clearly, she couldn't conceive of a time before plastic was invented!
