No matter where you live – whether on acres of open space or overlooking an urban sidewalk – wildlife lives in your yard and garden. Make it more inviting by providing them with safe haven.
Employ an adult to help you plant shrubs and bushes as shelter, as well as set out bird feeders and bird ponds – water is essential to creating an ecologically sound backyard habitat!
1. It’s Good for Your Heart
Research continues to demonstrate the health benefits of spending time outdoors near water, especially backyard wildlife habitats. With nature right outside your own door, backyard wildlife habitats offer the chance to spend quality time soaking up nature without even leaving home!
An impressive landscaped yard can create a welcoming and rich outdoor habitat for birds, mammals, reptiles, insects and other wild creatures to thrive in while also offering benefits for humans as well. A backyard wildlife habitat provides food and shelter while offering tangible rewards that go far beyond animal needs alone.
Establishing a wildlife habitat in your yard can bring numerous health benefits, including reduced stress, depression and anxiety, improved mood and lowered blood pressure. Research also indicates that bird watching, gardening, hiking and other outdoor activities in natural settings can improve mental and physical wellbeing.
Key components of any backyard wildlife habitat are plants that offer both food and shelter to wildlife. Clovers to blueberries offer pollen and nectar for birds and butterflies while leaves, twigs, seeds and bark of trees, shrubs and understory plants provide shelter to rabbits, foxes, box turtles and more.
Birds and other wild animals require access to water sources in your backyard habitat, like small ponds, bird baths and drip irrigation systems. By carefully placing these features in your garden you can attract native animals while protecting them from predators such as domestic cats.
Prairie Rivers Network conducted a study where participants who reported positive mental health experiences while watching wildlife reported feeling relaxed and calm after hearing treefrog or ruby-throated hummingbird calls, witnessing female bluebirds feeding their young or seeing rabbits hop around the grass.
If you want to transform your yard into a wildlife habitat, start by creating a map of your property showing all surrounding buildings, septic fields, power lines and driveways. Next, identify trees, plants and other materials already on your land that you would like to keep before devising a plan of action for improving its health.
2. It’s Good for Your Mood
Studies have demonstrated the numerous mental health advantages that come from spending time outdoors. Being exposed to trees, plants, waterways and wildlife can help alleviate everyday stressors such as fatigue and anxiety, while simultaneously elevating mood and building self-esteem – particularly important in urban environments where access to nature may be restricted.
Many find visiting a national park or botanical garden an effective way to improve their mood, yet nature can provide similar benefits in their own backyards as well. A few minutes of bird-watching at your feeder, or witnessing wild turkeys grazing peacefully can ease away daily stresses and worries.
Recent research published in BioScience has demonstrated the many positive mental health advantages of birding. More specifically, participants who encountered more birds during nature walks reported higher levels of satisfaction with their experiences compared to those who didn’t encounter as many birds; furthermore, researchers discovered that experiences which included both observational and attitudinal interactions are associated with improved mental wellbeing.
These findings add weight to a growing body of research which shows nature is an effective antidepressant and antianxiety medication. As such, it’s crucial that we create an environment healthy enough for wild animals in our own backyards; having native plants and ponds as natural features are crucial in drawing wildlife in. Furthermore, having diverse native flowers such as Coastal Wallflower, Blue Blossoms and Heartleaf Milkweed in your yard will attract butterflies as well.
Establishing a backyard wildlife habitat can not only be great for your health but is also an enjoyable activity that everyone can participate in. To attract wild birds and other species into your yard, ensure you plant appropriate flowers, use feeders as intended, and provide enough water. Once the ideal environment has been created, you’ll enjoy nature therapy!
3. It’s Good for Your Body
Studies have demonstrated that people who visit their own backyard more frequently tend to enjoy better mental health. This could be because these green spaces provide a respite from everyday stresses. Furthermore, the type of wildlife you attract to your yard has an effect on its own wellbeing – studies have indicated that seeing wild birds may reduce stress levels significantly; so if improving mental wellbeing is your goal then considering inviting some native Connecticut species into your yard.
As land is converted for residential and commercial uses, habitat for wild animals diminishes or disappears entirely. Though you cannot recreate all elements of natural areas within your yard, you can provide many crucial components of wildlife habitat that support survival for numerous species – food, water, shelter and space are essential components.
Wildlife have different needs when it comes to habitat; you can help increase its value as a wildlife sanctuary in your yard by planting flowers and shrubs that produce fruit or seeds, providing cover through grasses or plants, and adding water sources like ponds or birdbaths.
As well, trees should be integrated into your garden both aesthetically and practically for aesthetic and ecological benefits. Trees provide both structural diversity in your landscape as well as creating the shady conditions necessary for some wildlife species to survive. It is also important to remember that habitat doesn’t end at your property lines – neighboring lands, nearby streams/ponds/lakes can all play a part in providing important living space for our native creatures.
Once your habitat is in place, you can enjoy watching all kinds of wildlife visit your East Portland home. Birders might spot Townsend’s warblers and Pileated woodpeckers while other visitors include trilling noctural treefrogs or hooting owls. A bird feeder may bring more solitary creatures in. Giving wildlife handouts may alter their behavior and become dependent upon us for food – making your backyard into a wildlife habitat is the best way to enjoy nature without leaving East Portland home!
4. It’s Good for Your Mind
Studies have demonstrated that people living near nature are less likely to experience mental health issues like anxiety and depression. Although the exact cause remains unknown, one theory holds that nature restores our attention and helps counteract mental fatigue from living in urban or sensory-rich environments. Furthermore, spending time in natural areas reduces stress, which helps lower blood pressure and heart rate – these benefits could even be more pronounced for those who reside close to local wild plants and animals that call their habitat home.
Recent studies revealed that those living in urban neighborhoods with more trees and shrubs reported having better mental health than those who resided in more treeless ones. It remains unknown why this occurs, though one possibility could be the plants and animals found within urban forests create a more relaxing atmosphere; similar results were obtained for people who had access to birds, bees or other forms of wildlife in their backyards.
Spending time with wildlife is free and can be done almost anywhere – even your own yard! Even walking around to watch songbirds or hummingbirds that visit feeders can boost your mood and reduce stress levels, while getting acquainted with its inhabitants such as friendly herons or curious rabbits can be very therapeutic. Just make sure that you respect its boundaries, never approaching too closely as that could endanger both parties involved!
To attract wildlife into your backyard, plant native species that thrive in your region as well as providing various forms of habitat elements like trees, shrubs and water features. Bird feeders or food sources will encourage more wildlife to visit; just remember proper feeding practices – overfeeding can spread disease among wild animals! If any injured or sick wildlife does appear, contact either your state wildlife agency or a reputable wildlife rehabilitator immediately.
