by Inger Giuffrida, executive director, WildCare Oklahoma
January, February, and even early March can be tough for wildlife. Although some animals hibernate or go into a torpor state during extreme cold temperatures and others migrate to warmer climates, many species are active during the coldest months in Oklahoma.
In the first months of the year, resources that wild animals need to survive the cold can be scarce. That is particularly true in urban and suburban landscapes. Bermuda grass and nonnative ornamental plants are abundant where people live, but those nonnative and invasive species create “food deserts” for all forms of wildlife. However, you can help wild animals survive and thrive.
Provide Water
We often think that providing water sources for birds, squirrels, opossums, and any other backyard visitors is most important during summer. But in fact, it is important year-round, especially during winter. Water sources might be frozen or they might be nonexistent because of the lack of rainfall common during winter. Keeping birdbaths and shallow pans or bowls of freshwater in your yard is essential for supporting backyard wildlife.
To minimize upkeep when water quickly freezes during colder spells, keep sources in full sunlight or consider purchasing heated birdbaths and water bowls. By putting water sources near a spigot, you can minimize your effort when refilling them.
If you have a pond in your yard, consider melting away part of the ice on top during freezing temperatures. Cracking the ice can be harmful to wildlife living in the pond underneath.
Provide Food
Supplemental feeding is the quickest way to make sure your wild neighbors are getting enough calories to fend off freezing temperatures. Setting up hanging bird feeders and platform feeders is a great way to start. Be sure to clean and disinfect the feeders every two weeks to keep birds healthy.
Here are some suggestions of what to put in your feeder and the species of birds that appreciate each food source the most:
black-oil sunflower seeds — almost all birds and wildlife, but particularly northern cardinals and finches
safflower seeds — cardinals, finches, mourning doves, and many other birds
nyjer seeds — gold, purple, and house finches, pine siskins, and mourning doves
whole or cracked corn — eastern bluebirds, jays, juncos, pheasants, and many other birds as well as opossums, raccoons, squirrels, and rodents
suet — woodpeckers, black-capped chickadees, wrens, crows, and other birds; this is one of the most important food sources because of its caloric content
mealworms — American robins and other thrushes, eastern bluebirds, and other insect eaters
apples, berries, raisins, and fruit — thrushes, waxwings, warblers, buntings, and bluebirds; orioles like oranges
peanuts and peanut butter — blue jays, finches, wrens, and northern flickers
At night, opossums, raccoons, and skunks will look for any food scraps that have been left.
Natural food sources are the best way to support backyard wildlife, but providing them requires some planning. Plants that produce fruits — such as hackberry, beautyberry, crab apple, viburnum — and yaupon, possumhaw, and deciduous hollies are backyard birds’ favorites for fruit. For seed sources that last into the frigid winter months, consider native sunflowers, coneflowers, rudbeckias, coreopsis, and grasses.
Acorns are of course a favorite of squirrels, raccoons, and opossums. If you have oaks and rake up your acorns, store them in paper bags in a dry location instead of throwing them out. Then throughout the winter, ration them out to your wild neighbors.
Many backyard birds rely on foraging for hibernating insects that are buried in leaf litter. To help make sure there are plenty of bugs in your yard for wrens, warblers, titmice, cardinals, and other insectivores, let fallen leaves accumulate along fence lines and under shrubbery. In the spring, you can rake the leaves into the yard and mow over them to provide ground cover. The mowed leaves will then become a food source for beneficial insects and for your lawn in the spring.
You can also provide scraps of fruits and vegetables, unsalted nuts, and unseasoned and untreated meats in random locations far from your house during extreme cold spells.
Provide Shelter
Everyone, including wildlife, needs a place to hunker down during the coldest parts of the year.
For smaller songbirds in your yard, keep evergreen trees and shrubs along fence lines to help provide a windbreak. Wrens and other small birds will use those areas as shelter during frosty winter nights.
Nest boxes and covered platforms are also great for various species of wildlife. Depending on the size of nest box, the size of the entry, and where it is placed, you can modify nest boxes to be used by birds, squirrels, opossums, or even raccoons.
Brush piles also provide important shelter for wildlife during winter. Rather than placing fallen branches and stick debris on the curb for pickup, they can be used to create a safe haven for local wildlife. To build the most effective brush pile for your wild neighbors, start with a thick layer of leaf litter. Then lay larger logs and branches on the bottom and arrange them in a Lincoln Logs pattern to create lots of space. Use smaller sticks and twigs with leaves between to cover the space and provide insulation.
Dead trees, or snags, also provide important shelter for animals in the winter as long as they don’t create a hazard for people or structures. They also provide nesting sites in the spring and food for insectivores.
Finally, and most important, do not trap and relocate wildlife in the winter. Waiting in a trap leaves the animal exposed to severe weather, which can be fatal with low temperatures. It’s incredibly cruel and causes completely avoidable suffering. Furthermore, relocating an animal to a new territory during a time with depleted resources gives it almost no chance of survival.
These are just a few ideas to help make your yard or neighborhood an oasis for wildlife in winter.
