Nature News | Marlene A. Condon Jun 4, 2021
Spring and summer are perhaps the most dangerous times of the year for wildlife living among people. Yet with a bit of forethought, folks can do much to avoid inadvertently bringing harm to animals residing in their yards.
Before trimming a shrub or tree, observe it for a few days to make sure birds and mammals aren’t nesting within it. If they are, wait a few weeks for the young to leave.
Large trees are best removed in fall when woodpeckers and squirrels shouldn’t have helpless young in cavity nests. The adult animals continue to use cavities for overnight roosting throughout fall and winter, but should be out foraging during the day when the tree gets cut. If cutting is done early in the day, these critters will have time to find another sleeping spot.
Don’t employ rototillers all summer to maintain food gardens. It’s exceedingly harmful to critters within the soil and the soil structure. Soil-living creatures make pathways throughout the soil (aerating it) which allows your plants to get oxygen and water, and they supply fertilizer by breaking down organic matter into plant-usable nutrients.
You may need to use a rototiller to break up soil and incorporate organic matter when you first plant a garden, but in subsequent years, it’s best to use hand tools. When you are at ground level, you can notice critters and avoid hurting them.
A huge problem for snakes is netting that folks use to try to keep birds and mammals out of their fruiting trees and shrubs. Large snakes don’t realize they can’t fit through the holes. They go through and get tangled up, eventually dying from dehydration if they don’t get help. (Birds determined to get through to fruits often cannot find their way out again.) Snakes are your best way to limit the number of mice and voles because their anatomy allows them to go down into rodent burrows.
Try placing fruiting plants close to your house where human activity helps to scare animals away. Growing fruiting plants especially for wildlife, far away from the house, works well because animals are more apt to go there.
During summer, don’t leave open pails around the yard. They can be death traps, especially if they are holding water. Insects see the sky reflected in the liquid and will not realize they are flying into a substance from which they cannot escape. Mice might try to enter for a drink, especially during drought conditions, and drown when they fall in. These animals are Mother Nature’s gardeners, carrying seeds back to their burrows and dropping some along the way, which helps plants to spread.
Lastly, when moving a flower pot that’s been in place for a long time, lift rather than drag it. Sowbugs, millipedes, earthworms, and centipedes are often underneath, and you don’t want to squish them. Centipedes limit the numbers of the other animals found there, which are working to recycle organic matter that’s fallen out of your pot. Every creature matters.