Sharing Spaces: How to Coexist with Wildlife in Your Neighborhood

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

World Wildlife Day occurs every year on March 3, a United Nations International holiday to celebrate all the wild animals and plants in the world. Like humans, all natural creatures need three things: shelter, food, and water. You can make a difference in the natural world around you by providing these three things, no matter how big your outdoor space is.

Happy Growing

By adding locally native plants to your garden or window boxes, you’re helping healthy insects, butterflies, and other wildlife thrive. In addition, native plants are naturally easier to grow as they are already accustomed to your area’s conditions and climate. Certain variations of milkweed are also nesting grounds and excellent food sources for Monarch butterflies.

Build Habitats

More than half of the bat species found in the United States are in decline or listed as endangered, with habitat loss from deforestation and environmental pollution being their largest threat. By building or purchasing a bat house, you’ll be helping the population have safe places for nesting. Bats are great pollinators, seed carriers, and insect predators. Bats can eat nearly a thousand mosquitos per hour—much more than any kind of bug zapper could handle! They can also keep common garden pests at bay, such as Japanese beetles.

If you lack the space or gardening ability to have large bushes in your space, experts recommend putting up a few birdhouses. As the size of birds largely depends on your local ecosystem, it’s best to do some research about the proper size that would work best for your local feathered friends.

Friendly From Afar

If you have mammal visitors on your property, it’s important to never feed them. Deer, raccoons, skunks, and possums can become dependent on humans if a feeding habit occurs. This can leave them vulnerable to starvation or harm by other humans as they become dependent on us, lose their fear of us, and lose their ability to find their own food sources.

Water Sources

If you have the space, experts recommend having a small pond in your backyard.  Even a bird bath, water feature, or even just bowls of water can be extremely beneficial to passing wildlife—especially for suburban or urban wildlife, who may have a harder time finding natural water sources.

Less Chemicals, More Natural

Eliminating all insects and bugs isn’t always the best course of action. In fact, using chemical-based fertilizers can damage natural ecosystems and humans by polluting water systems, local vegetation, contaminating soil, and other harmful practices. Instead, you can introduce beneficial insects and wild, native plants to help with lawn and garden management. Physical methods, such as hand weeding, mulching, and composting can benefit your garden without including pollution.

Coexisting With Your Neighbors

While you can’t choose your neighbors, you can learn to coexist together. After all, they live in your neighborhood too! If you’re looking for wildlife neighbors of your own, contact us! Our dedicated Loan Originators will work closely for you to achieve your financial goals of homeownership.