One of the top reasons I look forward to returning home to Texas for my summers is due to all the nature! I love waking up in the morning and hearing the birds chirping. I watch the cardinals landing in my yard, carefully avoiding my cats. At night, I have a chance to hear coyotes howl and catch a glance at a hungry raccoon grabbing a bite out of our “chicken bucket.” If this is one of your favorite aspects about Texas as well, then you can certify your own backyard as a Certified Wildlife Habitat.
A twenty dollar sign-up fee is required, but you get a few perks along with certification. You receive a certificate and your name in a registry… yadda yadda yadda… I think the coolest aspect is the free magazine subscription to National Wildlife Magazine, informing readers on how to attract more wildlife to their backyard. Once you are registered, you enter a very exclusive society of nature lovers, where you can even share photos of your habitat , or look at others on the flickr group.
I know what you are thinking. Well, it sounds easy to sign-up, but how difficult is it to qualify? Not difficult at all. Most of the requirements, people already have or want to have at their homes.
The five necessary components of a wildlife habitat are 3 Food Sources, 1 Water Sources, 2 Places for Cover, 2 Places to Raise Young, 2 forms of Sustainable Gardening. You can click on the categories to find examples of each, but I will provide you an example of what a certified habitat may look like:
A habitat could contain a bird feeder and bird house hanging above a little bird bath. A big planted big lemon tree surrounded by some sunflowers. This provides both fruit and pollen for local creatures. Remember to put some mulch or compost to help these plants grow. On the other side of the yard, plant some dense shrubs to keep out those nosey neighbors. This counts as both cover for animals and a place to raise their young. You could set up a toad abode under the brush where the rainwater likes to fall into a little plate. All this is more than enough to receive your certification. Once you start thinking about your own yard as a home, you will want to keep up the habitats!
If you love this idea so much, consider telling your neighborhood parks or schools that they could create their own certified wildlife habitat as well.
No related posts.
