How to Help Wildlife During the Winter

Birds and other small animals may have a harder time finding plentiful food and water sources during the winter months. Help backyard wildlife thrive even when it's cold outside with these easy tips.

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Last week, I shared a post about how to make homemade suet cakes for wild birds. The easy recipe provides a fatty source of food to help birds stay energized and warm during the winter months. It got me thinking about other ways to help out our backyard wildlife while it's cold outside. I ended up making a mental checklist for myself and thought I should share it here on my blog, as well.

Some people like to help out neighborhood wildlife all year round (like myself!) and it's especially important to look after our little furry, fuzzy, and feathered friends during the cold months. While I typically make sure the wild birds are kept fed and happy, I also like to make sure our backyard provides nature shelter to other animals and insects that inhabit our yard.

How to Help Wildlife During the Winter

But did you know that providing a safe and comfy space for animals actually starts before winter begins? While we shut down the garden for the season over fall, it's important that we don't cut down dead stems and don't remove all of the leaves. There are also several other things we do to provide a safe haven for animals over the cold, harsh months.

Put Down the Pruners + Leave the Leaves

Listen, I used to make the mistake of entirely cleaning up our garden, clipping down plants around the yard, and the like after the growing season was over. But then, I learned that keeping the spent plants was important for wildlife. The stems provide a place for insects to shelter and lay eggs.

Any seeds leftover provide a source of food for birds. And it's always important to leave a small pile of leaves and branches. This provides shelter for insects and other small animals. Our backyard rabbits like to hide among the leaves as well as the raspberry branches that grow wild underneath our deck.

Plant a Tree or Shrubs

Do you have a tree or a row of shrub in your yard? Good job! You have a place for birds, squirrels, and other small animals to take cover throughout the winter. Evergreen trees and bushes provide shelter and protect small animals from the cold. And if any of your plants grow berries, you have another food source for the birds. It's a win-win!

If your bushes flower in the spring, they'll probably be frequented by bees and butterflies. The lush, full greenery will make a cozy spot for birds to nest and bunnies and other small animals to shelter. If you decide to plant a new tree or shrub, look into native varieties.

Keep Birdhouses Up

You might be tempted to take down birdhouses and nesting boxes once it gets cold outside, but leave them up! Make sure they're cleaned out and keep them up to provide shelter for winter birds. And if you find a new birdhouse you'd like to hang, make sure it's high up off the ground so predators can't get to the birds.

Give Them a Beneficial Food Source

We feed the birds from fall through early spring. I fill our bird feeder with a mixed seed blend for wild birds. But through the winter, I also put up suet baskets and leave out extra treats like popcorn and fruit. The popcorn isn't an all the time thing (more like popcorn garland around the holidays). But the fruit and suet cakes are something I refill often.

As I mentioned earlier, suet cakes are super beneficial to birds during the colder months. You can buy premade suet cakes made with a fatty base and things like peanuts and berries. If you live in a warmer climate, you might want to look into no melt suet cakes. Since our winters stay cold, I like to make my own suet cakes. This way I can control what they're made of and ensure the birds are getting more nutrients and less fillers.

Provide Clean Water

We have two bird baths. One in the front yard and one in the backyard. But during the winter, they freeze over. So if you want to provide fresh water to the animals that inhabit your yard, there are a few things you can do.

You can bring a shallow dish of water (think like a terracotta saucer from a planter) outside. Add some rocks for small animals to perch on. You can also thaw bird baths by pouring warm - not hot - water into it. On a warm day, you might want to empty the bath completely and clean it (use a brush and rinse). Then, refill with fresh water.

If you really want to make sure there's clean water available throughout the winter, you can add a bird bath heater.

If you're like me and enjoy seeing birds, bees, butterflies, and other animals and insects during the spring and summer, it's important that create a cozy environment for them while it's cold outside. These simple tips will help you do just that!