“Autumn shows us how beautiful it is to let things go.”
~~~ Unknown
By the autumn equinox, my standards for tending the vegetable garden and yard go to seed faster than the sunflowers. The waning of warm weather, the angle of the sun, the first frosts — they all trigger some ancient and kindred human response to reflect and conserve energy for the cold, dark months ahead. This seasonal transition gives me license to be a guilt-free and lazy fall gardener, happy with the knowledge that leaving my yard “messy” provides a welcoming, food-rich haven for wintering birds.
For those willing to overcome their fastidious tendencies (or dismiss the neighbor’s dirty looks), one of the most valuable things you can do to provide food and cover for overwintering birds, pollinators, and other invertebrates is to skip the fall chores of raking, pruning, mowing, and blowing. Organizations including Audubon Society, American Bird Conservancy, and Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation offer great tips for creating bird- and bug-friendly yards during fall and winter months with the overarching theme: “messy habitat = good habitat.”
Leave the leaves. Skipping the leaf raking helps birds directly and indirectly. Leaves trap and hold moisture from dew and rain, which helps to keep underlying soil and plants from drying out. As the leaves decompose, they enrich the soil. Leaf litter also attracts and feeds a variety of invertebrates, which entice salamanders, toads, chipmunks, and birds that rely on these invertebrates for food.
Xerces Society’s “Leave the Leaves” initiative gives many compelling examples of the importance of leaf litter to a wide range of butterflies and moths that overwinter as eggs, caterpillars, chrysalides, or adults in our backyards.
“Great spangled fritillary and wooly bear caterpillars tuck themselves into a pile of leaves for protection from cold weather and predators. Red-banded hairstreaks lay their eggs on fallen oakleaves, which become the first food of the caterpillars when they emerge. Luna moths and swallowtail butterflies disguise their cocoons and chrysalis as dried leaves, blending in with the “real” leaves.”
Bumble bees and other pollinators also require leaf litter….
“At the end of summer, mated queen bumble bees burrow only an inch or two into the earth to hibernate for winter. An extra thick layer of leaves is welcome protection from the elements.”
If a laissez-faire approach isn’t practical for your yard, consider composting some of your leaf litter and leaving the rest. Also consider raking leaves from your lawn to your garden beds to add valuable (and free!) organic matter.
Save the seeds & stalks. Resist the urge to tidy up your garden once the growing season is over! Leave seed heads of vegetables, perennials, and native wildflowers to provide a nutritious cache of seeds for wintering birds. Maintain some standing dead plant material, which often harbors protein-packed bird snacks like wasp and fly larvae. The tangle of vegetation also provides cover for sparrows, towhees, juncos, and other shy, skulking songbirds.
Build a brush pile. Blustery fall days or an early snowstorm might knock down tree limbs in your yard. Instead of hauling them away, use the branches to build a brush pile to shelter birds from winter weather and predators. Brush pile benefits also include providing refuge for rabbits, chipmunks, snakes, amphibians, and other small wildlife, and sequestering carbon.
Skip the chemicals. Whether out of habit, effective corporate marketing, or social conditioning, many people spread “weed & feed” products on their lawns in fall. However, grass clippings and mulched leaf litter can add valuable nutrients to the soil without the chemical blast. Better still would be to reduce your overall lawn footprint, replacing it instead with wildlife-supporting plantings that can be future repositories for fall leaves.
Hit the nursery. If laziness is not your fall MO, why not expend some energy planting native shrubs and trees. Consider planting a mix of fruit-bearing flowering shrubs and seed-bearing conifers that also provide shelter for wintering birds. Fall is also a perfect time to plant flowering perennials and wildflowers, often at end-of-season discounts. Audubon’s Native Plants Database is a great resource to find native plant species suited to your yard.
Please share your tips and experience prepping your yard for wintering birds!
What bird species are flying, flitting, skulking, hopping, pecking, gleaning, hunting, calling, or delighting you in your backyard?