The observations of wildlife in our region are never without interesting discoveries even in the backyard of Butler County.

Just this week at dusk, my wife called out to me to observe a sight that at one time was quite common, but not so much in recent times. Looking up at the emerging starry night, we were greeted with the figure eights and loops of flying little brown bats in an open expanse between the towering trees.

The little brown bat used to be a regular visitor until white nosed fungus decimated their numbers and caused their numbers to drop drastically.

Yet here they were, at about a half dozen of them taking on the gnats and mosquitoes of the woodlot. Between the tree swallows during the daylight hours and the bats in the evening hours, they have made a significant impact on the flying pests that aggravate us. We have our own biological bug zappers you might say!

Putting up nesting boxes for the birds and the bats can really pay off. Wildlife habitat can be as simple as boxes, brush piles, tree cavities, open grass lands and woods edge. Park-like woodlands is not a favorable habitat for most wildlife species.

Young wildlife requires cover from predators and other dangers that woody growth provides.

We have fawns, turkey poults, young rabbits, song birds and all sorts of other wildlife that depend on the cover and wildlife habitats offered by nature and man. Bird baths strategically placed on your property has all kinds of benefits for wildlife. We witness on a regular basis wildlife using these man-made reservoirs providing wildlife a fresh source of drinking water.

It can be a problem when animals use it for a swimming pool or bath tub, but it cleans up easily and can be refilled once again.

Planting wild flowers and grasses is an instant favorite of many wildlife species. Clover and bird’s foot trefoil are hot items for foraging plant eaters. Phlox, coneflowers, bee balm, cardinal flowers, day lilies, sunflowers, mock orange, other natural wildflowers like ironweed bring in the butterflies and bees.

I have all kinds of delays when mowing the fields and extensive yard areas when I see the numerous honey bees, bumble bees and other species scrambling all over the blooming grasses. It honestly looks like a patchwork quilt as I detour around heavy bee cover areas to spare the pollinators.

Our garden benefits by the number of pollinators that also visit our vegetables in the same areas.

There must be a wild honeybee hive nearby as they are too numerous early and late to be traveling a great distance. I have seen several swarms and hives over the years in hollow trees and also saw one tree that was broken into by an opportunistic black bear.

Speaking of being opportunistic, we were hit the second time by a bird feeder-crashing bear this summer. Both times occurred when we were a little delayed in pulling in our feeders due to social obligations. Does that bear have our social calendar?

If you want to attract pollinators and birds to your property, go native in your plantings!

Remember that there are four seasons in the year and wildlife needs support in all four! You can plant several each year and slowly, but surely make your yard a special place. We recently planted crabapples, dogwoods and American hawthorns to the property. An excellent tree is the American Linden tree, also known as the basswood. It has the most fragrant blossoms and the tree attracts thousands of bees.

Basswood honey is a popular choice among the apiarian (bee farmers). Serviceberries, white dogwoods and flowering crabapples bring in the Cedar waxwings, American robins and the eastern bluebirds as well as other wildlife species such as the Eastern wild turkey.

Interestingly, we have observed young wildlife imitate their parents this summer. Whitetail deer have stood on their hind legs and stripped branches of an apple tree of fruit, leaves and shoots. Their fawns have also tried to do the same, but are not so capable as their mothers.

Turkey hens have dusted themselves by laying in the gravel driveway and flapping their wings. Sure enough, the turkey poults plopped down by their mothers and imitated the same behaviors to handle any pests without realizing they are doing this for a purpose!

Until we meet again, take the time to garden for wildlife habitat and plant a few desirable native species this year!

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle