Dear Readers,
I started the Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge meme several years ago. Taking care of wildlife in our gardens is a huge part of environmentally conscious gardening and something that I wish my neighbors would embrace. The challenge is simply to do one thing or even lots of things each month that supports nature. Then share what you've done with others on social media, the newspaper or your neighborhood listserv. Information like this when shared helps others take action.
Why now? Because things are changing drastically around us. Development is just one of the many human activities that has contributed to habitat loss, habitat fragmentation and habitat degradation. When an ecosystem has been dramatically changed by human activities it may no longer be able to provide the food, water, cover, and places to raise young that wildlife need to survive. Every day there are fewer places left that wildlife can call home. We might not be able to stop the development/destruction but, maybe we can make a lot of educational noise and help others see the value in providing for critters and ultimately helping the environment.
I've included links and a brief summary of each 2025 Challenge. Just follow the links to each post. I hope you find them helpful. Writing them helped me learn even more about living environmentally conscious.
If you have any suggestions for future post, please share them in the comments.
xoxogail
The Posts:
January: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge
Dear Clay and Limestone readers, I've been assessing whether to keep posting the monthly nature challenge. The overarching theme of this blog for a very long time has been about taking care of nature. It's what I do as a gardener, it's what I write about and it's what I encourage all of you to do. January 2025 will be the start of the fourth year of the taking care of nature challenges and it's still relevant in the midst of the many challenges facing wildlife today, so I've decided to keep on keeping on.
As a reader, I want your feedback and input. I'll be asking questions in each post. I want to know if enjoyed the post? Was it helpful? What did you find most insightful about it? What questions do you still have about this topic? What topics would you like me to cover? Any other input/feedback you have will be appreciated. I hope you comment and share your thoughts, your frustrations, your successes in your garden or within your community.
I hope you know you are important to this blogger. You are after all a big reason why I continue to blog.
February: First Wednesday Wildlife Challenge: Soil is More Than Dirt
Soil is a dynamic, living
environment that supports and feeds life. Soil is the earthy material
that plants grow in. It is composed of a matrix of minerals, organic
matter, air and
water. Each component is important for supporting plant growth,
microbial communities and chemical decomposition. The soil ecosystem can be defined as an
interdependent life-support system. Some scientists refer to soil as Earth's living skin.
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| Soil after 30+ years of leaving the leaves and top dressing with compost |
This post is intended to be an introduction to soils and is not a deep dive into a very complex topic. The purpose of this post is to give you a starting point in case you want to dive deeper. I do hope you're encouraged to learn more about the soils in your part of the world and that you get engaged in activities that promote soil health.
Spring migration is starting. The numbers are increasing quickly from thousands a night flying over to millions when it peaks later this spring. It's not too early, in fact it's time for us to think about how we can protect birds as they migrate over our cities and states.
Migration:
Millions of birds will be returning north to their breeding grounds where abundant food and nesting sites await them. Migration is a natural phenomena that happens every fall and spring. Their journey is physically taxing and the lack of adequate food supplies along the way, bad weather, exposure to predators and the ever increasing danger from colliding into lit up buildings all add to making this journey hazardous.
April: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: Immerse Yourself in Spring
Spring is popping out all over and this is a great time to challenge you to get outside and enjoy it all.
Our health and well-being are directly affected by the amount of time we spend in nature. In a review of the research, Gregory Bratman, PhD, an assistant professor at the University of Washington, and colleagues shared evidence that being out in nature is associated with increases in happiness, subjective well-being, positive affect, positive social interactions and a sense of meaning and purpose in life, as well as decreases in mental distress (Science Advances, Vol. 5, No. 7, 2019).
May: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: Acting Locally Thinking Globally
I don't know about you, but I am overwhelmed from all the disturbing news about the environment. Air pollution, insect decline, bird losses, deforestation, proliferation of invasive plant and animal species, habitat loss, loss of bio-diversity, water scarcity, over-fishing, ocean degradation, soil degradation, and chemical pollution. Unfortunately, the list goes on and on. It's both terrifying and exhausting and it's completely understandable that we often feel that there's nothing we personally can do to stop the avalanche of destruction.
We can't do it all, but we can do somethings. We have to pick our battles and I've chosen to garden for wildlife and fight for the critters that visit and live in my habitat. It's why I continue to blog and post on social media about native plant gardens and taking care of wildlife. I believe that positive publicity is needed to educate our friends, neighbors and communities about how important even the smallest changes we make as gardeners can be for pollinators, birds, insects and mammals, including humans, that live all around us.
I am borrowing from the thinking globally and acting locally environmental movement. "Think globally, act locally" urges people to consider the health of the entire planet and to take action in their own communities and cities. Now that so many environmental regulations are being erased, it is even more important that individuals come together to protect habitats and the organisms that live within them. It is incredibly important that we become active. You decide what's important to you and at on it.
June: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: The Rodenticide Effects
I don't use pesticides in my garden and wouldn't begin to think about using a rodenticide for a mouse problem in my home. So when a friend told me she was having trouble with mice in her hobby room and that her pest control company set out rat bait I couldn't stop myself from sharing my concerns about rodenticides and what the unintended consequences of trying to kill a few mice has on wildlife outside her home.
I explained to her that rodenticides work by preventing a rodent's blood from clotting causing them to bleed internally. Although these poisons target rodents- raptors and other animals, both tame and wild that eat those rodents may be harmed or killed via secondary poisoning, known as relay toxicosis. This happens when the poisoned mice/prey animals leave one's home and wander outside where they attract the attention of hunting raptors and mammals (foxes and bobcats).
Rodenticide poisons are designed to smell and taste good to rodents to entice them to eat them, but they can be just as appealing to wild mammals, including squirrels, opossums, skunks, raccoons, and foxes if the pellets are somehow spilled outside.
Studies have shown that rodenticide poisoning from eating poisoned rodents is more widespread than was thought. Follow this link to this study: A review: poisoning by anticoagulant rodenticides in non-target animals globally to see the serious and widespread nature of this problem. A recent study showed nearly 80% of raptors and other rodent consuming wildlife tested by WildCare were found positive for secondary rodenticide poisoning. (source)
I am taking a July break, but didn't want to leave you without a few good listens and reads. Please feel free to add any of your recommendations in the comments on this post or in social media where this will be posted. xo
I often listen to gardening podcasts while gardening and sometimes on walks. Here are a few I have enjoyed and I hope you will, too. Just follow the highlighted links.
Here's a list of a few of my favorite native plant garden blogs and websites.
Sidewalk Nature: Joanna Brichetto's blog/website and her tag line says it all~ Look Around. Nature is us, our yards, sidewalks, parks, and parking lots.
Humane Gardener : Nancy Lawson's tag line is Cultivating compassion for all creatures great and small.
WildOnes: Wild Ones promotes native landscapes through education, advocacy and collaborative action. The link will take you to the Middle Tennessee chapter
Home Grown National Park : Join the native plant homegrown garden movement. The website has links to keystone plants in your eco-region.
Nuts For Natives: A self taught gardener (like many of us) who loves native plants.
Have a safe and wonderful July. xoxogail
August: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: When Noise is Harmful
Yesterday, I hollered for Michael at the top of my voice and he couldn't hear me over the noise of 2 mowers and a leaf blower in the yard next door. To top that off, just as the new house construction across the street was nearing completion, I heard the sounds of a house being bulldozed. More noise on the way.
I really miss the quiet. I can go inside to get a break from the noise, but, I worry about the effects all that noise has on the critters that live and visit my garden.
Noise pollution is serious.
Noise pollution in my neighborhood has had significant negative impacts on my well-being. I no longer spend a lot of time outside because the construction noise is so unpleasant.
Noise is the second largest environmental cause of health problems, just after the impact of air pollution. Approximately 10 million persons in the US have permanent hearing loss from environmental noise or noise related trauma. Scientists measure sound in decibels using scales to determine harmful sounds. Sound levels above 85 decibels are potentially harmful to a person’s ears. See the chart below to see how many sound sources in our lives are impacting our well being and our hearing.
Research (source) has shown that it can also significantly harm wildlife by interfering with their ability to communicate, navigate, find food, care for their offspring and avoid predators. This can lead to stress, reduced breeding success, and even population declines. In birds, alterations in foraging, vocalizations and nests were noted; laboratory studies, on the other hand, carried out on small mammals, highlighted spatio-temporal cognitive alterations and memory loss. Researchers concluded that greater attention to all ecosystems should be given as soon as possible so as to try to achieve a balance between human activity and the well-being of terrestrial fauna. (source)
First things first, turn off your outdoor lights at night. We do this every night but it's especially important now.
Birds migrate south as winter approaches because insects and other foods are dwindling. They're traveling to areas that have food and nesting. Some birds stay put because they can find adequate food and water, others are traveling anywhere from a hundred miles to several hundred. The birds that are being monitored by Bird Cast are long-distance migrators. "They typically move from breeding ranges in the United States and Canada to wintering grounds in Central and South America. It's an arduous journey and over 350 different species of North American birds are long distance migrators." (source)
October: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge: Take Your Troubles To Your Garden
It has a great big heart and arms that envelope a troubled spirit.
November: First Wednesday Taking Care of Wildlife Challenge I Challenge You To Leave The Leaves
It's autumn in Nashville. The temperature is cooler, there's been more rain, the sky is an intense blue and the trees in my garden are a turning a delightful golden color.
As wonderful as fall is there's also the infuriating, obnoxious and ear damaging noise of leaf blowers. Every fall my neighbors pay lawn service contractors to haul away one of our most valuable ecological resources-fallen leaves.
We don't have to have our leaves hauled away! We can Leave the Leaves for Wildlife! I am challenging you to think differently about fall cleanup and take the challenge to leave your leaves.
Gailxoxo
Gail Eichelberger is a gardener, Tennessee Naturalist and nature writer in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.
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"Insects are the little things that run the world." Dr. E O Wilson