backyard

Out My Backdoor: Pesticide Use Can Be Harming Your Wildlife

By Terry W. Johnson

A common axiom states that if you want an abundance of wildlife in your backyard, you need to supply food, water and cover.

But the truth is you can provide wildlife with those three elements and still not attract as much wildlife as you thought you would. When this happens, the culprit may be the improper use of pesticides – insecticides, fungicides, herbicides.

Out My Backdoor: Redbuds Are on Parade

By Terry W. Johnson

One of the things I enjoy most about spring is that at this time of year we are treated to Mother Nature's annual parade of wildflowers. This special event actually begins before the official arrival of spring and extends well into May. Like the bands, floats and marchers in a traditional parade, each of our wildflowers appears across the Georgia countryside in an ordered sequence.

Out My Backdoor: Mosquito Hawks on Patrol

By Terry W. Johnson

There is an amazing array of wildlife that live in our backyards. Beyond a shadow of a doubt the two groups of animals that garner most of our attention are birds and butterflies. However, this is slowly changing as more Georgians are beginning to focus their attention on dragonflies. These people have discovered that dragonflies are every bit as beautiful and fascinating as the headliners of the wildlife show staged daily in their backyards.

Snake Information & Resources

Snakes of Georgia

Snakes are common across Georgia, even in urban and suburban areas. As development and population growth continue in Georgia, encounters between humans and snakes will increase.

Snakes are economically beneficial because they eat rats, mice, and other animals deemed to be pests. Some snakes have been used as bioindicators to assess pollutants in terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems.

Share Your Home with Migrating Chimney Swifts

During fall in Georgia, the evening sky surrounding stack stone chimneys begins to fill with small swiftly moving birds known as chimney swifts. Also known as flying cigars, for their body shape, they are one of the state’s neotropical migratory bird species. Depending almost totally on man-made structures like fireplace chimneys, airshafts or abandoned buildings, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division (DNR/WRD) encourages homeowners to provide and maintain proper roosting and nesting habitats for these fascinating little birds.

Plants that Attract Georgia Wildlife

There are many plants that are both pleasing to the eye and provide songbirds with valuable sources of food long after the flowers themselves have withered and died. Below is a partial list of some plants that are easily grown in Georgia gardens.

Bachelor Button

This hardy plant is related to Georgia's native thistle and normally blooms in midsummer. Like the thistle, goldfinches and one or our states newest residents, the house finch favor bachelor button seeds.