Improving Species Diversity Benefits Us All
Farms are usually big monocultures. Urban areas are mostly concrete and asphalt. Suburban lawns sprawl for acres, pouring endless amounts of chemical residue off into the storm sewers.
All of this part of the taming of nature - bending it to fit our narrow standards. Some if it is quite nice - there aren't many insects in the suburban/urban worlds - but of course at a price.
In the interest of keeping our area diverse, we participated in a charity event aimed at providing adequate bird housing in suburban/urban areas. We built over 56 houses for wood ducks and bluebirds.
These are going to be given away at an upcoming eco-expo to regular people that will hopefully put them up to provide homes for displaced wildlife.
What about Duffy Meadows? We built 3 boxes for our land as well. We are going to put 1 wood duck nesting box above each of our lakes and hope that the ducks are able to raise successful broods for years to come. We will also put up one bluebird house on the edge of the native prairie. It may house some bluebirds, sparrows, or other small birds. Time will tell! We will update if we come across spring babies and families in the nests.
We are working to encourage the charity group to create bat houses next year. Bats are natures greatest mosquito eaters. If all goes well, we may be building some swarm catching boxes in the near future. Keep your fingers crossed that the native prairie takes off this spring! The bees are depending on it!
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