Backyard Wildlife

Artificial light at night can attract and disorient migrating birds. Learn when Lights Out matters most and how to turn off, dim, shield and automate lighting.

Keep cats indoors or safely contained outdoors to reduce risk to birds. Compare catios, supervised outdoor access, collar deterrents and safer backyard bird setups.

Yard pesticides can affect birds directly, reduce insect prey, alter habitat or expose predators through poisoned prey. Learn a practical bird-friendly IPM approach.

Convert underused lawn into richer bird habitat with locally native flowers, grasses, shrubs and trees while keeping turf where it still serves a practical purpose.

Put a squirrel baffle below a pole-mounted bird feeder and above a hanging feeder when squirrels approach from overhead. Learn placement, height and clearance.

Keep squirrels off bird feeders by fixing access first. Learn better feeder placement, baffle setup, weight-activated options and which common tricks to avoid.