In My Backyard

How to attract Birds to your Backyard.  How to responsibly create a safe habitat in your backyard.  Though this is not in the prairies, Master Gardener Bob Mauceli provides great hints and tips that will help you know what to aim towards.  This three part series is handy - Part one PROS & CONS of Backyard BIRD Feeding - Part Two Why EVERYONE Should keep their Bird Feeders CLEAN - Part three Can Birds become dependent on Feeders?

Another sneaky clue to backyard iNaturalist sightings is to explore What's in The Grass Today? There are cool YouTube videos; Ten Interesting Insects or Getting to know insects!  Sorry that the last two videos are "for kids."  Whereas there were great quantities of insect videos for adults but they involved the killing of insects. There is a sharp decline in the numbers of songbirds and it is good to advocate for the insects as they are the natural food source of birds.

Learning about moths is introduced in Moth Week Activities  During the City Nature Challenge between April 29 and May 3, nightfall is between midnight and 3:00 am so, therefore, to take part in moth sightings, the iNaturalist observer rather needs a nightowl or a very early riser.  This activity may be more conducive using your front or back porch light.  Here is a h int about how to  Throw A Moth Party!  Using iNaturalist will help during your moth party!  Remember moths are "bird food on wings" as Sam Kieschnick urban wildlife biologists says.  This is why bug zappers are not a great idea as our song bird population declines exponentially.  Take some time learning about moths, our night time wildlife.  At the beginning of spring like during the City Nature Challenge, moths may not yet be around as these insects go through many cycles or states of metamorphosis such as, egg, larvae (caterpillar), pupa (cocoon) and then moth   Remember these helpful hints and tips for National Moth Week at the end  of July when nightfall is between midnight and two am  ;-)  iNaturalist Citizen Science can continue even after the four day City Nature Challenge ends.