Month-by-month guide to backyard wildlife events and tasks
By the last week of May, your yard runs eight wildlife schedules at once: rabbits start a second litter, fireflies begin flashing, monarchs lay their next egg wave, fledglings drop out of nests, native bees swap generations, toads call from any standing water, annual cicadas start their first songs in the southern half of the … Read more
If a bird built a nest in your hanging basket, stop watering the container for the next three to four weeks, leave the basket exactly where it is, and skip any pesticides on nearby plants until the chicks fledge. Most suburban hanging-basket nesters in late May are House Finches, Carolina Wrens, or American Robins, and … Read more
Eastern box turtles spend their entire adult lives inside a home range smaller than two acres, usually within 250 yards of where they hatched. Pick one up, drive it to a state park a few miles down the road, and you have not rescued it. You have stranded it. Most relocated turtles wander for months, … Read more
A fledgling on the ground in late May is almost always fine. Heres how to tell, when to step in, and what late-spring parents are doing.
Quick answer: A wild cottontail nest only stays active for about three weeks. Mark the spot, mow around a 10-foot buffer, and skip the area until the kits leave on their own. The mother visits just twice a day, at dawn and dusk, so an empty-looking nest is usually a healthy nest. Verify she is … Read more
