Nature and Gardening

Happy New Year, everyone!

The post link will take you to an interactive tool that will help you look up threatened and endangered species in your county (US based, but please link similar tools for your countries or regions!). Let's make an impact this year by:

• Finding a species to sponsor in our area from the linked tool or those linked in the comments

• Researching their critical food or habitat sources that we can each help to provide - for some bird species this may involve finding the specialist food sources for the caterpillars the fledglings depend on

• Planting or growing those resources, or mindfully managing our spaces to provide for those needs in the case of long grasses, plant stalks during the dormant season, or nesting spaces; leaving brush piles, leaving seed heads on plants, and letting those wildlife snags keep providing habitat.

• Letting them eat all our hard work! Host species for specialist insects create ripples of opportunity for the species that rely on those insects, whether as prey, as pollinators, or as detritovores keeping decaying plant matter from overwhelming growing plants. Caterpillars are the main source of nutrition for many species of nesting birds, and can often be the only sources of compounds like anthocyanins which makes their colorful plumage possible. Moths from those caterpillars are staple food sources for many other animals as well.

No effort we make is too small to count. Happy planting and gardening, everyone, and happy New Year.