Is your yard a food desert? I’m not asking whether you have a garden. I’m asking whether your yard supports native species of animals. Let’s take the chickadee as an example, because it has been studied recently. Carolina chickadees are native to Arkansas and live here year-round.
If you have a feeder in your yard you probably see them. But did you know that they eat insects as well as seeds? In fact, they must have insects to feed their young, or their young will die. And here’s where your yard comes into it.
If your yard is full of grass, crepe myrtle and Bradford pear trees, it won’t sustain any of the insects the chickadee needs to raise a family. Instead, plant an oak, which sustains 420 species of caterpillars, enough for chickadees and many other species.
For more information, see Audubon.org