Create a bird-friendly habitat and make a difference for birds.

The choices we make in our own yards, gardens, and green spaces directly impact the survival of wildlife, especially birds and pollinators. And while traditional garden styles have their appeal, they often fall short when it comes to meeting the needs of native species.

🌿 Why a Habitat Garden Makes a Difference 🌼

A habitat garden isn’t just beautiful—it’s purposeful. It goes beyond aesthetics to provide the essential elements of life:

• 🌻 Food (native plants, seeds, berries, insects)
• 💧 Water (bird baths, shallow ponds, drippers)
• 🌳 Shelter (brush piles, trees, dense plantings)
• 🪵 Nesting Spaces (dead trees/snags, birdhouses, ground cover)

Instead of being a static 📷 "picture-perfect" yard, a habitat garden is alive—buzzing with 🐝 bees, fluttering with 🦋 butterflies, and alive with🐦🎵 birdsong.

 

📉 The Urgency: Wildlife is in Trouble

• 🐦 Birds: North America has lost nearly 3 billion birds since 1970. That’s 1 in 4 birds gone.
• 🦋 Monarch Butterflies: Down more than 80% in less than 30 years.
• 🌎 Insects & Pollinators: Many are experiencing steep declines globally. Including our bees which pollinate all of our major food sources!

👉 The #1 cause? Habitat loss and fragmentation.

 

🌼🏡 Designing a Habitat Garden – Your New Blueprint

You don’t need acres of land or a total yard makeover. Even small changes make a big impact. Here's how to start:

1. 🌲🌳 Choose Native Plants. Native flowers, shrubs, trees, and grasses support native insects and wildlife better than exotics. Prioritize plants that bloom at different times of the year.
2. 🌼🌾🌻Reduce Lawn Space. Turf grass offers almost no habitat value. Replace sections of lawn with wildflower patches, meadows, or garden beds.
3. 🌿 Layer Your Landscape. Use trees, shrubs, understory plants, and groundcover to create layers—mimicking natural habitat. This supports a variety of species with different needs.
4. 🚫 Avoid Pesticides. They harm insects 🐝🐜🐛, which are a critical food source for birds and other animals. A healthy garden is a little messy—and that’s okay 👍!
5. 💧 Add Water. Even a small water feature can attract dozens of species. Keep it shallow and clean.

 

🏡🥇 Your Yard = Conservation Land

Every yard, balcony, schoolyard, or community plot adds up. If enough people create habitat gardens, we can form a vast patchwork of safe, nourishing spaces that help reverse wildlife declines. This isn't just gardening—it's backyard conservation. And it matters more than ever.

 

🌱🌎 Start small, think big, and garden with purpose.

Your habitat garden might be just one patch—but to a migrating warbler or a struggling butterfly, it could mean everything.

💭💡Just imagine if we could re-make every suburban lawn in North America into a nurturing wildlife habitat! While once a daunting thought, it is easier and more realistic to do than ever before…thanks to the National Wildlife Federation’s Certified Wildlife Habitat program. Through the use of NWF’S abundant support materials and online resources, everyone can be inspired to create a haven for wildlife in their own yard.

Since its inception, NWF has certified more than 250,000 wildlife habitats and Wild Birds Unlimited, as the Champion for the Certified Wildlife Habitat program, encourages everyone to consider becoming the next to certify. Visit wbu.com/certify-your-yard to see how easy it is to create your own backyard habitat and to truly make a difference for the future of song birds and other wildlife.