Enhance Wildlife Habitat

There are many different ways you can be a friend to wildlife! Read below for some general tips on how to improve wildlife habitat near you.

We offer bluebird houses and bat roosting boxes for sale year-round! Updated pricing can be found on our yearly fee schedule. Reach out to our office for more information.  

Eastern Bluebirds

Loss of nesting habitat has greatly increased for native cavity nesting birds like Eastern Bluebirds. As bluebirds are the official New York State bird, why not encourage them to nest on your property with a bluebird box?

Here are some guidelines to follow if you want to give bluebirds a home in your yard:

• Use a box made of untreated wood
• The entrance hole should be approximately 1¹/₂ inches in diameter (any other sizes may attract invasive bird species) with no perch (these allow predators to enter the box)
• Mount the box on smooth post or pipe to further discourage predators from climbing to the box
•   The box should be in an open area at least 25 feet away from the nearest brush area or forest to avoid predators
• The box should be away human traffic
• Point the box entrance away from prevailing winds 

Bats

Mounting a bat roosting box is a great way to control insects in your area without pesticides. Little Brown Bats - the most common bat in New York, can eat thousands of insects in one night! Just like bird houses, you can also mount a bat box to attract bats to your property. Bats are unfortunately being devastated by an invasive disease known as White Nose Syndrome (WNS). Introduced from Europe, WNS has decimated bat populations throughout the United States - in some areas by as much as 95%. Without bats we can expect insect populations to dramatically rise. It is estimated that bats save farmers $3.7 billion a year in easting pests that farmers would otherwise have to use pesticides to control. They also control mosquito populations, and in effect help reduce the spread of mosquito borne illnesses.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when doing so:

• Boxes should be at least 10 ft off the ground in an open area facing the southeast - this is because the box needs to get 7+ hours of direct sun exposure
• Bats will more likely colonize a box if it is near a waterway
• If painting your bat box use a non-toxic chemical