With the increasing influx of new housing developments and shopping complexes, more and more wildlife habitats are becoming extinct each year. To help restore some part of the ecosystem, our backyards can become lifesavers for many animals such as birds, butterflies, bats, squirrels, raccoons, chipmunks, skunks and frogs. What advantage to you gain from this? The obvious seems to be able to watch animals in their natural environment; the other is that you will have to spend less time and money keeping up your yard. What constitutes a Backyard Wildlife Habitat? It is simple, really - a backyard for the needs of wildlife. However, you must be certified, by at least having a small area - as small as a few square feet - and be ready to show or prove the following:

1. Food: trees and plants, feeders for birds, squirrels, birdseeds, insects (for lizards and toads)
2. Water (for drinking and bathing); birdbaths, ponds, water gardens, dripping hose, dish.
3. Cover: shrubs, crown vetch, a discarded Christmas tree, a dead tree trunk, brush piles, rocks, stonewalls.
4. A place to raise young; heavy cover, bird houses, squirrel boxes, water (for frogs, salamanders, other reptiles, insects)

The National Wildlife Federation suggests utilizing native trees, shrubs, and flowers that usually require less water, fertilizer, and pest control. Go to your local state and fish department's website or contact them to find out what can be planted to attract wild life. Vary the heights of plants so you have layers of foliage. Consider plants and trees that hold berries into winter: pyracantha, holly, juniper, dogwood, madrone, toyon, bayberry, bittersweet. Include a firebreak, which can be as simple as a mowed path. Once planting is done, try to conserve even more water through mulching and other practices.

To attract hummingbirds: Plant tubular flowers bearing nectar. You can also put out feeders containing a mixture of four parts water to one part sugar. (Don't use honey or red dye). You should change the sugar water and clean the feeder every three days. Consider: acacia, butterfly weed, butterfly bush, delphinium, echeveria, eucalyptus, fireburst, fuchsia, hollyhocks, impatiens, lantana, lobelia, morning glory, nasturtium, nicotiana, penstemon, phlox, red buckeye, salvia, sweet William

To attract other birds: Plant a variety of seed and fruit-bearing trees, grasses, and plants. Consider: barberry, bayberry, black cherry, blackberry, blueberry, blazing star, bluestem grass, buckthorn, columbine, coralbells, cotoneaster, elderberry, flowering crab apple, grape holly, holly honeysuckle, jewelweed, juniper, mulberry, oak, phlox, pine and cedar trees, sunflower, thistle, trumpet creeper, viburnum, Virginia Creeper

To attract butterflies: Locate your garden in a warm and protected place. Plant flowers in big clumps so butterflies can find them. Some butterflies tend to eat one kind of plant when in the larval stage, another when mature. Monarch larvae, for example, eat only milkweed, while mature monarchs sip nectar from a variety of flowers. Plan your garden so that flowers will be blooming throughout the growing season. Purple is the favorite color of butterflies, so keep that in mind when choosing flowers to plant. (They also like orange, pink, lavender, yellow, and white.) Provide water and some large, dark-colored stones where butterflies can sunbathe. Don't use pesticide.

Kiya Sama is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/
which is a site for Writers.