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Little Tchefuncte Wildlife Habitat
Welcome to the Little Tchefuncte
Wildlife Habitat
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Hummingbird Hill
Indian Pinks
Additional Pages
Habitat Description

Habitat, Habitat, Habitat.... If you plant it, they will come.  To attract wildlife to your garden you must provide:

Food - in the form of plants (nectar, berry, and nut producing) and/or feeders.
Shelter/Cover/Nesting Sites - Evergreens are especially important for wintering Hummingbirds and natives are preferred nesting sites.  Nest boxes can also be a pleasing addition to the garden or dead trees and limbs can be left standing.
Water - from a large pond to a birdbath, but dripping or moving water is most appealing.

Our property is a registered National Wildlife Federation Backyard Habitat.  We do everything possible to keep it natural and wild since natural wildlife habitats in the area are being destroyed at such a rapid pace.  You don’t have to have a large piece of property, even a small backyard can become a sanctuary for wild creatures.
Fall Migration
A Day on Hummingbird Hill
A typical day begins with the feeding of the birds and animals.  Sunflower seeds and cracked corn are distributed among a dozen different seed feeders near the house and suet feeders are also filled.  We use about 75 pounds of black oil sunflower seed and cracked corn each week.  Our 15+ hummingbird feeders are also checked and observed.  We use from 2 to 5 pounds of sugar each week for these.  A walk to the river is next on the agenda and a dozen more feeding stations are checked and filled.
A Green Anole and a Young Ruby Throated Hummingbird share a sugar water feeder.
A Pine Warbler visits a suet feeder.
Nest Box Trail
We maintain a trail of 25 nest boxes, most of which we built ourselves.  The majority of the boxes are standard bluebird boxes that were constructed according to plans from the North American Bluebird Society and were erected with predator baffles.    Four are larger boxes that were designed for wood ducks.  Each box is checked on a weekly basis and a detailed record is kept of the progress of each nesting pair.  To date our boxes have been used by bluebirds, chickadees, tufted titmice, Carolina wrens, Prothonotary warblers, great crested flycatchers, wood ducks, screech owls, and flying squirrels.
A female Prothonotary Warbler exits her nest box.
A bluebird fledges
 Butterfly and Hummingbird Gardens
Hummingbirds are attracted to (usually red) tubular flowers that contain a lot of nectar.  Butterflies require less nectar so most hummingbird flowers will also attract butterflies.  But you should provide plants that the butterfly larvae can feed on like parsley, fennel, milkweed, citrus, passion flower, hollyhock, black cherry and mulberry to mention a few.
Plants That Provide Flowers To Attract Hummingbirds and Butterflies
Tiger Swallowtail on Mexican Sunflower
Red Buckeye
Huckleberry
Sulphur Butterfly on Firespike
Early Spring and Summer
Taiwan cherry tree            Salvias (coccinea, guaranitica)
Huckleberry / blueberry     Shrimp plant        
Redbud                            Hamelia patens (Fire bush)
Japanese Magnolia           Button bush
Old fashioned camellias    Citrus
Native azalea                   Cypress vine / cardinal climber
Red buckeye                    Indian pink
Coral bean