Useful Backyard Wildlife Habitat Resources

Backyard Habitat Resources 

• Maryland Cooperative Extension
  • Offers home and garden information, tips publications, plant problems, Bay issues, and other links
• National Wildlife Federation
  • Details on their backyard habitat program
• Project FeederWatch
  • Winter-long survey of birds that visit feeders at backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North America. Feeder Watchers (like you!) periodically count the highest numbers of each species they see at their feeders from November through early April.

• Becoming an Outdoors Woman
  • Offers outdoor skills workshops, specifically for women 18 years of age and older, although men are welcome to participate
• Maryland Master Gardener
  • Program is designed to train volunteer horticultural educators
• Maryland Master Naturalist
  • Program is designed to train volunteer naturalists
• Maryland Woodland Stewardship Education

Invasive Species Resources

• Center for Invasive Species
  • Provides websites, publications and images on invasive species
• Bugwood Network
  • Provides websites, publications and images on invasive species
• Mistaken Identity: Invasive Plants and their Native Look-a-likes
  
• Maryland Invasive Species Council
  • Offers information on invasive species throughout Maryland
• Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas, 4th ed
  • PDF download for book on common plant invasives in the mid-Atlantic

Plant Resources

• Colston, C. 2011. Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants (BBG Guides for a Greener Planet).
  • Brooklyn Botanic Garden Guide which goes into commonly planted invasives and native alternatives
• Maryland Native Plant Society
  • Offers information dedicated to protecting, conserving and restoring Maryland's native plants and habitats
• Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat in Maryland
  • Provides lists and information about native plants that can be used for habitat restoration and natural landscaping projects
• Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants, Updated and Expanded. Timber Press.
  • This book highlights native plants that are beneficial for wildlife, particularly those which support beneficial insects that form the bottom of the food chain.
• Wasowski, Sally and Andy Wasowski. 1994. Gardening With Native Plants of the South. Taylor Trade Publications.
  • This book includes specific information on over 200 familiar, easy-to-find native plants, over 250 color photographs, nine sample garden plans, and more.

Wildlife Resources

• Cornell Lab of Ornithology
  • Provides comprehensive guides and songs for birds
• Maryland Wildlife and Heritage Service
  • Provides lists of wildlife found throughout MD
• North American Butterfly Association
  • Offers information on butterflies throughout North America and ways to create butterfly gardens

Habichat, the newsletter for Stewards of Maryland's Backyard Wildlife, is published by the Wildlife and Heritage Service, Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

The facilities and services of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources are available to all without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, physical or mental disability. This document is available in alternative format upon request from a qualified individual with a disability.