Wondering how your space could attract wildlife? Want specific ideas?

Well, our new digs here at the Wildlife Porch can help.

We're now fortunate enough to have most of the basic areas you can have to attract wildlife -- a porch, patio, balcony, stoop, and patio.

To hopefully help you in your own efforts, I'll be tracking our before-and-after efforts for these areas.

Today, it's a brief introduction, complete with "before" pictures.

The Porch

Because of the age of the house, the front porch is unusually large. It faces east but has open space to the south and to the north. I'll be able to play with what works in both orientations.

The Balcony

The balcony is tiny and needs work. However, it faces south with some partial shade. I've already observed juncos hanging out, eating either bugs or old hackberries -- I couldn't tell which!

The Stoop

The south-facing stoop isn't really most people's idea of a stoop, as it's made out of wood, not stone or concrete (not to mention it's not in an urban residence!).

It's still an area for future thought, even with the high volume of traffic in and out to the backyard.

The Patio

The stoop is actually steps down to a concrete patio, rather large for all of that. This is the sunniest of the areas, and gets baked in late summer.

Background

We live in the center of the city but not near high-rises. The environment is mainly big trees, many flowers, lawns, and a good-sized park two blocks away.

We're not going to attract many bluebirds here, but we do have an interesting variety of smaller entertaining critters.