The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a program highlighting urban birds. Provide scientists with data from your 10-minute observations of birds in the city, or just browse the site to learn more about community, gardening, and artistic ways to celebrate urban birds.

Suet provides energy for wild birds, especially in the wintertime. You can render your own suet and make your own suet feed from various recipes.

This description is written clearly and is not very long or encyclopedic in tone. It covers basic kinds of solitary bees: carpenter, miner, cuckoo, leaf-cutter, and mason.

There is no worker class among solitary bees, but only fully developed males and females. Each female builds a nest in a protected place. Although many nests may be found close together each female solitary bee provides for her own young and gathers her own food. Like all wild bees, solitary bees are chiefly valuable as pollinators of plants.

...many bird watchers are thwarted in their attempt to entice different species to their doorstep because they live in apartments, dormitories, or condominiums where feeder placement options are limited.

Eager bird watchers need not despair...

The presentation provides an overview of the importance, life history, and conservation of crop-pollinating native bees. Also included is information on the great things the NRCS is doing for pollinator conservation in the U.S.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources offers up a clear, short, detailed article on attracting wildlife to small spaces.

This pamphlet is designed to give you ideas on how to turn your porch, deck or window into a wildlife garden, with helpful hints on how to arrange food, water and shelter elements of habitat for wildlife in small spaces. Songbirds, butterflies, hummingbirds, bees and moths comprise the majority of wildlife species that will visit a porch, deck or window wildscape.

From National Geographic:

This summer scientists hope to finally crack the case of the mysterious ailment afflicting bats in the U.S. Northeast—before time runs out for the animals and the local environment.

Want to know why bats are important? See Attracting Helpful Bats Good for the Environment, You, and the Bats.

Scientists are seeking to determine why honeybees and bumblebees are dying off in the United States and in other countries, and the new study indicates that emissions from power plants and automobiles may play a part in the insects' demise.

A link to Cornell's information on the Northern Cardinal.

Another field guide entry on the Northern Cardinal. It includes audio of the cardinal's voice, as well as audio for similar-sounding species.

Cardinals belong to a group of birds called "grosbeaks", meaning that they have a thick bill especially adapted for cracking open and eating seeds

Cornell's All About Birds profile on the cardinal that lives near the Mexican border.

You don't necessarily need a large pond to attract dragonflies. "I've got friends whose 'pond' is a wooden half barrel," says Biggs, "and fork-tailed damselflies still come and breed in it. One of my grad students reared damselflies in plastic wading pools." Whatever the size, place your pond where it will be protected from wind and will get midday sun.

If you want dragonflies gallivanting through your garden, get rid of any electric bug zappers, which kill dragonflies as easily as flies and mosquitoes. Over time, the dragonflies will do a great job of keeping the insect population in check without any help. After all, more than 90 percent of their diet consists of people-pestering mosquitoes!

Building your own dragonfly water garden can be easy and fun. A dragonfly watergarden can be any size from as small as a backyard garden with a barrel for the pond to as large as a 20 foot diameter pond in the middle of the Big Apple.

Dragonflies and damselflies are a lot more likely to partake of nuisance bugs like mosquitoes and gnats, making them welcome visitors on summer afternoons. They are, in turn, preyed upon by swallows, kingbirds, redwing blackbirds, small hawks, spiders and mantids.

And what is not to admire about a dragonfly? They are the most accomplished of flying insects. Separate control of the muscles in each of their four wings, which also have a strong network of veins to support the transparent membranes, make them nimble acrobats.

An Audubon Society outreach targetting those with yards, this program has several key points that apply to those of us with small wildlife areas.

You can provide habitat for native birds in urban areas by planting native trees and bushes wherever possible, including as foundation plantings or even as rooftop gardens.

A basic description of hummingbirds from the Defenders of Wildlife:

Hummingbirds can fly right, left, up, down, backwards, and even upside down. They are also able to hover by flapping their wings in a figure-8 pattern. They have a specialized long and tapered bill that is used to obtain nectar from the center of long, tubular flowers.

A good, basic description of the orchard mason bee:

This gentle, black bee is native to most of the continental U.S. It is a pollinator of fruit trees and flowers... These are non-aggressive bees and will not provide a danger to yards with pets or children as long as the bees are treated gently.

From Drs. Foster and Smith:

If your squirrels have grown accustomed to sunflower seed from your bird feeder, try mixing some into their squirrel food until they get used to their own feeding station.

One great way to attract butterflies to your patio or yard is by creating a butterfly container garden. A container garden is really just a bunch of plants in a large pot or planter. They can be positioned on your deck or patio, or even put on wheeled carts so they can be moved.

A news report from last summer but still relevant:

The populations of nearly two dozen common American birds... are half what they were 40 years ago, a new analysis found.

The National Wildlife Federation is arguably the leader in backyard or small space wildlife habit certification. They have tons of information to make it easier for you to attract wildlife to your small porch, patio, deck, or balcony.

Watching wildlife in action can be fun and relaxing for everyone. Your habitat may attract beautiful songbirds, butterflies, frogs, and other interesting wildlife for viewing from your very own window...

Once your habitat is certified by NWF, you can order and display an attractive Certified Wildlife Habitat sign to convey your commitment to wildlife conservation and the environment, and help you spread the word to your neighbors.

Many of our summer birds -- the neo-tropical migrants -- travel thousands of miles twice each year between their wintering homes in the south and breeding grounds in the north. And even scientists who have spent years trying to solve the mystery of migration don't have all the answers.

Help the organization Journey North to track migrations and signs of spring.

Instructions on building a small container water garden.

Container water gardening instructions, with a select plant list.

Pond Lifestyles brings you information on types of container water gardens and how to build them

When creating a water garden from scratch, you are in essence taking 'dead' tap water and bringing it to life, establishing an entire ecosystem of water, plants, bacteria and other critters. In order to create a healthy environment for the plants and fish, several elements are needed to keep it in balance.