insects – Tales of a Central Florida Wildlife Garden (2024)

Dateline: February 21, 2014*

Well, once again I have a new member added to my buggy life list. Meet the Elongate Twig Ant (Pseudomyrmex gracilis) a.k.a. Slender Twig Ant or Graceful Twig Ant. I’m not sure I’m happy about this fellow.

Also known as the Mexican Twig Ant, it is native to Mexico and occurs south to Argentina and Brazil. In the U.S. it is mostly found throughout Central and Southern Florida, but there is also documentation in Texas and Hawaii.

With its long and slim build, I thought perhaps it got its common name from some throwback to the 1960s when the supermodel Twiggy was so popular. That’s when it was first discovered in Florida. But of course the name comes from something more mundane…it builds nests in twigs.

I suppose I should be happy that I spotted him walking along the wooden fence, carrying some bounty. It seems these guys give a PAINFUL BITE, and often encounters occur when you pick up brush to move it…which I do quite frequently at this time of year. Now I have to make sure I put on my gardening gloves that I’ve been known to forego if they aren’t close by when the mood strikes to clean up an area.

These twig ants hang out high in trees and have been known to drop down and land on people. Another reason I wear a hat at all times when outside…I hate having things get tangled in my hair. So, another reason I’m not so sure this fellow is welcome at my place.

I couldn’t quite make out what he was carrying, but upon closer inspection via zoom on the computer, it appears to have wings and legs, so I’m thinking a moth of some sort but then again, from a different picture, it just might be a stink bug. Whatever it is, Twiggy has the poor thing by the head.

Although it is occasionally found nesting in doors in homes, the colonies are small so not a major concern. They prefer the great outdoors and hollow twigs. Still, ornamental plant damage also is minimal from this species.

They do hunt and feed on live insects with a preference for lepidopteran larvae and fungus spores. Hopefully they are heavy on the caterpillar pests and spores and light on our butterflies. Ok, I’m being shallow. As with most ants, they are attracted to aphids for honeydew.

Yet another species for me to watch and learn more about. The never-ending discoveries in my beautiful wildlife garden continue to amaze me.

*This tale was originally published by Loret T. Setters on February 21, 2014 at the defunct national blog beautifulwildlifegarden[dot]com.

Dateline: December 7, 2013*

There are a variety of insects in the order Coleoptera commonly known as beetles. While some beetles are destructive, others are nice and can play a role in responsible pest control or perform other beneficial duties.

I thought, to start, I’d focus on some shiny blue beetles. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!

Hard to get this genus down to species. There is one that is called a primrose beetle, so these may be A. litigata given that these were found on Primrosewillow (Ludwigia octovalvis), a Florida Native Plant.

Altica spp. may be a pest of crape myrtle, but the usual host is Ludwigia spp., which can benefit from a little control. Some species of Ludwigia can be a tad aggressive in the wrong situation. I have never seen any of the flea beetles on the two crape myrtles I planted “before I knew”, and, given a choice, I would request they eat the exotic crape myrtle over my pretty Primrosewillows.

Next up are Fruit and Flower Chafers such as this Trichiotinus spp. Flower Chafers are a subfamily of Scarab Beetles. Beneficial in that larvae break down rotten wood. Adults take pollen and/or nectar so have a hand in pollination duties, but may also munch on the plant. I didn’t notice any particular damage on this Thoroughwort. This guy may be T. lunulatus based on a Florida Entomologist key I found online. perhaps more black than blue in color, but the reflection of the sun made it look blue enough to me to call it a “shiny blue beetle”.😉

Moving on. This Colorful Foliage Ground Beetle (Lebia viridis) was enjoying nectar and/or pollen of a goldenrod. They are beneficial in that they feed on the larvae of a pest, the Apple Flea Beetle (Altica foliaceae). It isn’t a stretch to think that they may also keep my friends the flea beetles discussed above in check.

Further, this ground beetle eats eggs of corn earworm (Heliothis spp.) which is a destructive pest, and adults have been found feeding on the immature stages of grape vine flea beetles. Obviously given the photograph above, they also play a part in pollination.

OK, moving beyond our shiny blue friends, Lady beetles (or ladybugs if you prefer) are often discussed. Up until now I haven’t seen any mention of a particular species I found this week.

Meet the Mealybug Destroyer (Cryptolaemus montrouzieri). This is a lady beetle that can be as small as 3.4mm (for the metrically challenged such as myself, that is less than 1/8 inch). It is not native to the United States. It was introduced from Australia in 1891 as IPM control on citrus. This guy (or gal) was on Dogfennel (Eupatorium capillifolium) and was so minute that I’m surprised I saw it. The little flash of red gave it away. Predatory on mealy bugs which is where it gets its common name.

So, that’s my bit on a few species of beetles. It was a hard day’s night to figure out what they all do in our beautiful wildlife gardens.

*This tale was originally published by Loret T. Setters on December 7, 2013 at the defunct national blog beautifulwildlifegarden[dot]com. Click the date to view reader comments.

Dateline: January 13, 2012*

Inspired by team member Ursula Vernon’s Monday post, I set out to find one edge of my patio. Overgrown with Bidens alba that gave out to the 2 hours freeze we experienced recently, I began to pull out the spent plants from the roots. B. alba can really be considered an annual and will self-seed freely (sometimes a helluva lot more than most people appreciate). Suddenly there was scurrying…LOTS of scurrying. Red and black with a narrow neck…oh, and wings…well, one of them had wings.

I uprooted a family of Milkweed Assassin Bugs (Zelus longipes) a predatory insect, not to be confused with your standard Milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus) which is somewhat of a garden pest since it eats the seeds of milkweed. Assassin bugs suck body fluids from prey, such as armyworms, earthworms, cucumber beetles and soft-bodied insects. They are welcome visitors to my garden, although I wish they’d leave the earthworms alone.

I watched momma with interest, well probably momma given that it was the only adult as evidenced by the fact that it had its wings. Clarence Odbody would be proud. Mind you, it might just have been one of the older siblings who had already reached adulthood. She slowly crawled up on to the patio and made her way up the wooden planter. The nymphs were still scurrying around on some new growth of B. alba.

I saw some movement over to the side of the wooden planter. There was a brown anole staring down at the insect gang in wonderment…looking like he was first in line at a Chik-fil-a grand opening. He didn’t make a move on any of them, just watched…licking his chops.

Several assassin bug nymphs followed the adult and crawled up the wooden planter and were working their way around the upper edge. As the gang on the ground began to break up, the anole headed up to the top edge of the planter as well.

Well, the most amazing thing happened. The anole was in a staredown with momma when the assassin ran at the anole and crawled right up on its head. The anole jumped and ran, knocking momma to the ground where she walked away unscathed.

It is said that like many other Assassin bugs, Z. longipes can bite (with its piercing beak) if handled carelessly. I can only assume that she bit the anole to garner such a reaction. Needless to say I won’t be reaching out to any assassin bugs anytime soon, unless of course I need a hitman.

*This tale was originally published by Loret T. Setters on January 13, 2012 at the defunct national blog beautifulwildlifegarden[dot]com. Click the date to view reader comments.

This week I had a visit from the featured insect above, which brought to mind my first encounter with this species a few years ago as told in the story which follows below.

As I have evolved and learned more about wildlife gardening, I would not put handpicked insects into soapy water, I would merely squish them and place them in the compost pile to be recycled back into the earth. There is really no need to add soap to our fragile environment.

This weeks’ visitor was found on some of the highly invasive Cogon Grass (Imperata cylindrica). I should only be so lucky that it would be eating that so I didn’t have to work at constantly weeding it out of my landscape. I believe (s)he was just resting since there didn’t seem to be any chewing going on. DRAT!

And now for my original article:

Dateline: April 2011*

Ok, I’ll bet you thought I was going to write about some exclusive native plant that I found. Truth is, I’m going to write about my young willow (Salix spp.) tree, and I use the term “tree” loosely…more like a sapling. I spotted some insects on it yesterday and we all know I love my bugs, but I’d seen this species last year and cringed. They are the dreaded Cottonwood Leaf Beetle (Chrysomela scripta) which can defoliate young trees in the willow or poplar (Populus spp.) family right before your very eyes.

“Under forest conditions, they are often held in check by lady beetle predators which feed on the eggs and pupae”. It seems that only young trees are severely affected. Now, we all know that I don’t use pesticides and I haven’t seen any lady beetles taking on these munchers, so my alternative is to pick them off by hand. Some people think this is too great a task, but if you work it into a routine such as I do, it CAN be done and rather quickly.

The willow is down by the pond, planted just a year or two ago. My Labrador is getting mature (we don’t like to say old) and needs supervision when swimming, since old legs give out easily and stamina isn’t what it used to be. I keep an eye on him in the pond, ready to bring my old lifesaving skills out (if I can remember that far back to when I was a camp counselor and took a course). Generally I wile away the time photographing flowers, insects and the like, pulling a weed or two. Today, I worked handpicking those pesky bugs into my labby monitoring duties.

I armed myself with a recycled water bottle half filled with soapy water and a single disposable glove (those thin ones that you get 100 for a buck). I’ll let you in on a secret…as much as I like my bugs, I don’t like to touch them without something between my skin and them (although I did capture a few crickets barehanded that came loose from a nearby display at an outreach program the other day). Handpicking is not my favorite task, sometimes it creeps me out, but if you want to save a young plant and protect the environment at the same time, it is a necessary thing.

Blizzard slowly walked into the water and I got busy. I started up top where I saw a few mating. HA! Two at once, into the bottle they went. GOTCHA…a single that I merely flipped into the bottle without having to grab….these guys really don’t fly off. Ut oh, I dropped one, but there he is on a bottom branch. BONUS…4 in one. I continued on, but it became rather mundane after about 4 minutes, so I looked up and cursed at the Grackles and Mockingbirds that were close by. I told them I heard these guys were tasty and they should try them.

Next I spoke to the bugs, enticing them to jump into the bottle “you look a little dirty, why not wash up?” I sputtered, “it’s so hot, don’t you want to cool off?”

HEY! One I had dropped jumped onto my leg, trying to use me as a ladder back onto the tree. Flip, into the soap he went. I spent about 10-15 minutes or so and was pretty satisfied that I got all the adults. Tomorrow I will have another run at them to see if any survived my scrutiny and I will check and remove eggs and larvae. Bugguide.net, one of my favorite bug ID resources, reveals that there are similar species throughout the U.S. and Texas has it’s very own…fancy too…it is a redhead!

In the bugguide remarks it says, “When willows were grown commercially for baskets, these beetles were considered a pest, but now they are of little economic consequence.” But they are of nature-loving consequences to ME. I want to save my willow for the caterpillars of the Viceroy Butterfly (Limenitis archippus) that use it as a larval host. It’s why I added a willow to my beautiful wildlife garden in the first place and those I’ll allow to munch away!

*This tale was originally published by Loret T. Setters at the defunct national blog beautifulwildlifegarden[dot]com.

It’s that time of year! ♥Happy Valentine’s Day 2019♥. Throughout the years I have shared various tales of the lovefest that occurs in my garden. I attribute my many reproducing critters to having the host plants they need to survive. Naturally-occurring native plants grace my wildlife garden providing for a wide variety of fauna. Sometimes the lovefest involves the predators who enjoy the prey that feed on those plants. And, year after year, reproductive love abounds at my place.

In recent times the trend continues as is evident in the featured photo above of White Peaco*ck Butterflies (Anartia jatrophae) taken in January 2019. So, I bring you the continuing lovefest, some with links so you can learn a little more about the species:

Happy Valentine’s Day. May you show the love of nature by planting your own native plant and wildlife garden.

Some years ago when I began writing for a national wildlife gardening blog, I wrote from the standpoint of my personal observations and over the years I have learned and evolved in my way of gardening based on those observations. Below is the very first article I wrote and one of which I am most proud.

It still holds true today as evidenced in the “featured photo” above taken in 2016 which shows the larva of a ladybug eating the pupa of a leaf eating beetle that had dined on the Florida native Goldenrod plant shown. Years ago I may have tossed the beetles in their active leaf-eating stage into soapy water, thinking they were ruining my plants. As I observe the food chain in action, I have learned the importance of leaving them to feed others higher up since if you break the chain at any point someone further up suffers.

Dateline: October 8, 2010*

This past weekend we were at the local Home Depot, sharing our space with Audubon as we often do. I always bring a few live bugs or small garden critters to serve as a conversation starter in how to go about creating a beautiful wildlife garden. It gets kids interested in plants and keeps their attention while I talk to the parents about biodiversity.

I only had about five minutes to locate my “friends” in the early morning hours when things are wet and critters aren’t as plentiful, but I managed to gather a treefrog, a lynx spider and a white peaco*ck butterfly, who was just emerging. Into their display cases they went with proper moisture and plant materials.

When things slowed down at the event, Larry, the president of the Kissimmee Audubon who is also a Native Plant Society member and I got to talking. He said that he was amazed at what I find in my yard to get the conversation flowing. He remarked that not many people could do as I did the week before and bring seven different species to an event without struggling to find them.

That hunt on a single area of Bidens Alba and some native mallow species took me about 15 minutes resulting in finding a praying mantis, two different butterflies, soldier beetles, a spider, and a treefrog. I added a grasshopper which I found on a citrus tree and I only stopped because I ran out of display containers.

Afternoon events are always easier to supply because the bugs are enjoying the sun and are plentiful. Our discussion continued in how planting for butterflies is good but having a lot of different plants in a garden to support all types of native insects is critical in being sustainable and providing for a more diverse array of wildlife.

Birds like all caterpillars, not just those of the butterflies. Consider planting some native plants that support moth caterpillars. You’ll feel less upset about the caterpillars being devoured. I don’t want to give the moths a complex by pointing out that some are not as pretty as a butterfly, but if I see a bird near my Cowbane (Tiedemannia filiformis), I get a little uneasy feeling that perhaps he is eating a potential Black Swallowtail Butterfly. Alternately, if I see a bird on a Wax Myrtle (Myrica cerifera) I enjoy the encounter without much concern that a possible looper moth is being digested. Ok, so I’m a little shallow. 😉

I guess the point is that not every critter is going to be something that you want to hug or photograph but they may be the food for something that you want to hug, photograph or observe in your own beautiful wildlife garden.

Clearly an onslaught of stinging caterpillars (Automeris io (shown above)) on an EasternRedbud (Cercis canadensis) can be a frightening encounter. But if you wait a day or two to see a fattened anole playfully running up and down the branches of the tree you’ll have expanded your wildlife viewing experience. And you’ll be relieved to observe that the majority of the leaves may still be intact. In the world of native plants, nature tends to keep a balance.

Loret is a retired, transplanted New Yorker. She resides on an acre of land in a rural central Florida community called Holopaw with her three sporting dogs. She is a member of The Pine Lily Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society which encourages others to plant native plants in order to reap the benefits of a beautiful wildlife garden and avoid spreading invasive exotics into our natural areas.

*This is tale was originally published by Loret T. Setters on October 8, 2010 at the defunct national blog beautifulwildlifegarden[dot]com. Click the date to view reader comments.

Dateline: June 28, 2013*

I feel horrible. I guess I will be up for only 2nd degree bugslaughter since I didn’t realize what I was doing. There was no intent, I swear, Judge.

Yesterday I noticed three potter wasp nests on the brick skirting around the bottom of the house. They look like pots similar to what you would see at a ceramics store before the painting and firing of the clay, only in miniature. Without any thought I used the screwdriver in my hand to scrape these brood cells off the bricks since they were awfully close to the door. All three “popped” open and I was shocked to see scads of caterpillars and what I thought was beetle or fly larvae.

Well, as research would reveal the larvae likely were young potter wasps in the Eumenes genus, probably E. fraternus based on the way the nests were constructed. Just minding their own business, working through complete metamorphosis. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that until today.

I’ll probably get a stay of execution because, as luck would have it, a hungry green anole showed up almost immediately upon the caterpillars being scattered. He ate the evidence. That potter nest must have rung like a dinner bell when I disturbed it. At least my mistake made for a happy critter next up the food chain. Hopefully it will be seen that way and I will avoid being fed to the mosquitoes.

Had I known the larva was a wasp, I would have moved it to a rearing box (or in my case, a screened Beanie Baby box) and tried to see it into adulthood. Having now had this educational experience, in the future I’ll be a lot more careful about removing the little pots and will place them somewhere safe rather than attacking them with a screwdriver.

Although I doubt there would ever be a next time since it appears that momma potter wasps aren’t protective of the nest, so you don’t have to worry about some angry, aggressive insect with the stinger coming after you if you walk by. They are capable of stinging; they just don’t really bother. Now that I know that, I’d just leave the little pots alone. One can never have too many wasps to help with pollination. The adults are nectar feeders.

When I see how many caterpillars were provisioned in those three tiny pots, I’m amazed. The potter wasp lays an egg suspended from the “ceiling” of the cell by a filament. She then gathers a bunch of caterpillars that she paralyzes and puts them into the brood cell so her larva will have something to feed off. Then she seals up the entry with mud.

This is an example of how nature stays in check. Had all those caterpillars remained on a shrub or plant, there surely would have been noticeable chewing damage. Had someone come along and treated the shrub with pesticides, there would be less pollinators, both butterflies and wasps, and fewer baby birds because there would be no caterpillars as food. My mistake also destroyed a potential home for others, as older mud cavities are reused by Leafcutter Bees.

Luckily, if you create habitat as Mother Nature intended, the food chain works like it is suppose to work. There are enough caterpillars to turn into moths or butterflies, but there are also enough to grow wasps, birds and whatever other critters find the squiggly things tasty, such as my anole buddy, who probably thought he died and went to heaven.

Another beneficial lesson about a beneficial in my beautiful wildlife garden.

*This tale was originally published by Loret T. Setters on June 28, 2013 at the defunct national blog beautifulwildlifegarden[dot]com. Click the date to view reader comments.

When most people see aphids on their plants they immediately seek help on how to eliminate them often grabbing a bottle of soapy water or some other recommended concoction. Me? I get positively giddy with delight.

You see, aphids are on one of the low rungs on the web of life partner’s ladder. They serve as a feast for others, growing a variety of pollinators and ultimately reptiles, amphibians and birds. Where there are aphids, critters on the next link in the food chain are sure to follow.

I’ve written before how aphids are much like butterflies in that they flock to particular host plants. You can often identify the species by using the aphid host database although you might only narrow things down to genus.

This week I got giddy…VERY giddy. I spotted some aphids on the Bidens alba, my all-time favorite Florida native plant. You would be hard-pressed to find any aphid damage on the B. alba…it grows quickly and any chewing or sucking damage is quickly covered by new leaf growth. More importantly, what followed my spotting of the aphids was a parade of critters and the benefits abound.

Cornell reports:

“Although the impact of any one species of natural enemy may be minor, the combined impact of predators, parasitoids, and insect pathogens can be considerable.”

So, what infantrymen were on my Bidens battlefield?

Lady beetles. “A single lady beetle may eat as many as 5,000 aphids in its lifetime.”

Hover [syrphid] flies. “A single syrphid larva can consume hundreds of aphids in a month.”

Not to be outdone, the airmen showed up:

Long legged flies. As adults, Longlegged Flies (Dolichopodidae family) are predaceous on small insects such as aphids. And with their metallic colors they’re pretty too!

In my research I learned about a new-to-me aphid web of life partner. The Braconid wasp. While cropping photos I noticed an insect I was not familiar with. Turns out it was an “aphid mummy”. Braconid wasps in the subfamily Aphidiinae are parasitoids and oviposit their eggs in aphids. What I was seeing was an aphid that had been parasitized. Soon a tiny beneficial wasp will emerge.

The waste aphids produce is known as [honeydew]. I found the following of interest:

Adult hover [syrphid] flies require honeydew or nectar and pollen to ensure reproduction, whereas larvae usually require aphid feeding to complete their development (Schneider 1969). However, there are exceptions: in the absence of aphids, larvae of some species can subsist and complete development on diets made up solely of plant materials such as pollen (e.g., Melanostoma and Allograpta obliqua [Schneider 1969] and To x o m e r u s [Mesograpta sp.] [Cole and Schlinger 1969])

So, if you remove aphids from your plants you may defeat attracting future generations of beneficials. Given, I would treat aphids on a houseplant by wiping them off since natural predators won’t have ready access to perform pest control indoors and thus the plant would suffer. On the other hand, its seems that aphids on your outdoor plants can benefit your garden by attracting those wonderful pollinators, predators and parasitoids especially those whose larvae use aphids as hosts.

Don’t spray the aphids and then buy commercial ladybugs in an attempt to keep them in check. Likely, you’ll only to have them fly off. If you already removed the aphids or discouraged them in any way, adult ladybugs will go to lay their eggs where there is an ample supply of the host for their young…like my house. 😉

While other branches of the Bidens had signs of aphids from time to time, the branch in the original photo was scoured clean within a day. Give natural control a chance to develop and hopefully you will see the circle of life perform beautifully at your place too.

Tip: Group different genera of plants native to your area using the “right plant, right place” theory and avoid monocultures. That way your garden will attract a mix of native insects and predators and never look overly chewed since it will have balance just like Mother Nature intended.

Select resources:

ENTFACT-105: Ladybugs by Ric Bessin, Extension Entomologist, University of Kentucky College of Agriculture

Hoffmann, M.P. and Frodsham, A.C. (1993) Natural Enemies of Vegetable Insect Pests. Cooperative Extension, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. 63 pp. (Anthony Shelton, editor). Accessed August 27, 2017, from http://www.biocontrol.entomology.cornell.edu/

Aphids on the World’s Plants: an online identification and information guide.

Dateline: August 2, 2013*

There are all sorts of ants and I was drawn to a group that was hanging out on a leaf of Bidens alba, a Florida native plant that is a bundle of biodiversity. This group of ants was like none I had ever seen before. Medium sized, shiny and with a heart shaped abdomen. What I found more interesting is that it was a reasonable gathering of say 50 or so, not thousands as I would normally expect of ant conventions.

They were engrossed in eating some white looking glop, the color resembling Elmer’s glue gone bad. A lone fly was off to the side, standing watch. I snapped a few photos to see if a closer look via zoom would tell me what was so fascinating as to draw this crowd.

I learned these valentine looking scavengers are called Acrobat Ants. They are in the GenusCrematogaster. I’m not ready to get these guys down to the species level with 10 different species in Florida that look rather alike to me. I got itchy just looking for Genus.

The habit of bending the gaster up over the thorax when disturbed is likely how it got the common name Acrobat Ant. The worker looks a little like he’s walking on his hands, so to speak.

Food for Acrobat Ants include

“honeydew, extrafloral nectar, scavenged protein from bird and other droppings, carrion”

Even a close zoom look didn’t reveal what the glop was but based on the listed foods, I figured it must have been bird poop.

The next day I returned to the scene of the crime and all the ants were gone, as was the fly. There, on the leaf was a tiny spine bone.

My first thought was to dial upDr. Temperance Brennan. Of course she’s a fictional anthropologist and these bones seemed way too small to be human, so I opted to use an Internet search engine. “T-i-n-y V-e-r-t-e-b-r-a-t-e” I tapped into the search box. Up popped some news results about a certain frog being the world’s smallest vertebrate.

I recalled seeing a lot of the juvenile invasive Cuban treefrogs in recent weeks, so I thought that frog might fit the bill. Next search: F-r-o-g S-k-e-l-e-t-o-n. Up popped a very nice image of a labeled bullfrog skeleton.

Eureka!!!! The vertebrae matched my find. And, the small pointy piece is a urostyle. And to think I failed biology. Look at me now Ms. BiologyTeacherWho’sNameIForgot.

I wonder where the rest of the frog bones went. Did the acrobat ants bury the evidence? Who did the actual killing? Was the fly merely a witness? Or did he have a role in this massacre? Well, I’m no “Bones”, so it shall remain a mystery.

At any rate, acrobat ants play a role in carrion cleanup, like vultures but on a smaller scale. And, I’ve learned that they are an important food resource for the endangered red-co*ckaded woodpecker:

C. ashmeadi workers make up the majority of this woodpecker’s adult diet, especially in the winter (Hess and James, 1998).

It seems that Acrobat ants are found in damp or rotting wood so they aren’t as big a house pest as many other ant species. They may even cue you in to water infiltration problems if you find them in your home. Another interesting new species to add to my buggy life list.

*This tale was originally published by Loret T. Setters on August 2, 2013 at the defunct national blog beautifulwildlifegarden[dot]com. Click the date to view reader comments.

Pleased to report that in March 2017 I can add a new nesting bird species to my piece of paradise. High in the Longleaf Pine Tree (Pinus palustris) Crows have taken up residence.Based on their sound they are more likely Fish Crows (Corvus ossifragus) than American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos). Now we wait to see if they are successful.

Dateline: May 22, 2015*

Spring 2015 is once again proving to be a banner year for bird broods in my beautiful wildlife garden. Bluebird brood #2 has successfully hatched and 4 healthy mockingbird babies located in a holly shrub not 15 feet away joined them this past week. It is dizzying watching the two sets of parents feed the 8 hungry mouths. As the days go by the number of feedings increase and the size of the insects get larger and larger. Both sets of parents participate in feeding the youngsters.

Earlier this month I spotted a baby dove nestling with one of the parents. I was lucky to catch sight of them for the next day baby was on its own sitting in the nest and one-day later all was quiet. The baby looked a good size and must have fledged in the early morning to avoid confrontation with the resident bird dogs. Doves generally lay two eggs and apparently this brood only one hatched.

Having the right conditions and plenty of readily available food in the form of insects is imperative if you are to be successful in attracting nesting birds to your garden.

The mockingbirds and doves like dense shrubs. The mockingbirds reused a nest from last year in a holly cultivar. The doves reused a mockingbird nest from last year that was in a bottlebrush shrub.

I use to hem and haw over whether to leave nest remains or to remove them. Now I leave them unless they are completely disintegrating. The birds do refurbish them and I have had successful nestlings in the renovated nests.

Bluebirds are cavity nesters so I maintain a nest box in the yard. I generally clean out the old nest about two days after fledge, but this time I didn’t get a chance to. Mom and dad just brought in some clean materials and freshened up the existing nest and as can be seen, the four little ones don’t seem to mind “used” digs at all.

Plant a variety of native plants to provide larval host materials for the insects that are key to making your garden attractive to birds looking to set up homes. If they see easy access to a food source, coupled with the right type of habitat, they are sure to stop, stay and raise their young. Then you can enjoy year after year of entertainment. A variety of berry-producing shrubs will keep the adults around and satisfied through the winter. During nesting season birds tend to eat more insects while later in the season and as the winter approaches they seek berries and seeds to fatten up.

I have a variety of blackberry, elderberries, holly and beautyberry shrubs that the birds all seem to relish. Bluestem grasses, Black-eyed Susan, Bidens alba and a variety of other wildflowers feed the need for seed. Be sure to have a readily available water source as well. It can be as simple as a shallow dish or as large as a full size pond.

And don’t be to tidy with the garden. Leave some dried debris so they have hiding spots that also provides a plethora of building materials. It won’t be long until the masses take up residence in your own beautiful wildlife garden and you can watch them soar.

This is an update of a tale originally published by Loret T. Setters on May 22, 2015 at the defunct national beautifulwildlifegarden[dot]com. Click the date to view reader comments.