What Animals Live in Lawns?
While a healthy, green yard with beautifully designed and planted gardens makes any homeowner proud, these outside spaces are also home to many wonderful creatures.
Yards and gardens can truly be wildlife sanctuaries, and the benefits are not only critical for our fragile environment, but they also provide enjoyment and beauty to anyone on the property.
All sorts of animals, birds, reptiles, and insects thrive in a yard and garden environment, and many stay year-round. If an animal feels safe and has consistent food, yards and gardens can become homes for these animals for years, and they can become part of the family, so to speak. Those animals that migrate for the winter will return in the spring to have babies, and the sights and sounds of a garden can become truly magical.
Some Lawn Animal Favorites
Here’s a list of some of our favorite lawn and garden animals, birds, reptiles, and insects and their benefits.
Birds
Birds are beautiful, and they make a yard come alive with their songs. Birds migrate to different places throughout the year, so you will have a set that hangs around for a while, but you might also see a surprise visitor in certain seasons, which is exciting. Birds eat insects, and specific species, like hawks, eat rodents. So birds in a garden drastically cut down the number of pests around — pests that can easily overpopulate, like mice, and pests that can cause annoyance and disease, like mosquitoes. Birds also contribute by distributing seeds not only in your yard but also across their territory.
Bats
Even though bats only come out at night and are a little more reclusive than birds, they have a lot of the same benefits. They feed on insects like beetles and moths, and oftentimes, insects will actually avoid an area with bats. Bats also feed on fruits and seeds, making them an important pollinator. They also help add natural fertilizer to an area as well.
Bees
Bees are a sign of a healthy ecosystem and are one of the most popular pollinators on the planet. Their pollination efforts contribute to the larger success of crops grown around the world, and they also help pollinate the flowers and plants in a smaller garden. Bees are also prey for larger animals like birds, which contributes to the larger circle of life.
Frogs
While frogs are fun for children who like to make them jump, they are also great insect controllers. Frogs cannot survive without water, so if there is not a natural water source on your property, you can think about installing something like a pond. Frogs are also prey for larger animals.
Lizards
Lizards like to bask in the sun and have beautiful colors. While they are fun to look at, they also help keep insect populations under control in a space. Lizards, like the other insect eaters on our list, help eliminate the need for pesticides.
How to Attract Animals
While many animals will be naturally attracted to a yard and garden space, homeowners can intentionally buy plants and design gardens for specific critters. This not only helps keep animals healthy and fed but also provides them with shelter. In addition, pollinators that are attracted to a garden directly impact the health of the plants, which in turn makes that garden stronger.
Here are some ideas for attracting animals like the ones listed above to a lawn:
- Installing bat boxes around a property, high in trees for bats to nest in
- Adding bird feeders, birdhouses, and birdbaths around the property and maximizing food, water, and shelter for birds (make sure you understand how to clean these additions throughout the year as well)
- Installing a small pond or stream as part of your landscaping design will not only give water to all animals but also attract frogs and birds that will use it as a bath as well
- Planting native flowers and plants that are familiar to animals in a location
- Planting flowers that are popular with pollinators, such as butterfly bushes, dahlias, daisies, lavender, honeysuckle, and lilacs
- If you have a large enough property, allowing part of your yard to become more natural and turning it into a wildflower space. This will not only be a haven for pollinators, but the taller plants will serve to protect animals and many will nest in the area
- Staying clear of harmful pesticides and fertilizers that will kill animals, birds, reptiles, and insects. There are plenty of animal-safe formulas, and these animals are also natural pest controllers and fertilizers.
Lawn Experts
At Clearfork Lawn Care, our landscape designers and lawn maintenance experts want to help create and maintain your outdoor spaces for humans and animals alike. We proudly serve the greater Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, specializing in both residential and commercial lawns and outdoor landscape construction.
Give us a call or request a free quote for your lawn project, and you can view some of our portfolio on our website as well!