Worms in soil – good or bad? Canada Geese Conflict, Migratory Birds & More!

PASSION, PERTINENT, POLLINATION, POPULAR INTEREST

guest post by Toni Stahl, Habitat Ambassador Volunteer, Backyard Habitat

Leaf Litter for Migrants

Canada Geese have chased me. They came back from the edge of extinction, but are now flourishing because of the perfect habitat we have inadvertently created for them in many residential areas. We created man-made, open-water ponds surrounded by lawn. If you landscape the pond with native plants (scroll down here), many of the Geese should move to grassy, open-water ponds. The native plants will clean the water so no chemicals need to be added, as well as create a habitat for other native water creatures. Add barley straw to limit algae growth. Canada Geese can be aggressive toward people and nest too closely to people when people feed them. Educate others not to feed them.

This video shows the shocking difference between forest floors with and without invasive, non-native (European or Asian) earthworms. The worms decompose leaf litter and roots too quickly, actually eating the rooting zone out and removing the habitat for seeds, plants and small animals. You can learn to identify non-native worms from the Great Lakes Worm Watch.

No worms should be in glaciated areas (e.g. around the Great Lakes), but worms are slowly invading. The ones to be concerned about are those non-native (all of which are invasive) worms we can control. You can help save forests. Compost without non-native worms (e.g red wiggler from Europe). Discard non-native worms (even fishing or compost worms that appear dead) in the trash. Don’t take anything that could contain non-native worms or their eggs into wooded areas, including dirt off your shoes, livestock hooves, vehicle tires, ATVs, and earth moving and snow removal equipment. Make sure there are no non-native worms in any plants you give away, whether they came from a nursery or your yard.

Good news: Students and parks joined together to create a pathway for migratory birds to go through Broward County, Florida.

Tips for Your Yard

  • Organic Lawn Care: Apply Corn Gluten (between 3/15 and & 4/10 in the Midwest) as a pre-emergent broadleaf weed killer
  • Leave the leaf litter to help migratory birds, like the Fox Sparrow in my yard above, which doesn’t reside in my area
  • Wait until a plant starts to green before cutting it back. As one example, swallowtail butterflies overwinter as a chrysalis attached to the stem of a perennial. They have adapted to look like the plant, so they are almost impossible to see on a stem
  • Proper Tree Planting
  • In the northern part of the country, put up clean, bird nesting box(es) before mid-March
  • If you feed birds and want to deter Grackles, switch from Sunflower to Safflower seeds, which Grackles dislike and the other birds eat
  • Flocks of Grackles and other blackbirds are likely to visit your bird feeder only a few times a year (spring migration before breaking into territories and during fall migration)
  • If you feed birds in winter, natural food is not available (insects, seeds, berries) when weather first warms. March and April are the toughest times for birds so continue to feed them until insects are flying.
  • Pick up plastic sacks, trash and other debris and throw them into your trash to keep this dangerous debris from harming wildlife and from going directly into our streams and rivers, polluting our drinking water

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