How to Support Backyard Wildlife This Winter

While many animals hibernate during the winter, plenty of species do not. Here are a few visitors you can expect to see in your backyard and how you can help them make it through the coldest months of the year.

You can help birds make it through the winter by supplementing their natural diet with small handouts of seeds, peanuts and fruit. If it's too cold for you to to toss out feed, suet cakes can make a great winter addition to the birds' diet.

Just remember that leaving these snacks out at night will attract many other guests, such as raccoons, opossums and coyotes.

Wild rabbits leave tell-tale tracks that will let you know if they're exploring your garden. You can leave out a little lettuce and a few carrots as treats, if you want to help them through the winter — just don't get mad when those same rabbits raid your summer garden!

Gray squirrels are always ready to raid the bird feeder, even though they spent all autumn stashing away plenty of food to get them through a lean winter. (They also have a built-in umbrella for snowy days.)

Where there are rodents, there will be owls. You might be lucky enough to spot a barn owl — a species known to be tolerant of humans — hunting for rats, mice and other rodents in the evenings.

Help wildlife find the warmth and shelter they need by letting your garden go a little wild. Let fallen leaves pile up and let evergreen shrubs grow untrimmed. This will give animals places to hide, rest, find food and keep cozy.

Woodpeckers blend in easily with the trees in summer, but in winter the bright red patches found on many species are more noticeable, so you might just spot some in your yard. Oily seeds are a helpful thing to leave out for these birds.

Some backyard visitors dress for the occasion, like this long-tailed weasel wearing a white winter coat. They're hard to spot in the first place, and this camouflage makes it even more difficult — which, of course, is the point!

The opposite of the snow-white weasel are deer. Their brown coats make them easy to spot against the bare winter background as they come to nibble on any edible plants they can find.

Though it's helpful to wildlife for you to leave out snacks, don't leave too much. The key is to supplement without providing so much food that wildlife becomes dependent on handouts.

Coyotes are great neighbors as they keep the population of rodents and other carnivores down, helping songbird populations thrive. They also do clean-up duty as scavengers. But if you don't consider coyotes welcome backyard guests, then make sure to clean up any food sources, like scattered birdseed or snacks, left out for other animals.

Here's a neighbor you only want to spot from a distance: the striped skunk. They're adorable critters ... as long as you don't make them mad.

Wildlife needs fresh water during the winter, so leaving out a dish of clean water each night is a welcome resource, especially if it is in a dish that won't freeze over, such as an electric birdbath if the temperature doesn't dip too low.

Visitors to your backyard is a sign of a healthy ecosystem. The more diversity you see, the more you know you're doing things right. Planting flowers, trees and shrubs that attract wildlife during the spring and summer, and prepping your garden for winter during the autumn months will ensure your yard is a safe, healthy haven for wildlife.