THE WATER OF LIFE

Like humans, wildlife needs water to survive. Your backyard habitat should have many water sources - especially in droughts and hard freezes.

A common way to provide water year-round is with a bird bath like this. In the south, these are pretty easy to maintain, because we don't often have to deal with freezing temperatures. It is important, however, to remember to clean birdbaths out at least 3 times a year with a 10 percent Clorox solution. You can do this at the same time you do the bird feeders - makes it easier to remember. Just use a scrub brush and then rinse the bird bath well before re-filling with fresh water.

Another creative way to provide year-round water is by building a pond or a stream. The sound of trickling water will attract more birds than anything that you can do in your yard. The moving water will never freeze, and the birds will sit on the stones of the waterfall to drink and bathe. You can use a flexible liner with flat stones to keep it in place, or buy a pre-formed pond and dig the hole to the same size as the pond. Although some water is lost to evaporation, these ponds and streams are relatively easy to maintain. Interesting plants can be grown in and around the water, and frogs, dragonflies, and turtles, as well as all kinds of birds will be attracted to it.

Frogs and other amphibians are really having a hard time these days. Amphibians are great "bio-indicators." Since they live on land and in water, if there is anything wrong in either place, it will show up on these creatures, and it has. Research in Minnesota has shown that the increased exposure to ultraviolet rays coming through the hole in the ozone layer, has caused many deformities such as missing legs and blindness in frogs and salamanders, and in general has greatly reduced the number of eggs that have successfully hatched. The recent rapid reduction in frog populations is beginning to alarm scientists, and there is much ongoing research in this area. So, keep these creatures in mind when you are thinking about ways to provide water in your habitat.

One way to cater to the creatures that live at ground level, such as these amphibians, is with a pie plate, or shallow dish on the ground. You can create a "toad abode", an upside-down cracked flower pot that makes a welcoming shady hide-out for visitors to the water dish.

Butterflies need water too. You've probably noticed butterflies congregating around mud puddles after a rainstorm. These are the male butterflies and they are "puddling" - extracting minerals from the wet sand that they will need later in the mating process. Some butterfly gardeners place a pan of wet sand in their gardens for this very purpose.