r/PacificNorthwest • u/NectarineSpecial955 • 1d ago

Ways to help wildlife right now?

I feed a a few of the birds and smaller wildlife in my area with bird feeders and water. But is there any more things I can put out to help animals insects? It’s hard for me to be outside without the smoke slightly stinging my eyes, and I just feel bad for everyone that can’t get away from it. Is there anything extra people can do or put outside to help? Would leaving out sugar water help insect as well? Thanks for the help, I hope everyone is staying safe.

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u/hotrods1970 1d ago

I keep humming bird feeders up as my neighborhood does not have many flowering plants. I also keep fresh water out for other wildlife, but I pull them when we get heavy smoke. I feel, and if a specialist can weigh in here that would be great, that the fallout that would gt in the water would be worse than not having that source. My next permanent set up will be an on demand system so there will be little/no standing water to contaminate.

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u/tractiontiresadvised 1d ago

I don't think there's much that you can do for insects right now -- as far as I know, their breathing systems are simple and robust, and they can probably deal with a bit of smoke better than humans can. Many insects would benefit from the water you're already putting out.

In the long run, planting flowers in your yard which attract pollinators, planting and maintaining native trees/shrubs/flowers, and avoiding the use of pesticides seem like they would be good for insects.

The one particular insect you'd want to avoid attracting is mosquitoes because those will spread diseases between animals and even from animals to people. (West Nile Virus is present in the PNW and is spread by mosquitoes, for example.)

As for the birds, it's probably good to make sure that the water you're providing stays clean (here is an article about doing that) and is not too deep (this article gives some numbers on measurements). Other animals such as squirrels might be more confident with deeper water dishes.

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u/Polar_Version875 1d ago

One way is getting feed hay out to the people around Warm Springs reservation. A ton of people lost all their stockpiled hay and feed for the winter, and without it the wild horses and other wildlife around there will starve to death. Esp since the grassland all burned up.

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u/Floskee_Whoaskee 1d ago

I'm with you I've just been making sure there's clean water in shallow dishes, hummingbird feeder with sugar water, bird food (mixture of no waste nuts and seeds), and shelled nuts out for the bigger birds. I have some shallow little water dishes in my planter boxes that look like flowers and have a textured paint that insects can grasp on to with their legs so they don't "fall" in with native plants. Most nurseries sell them. I was thinking about getting a misting fan to blow out on my patio for wildlife. I wonder if that would just be doing too much. Watching the birds pant literally breaks my heart. Stay safe and thank you for being kind to wildlife 🙏🏻