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the same sugar found in a bag of table sugar, so always use plain table sugar for making hummingbird syrups. Scrub the feeder each time you fill it to prevent molds, which can cause serious infections in hummingbirds.

Water
Sources of water tend to be few and far between in the wild. Providing a consistent source of water can bring more wildlife to your yard than food will. If you live near a pond, stream, or lake, you already have a good source of water. But even a bird bath, if kept filled at all time and thawed during freezing weather, can help provide much-needed water to wildlife. A garden pond, if you have the room and budget for one, is even better. Splashing water from a small waterfall or fountain will attract birds, while still areas of a pond may attract amphibians and aquatic insects, which may reproduce in the pond.

Rain gardens and swales are an increasingly popular solution for dealing with runoff from roofs, steep driveways, or similar structures. A rain garden is essentially a small wet meadow which is fed by rain from one or more downspouts. A rain garden can provide water during the wet times of the year, and support wet meadow plants that in turn support butterflies.

Butterflies and other insects need water as well, but because of their small size, often cannot drink from open water because of the surface tension. A puddling area can provide water for butterflies. You can create a puddling area by sinking a ceramic saucer in the garden. Fill the saucer with sand and keep it moist.

Cover
Wild animals need places where they can hide when they need to rest, get out of the weather, or to escape predators. Neatly groomed lawns with a few pruned shrubs provide very little cover. Birds appreciate high perches, such as tree branches or T-perches on high poles, near their feeding areas so they can scout for predators before feeding. Birds also use evergreen shrubs, brush piles, and hollow trees to hide in. Small mammals use brush piles, log piles, and tree hollows. Reptiles use rock piles for sunning and for hiding. Fish and amphibians in a garden pond are vulnerable to predators, such as raccoons or herons, unless there are heavy rocks or cement tiles fixed firmly to the bottom for their protection.

Roosting boxes are another option. Large roosting boxes with perches inside and an entrance at the bottom provide shelter for birds during harsh winter weather. Bats use special bat boxes for roosting during the day. These are usually mounted on the south

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