To attract wildlife you need four things:
1. Food
2. Water
3. Shelter
4. Space
Space sounds easy, but it’s not just any space, it’s usable space. Unless there’s area for wildlife to hide, eat, raise young, and play, it’s really not much use. A nice brush pile is a good addition to “space”. It gives the animals something to crawl through, perch on, and hide in. Where we are, our compost pile provides a nice warm place for earth snakes.
The National Wildlife Federation has information on attracting wildlife and getting certified as a “Backyard Wildlife Habitat” on their web site.
Texas Parks and Wildlife also has information about attracting wildlife and getting certified as a “Texas Wildscape”. They also offer a free interactive DVD that was made from the book “Texas Wildscapes: Gardening for Wildlife”. Just visit them online for the DVD and much more useful information.
Food & Water Water is vital to all living things. We are fortunate to have a pond on the property. But, while the pond is good for mammals, water birds, and We always try to use rain water for the animals: it is what their little systems are accustomed to drinking. On the Tips page there is an inexpensive way to collect rain water. One method we use to supply water is to get a plant catch pan and put it on We treat our insects, mostly butterflies, bees, and wasps, a little differently: we put gravel or small stones (marbles would do and they would add a decorative touch) in the catch pan and add water to the top of the stones. This way our little friends have a place to land and still take in water without danger. Food can be handled in several different ways. Probably the most natural is to plant flowers and shrubs that supply everything from berries to nectar. Aside from providing food, they also provide a natural beauty to the landscape. Our Flower & Herb page can give you some ideas. There are also plant data bases available from The Wildflower Center , USDA, and Texas Parks & Wildlife. Another source of food is that which we supply: nectar for hummingbirds and butterflies, and seeds for song birds. We DO NOT use the red syrup for hummingbirds: it can cause problems with their digestion. We make an inexpensive, clear syrup that they seem to love. The recipe is on the “Tips” page under Hummingbird Syrup. We feed our song birds black oil sunflower seed from pl
some insects, it is of no value for song birds, butterflies and bees because they can’t swim! So, we have to supply water for most of our birds and insects. 
top of some sort of base, either a stump or a stone column as seen in the photo. We keep the water shallow so there’s no chance of a critter drowning, and place a rock in the center to add weight to the plastic pan and provide additional perching space. With the pan being plastic, there is no danger of it cracking if the temperature gets cold enough for the water to freeze.
One other supply of water can
be a decorative fountain similar to the one shown here. The sound of the water attracts animals and also masks some ambient noise. A pump recirculates the water. Birds often come and perch by the spout and drink the water as it comes out.
atform feeders and we also use the “store bought” bird feeders. Our platform feeders allow the rain water to drain because they have screen & hardware cloth bottoms. We make sure our purchased feeders protect the seed from rain.
Texas Parks and Wildlife has a downloadable PDF version of the booklet “Providing for Backyard Wildlife”. In it there are easy plans for making platform feeders, suet feeders, pollinator boxes, and bird nest boxes. There are even lists of larval and nectar plants for Butterflies and a list of plants that attract Hummingbirds. The person who wrote the bookl
et was an “urban naturalist genius”...then I moved to the country.
Anyway, a look at the photo to the left will show the joy of plants that attract butterflies. This is a Black Swallowtail Caterpillar eating fennel. We put in several fennel plants each year and have yet to harvest any fennel. Our feeling is "we can buy fennel at the grocery, but we can't buy Black Swallowtail Butterflies". It works for us.
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Shelter
Shelter may also be either natural, manufactured, or "contrived".
If you have a fallen tree, or "snag", and have the space to leave it alone, it provides a wonderful place for cavity nesting birds and even provides food in the way of insects as the wood rots.
Brush piles are another way to provide a "natural, contrived" shelter space. This brush pile provides 
a home for voles and mice, and is a hiding place for Sparrows, Cardinals, Mockingbirds, and other songbirds. There's nothing special to it: it just a bunch of twigs stacked near a feeder in an open area. The animals love it!
Of course, if you're talking about birds, you have to mention "nest boxes". They are relatively inexpensive and easy to make. In the early Spring you'll be delighted to see the various pairs of birds checking out their new home. This nest box was up about a y
ear before a pair of Carolina Chickadees moved in. The plans for this nest box, and other easy to make feeders and habitat boxes may be found on the PDF downloadable version of the Texas Parks and Wildlife booklet "Providing for Backyard Wildlife".
Finally, don't forget about your shrubs, decorative grasses, and trees. All of these provide needed shelter. One tree that is frequently overlooked is the evergreen. When a storm is raging, or when it is really cold you may wonder where the birds went for protection. More often than not, it's the evergreen. We have several Junipers on our property that not only provide shelter for birds, but the berries also provide food for migrating Cedar Waxwings.
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