Shaun McCoshum

Butterflies nectaring on alfalfa growing in the flood plain of an urban water diversion ditch. Better planning could bring similar abundance to our concrete laden neighborhoods across the globe. #UrbanEcology #pollinators.#butterflies #urbanplanning #greeninfrastructure

If you are on Facebook, please join this group, Habitats and Homes. The goal is to share ideas on how to improve our gardens and land management practices to support wildlife. #nature #pollinatorGardens #UrbanEcology #gardening #landmanagement #conservation

www.facebook.com/groups/19633...

If you are on Facebook, please join this group, Habitats and Homes. The goal is to share ideas on how to improve our gardens and land management practices to support wildlife. www.facebook.com/groups/19633...

On September 13, I'll be presenting on creating healthy pollinator habitat that goes far beyond planting native plants. Come join if you can. #gardening #pollinatorGarden #Gardencology

When I'm #gardening, I try to understand how plants grow in the wild. It helps me create better habitats that include similar companion.species, soil types, and other habitat resources. Yarrow grows in a variety of habitats including compact soils along roads and this mountain meadow. #gardencology

One of my favorite native plants, upright prairie coneflower, is also a favorite for Halictus and Lasioglossum bees.

YouTube video by mccoshsm Plant Natives and Design Like Nature

Ever get so busy you decide another task will help you focus?...just me? Here is a video I made explaining habitats and why we need more than only Native Plants. Now I can proof some book pages.
#gardening #nature #lessLawns #nativePlants
youtu.be/R_i4jDbtBSg

Creating pocket prairie gardens? It is important to consider the natural processes that are absent. Bison once roamed most of the USA, fertilizing habitats, breaking old stems, & grazing grasses. We can recreate these processes to make more robust #pollinator habitats. #gardening #gardencology

Stem nesting bees need cut, pithy stems. Cavity nesting bees need cut hollow stems, crevices, and logs with beetle larvae tunnels. All of our bees need native flowers and pesticide free habitats. None of these requirements have to be messy.

#Nativebees don't need messy yards. They need intentional actions that provide #habitat in our gardens. The intentional resources our #bees need are soil diversity (with species preferring Sandy, to sandy clay soil with different levels of compaction, slope, and vegetation cover).

Please add me. I post a lot about bees and their habitats

YouTube video by mccoshsm Simple, Garden Bee Hotel

Here is a short video explaining a simple way to improve bees nesting sites in your garden. #NativeBees #gardening #pollinators

youtu.be/hqnY38THxSw?...

Our backyard will eventually be a native plant wonderland, but for now it is growing foods and some natives better than the lawn it was when we moved in. #gardening #foodplot #lesslawn

Native garden is being utilized by native wildlife! So exciting!
#gardening #nature

Do any of these capture the idea of working a garden to build habitat? Suggestions? #books #art #nature #gardens #wildlife #pollinatorgardens

One of the fastest ways to support pollinators is to plant a native sunflower. #gardening #nature #wildlife

Wildlife garden is coming in nicely.

Planning your #Garden consider adding in habitat resources above and below ground to help support #insects #amphibians and #reptiles all year long! #science

Here's why you should be cleaning up your yard. This is a small bison herd, doing bison things. Imagine this across a landscape throughout the year. Dead vegetation is broken, trampled, & pressed to the ground. Our gardens don't have this happening so we have to cut back plants. #gardening #nature

Screech owl box made with an apple crate from Michael's and some extra paneling (about 30bucks) #nature #wildlife #natureneedshelp #gardening

Dakota skippers are federally threatened butterflies that have a short flight season and are dependent on intact grasslands. Surprisingly there were no life cycle diagrams made for them so I went ahead and drafted one. #conservation #entomology #DakotaSkipper #esa #nature

YouTube video by LiveToday What Diameter Hole Will a Raccoon NOT Fit Through?

Can a raccoon fit? A concern for #gardeners creating shelters for #wildlife are the species they consider nuisances. Modifications for foxes & opossums should have openings less than 6" diameter if raccoons aren't wanted, but larger than 5" for possums & a vertical crawl space.
youtu.be/LxlHs_Z9kFo

Butterflies in the U.S. are disappearing at a ‘catastrophic’ rate The number of butterflies in the contiguous United States declined by 22 percent this century, a collapse with potentially dire implications.

wapo.st/41qhPNv

"The findings likely underestimate the true scale of loss, said Wagner, since the researchers did not have enough data to make assessments of some of the rarest species also likely in decline." 😢🦋

Are you planting or expanding your pollinator gardens this year? I am! ✋🌱🌼🐛🐝

You can help reverse #butterfly decline! 1. Stop spraying your entire yard with pesticides. 2. Convert parts of your yard to native plant landscaping. 3. Get involved locally to have your city do the same

Here's my book showing how to make garden habitat. #gardening

www.amazon.com/dp/B09Y9G1RY2

Excited to see this gorgeous spider! Habitat improvements include adding organic mulch piles, large stones with space below, and not using pesticides around the yard. Wolf #spiders are important in #garden #ecosystems & facilitate nutrient cycles besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Ah the folks on the internet that expect us to be necromancers. I've received a few of those comments for similar situations but with pollinators and reptiles.

If you're a gardener who's switched to landscaping with native plants, now is a great time to consider where animals will shelter. Consider adding these resources and more. #gardening #nature #conservation #pollinators #herping #insects #toads #landscapeDesign #wildlife

A butterfly fish swimming by corals under UV intense lights. Texas State aquarium

Sometimes you have to check out and stare at an aquarium. #distraction

#wildlifeGardening is an amazing way to increase local biodiversity and fight population declines. Adding native plants is important, but most animals need spaces to shelter, nest, rest, and overwinter. Mimic natural areas by adding missing resources like an underground refugia. #nature #gardening

Some pollinators and insects use leaves and stems to overwinter. Tidying up yards should involve trimming and piling materials on site. This mimics natural processes carried out by once present megafauna like bison, elk, moose, deer, wolves, and people! Leaving plants to grow wild is actually unnatural and chokes out species that need open flyways, exposed soils, and access to cut stem openings.

Leaving plants to grow wild is actually unnatural and chokes out species that need open flyways, exposed soils, and access to cut stem openings. So yes we need to clean our yards, but also keepaterial on site. #gardening #nature #wildlife #bees #pollinators