Hal Brindley 
This morning I walked out to visit the frogs at our backyard wildlife pond. Two beautiful frogs sat there, side by side. Though they were the same size and had similarities, they looked so different to me that I assumed they were different species. It turned out they were both …
Today Cristina ran in the front door shouting “COME LOOK”. There were six pairs of small bees mating on the floor of our front porch! It was early spring and it was the first emergence of the mason bees who live in the small holes in our porch chairs. They …
How to kill English ivy No offense to the English, but please get out of my yard. Here in the United States, English ivy plants are an unwelcome invasive species. It has been the bane of my existence for the last 12 years while trying to transform our North Carolina …
We have a bird bath in our front yard and love to watch the birds splashing happily and enjoying a drink. But if not maintained properly, a dirty bird bath is less attractive to birds and can actually spread disease to both birds and humans. So here’s a quick lesson …
When people ask how to attract wildlife to their yard we have two simple answers: plant native plants and make a pond! Even a small pond will attract wildlife of all sorts to your yard from birds to dragonflies to frogs. And it’s surprisingly easy to do! All you need …
Today I had an amazing encounter with a family of turkeys in our yard. Two baby turkeys and their mother spent more than an hour relaxing and walking around. I wrote all about the encounter here (turkey vs. bird garden statue) but as I was writing I kept wondering what …
It started out as a magical experience. A turkey head popped up outside the window above my laptop screen and she was soon followed by two baby wild turkeys! I spent 20 minutes photographing them in our front yard, moving slowly so as not to disturb them. They were very …
It was a warm spring day in Asheville, North Carolina. I was yanking invasive English ivy off some of my trees when I spotted a huge brown cocoon attached to the trunk of a large cherry tree, only about 4 feet up from the ground. I could tell it was …
Hey there! We’re Hal and Cristina and welcome to our wild yard! We’re just starting to build this site so stay tuned. But here’s what you can expect: Gardening for wildlife tips How-to projects Pics & stories about all the amazing creatures in our yard Fun backyard wildlife games & …