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"I've seen animals do things in my backyard you don't get to see on National Geographic," says Barbara Thuro, whose garden in Vista, California, is a sanctuary for a variety of creatures, winged and wild. Dragonflies perform aerial acrobatics over the pond. Raccoons sleep under her deck; at night they join skunks, opossums, and other prowlers rustling in the bushes while crickets serenade them.

Up north in Pleasant Hill, California, the chirping sound of white-crowned sparrows fills the air every fall in Pamela Simonds's garden. Simonds, who lives near one of the Pacific flyways, welcomes these seasonal visitors to her garden by offering them food, water, and respite from the noise, congestion, and lawn-filled gardens that surround her small, suburban oasis. "I can identify the season by the kinds of birds that appear in the garden," says Simonds. "When they arrive, I hear their presence before I see them."

Thuro and Simonds are two of a growing number of Westerners who are turning their gardens into backyard wildlife habitats, then having them certified by the National Wildlife Federation. Make your garden creature-friendly enough to be certified, says Thuro, and animals will come. The longer they stay, the more accepting they'll become of your presence. Then they'll behave in your garden as they would in the wild. That, say habitat gardeners, is when the entertainment--and education--begins.

In Simonds's garden, for instance, birds feel so at home that they perform mating rituals, build nests, hatch young, and nurture fledglings.

With all this live action going on, it's no wonder that owners of habitat gardens would rather watch critter comings and goings in their gardens than on TV.

Elements of a habitat garden

As housing and commercial developments spread into wildlands, they encroach upon the habitats that would supply--in their natural state--all the food, water, and shelter that birds and other creatures need to live. By incorporating these resources into your garden, you can help many critters survive as their true habitats disappear.

Food. To keep wildlife in the garden, you need to offer a year-round food supply "Diversity is the key to enticing the greatest variety of wildlife," says Judy Adler, environmental educator and owner of a backyard wildlife habitat in Walnut Creek, California.