Gardening for Wildlife
One of the exciting benefits of gardening with native plants is their ability to attract a wide range of wildlife, especially native species. In fact, we have been able to identify nearly 2000 unique species of animals utilizing the Gottlieb Native Garden — from ants to bats to birds to lizards.
Methodology
Various methods are used for assembling data on animals in the garden, including observation, collecting and photographing with both hand-held and remote cameras. Some animals are simple to identify down to species level. These would include mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. Arthropods can be a different story. We do our best to identify insects, arachnids and similar animals to species level, but sometimes have to settle with simply placing them in a tribe or family.
There are many good online sources available to help with species identification and we use two of them extensively - iNaturalist and BugGuide (each link will take you to GNG observations).
Below are numbers of species broken down into specific groups (as of February 2025)
Vertebrates
27 Mammals
10 Reptiles and Amphibians
118 Birds
Insects
30 Butterflies
467 Moths
13 Springtails and Two-pronged Bristletails
2 Silverfish
11 Dragonflies and Damselflies
17 Grasshoppers, Crickets and Katydids
1 Walkingsticks
2 Webspinners
1 Mayflies
3 Cockroaches
261 True Bugs
1 Twisted-wing Insects
14 Thrips
46 Book, Bark and Jumping Plant Lice
223 Beetles
19 Lacewings, Mantispids, Antlions and Snakeflies
267 Bees, Ants, Wasps and Sawflies
5 Caddisflies
2 Fleas
222 Flies
Arachnids
1 Scorpions
110 Spiders
26 Mites and Ticks
Myriapods
19 Centipedes, Millipedes and Symphylans
Crustaceans
3 Woodlice
Gastropods
7 Snails and Slugs
Segmented Worms
2 worms
Flatworms
1 Hammerhead Worm