Backyards go back to nature

The U.S. Geologic Survey says more than 60 million Americans feed, photograph or view wildlife each year. Songbirds, butterflies and hummingbirds are tops on the list, and many of those 60 million Americans want to draw more of those creatures near their homes.

On Saturday, the Atlanta Audubon Society is hosting its eighth Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary Tour, showcasing six properties in Fayetteville and Peachtree City. Each property has been certified through the society as a wildlife sanctuary because it provides the four essential features for attracting wildlife: shelter, food, water and nesting sites.

Peachtree City’s David Cree has three acres on tour. When he bought the first two lots there 19 years ago, this professional landscaper took a barren site scraped clean by the original developer and turned it into a true haven for wildlife.

The landscaped area around the house gives way to edges that are completely natural, including a small creek that runs through the property and a larger creek on the border that runs into Lake Kedron.

“The whole area around the creek has been undisturbed for 125 years or more. There are gigantic American beech trees 3 feet or more in diameter and native shrubs and flowers of all kinds,” Cree said.

The list includes American snowbells, big-leaf magnolias and umbrella trees.

“When I first bought the property, I didn’t know a blue jay from a cardinal,” Cree said with a laugh.

Soon he got interested in birds, joined the Audubon Society and now he has birded all over the United States and Canada and seen 605 North American birds. He has seen 125 varieties of birds on his property alone.

A year ago he heard about the backyard wildlife sanctuary program and had his property evaluated.

“I very proudly placed my certificate on a large poplar tree down by the golf cart path so everyone could see it,” Cree said.

Also on the tour are another private residence in the Smokerise Plantation subdivision of Peachtree City; a 30-acre private garden in Fayetteville that’s only been on tour once before; Turnipseed Nursery Farms, which is a combination nursery and art studio; and Two Doves Farm in Fayetteville, a certified organic farm. Two Doves Farm will have produce and plants for sale.

One more stop is Sams Lake Bird Sanctuary in Fayetteville, a 56-acre nature preserve created on land donated by the Ferrol Sams family. At 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Mike Swanson, a volunteer for the Southern Conservation Trust, will lead walks of the preserve’s half-mile mulched trail, stopping at the three observation decks that offer a chance to get close to the wildlife there.