Where has all my backyard wildlife gone?
Ever since I began setting out sugar water for the hummingbirds 30 years ago — including the morning the dazed creatures swarmed the empty spots where the tornado had ripped away their feeders the night before — they’ve shown up like clockwork in early April. By the time they appeared six weeks later than usual in 2025, I worried I’d seen the last of them.
For migrating avians like hummingbirds and year-round wildlife such as Eastern cottontails and black bears, disrupted schedules are “the new norm. We need to get used to it,” says Chris Graves, extension forestry and wildlife specialist at the University of Tennessee’s School of Natural Resources. “There is no consistency anymore in the seasonal clock.”
Climate change, which causes shifts in temperature and precipitation, is behind much of this “new normal.” A mild winter up north, for example, can lengthen the food supply window and delay migration of water fowl like ducks and geese.
Warmer springs coax plants to bloom earlier, thereby altering animals’ feeding patterns. The conditions of wintering grounds in Mexico and Central America can affect the timing of ruby-throated hummingbirds in the Southeast from one year to the next.
Other factors play a role in their behavior too, from habitat loss and human development to invasive species. Still, many animals have learned to adapt to the shifts. “A lot of wildlife species are much more adaptable than we’ve given them credit for in the past,” Graves says. “For example, our densest raccoon populations in Tennessee are in our metropolitan areas now — Knoxville, Johnson City, Chattanooga, Nashville, Memphis. We’ve learned that everything from raccoons to coyotes and even wild turkeys are extremely adaptable.”
One of the best ways to deal with the tipped-over timetable is to provide quality habitat, no matter what. “One of the main things that I would want homeowners to understand is that the way they manage the vegetation around their home has a great impact on whether they’re providing wildlife the food and recovery sources that they may need,” says Graves. “Native landscaping is critical, and I can’t stress that enough. … The manicured lawns and associated non-native shrubs and trees have serious implications. We are rolling the dice any time we use or choose foreign plant materials.”
For some wildlife watchers, the disappointment of not seeing the usual, much-anticipated critters can be stressful, Graves acknowledges. “You’re kind of wondering, scratching your heads, curious, even worried in a sense, like, ‘Where are they?’”
His advice: “Understand that there are so many factors at play, even above and beyond climate change.”
Welcoming Wildlife to Your Backyard
Chris Graves, extension forestry and wildlife specialist at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, offers these tips to keep wildlife visitors coming to your yard.
• Remove exotic plant cover and let the native seeds grow. “If you’re trying to attract wildlife to your backyard, consider native plantings,” says Graves. They’re more nutritious for indigenous animals than non-native vegetation.
• For hummingbirds, add native flowering plants that provide adequate cover, nectar and insects during migrating and nesting seasons. Plant late-blooming asters and other flowers for hummers that pass through the Blue Ridge region in the fall.
• Keep hummingbird feeders up longer. “You may attract other species that are maybe totally off course, or they may be using a different migration route,” Graves says. A possible bonus: You might spot a rare species.
• Don’t forget about water sources. The natural wetlands in the UT Gardens, says Graves, “have become a favorite feature for many folks and have attracted various wildlife species that are new to the UT campus.”
• When it comes to wildlife, he says, “Expect the unexpected.”
The story above first appeared in our March / April 2026 issue.
