Backyard sanctuary offers refuge for all creatures

As much as Kimberly Dunham loves autumn, she also dreads this time of year: it means it’s time to close the door to the most beautiful room in her house – her backyard. She leaves her back door open most days from June through September for her two dogs, John Paul and Olive, but also to extend the 918 square feet of living space in her two-bedroom, one-bath Spokane home. “It’s my soft place to land and absolutely dread when I have to shut the door,” she said. “I feel such a lack of space, like the world is closing in.” In summer, Dunham spends an average of three hours a day working in her yard. Her yard, now an official wildlife sanctuary, is not only her favorite room – it’s also the main reason that she bought the house nearly 15 years ago. “I fell in love with the neighborhood immediately and wanted a big backyard where my dogs would have plenty of space,” she said. “I honestly didn’t even really like the house until I saw the yard.” Her true passion for the outdoors and the desire to create a backyard sanctuary began when she met a baby bird. One night, outside a downtown restaurant/bar she was working at, a drunk shook a tree that a family of birds was living in. One fell out and landed on the hard concrete sidewalk. One of the employees brought the baby bird to Dunham, knowing that she has “a thing” for all creatures. She looked for the bird’s mother outside and couldn’t find her, so she decided to take the bird home with her that evening in a to-go container. Dunham began by unsuccessfully trying to feed the bird, who she named Francis. The next day, when she needed to go to work, she wasn’t sure what to do with Francis, so she placed her into a tree, thinking she he might fly away. All day, she was haunted with what would happen to the young bird. When she returned that night, Francis was still there. Desperately wanting children of her own but not able to, Dunham said she’s always had a motherly instinct to take care of those in need. “I guess it gave me something new to care about and put my time forth in. It’s that wanting so bad to groom something with your love. An innate yearning I’d guess you’d call it,” she said. So Dunham did what most loving mothers would do – she kept trying. The next day Francis took water from her fingertips and began to eat too. She discovered that the bird loved broccoli heads and earwigs. “She ate them like candy” she said. After that, Dunham said the bird attached herself to her. “He saw me as food source and probably as his mother,” she said. “When I’d get up, he’d hear my voice and start squawking.” A friend lent her a rat cage to keep Francis in temporarily, and Dunham watched him start to grow. She fed him every couple of hours and showered the baby bird with affection. Even her dog Quinn, who didn’t care for most outsiders, fell in love with Francis too and started kissing his head. Dunham doesn’t recall exactly how long she nursed and kept Francis, probably a few weeks, but admits that it was probably a little too long. “He might have been ready, but I wasn’t yet,” she said. One night when she opened the cage to feed him, Francis flew away. “I cried and cried and kept saying, “How’s he going to know what to do?” she said. Dunham left her door open that night, and at dawn, heard a familiar squawk outside her window. She saw Francis standing in the rain gutter. Dunham climbed the ladder, and Francis flew right into her hand. “She kind of looked at me like, ‘I’m not ready yet.’ She was more than happy to be in her safe haven and was very hungry and thirsty,” she said. The homecoming was bittersweet; Dunham knew that it was only a matter of time that Francis find a proper refuge. “I knew that the very thing that made me so joyful was the same feeling that would make it so hard to do right by her,” she said. After Dunham taught Francis how to eat seeds and berries on her own, Dunham decided to bring him to a wildlife rehabilitation center in Otis Orchards. “I knew in my heart that I could only do so much for her, and that this was a creature that deserved a real chance,” she said. “She didn’t deserve to be knocked out of the tree.” Although she said it felt really good leaving the bird in good hands, it was also heartbreaking. The experience with Francis opened her eyes in every way, and she begun to look at her yard as a possible wildlife sanctuary. “My awareness totally changed, and I began to notice everything,” she said. Dunham now knows when the birds are mating and when they warn each other to hide when a hawk is coming. She knows their songs and can tell the difference between a gold finch, sparrow, robin or hummingbird with her eyes shut. She loves every one of them. She has strategically set up a dozen or so birdhouses and birdbaths, safe from open spots where predators hover. The birdhouses are all sizes with different holes and none are directly in the sun. As part of qualifying to become an official Washington State Wildlife Sanctuary, owners must provide adequate means of shelter for animals to raise young, plus food and water sources. Dunham provides daily seed feedings for birds, peanuts for squirrels, and nectar for finches and hummingbirds. She also knows the “papas and mamas” who come up on the porch daily for bread for their youngsters. “I think we forget sometimes how much of their space that we’ve invaded and keep taking,” she said. “This is just my way of giving back for so much joy that they’ve given me.” All this care takes a lot of daily maintenance. Dunham makes sure that the birds and squirrels always have fresh water. If the squirrels aren’t fed by a certain time, they freely left her know, and race each other down trees for the peanuts in a hanging basket. The tradeoff of nurturing so many lives sometimes includes tragedy. Dunham got quite attached to her first squirrel she named Dew and her baby Clarisse. She watched Dew create a safe, warm nest and bring food home every day. One day Dunham watched Clarisse fall 30 feet from the tree onto the patio. “I was hysterical. It was so terrible,” Dunham said. “Dew came down and picked her up by the neck – keep in mind that her baby was about the same weight as she was by now – and about 20 feet up, dropped her. I’ll never forget her tenacity trying to get her back up to the nest.” Dunham didn’t know what to do with Clarisse’s body, so put Clarisse back in the tree. The next day she was gone. Since then, several “Dews” and babies have come and gone, and although Dunham is always sad to see death, she realizes it’s all part of nature’s cycle. Along with carrying for all of her creatures, Dunham’s sanctuary also boasts a lush green yard with dozens of flowering plants, trees, and bushes. “I’d love to have a bigger house, but I can’t imagine leaving all of my creatures now.” She’s had two vacations in 13 years. Although she wouldn’t mind more, she said ultimately she wouldn’t trade any of it. “I appreciate everyone’s role here – even the starlings and bugs – everyone has their role in making this the sanctuary that it is…. well maybe everyone except the skunks!” Even though it’s a cold November day, just talking about all of the creatures in her backyard sanctuary bring the light and warmth of summer back into her eyes again. She’s not as patient with winter as she used to be, but the reminder of rebirth always carries her through the darker months. “Nothing compares to seeing dormancy come alive again each spring. That always makes winter worth it.”