It's the time of year when homeowners are busily preparing their homes and gardens for the winter season. While doing your outdoor chores, take a little time to help your backyard wildlife survive the winter. It might even be mean less work for you.

The Humane Society of the United States urges homeowners to "skip the raking, bagging, trimming and other yard chores this fall. It might just help your neighborhood wildlife survive the coming cold weather."

The society says dead stalks, leaves and seed heads offer both food and protection to wildlife. It also suggests building a brush pile in the corner of your yard to provide a safe place for small animals, birds, reptiles and insects to take cover. Bird and squirrel houses, and bat boxes can also provide much-needed shelter. The Internet provides countless ideas for building your own and sources where you can buy one ready made.

Hang a bird feeder and suet cakes to keep birds fed and warm. Spread peanut butter on pine cones and roll in bird seed for a tasty treat for birds and other animals. Don't be stingy with food by using bird feeders that keep squirrels from having a snack. Everyone has to eat.

It's important to keep feeders clean so birds don't become ill, says Bird Studies Canada. "Use a dishwasher on a hot setting or hand wash either with soap and boiling water or with a dilute bleach solution. Or soak feeders for one hour in a weak vinegar solution and then scrub with a clean bottle brush. Rinse thoroughly and allow to dry completely before refilling."

Choose the placement of your bird feeder with care. "Window strike mortalities can be reduced by moving your feeders to within three feet of the window. When feeders are close to a window, a bird leaving the feeder cannot gain enough momentum to do harm if it strikes the window," Bird Studies Canada says.

"Some bird watchers have attached streamers or suction cup feeders to their windows, criss-crossed branches within the window frames or installed awnings or screens. Hawk silhouettes fastened to the window often help, but not because they look like hawks but because they break up the problematic reflections" on the glass.

Along with food and shelter, providing water is another important way to help birds and small animals survive the winter.

You can provide drinking water in a bird bath with a heating element to keep the water from freezing. Put one water source up high for birds, and another on the ground for non-climbing animals such as rabbits. If you don't have a bird bath, even a plain dish of water will suffice. Change the water every day and never add anti-freeze because it is poisonous to all animals and birds, Bird Studies Canada says.

If you want to make your observations count, Bird Studies Canada has a FeederWatch program that starts Nov. 12. "At regular intervals from November until April, thousands of FeederWatchers count the kinds and numbers of birds at their feeders, then submit their observations to us," the organization says. "This information helps scientists study winter bird populations."

FeederWatch is a joint program of Bird Studies Canada and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. You must be a member to volunteer. For information about signing up, visit birdscanada.org/pfw.

Next spring plant shrubs for shelter and berry-producing plants for backyard critters. Bird Studies Canada suggests planting black-eyed susans and sunflower for their flowers and seeds; tubular-shaped nectar-producing flowers to attract hummingbirds; plants such as cinnamon fern and thistle to provide soft nesting material; small trees and fruiting plants such as crab apples, dogwoods, serviceberries, sumacs and virburnums; and conifers such as oaks, cherries and hickories to provide nuts, insect-hunting sites and good nesting locations. You may also want to consider building a pond.

You will also want to protect domestic animals by taking these safety precautions. Keep an eye on your pets and don't leave them out in the cold for long. "Thoroughly wipe off your dog's legs and stomach when he comes in out of the sleet, snow or ice. He can ingest salt, antifreeze or other potentially dangerous chemicals while licking his paws and his paw pads may also bleed from snow or encrusted ice," the London Humane Society says.

Coats can help keep them warm and boots can protect paws from the cold and salt.

The Ontario-based humane society also says to remove ice balls from paws by placing your pet's feet in warm (not hot) water before drying them off with a towel.