Milkweed & Monarch Butterflies 101
November 16th @ 11am at Wild Birds Unlimited Pearland
Come for an in-depth presentation on Monarch Butterflies from our guests Greg and Linda! They have been involved with Monarch Butterflies for over 10 years and have come to teach us all about them. Greg and Linda became very interested in monarchs after visiting their wintering grounds in Mexico and began spreading awareness on how we can help their numbers grow ever since. Native Milkweed Plants will be available during the event as supplies last that way you can help save the monarchs with us!
Call 281-416-4420 to reserve your seat!
Located @: 2800 E. Broadway Street Ste. L
Pearland, Texas 77581
Ways to Prepare Your Yard for Fall Migration
Attract migrating birds to your backyard by setting up an environment that mimics how birds naturally live and forage.
Understand Fall Migration:
When fall arrives, a bird's life transitions, and they begin to migrate towards warmer climate. Birds are no longer raising families and most of their land territories break down. Some birds flock up with their own kind as a winter survival tactic, taking advantage of more eyes to search for food and watch for predators. Some birds mix together with other bird species in a winter foraging flock.
Provide Shelter and a Healthy Habitat:
Maintaining Habitat in Your Backyard is an easy but vital task. Birds require food, water, shelter, and nesting habitat for survival. They must also be protected from backyard dangers such as hawks and cats. Providing a spot with a dense thicket of plants, brambles, or hollies gives them a quick safe place to hide and makes for a good place to socialize before and after visits to your feeders. Try to leave some natural roughage. Native plants that provide berries during the season can also be an important source of carbohydrates and fats in the diet of migratory birds. If possible, leave weed-seed plants. Plants that are native species are often best adapted to local soils and climates and require less fertilizer, water and pest control. You can reduce your dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which are harmful to birds, by cultivating native plants and reducing lawn areas.
Provide Food:
As birds come through and decide where to stay, they are more likely to stay if they note a regularly available food source. Even if they are not hitting the food source on a consistent basis in the fall, once the weather turns cooler, they’ll remember where that reliable source is. By keeping food fresh now, even if it’s a small amount, the birds will reward you once the weather turns. Try incorporating more millet-type blends, which can be attractive to a variety of migratory birds. These are wonderful when offered in feeders that are near the ground or in an elevated feeder that allows some millet to be dropped to the ground.
Make sure you have high-quality fresh food and high-energy, high-fat foods. Wild Birds Unlimited seed blends have these qualities. Also, spreadable Bark Butter or Bark Butter Bits are great sources. Bark Butter in any form is a magnet for birds, and there are over 140 species confirmed that enjoy them. Once they try it, birds are all over it. Live or dried mealworms are another option. These foods help captivate migrating birds.
Shop with us online or stop by the store and we’ll show you the foods, feeders and other products to help attract migrating birds!
Provide a Water Source:
Providing a good water source will help attract birds. If a bird is passing through and they see or hear moving water, they will almost always check it out. They need open water sources for drinking and keeping their feathers maintained for flight and proper insulation as the nights get colder. Our shop carries birdbaths in numerous styles, so come by and visit us to shop our selection. Remember to keep the water clean. We offer anti-bacterial copper disks to keep your birdbaths clean with chemical-free water purification, as well as a natural and bird-safe birdbath protector to mitigate additional build-up. Regular scrubbing is required for heavily used baths.
What else can you do during Fall Migration?
Turn off your lights.
Help protect migrating birds by turning off all non-essential nighttime lighting on buildings and other structures from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. each night.
When to participate?
Fall Migration: August 15 – November 30
Peak period: September 5 – October 29
Why do we turn off our lights during bird migration?
What’s Good For Birds is Good For People
Birds are vitally important to the environment and benefit us in a variety of ways. Turning off non-essential lights or sheilding essential ones is also good for people! Artificial Lights At Night (ALAN) can negatively impact our health from sleep deprivation to depression to heart disease. By turning off lights, we protect birds, ourselves, save money and reduce carbon pollution! It’s a win-win.
Reduce Collisions at Any Time - Bird Friendly Glass
Birds can’t see glass. Instead, they see whatever happens to be reflected in its mirror-like surface as a continuation of habitat and clear glass as an open passageway, putting migratory and resident birds at risk of building collisions. It’s estimated that between one hundred million and one billion birds die every year in collisions with manmade structures—one of the biggest killers of migratory birds. Bird-safe glass is specially designed to make glass a visible obstacle to birds. A variety of approaches, such as fritting, silk-screening, or ultraviolet coating, create a pattern that breaks up the reflectivity of the glass and alerts birds to its presence and placing them 2” x 4”. To learn more about bird friendly glass for homes and businesses – start here.
With your help, we can dramatically reduce the hazards posed by light pollution and bird collisions in cities nationwide and allow birds to resume their typical migratory behaviors.
Some lighting guidelines you can go by:
• Turn off all non-essential lights from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. each night during migration season.
• Do not use landscape lighting to light up trees or gardens where birds may be resting.
• Close blinds at night to reduce the amount of light being emitted from windows.
For essential lights (like security lighting) use the following dark skies friendly lighting practices:
• Aim lights down.
• Use lighting shields to direct light downwards and to avoid light shining into the sky or trees.
• Use motion detectors and sensors so lights are only on when you need them.