Birds travel thousands of miles for migration each year across continents and seas. They face many dangers along the way, including habitat loss, light pollution, and climate challenges. You can help them withstand these threats right where you live. Here are some actions that you can take to protect our traveling feathered friends:

1. Reduce or eliminate pesticide and herbicide use. By using fewer chemicals in and around your home, you will help keep birds, pets, and your family healthy.
2. Create or protect water sources in your yard. Birds need water to drink and bathe. Keep birdbaths clean and change the water frequently, especially when mosquitoes are breeding.
3. Know the invasive plants in your region and remove them from your yard. Invasives do not provide good bird food or habitat and can threaten healthy ecosystems.
4. Make your windows visible to birds to prevent collisions. Put up screens, close drapes and blinds, and stick decals on the glass. Decals can be two to four inches apart to be effective.
5. Let your yard get a little messy! Leave snags for nesting places and stack downed tree limbs to create a brush pile. This offers a great source of cover for birds during bad weather.
6. Close your blinds at night and turn off unnecessary lights. Some birds use the stars and constellations to guide them on their annual migrations. Bright lights from windows and skylights can disrupt their steering senses.
7. Plant native plants. Native flora provides birds with food in the form of fruit and seeds. It also provides a home to tasty invertebrates such as bugs and spiders.
8. Attract hummingbirds with sugar water, made by combining four parts hot water to one part white sugar and boiled for one to two minutes. Never use honey, artificial sweeteners, or food coloring. Clean your feeders with a solution of one part white vinegar to four parts water once a week.

Join us at the Pittsburgh Zoo & Aquarium on Saturday, May 9, from 10:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. as we celebrate Migratory Bird Day, presented by Peoples! Learn more about birds and their travels and how you can help. This event is part of our Party for the Planet celebration and is free with admission.