In honor of Bird Day, we took a few tips from Audubon on how to take action to protect birds and paired them with some of our favorite bird visuals from our TED-Ed Lessons.

1. Reduce or eliminate pesticide and herbicide use. By using few chemicals in and around your home, you will help keep birds, pets, and your family healthy.

2. Plant native plants. Native flora provides birds with food in the form of fruit and seeds, and is home to tasty invertebrates like bugs and spiders.

3. Identify the non-native invasive plants in your region, and work to remove them from your yard. And don’t bring any new invasives into your backyard! Invasives don’t provide as much good food or habitat as natives do, and can threaten healthy ecosystems.

4. Attract hummingbirds with sugar water, made by combining four parts hot water to one part white sugar, boiled for one to two minutes. Never use honey, artificial sweeteners, or food coloring. Clean hummingbird feeders with a solution of one part white vinegar to four parts water once a week.

5. Make your windows visible to birds to prevent crashes. Put up screens, close drapes and blinds when you leave the house, or stick multiple decals on the glass (decals need to be no more than two to four inches apart to be effective).

And here are some TED-Ed Lessons to watch for the love of the birds:

Bird migration, a perilous journey – Alyssa Klavans

How do birds learn to sing? – Partha Mitra

How did feathers evolve? – Carl Zimmer

Love the Earth, and the Earth will love you back! Happy Earth Week!

Artwork & Animation above by Artrake Studio, Lisa LaBracio and Tara Sunil Thomas, & Compote Collective.

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