(Description: David and Jim stand outdoors speaking near a bird bath and bird feeding station.)
[David:] Hey everybody! Naturalist, David Mizejewski with the National Wildlife Federation, here with Jim Carpenter from Wild Birds Unlimited, who is the Champion of our Certified Wildlife Habitat program. That’s part of our Garden for Wildlife movement. Now, Jim and I just set up this bird feeding station and so now we’re going to talk about another habitat component, which is:
[Jim:] Water.
(Description “Save the Song Birds” and “Certify Your Yard” logos appear with each component required to certify your yard: Food, Water, Cover, Places to Raise Young, Plants appear, then Water remains on screen a few seconds, then back to the two men.)
[Jim:} So, as you know, when you feed them they also get thirsty. And so, it’s important to provide water 12 months of the year.
(Description: Robins are shown in the bird bath.)
[Jim:} Summertime is what most people think, but in the winter
(Description: Icecicle dripping/melting, then a frozen creek with snow is shown.)
[Jim:] there’s a whole lot of need for water because a lot of times it’s frozen. It’s hard to find water.
[David:] And so a simple bird bath is a really great way to provide this essential habitat component. And it’s, you know, it’s not just for drinking, right? It’s for bathing too! Birds need to keep their feathers clean.
(Description: A chickadee bathing in bird bath is shown then back to the two men. One is pouring water into the bird bath.)
[Jim:] It’s really year-round bird feather health, for thirst, and the whole bit. So we’re pouring water here into this concrete bird bath and it has a lot of great things to it. It’s at a great height, can keep it away from the cats.
[David:] I love the fact that, you know, since it’s made out of concrete, this sucker isn’t going anywhere. It’s sturdy. It’s not going to get knocked over, and you know, that’s actually good because you don’t have to worry about it, sort of getting dumped out when you’re not around.
[Jim:] That’s right! It is my favorite kind of bird bath. It’s your traditional bird bath, but bird baths can be all types. Could be just even a dog bowl.
[David:] Sure, yeah.
[Jim:] Or it could be a giant fountain and a water feature with a pond and all that. But even just doing a little bit is important.
[David:] Yeah, I agree, and this device here is also really neat. Tell us about that.
[Jim:] This is called a Water Wiggler and
(Description: Close-up of device creating vibrations in the water is shown, then back to the two men.)
[Jim:] if you look, there’s a little “spinny” thing here that creates vibrations. The mosquitoes will not land on here and lay their eggs, create the little larvae, and create new mosquitoes.
[David:] I think that’s a good thing that everybody everywhere can appreciate it.
[Jim:] It’s a really good thing.
[David:] So, you know the other thing that you can do for mosquitoes is just dump the bird bath out every couple days, because it takes them about five to seven days to emerge as a winged adult. You kind of need to do that for the birds anyway.
[Jim:] You kind of want a clean bird bath. Nobody wants to bathe in dirty bath water, so keep it clean.
[David:] Alright, so water is as simple as providing a bird bath in your yard. That’s one of the components of habitat.
(Description: Again, the five components icons required for a NWF Certified Yard appear: Food, Water, Cover, Places to Raise Young, Plants appear on screen, then back to the two men outdoors.)
[David:] There’s food, water, cover, places to raise young, and if you provide those things by what you plant and putting out feeder stations and bird baths and things like that, and you commit to maintaining your yard or garden naturally,
(Description: Close-up of a sign near the two mean is shown and reads “Certified Wildlife Habitat” with NWF logo then back to the two men.)
[David:} those are the five things you need to do to earn Certified Wildlife Habitat status with the National Wildlife Federation. So, Wild Birds Unlimited: they’re the Champion of Certified Wildlife Habitats. You can go into any Wild Birds Unlimited store all across North America and the Bird Feeding Specialists are going to tell you everything you need to know to earn that status for your own yard or garden. So, if you want to find out how you can get involved, just go to the links below and you’ll find out everything you need to know.
(Description: Link is shown reading “wbu.com/certify-your-yard” and then the Wild Birds Unlimited logo appears.)
