Welcome to the second week of Garden for Wildlife Month! This week, we are featuring backyard flora and fauna that are blue–a cool, soothing color.  (Did you miss last week’s color? View the RED blog here.)  Which of these blue beauties do you find in your backyard?

These photos were donated by past participants in the National Wildlife® Photo Contest. To enter your photos in this year’s contest, visit the contest site.

Source of bird facts: Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds

Indigo Bunting

Like all other blue birds, Indigo Buntings lack blue pigment. Their jewel-like color comes instead from microscopic structures in the feathers that refract and reflect blue light, much like the airborne particles that cause the sky to look blue. (Photo: Steve Creek)

Bluebells

Bluebells have smooth gray-green foliage and nodding clusters of pink buds that open into light blue trumpet-shaped flowers. When they grow in masses, bluebells make a spectacular show. (Photo: Sandra Brooks-Mathers)

Tree Swallows

Outside of the breeding season the Tree Swallow congregates into enormous flocks and night roosts, sometimes numbering in the hundreds of thousands. They gather about an hour before sunset at a roost site, forming a dense cloud. (Photo: Paul Lackey)

Eastern Bluebird

Eastern Bluebirds typically have more than one successful brood per year. Young produced in early nests usually leave their parents in summer, but young from later nests frequently stay with their parents over the winter. (Photo: James Alligood)

American Robin Eggs

An American Robin can produce three successful broods in one year. On average, though, only 40 percent of nests successfully produce young. Only 25 percent of those fledged young survive to November. (Photo: Laura Epps)

Blue Jay

Blue Jays are known for their intelligence and complex social systems with tight family bonds. Their fondness for acorns is credited with helping to spread oak trees after the last glacial period. (Photo: Ray Whitt)

Spicebush Swallowtail

The Spicebush Swallowtail is a common black swallowtail butterfly found in North America, also known as the Green-Clouded butterfly. The swallowtails are unique in that even while feeding, they continue to flutter their wings. (Photo: Joyce Walton)

Great Blue Heron

Despite their impressive size, Great Blue Herons weigh only 5 to 6 pounds thanks in part to their hollow bones—a feature all birds share. The oldest Great Blue Heron, based on banding recovery, was 24 years old. (Photo: Steve Duffey)

Blue Dasher

The Blue Dasher is a dragonfly of the skimmer family. It is common and widely distributed in the United States. Although the species name P. longipennis means "long wings", the wings are not particularly long. (Photo: Bill Houghton)

Steller’s Jay

Steller’s Jays have the dubious honor of being one of the most frequently misspelled names in all of bird watching. Up close, the bird’s dazzling mix of azure and blue is certainly stellar, but that’s not how you spell their name. (Photo: Lori Zappas)

Create a haven for birds and other critters in your own backyard and have it designated as an official Certified Wildlife Habitat site. Certify in the month of May and we’ll plant a tree in your honor!>>

Each week during Garden for Wildlife Month, we will be featuring backyard flora and fauna of a particular color.  This week we are focused on red, a color associated with dominance in a number of animal species. Does your backyard play host to any of the following species?

These photos were donated by past participants in the National Wildlife® Photo Contest. To enter your photos in this year’s contest, visit the contest site.

Source of bird facts: Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s All About Birds

Scarlet Tanager

A striking black-winged red bird, the Scarlet Tanager is a common species of the eastern forest interior. Despite its brilliant coloring it is often overlooked because of its rather secretive behavior and its preference for the forest canopy. (Photo: Daniel Marquis)

Ladybug

Ladybugs are favored by farmers as voracious pest-eaters. By the end of its three-to-six-week life, a ladybug may eat 5,000 plant-eating insects. (Photo: David Bahr)

 House Finch

The red of a male House Finch comes from pigments contained in its food during molt. So the more pigment in the food, the redder the male. Females prefer to mate with the reddest male they can find, perhaps raising the chances they get a capable mate who can do his part in feeding the nestlings. (Photo: Gregory Fisher)

Pileated Woodpecker

The Pileated Woodpecker is one of the biggest, most striking forest birds on the continent. They dig characteristically rectangular holes in trees to find ants. These excavations can be so broad and deep that they can cause small trees to break in half. (Photo: Hal and Kirstin Snyder)

Red Spotted Newt

The strikingly colored juvenile stage (terrestrial) of the Red Spotted Newt is followed by the olive-green colored adult stage (aquatic). They have a lifespan of 12 to 15 years in the wild, and may grow to 5 inches in length. (Photo: John Kornet)

Cardinal Flower

Although relatively common, overpicking this handsome wildflower has resulted in its scarcity in some areas. Since most insects find it difficult to navigate the long tubular flowers, Cardinal Flower depends on hummingbirds, which feed on the nectar, for pollination. (Photo: Paul Lackey)

Pyrrhuloxia

A distinctive songbird of arid scrublands, the Pyrrhuloxia lives in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It superficially resembles its close relative, the Northern Cardinal. Foraging winter flocks of Pyrrhuloxias may number as many as 1,000 birds. (Photo: Daniel Ruf)

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

The male Rose-breasted Grosbeak participates in incubation of the eggs, accounting for about 1/3 of the time during the day (the female incubates over night). Both sexes sing quietly to each other when they exchange places. (Photo: Lori Deiter)

Northern Cardinal

Only a few female North American songbirds sing, but the female Northern Cardinal does, and often while sitting on the nest. This may give the male information about when to bring food to the nest. Cardinals don’t migrate or molt into a dull plumage. (Photo: Stan Lewis)

Create a haven for birds and other critters in your own backyard and have it designated as an official Certified Wildlife Habitat site. Certify in the month of May and we’ll plant a tree in your honor!>>

To save gas, make sure your vehicle's speed doesn't exceed that of a pronghorn antelope. At up to 60 mph, pronghorns are the fastest land animals in North America. (Photo donated by Helena Reynolds)

If you, too, are looking for easy ways to avoid the gas station, here are some money and planet-saving tips.

1) Bum a ride – Carpool with reliable friends and colleagues. Or, look into safe rideshare options, like NuRide, that provide additional incentives for smart commuting. Alternatively, mass transportation will take you out of the driver’s seat altogether.

2) Work fewer days (in the office) – Ask your employer if teleworking or working a condensed schedule with longer hours (ex. 9 days on, 1 day off) are options. While you’re at it, see if there’s any flexibility with workday start or end times that might allow you to avoid gas and time-wasting rush hour traffic.

3) Think small – When renting a car for your next vacation, think small–or hybrid, if available–as they tend to be more fuel efficient. If you’re in the market to buy a fuel-efficient vehicle, try the U.S. Department of Energy’s Find-a-Car Tool.

4) Slow down and hang back – Aggressive driving (speeding, tailgating, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes gas. It can lower your gas mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent around town.

5) Pump it up – You can improve your gas mileage by up to 3.3 percent by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure. For step-by-step instructions on pumping up your tires, visit wikiHow.

6) Plan one epic journey – Several short trips taken from a cold start can use twice as much fuel as a longer multipurpose trip covering the same distance when the engine is warm.

 More from Wildlife Promise:

Slacker’s Guide to Gardening for Wildlife

My Fling with the Chevy Volt

Want to Fix Pain at the Pump?

Feeling Stressed!!?! Visit Doctor Nature

Source: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/

Then, enjoy the following “foxy” photos that were donated by past participants in the National Wildlife® Photo Contest. To enter your photos in this year’s contest, visit the contest site.

Colorado

Photographer: Kelly Lyon Location: Boulder, CO

Photographer: Howard Witkin Location: Boulder, CO

Photographer: Dan Walters Location: Wheat Ridge, CO

Alaska

Photographer: Nil Eren Location: Barrow, AK

Photographer: Donna Carr Location: Pribilofs, AK

Midwest

Photographer: Ryan Weishalla Location: Leroy, IL

Photographer: William Wiley Location: South of Lincoln, NE

Photographer: Suzanne Rogers Location: Fort Wayne IN

Wyoming

Photographer: Jim Brown Location: Shirley Basin, WY

Photographer: Sandra J. Brierley Location: Grand Teton National Park

Celebrate Nature Through Photography. Enter your photos in the 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest today!

Symbolically adopt an Arctic or Red Fox through NWF’s Adoption Center.

May is Garden for Wildlife Month and this year National Wildlife Federation is asking you to vote for the backyard critter you think should represent the month. The winning animal will help inspire hundreds of thousands of people around the world to garden with the needs of wildlife in mind.

Here are this year’s contenders:

Monarch Butterfly

Pollinators like butterflies are on the decline worldwide so they are relying on friends like you to help them thrive.

VOTE

Get ready for Garden for Wildlife Month by turning your backyard into a Certified Wildlife Habitat site today!

Hummingbird

With over 20 hummingbird species in the United States, there’s sure to be one in your region that you can attract by planting red, tubular flowers.

VOTE

Keep up-to-date on Garden for Wildlife Month by joining us on Facebook, Twitter and flickr.

 Gray Squirrel

The gray squirrel certainly makes for a busy backyard visitor by hoarding its food throughout the year, and then relying on landmarks to retrieve it.

VOTE

 Are you a lazy gardener? Read the Slacker’s Guide to Gardening for Wildlife.

American Goldfinch

Attract these colorful, social feeders with some of their favorite foods, such as nyjer seeds.

VOTE

Native plants are fantastic at attracting songbirds and pollinators. (Photo donated by Jacqueline Tiles)

You’ll never see my garden in the pages of Better Homes and Gardens. I’m just not that ambitious. But, this doesn’t seem to faze the critters in my neighborhood that frequently pay me a visit. To them, my unkempt backyard is a little oasis complete with food, clean water and plenty of places to hide out.

That’s right. You can attract the sweetest-sounding songbirds and most vibrant butterflies to your backyard even if you’re a lazy gardener like me. With a little up-front effort now, you can sit back and enjoy your wildlife haven all year long. Just follow these simple guidelines:

Go native in a big way: Native plants are fantastic at attracting birds and butterflies and generally require less fertilizer and less water. That means less work for you. To find carefree natives for your landscape, visit the American Beauties Native Plant Finder.

Don’t be stingy with the mulch: Mulch helps keep water in the soil and available to your plants, thus cutting down on the need for manual watering. Plus, when mulch breaks down, it provides nutrients to the soil, which can help reduce or eliminate the need for additional fertilizers. Moreover, if your mulch is the proper thickness, you could also cut down on weeding.

Say “so long” to your lawn: Grass lawns often require chemicals and frequent mowing. Moreover, they provide little value for wildlife. So, by replacing some or all of your high maintenance grass lawn with native wildflowers, bushes, and trees, you’ll be providing the food and shelter that local critters need to survive and thrive. And, to avoid any misunderstandings with your neighbors about natural landscapes and their benefits, download this handy guide to neighbor-friendly wildlife gardening.

Join others who garden for wildlife on Facebook, Twitter and flickr.

Keep the deadwood: You can create a refuge for hundreds of woodland creatures by not removing dead trees from your yard. Many animals, including birds, bats, squirrels and raccoons make nests in hollow cavities and crevices in standing deadwood. Make sure that upright dead trees called “snags” don’t pose a threat to your home or a neighbor’s.

Let the kids help: Little hands can really come in handy in the garden–from helping to create a brush pile for small mammals to filling birdfeeders. For older children, give them a small garden plot to plant natives and call their own. Visit 16 Tips for Wildlife Gardening with Kids for more ideas.

Regardless of your gardening ambition, you can create a haven for wildlife in your own backyard and have it designated as an official Certified Wildlife Habitat^® site today. Good luck!>>

I don’t envy the judges of the 2012 National Wildlife® Photo Contest. Over the next few weeks, they’ll pour over thousands of beautiful photos to find the crème de la crème in seven categories.

To improve the odds that your photo will be selected as the “fairest of them all”, visit NWF’s Nature and Wildlife Photography Tips Center. Here you’ll find top photographers sharing advice on everything from getting a sharper photo to photographing wildlife through a window.

But first, enjoy these photos donated by past contest participants that use water to create nature’s mirror.

Wildlife

Photo: Dick Fortune

Photo: Bill Wilbanks

Photo: Carolyn Genirberg

Photo: Tsung Yao (T.Y.) Huang

Make the kids in your life smile with NWF’s Ranger Rick family of award-winning magazines.

Mountains

Photo: Eric LeFranc

Photo: Rick George

Photo: Greg Ochocki

Help protect America’s wildlife and wild places with NWF’s new paperless membership.

Trees

Photo: Patrick Freeny

Photo: Mary Kay Finholt

Photo: Marie Sauter

Celebrate loved ones by planting trees in their honor or memory through NWF’s Trees for the 21st Century program.

Sky

Photo: Hazel Erikson

Photo: Steven Redmond

Photo: Phoenix Marks

Spend a night under the stars during NWF’s Great American Backyard Campout June 23, 2012.

Celebrate Nature Through Photography. Enter your photos in the 2012 National Wildlife Photo Contest today!

Butterfly alighting on a fellow traveler (Photo: Anne Senft)

Dolphins – Dolphins are considered lucky in many different cultures. For Christians and Native Americans, the dolphin is a symbol of protection, and its image is said to bring good luck. The belief stems from the fact that ancient sailors who spent months or even years away from land found the sight of dolphins swimming around their ships to be the first indication that land was near.

Red Bats – In China, red bats are symbols of long life and amulets are worn as lucky charms that bring happiness. The red bat is thought to ward off evil. Five red bats can also represent the “five good fortunes” of health, longevity, love, wealth and virtue.

Crickets – A cricket on the hearth has been a sign of household luck for thousands of years. In the Far East as well as across Europe, it’s considered very bad luck to kill a cricket, even by accident. And, besides being good luck charms, crickets can also tell you the temperature.

Tortoises – Tortoises are considered a good luck symbol in Feng-Shui decorating. The tortoise is one of the four celestial animals in feng shui; the others are dragon, phoenix and tiger.

Scarabs- Dating back to Ancient Egypt, scarabs have been considered symbols of the rising sun and a protector from evil. The scarab is also a symbol of rebirth, regeneration and transformation.

Photo: Donated by Tianne Strombeck

Symbolically adopt a frog, dolphin or tortoise, by visiting NWF’s Adoption Center.

Attract butterflies, frogs and other wildlife to your backyard through NWF’s Certified Wildlife Habitat(r) program.

Source: 50 Good Luck Symbols From Around The World

Take a moment to enjoy the beauty in your own backyard. (Photo: Anne Senft)

1) Share the hour – Gather up friends and family and head out for an evening hike at a local park. Outdoor exercise is a great way to de-stress and unwind after a long day at work or school. To find nearby places where you can experience nature, search Nature Find.

2) Capture the moment – While you’re outside, why not try your hand at photography? Whether capturing the antics of backyard critters or your own kids’ smiles, you will gain a new perspective when you take the time to admire them through a camera lens.

3) Surround yourself with beauty – Create a haven for colorful butterflies and sweet sounding birds by providing food, water, cover and a place for them to raise their young. Not only will you help wildlife, but your garden will qualify to become an official Certified Wildlife Habitat® site.

4) Enjoy the nightlife – And, when the sun sets, the outdoor fun doesn’t have to stop! A fascinating array of nocturnal visitors including owls, bats and insects come out at night. You can even set up camp for a backyard adventure your kids will love.

5) Simply relax – Find your happy outdoor place and take some quality time to soak in the sights, sounds and smells that nature has to offer. You will emerge from the experience relaxed and refreshed!

National Wildlife Photo Contest

Now in its 42^nd year, the National Wildlife Photo Contest is open for submissions in seven categories including birds, baby animals and backyard habitat. This year’s winners will be published in the magazine and will receive some great prizes. Entrants also can participate in our separate People’s Choice competition. For details, including how to enter, visit the contest site.

The sheer delight on the face of the slow loris below makes it difficult to imagine he could harm a fly. But slow lorises actually have a toxic bite, a rare trait among mammals. For now, though, this little guy seems happy as a clam…as long as the tickling doesn’t stop!

Click here to view the embedded video.

To learn more about the world’s most unusual primates, read Prosimians Find a Home Far from Home.

It is illegal to have a slow loris as a pet. But, you can symbolically adopt a primate including a lemur, marmoset, or baby gibbon, at NWF’s Adoption Center.