Wisconsin’s only polar bears are getting a bird-friendly home at the Henry Vilas Zoo in Madison, just in time for peak fall bird migration!

Starting at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 20, zoo staff and volunteers will install over 450 square feet of window treatments to the polar bear enclosure, where Bird Collision Corps volunteers found numerous bird-window collisions. The dots were donated by Feather Friendly Technologies and the zoo’s concessionaire.

The polar bears will be moved to another display for a few hours so volunteers and staff can safely apply the treatments to the windows.

Zoo visitors can watch the installation and enjoy interactive displays and educational activities from SOS Save Our Songbirds, Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance’s Bird Collision Corps, and Lights Out Wisconsin. Those displays and activities will be set up near the treatment area from 12 to 4 p.m. Volunteers staffing the displays will share information about the serious threat windows pose to birds, and ways to treat problem home windows to keep birds safe.

To celebrate the new dots, the concessionaire at the Glacier Grille is offering 30% off sales of Dippin’ Dots to zoo visitors and share in the excitement about treating problem windows at the zoo and at home.

No registration is required, and entry to the zoo is free!

Photo courtesy of Henry Vilas Zoo