Wildlife Niche Heatwave Content Ideas & Affiliate Programs

byMozMary

16.8K followers

Updated 6 years ago

Hey guys, I've lost a friend - my robin stopped singing 3 weeks ago here in Ireland when we headed into our extended heatwave with abnormal temperatures - this was actually the first summer that I'd been stopped in my tracks listening to the little soul pour its heart out for hours with beautiful song evening after evening, I couldn't even bear to have any other noise on in the house while the robin was singing and left the window open as long as possible to hear it too. It's bright here till way after 11pm now and that robin would start 2-3 hours of intense singing in the evenings before the birdie bedtime when all the birds stop for the night.

In fact even in winter the robin seems to be the first to sing in the morning and the last to finish song at night and is pretty active during the day too, so when it suddenly stopped wow it's noticeable, especially when I was so tuned into this particular one. One evening it actually moved me to tears, and I was hooked for the rest of the summer, till things took an unexpected yet in hindsight it seems very preventable twist...

Now, I know in some parts of the world people are dying with this heatwave, and not intending to put birds or animals above human life nonetheless in Ireland it's the wildlife that's the issue and I realize there was a lot I could have done to prevent this - had I been aware. So from our point of view as affiliate marketers and bloggers some things have come to my attention:

Lack of Awareness - Where are your blogs?!

I'd been searching for information on all this sort of thing for a while and it seems thin on the ground! It took me till today to find something half relevant and it's from 2013! That indicates opportunity:

• Opportunity for content,
• Opportunity for increasing awareness and doing good
• And opportunity for monetizing too, there are affiliate programs
  

Content: Summer vs Winter Care for Wildlife

It's too late now for my robin, and now I know I could and should have done some simple things that could have kept them and their young alive, just like during our extended snowy winter this year the birds came looking for food, and 3 of them including this robin and a Thrush hurled themselves at the window on days when I was late to put it out, that's how close they were to death that they risked that sort of brain bashing to get fed.

In the summer I always assumed oh they've plenty of food now and left them to it not realizing that in heatwaves there are things simple basic things we must do too. I only wish I knew! And it's taken me till today to find an article with the right information and it's from 2013 and has a LOT of room for improvement!!

• Birds need water - in a heatwave all the natural water can vanish pretty fast, so a bird bath and preferably one they know exists because in my case I left the water down in bowls too late, they didn't know where it was. Whereas an 81 year old friend of mine in the UK had been telling me about her bird bath where all the robins took their young to wash and what an amazing sight it was...dammit, nothing like regret!
  
• Some birds like robins don't eat seeds, they do well on oats in the winter but not in summer when there's no water and especially when there's young chicks to feed too. And the worms vanish down deep in the soil in the heat so they don't get them. The Guardian article I found suggested dog food was the right texture for them and they could feed it to their young - but guess what - have you peeps in the birds and wildlife niche seen the high commission affiliate program The Truth About Pet Cancer which exposes how the junk foods marketed at pet owners is causing serious illness to the animals, and I've seen some pretty stinking things being sold for bird food in the massive supermarkets too - considering what happened to the cows with that awful illness 'mad cow disease' because of what they'd been feeding them, the mind boggles as to how much gunk wildlife can take before it comes down with wrecked health too! So now we have an opportunity to create alternative wildlife food menus :D I'm thinking organic textured soy protein soaked and soggy, like I used to make when I was a student, but what do I know - I'd like to hear some experienced peeps talk about this, there's a lot of people need to know!
• Birds don't do well on salt, or fragrances btw - a tip I picked up attending an event recently where someone was protecting her parrot from the fragrances in household cleaners, even essential oils!
  

Affiliate Programs

• Clearly The Truth About Pet Cancer would have some relevance here, that's a high commission program, cleaning up all animal food is a big issue.
• Also there'd be accessories like feeders, baths, and it seems dog food :D
• I just typed wildlife affiliate programs into google and was surprised what came up! Also what applies to robins it seems applies to hedgehogs and other critters.

Your Turn!

Share your tips and tricks and help bloggers in this niche make the world a better place! :)

Let's hope the next generation of surviving robins have it a bit better next year!

Here's to a very special bird, who gives a lot and needs us to pay it forward at difficult times...!

Mary