Pole systems allow you to create a feeding station that’s optimally placed in your yard. They also allow your to customize the number and placement of feeder and perching spots. It may seem daunting when you’re considering how to set yours up, so we created this video as a guide to the Erva pole systems we carry in our stores.
As always, ask any of our local backyard birding experts for help creating your system. We love to help!
Baltimore Oriole
This eye-catching songbird (8-1/2 in / 22 cm) is a summer visitor throughout most of Minnesota, coming to feeding stations to dine on orange slices, grape jelly, nectar and mealworms. The male Baltimore Oriole has a black head and back with orange chest and belly. Its mostly black wings are touched with orange and have white wing bands. Females are a pale yellow-orange with grayish-black wings and white wing bars.
American Redstart
This warbler (4-3/4 in/12 cm) is a summer visitor and one of the few warbler species that stays to nest in the Twin Cities area. Look for them to arrive starting in May. Males have a black head and back, white belly and patches of orange at shoulders, wings and base of tail. Females are olive-gray with yellow accents under wings and at side of tail.
While American Redstarts do not visit feeders (they eat insects), they may come to visit birdbaths.
Blackburnian Warbler
Another warbler, this handsome bird (5 in/13 cm) passes through the Twin Cities area around the 10th of May en route to breeding areas in Northern Minnesota and Canada. The male is a black and white bird with bright orange on its head and throat and a black mask. The female has paler orange/yellowish coloring. You may seem them flitting along tops of conifers and deciduous trees in your yard, hunting for insects and larvae. They may also stop for a drink at birdbaths.
Eastern Towhee
This striking size-large sparrow with red eyes (8 in/21 cm), is widely seen in Minnesota during the summer in open woods, undergrowth and brush edges, and browsing in leaf litter beneath feeders for seeds and insects. Technically more rufous or rust-colored than orange, the male has a black hood, back and wings, white belly and rusty-orange sides. The female is similar with brown instead of dark black.
HONORARY ORANGE & BLACK:
American Robin
This widely common thrush (10 in/ 25 cm) deserves a mention for its color scheme of a dark gray back and bright rust-orange belly. Female coloration is a slightly duller version of the male. American Robins prefer to browse for insects and fruit, but may visit feeders for mealworms, and—infrequently—grape jelly. They love to visit backyard birdbaths. American Robins are becoming a more common sight year-round in Minnesota as birds follow availability of food sources.
To be sure, one of the joys of feeding birds is hosting migratory birds for a brief time each spring as they make their way to summer breeding grounds.
With some preparation—and a little luck!—you may be able to entice one of
these migrants to stay and raise their broods in your own backyard.
From our Bird’s-Eye View Newsletter Archives; March/April 2014
By Minnetonka Manager CAROL CHENAULT
The first week of March often brings the return of the Canada Geese. Pairs claim nesting territory honking noisily. A pair of geese can be seen standing on the ice of the marshes and wetlands as if willing the ice to melt. The female chooses the site and builds the nest while the male stands guard. Egg laying is triggered by open water.
Great Blue Herons have returned to the metro as early as the first week of March as well. They seek out the open water on the edges of ponds, rivers and marshes. Great Blue Herons feed on small fish, amphibians, small mammals, aquatic invertebrates and reptiles. They nest in colonies- tree top communal nests called rookeries. Once hatched the adults feed the young for eight weeks before they fledge the nest.
Read MoreNote: this is the full article by Guest Contributor MELISSA BLOCK. An excerpt is featured in the March/April 2019 edition of our Bird’s-Eye View Newsletter
Northern Cardinal on Nest
Males sometimes bring nest material to the female, who does most of the building. She crushes twigs with her beak until they’re pliable, then turns in the nest to bend the twigs around her body and push them into a cup shape with her feet. The cup has four layers: coarse twigs (and sometimes bits of trash) covered in a leafy mat, then lined with grapevine bark and finally grasses, stems, rootlets, and pine needles. The nest typically takes 3 to 9 days to build; the finished product is 2-3 inches tall, 4 inches across, with an inner diameter of about 3 inches. Cardinals usually don’t use their nests more than once.
Read MoreNote: this is the full article by Guest Contributor MARK NEWSTROM. An excerpt of this article is featured in the March/April 2019 Bird’s-Eye View Newsletter
American RobinsUntil the late 1980s, I regularly participated in National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count. At that time, American Robins were an exciting “rarity”. These winter days, it is even more surprising to not have numerous robins somewhere in town. Among factors contributing to this change are warmer winters, greater availability of open water and the large number of planted fruit trees.
Red-bellied Woodpeckers became a firmly established breeding bird in the Twin Cities area around the mid-1950s. They were not seen at all at the family cabin near Brainerd until the early 1970s and were confirmed nesting in the mid-1980s. At least one study notes their use of bird feeders as a factor in their increasing northern presence.
The House Finch, or “Hollywood Finch” of the 1930s, was illegally sold in the eastern United States as a cage bird. To quote the Minnesota Breeding Bird Atlas, “[a]lthough the evidence is circumstantial, it seemed that one or more local dealers released the birds to avoid prosecution.” These newly-freed birds were not expected to survive. Instead, the eastern House Finch population thrived and expanded westward. The first documented nesting in the Twin Cities was in 1989. Since 1992, House Finches have been seen in most of Minnesota.
Trumpeter Swans and Canada Geese are quite common today. The latter considered by some people nearly a pest, especially should they defecate in areas well trafficked by humans. But both species were extirpated or nearly absent from the state, mostly from being sources of food and feathers.
Trumpeter Swans were gone from their traditional Minnesota breeding areas by the mid-1800s. Only a very concerted reintroduction effort by Three Rivers Park District (then Hennepin County Park Reserve District) has led to a small but steady and viable population. This effort was begun in 1966 and only ended in 2009.
Canada Geese were considered gone from the state, until a small population was discovered at Silver Lake in Rochester. From these approximately 4000 birds, intensive and very successful reintroduction efforts were begun in the mid-1960s. In only a decade, geese were again being seen nearly throughout Minnesota.
The Veery is a variety of thrush, slightly smaller than a robin, with mostly a light brownish head, back and tail,
and a whitish breast with smudgy light brown spots just below its head. It is known for its rich, downward spiral of song. In many parks around the Twin Cities area and in wet, wooded areas around Minnesota, the Veery would make its presence felt from mid-spring through mid-fall, migrating to Brazil in the winter. However, its song is becoming more scattered with the years, mostly due to loss of habitat and nest parasitism by Brownheaded Cowbirds.
The American Tree Sparrow was once a very abundant winter visitor. This feisty little sparrow was Jim Gilbert’s study species as he learned their habits and habitats in the early 1970s. However, a severe ice storm in the winter of 1983-84 decimated the population wintering in the Twin Cities area, and it is only since 2015 that this species has started to approximate its former numbers.
Which avian friends are giving you pause for thought nowadays?
Read MoreA raptor, also known as a bird of prey, is a carnivorous, meat-eating bird. All raptors share at least three characteristics: keen eyesight, eight sharp talons and a hooked beak. The word “raptor” comes from a Latin term rapere meaning “to seize or grab.”
Minnesota raptors include eagles, falcons, hawks, kites, osprey, owls and vultures. Most Minnesota raptors have plumage in some combination of earth tones to better blend in with their environment: light to dark brown, black and white or grayish blue. The following is an introduction to identifying some of Minnesota’s more prevalent birds of prey.
Identifying raptors can be a tricky undertaking. For one thing, juvenile birds don’t look like parent birds for at least a couple years
Another complication: male and female birds of prey most often look identical, with only size to distinguish between the two (the female is typically larger than the male!).Complications aside, there are some key features you can look for when attempting to identify a raptor:
Overall Shape. Note the overall shape of the bird—shape of the head, wings, tail and body.
Flight Habits. Does the bird use “active flight”—meaning flapping wing beats—or does it primarily soar, glide or hover?
General Habitat. Look at the general habitat and determine if it would be considered prairie, woodlands or roadside.
Perching Habits. In general, perching raptors sit upright, whereas non-raptors, such as crows, lean forward over their feet.
Bald EagleLOOK FOR: • Large: 31–37″ • Wingspan 7–8′ • Deep, powerful flaps in flight • Can soar for long distances • In flight: hold their wings directly out from the body
NOTES: • Tend to be found near lakes and rivers • Takes 4–6 years to develop adult white head & tail |
Turkey VultureLOOK FOR: • Large: 26–27″ • Wingspan 6′ • Featherless heads • Gliding, teeter totter-like flight pattern peppered with a few shallow wing beats. Wings raised in a noticeable V-shape when gliding.
NOTES: • Scavenge, don’t hunt—so not raptors by strict definition. |
OspreyLOOK FOR: • Med/Large: 23–24.5″ • Wingspan to 6′ • Narrow, angled wings • Flap frequently with only occasional gliding • Body and head bobs up and down with each pump
NOTES: • Plunge feet first into the water and can completely submerge in order to catch fish |
FalconsLOOK FOR: • Varies: 16–25″ • Long, tapered wings and small bodies • Active fliers, seldom glide • Able to hover, change direction quickly and reach incredible speeds when diving
NOTES: • Minnesota hosts American Kestrel, Gyrfalcon, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon, and Prairie Falcon |
KitesLOOK FOR: • Medium: 22–23″ • Slim bodies with long falcon-like • Active fliers—bouncy without much gliding—
NOTES: • Minnesota hosts the Swallow-tailed Kite* (*shown) • Feeds mainly on snakes • Prefers wooded river swamps and pine lands |
HarriersLOOK FOR: • Medium: 18–21″ • Slim with long, narrow, round-tipped • Smooth, full wing beats with sudden drops to the ground to pounce on prey • Fly extremely low to the ground along landscape
NOTES: • Minnesota hosts Northern Harriers • Wings are slightly raised in a V shape when gliding |
Buteo-type HawksLOOK FOR: • Varies: 15–24″ • Broad wings, wide, rounded tail • Slow, heavy flaps for 3–6 beats followed by gliding • Gain altitude by flying in consecutive tight circles until high enough to soar
NOTES: • Minnesota hosts Broad winged, Red-shouldered, Swainson’s, Red-tailed*, Rough-legged and |
Accipiter-type Hawks (“Bird Hawks”)LOOK FOR: • Small to medium: 10–26″ • Short, rounded wings • Slender bodies and long tails • Flight is burst of quick flutters and a glide • Compacted size equips them for rapid maneuvering around trees in pursuit of small birds
NOTES: • Minnesota Hawks in this grouping are Cooper’s*, Sharp-shinned, Northern Goshawk (*shown). |
OwlsLOOK FOR: • Size varies widely by species • Flattened facial disk with large, forward-facing eyes • Nocturnal; perch during the day. • Flight is noiseless, “mothlike” • May have ear-like tufts
NOTES: • MN: Great Gray, Snowy*, Barred, Barn, Northern Hawk-Owl, Burrowing, Boreal, and Northern Saw-Whet Owls (no tufts); Great Horned, Long-eared, Short-eared and Eastern Screech Owls** (tufts) |
Click the image to see it larger
By Minnetonka Manager CAROL CHENAULT
Reprinted from our Bird’s-Eye View archives from March/April 2013
The month of February was designated National Bird Feeding Month by an Illinois congressman, John Porter. In 1994, he read a resolution in to the Congressional Record. The month is an ideal time for promoting and enjoying the experience of wild bird feeding. The theme for 2019 is to ensure that our birds, our harbingers of spring, get enough to eat that they will continue to delight us with their song.
We love feeding birds because we get to see them up close and appreciate their beauty and personalities. But is bird feeding beneficial to birds? Find out in this short video!
Photo by Jim Weisman
This is the time of year when you may begin to see some less-common visitors to your backyard feeding stations. Every few years, we experience an “irruption”—an influx of typically northern-dwelling birds—into our Twin Cities Metro Area and beyond in Minnesota. The irruption is often due to poor crops of conifer seeds (pine and spruce) and catkins (birch and alders) that birds like Pine Siskins and Common Redpolls consume.
Irruption events are lucky for us as backyard birders, because we are fortunate to be able to see species of birds that may otherwise live out of our range. We can support these birds by providing Nyjer, Nyjer and Chips, sunflower chips, or Finches’ Choice in finch feeders. Flocks of visiting Pine Siskins and/or redpolls will greedily thank you for the gifts!
Get to know these two species a little better with the following video.
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