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!
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It’s Time Again for Winter-Visiting Finches
Photo by Jim Weisman
Welcome Pine Siskins and Common Redpolls
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.
Tips for Easy Winter Bird Feeding
When temperatures drop, trips out to fill bird feeders can be daunting! Here are three tips to make winter bird feeding easier.
Watch our brief video for some great tips!
Staff Insights: What We Learned in 2018
Our expert staff members have been feeding birds for years, yet we learned some new things in our backyards in 2018. Take what you want from our insights to apply to your bird feeding in the new year!
By Minnetonka Manager CAROL CHENAULT
I began using Songbird Delight in a large tray feeder. Less mess and the birds love it! -Sue
Multiple hummingbird feeders located on different sides of the house attracted more hummingbirds and reduced the fighting and territorial behavior. -Kathy
Rain guards work! Hummingbirds fed more often and for longer periods on a nectar feeder sheltered under a rain guard. –Carol
Who’s Who at Your Winter Feeders
IDENTIFYING SIMILAR “LITTLE BROWN BIRDS” AT YOUR FEEDERS THIS WINTER
From our Bird’s-Eye View Newsletter archives: Volume 19, Issue 1
By Guest Contributor MELISSA BLOCK
Part of the joy in backyard birding is identifying and keeping track of the birds that come to your yard over the years. Equipped with a field guide, it’s relatively easy to identify birds like Northern Cardinals, Blue Jays and Black-capped Chickadees based on their colors, sizes or shapes. Other birds, like nuthatches and woodpeckers, display characteristic behaviors that divulge their identities.
Far more tricky can be identifying all of the little brown birds that gather on the ground or at feeders. With similar colors, sizes, shapes, and behaviors, their defining characteristics are less apparent. Further complicating things is that many of these brown birds may be disguised with winter coloring or belong to irruptive species—temporary visitors that are forced into an irregular migration due to habitat changes. Here’s a guide to help you master who’s who at your feeders this winter:
Holiday Treats for Birds
We have a fun variety of seed ornaments available in our stores during the holiday season.
There’s a wide range of foods you can offer on a bird Christmas tree that will attract a wide variety of birds and the more you decorate a tree the more species you will see.
Make sure that your bird treat tree is visible from a comfortable spot in your house. What a delightful sight on a cold wintry day! It helps to pick a tree close to your regular feeders, which will help the birds find it more quickly. Evergreen trees are best because they also offer shelter for the birds. If you don’t have a suitable tree consider a large upright branch, a potted evergreen tree or an inexpensive artificial tree instead. Avoid using thin thread or fishing line to hang the edible ornaments, which can become a tangle hazard for birds.
Decorate the tree early, since it may take a few days to a couple of weeks for birds to discover the holiday goodies. Be sure you have extra seed ornaments so you can replace them as needed. If you don’t want the squirrels to share in these treats we have seed bells made of Golden Safflower, which squirrels tend to dislike.
At All Seasons Wild Bird Stores we have a wide selection of birdseed ornaments. You will find birdhouses decorated with seeds and tidbits of fruit for a special treat. Our cute little seed and nut stars are solid seed, containing black oil sunflower, pecans, peanuts and millet and features a red raffia hanger. The seed hearts work well in any temperature, there’s no mess, and no waste and they never melt. We have individually wrapped seed balls with premium blends will draw a wide variety of your backyard birds. All of these, plus seed wreaths, bells and hearts are also great gifts for neighbors, teachers or friends.
By Guest Contributor MELISSA BLOCK
Winter Water
American Goldfinches on a heated birdbath (Photo by Jim Weisman)
Want to attract more birds to your yard this winter? Supply a source of open water!
When temperatures drop, birds are in a constant struggle to maintain their body temperatures. A steady source of fats and proteins will help to nourish and fuel birds’ metabolic needs and keep them warm. But also important—a source of water that is accessible (i.e. not ice) and doesn’t require using body heat to melt it (i.e. snow). The solution: open water provided by a heated birdbath.
Take a look at the video below to learn more about providing open water to backyard birds in the winter!
Trumpeter Swan or Tundra Swan?
They swim gracefully (or feed ungracefully) in the water. They fly gracefully, in small to large V-formations. They honk or whistle. They are definitely swans, with their long necks and stout bodies. But of the two types of swans seen locally, either Trumpeter Swan or Tundra Swan, which is which?
If each type of swan is side-by-side, distinguishing them is easy. Trumpeter Swans will always be the larger birds. But what if they are not side-by-side? Then look and listen!
Look in the summer and winter.
In this region, you will be seeing Trumpeter Swans. They nest here in the summer and move very little in winter migration, only needing open water with available vegetation to survive. Visit Mississippi Drive Park (aka Swan Park) near Monticello to see wintering swans; the warm power plant water provides the open water they need. Tundra Swans, however, spend their summers in the high Arctic and winters at Chesapeake Bay.
Listen and look in spring and fall.
Both species are flying and feeding during migration at these times. Both will fly in a V-formation, which can range from one (5 or so individuals) to multiple family groups (100+ individuals). Both will feed in groups, dabbling in lakes or rivers in search of food. Both will call when feeding or flying.
Transition Season
REPRINTED FROM OUR BIRD’S-EYE VIEW ARCHIVES: SEPT/OCT 2017
Minnetonka Manager Carol Chenault shares how she readies her backyard for the change in seasons
Addressing Nectar Feeders
As I bid the Baltimore Orioles farewell the first week of September, the transition to fall backyard bird feeding begins. Taking down the oriole feeders, washing them well with soap and water and disinfecting them with either bleach (1:10 ratio of bleach to water) or white vinegar (50:50 vinegar to water) is an autumn routine. However, I keep my hummingbird feeders full of fresh nectar. Though male Ruby-throated Hummingbirds leave in early September, some females and juveniles remain until late October.
Cleaning, Rearranging
I do like to rearrange things (just ask the staff at the Minnetonka store), so the departure of the orioles leads to feeder cleaning and rearranging of the feeding stations. It’s a good time to disassemble, soak and scrub feeders and clean out birdhouses. Leaving some birdhouses out for the winter may provide shelter as a winter roost for chickadees and nuthatches. I replace the oriole feeders with feeders for suet and Peanut Pick-Outs to entice Red-breasted Nuthatches, woodpeckers, White-breasted Nuthatches and Black-capped Chickadees. Though disguised in their dull olive-yellow winter plumage, we do have American Goldfinches in the yard all winter. Adding a feeder filled with Nyjer™ & Chips will provide more feeding volume just in case it’s a winter that brings redpolls and Pine Siskins here in numbers. I also sprinkle some Nyjer™ & Chips on the ground for the Dark-eyed Juncos that return in September. Read More
Fall Task: Clean Out Birdhouses
Why it’s important to clean birdhouses
Cleaning out the birdhouses in your yard is one way to protect your backyard birds from pests and disease while making your birdhouses more attractive for new nesting birds. The fall clean up is very important. Dirty birdhouses can harbor rodents, insects, feather mites and bacteria that can spread disease to nesting birds and their young.
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