Birds spend a great deal of time caring for their feathers because their lives really do depend on them. A bird’s feathers keep them warm and dry, camouflage them from predators, attract mates during breeding season and, most importantly, give them flight. Here’s a video based on guest contributor Melissa Block’s article in the September/October 2013 edition of our Bird’s-Eye View newsletter. Here, she explains…
During the winter, when the leaves are off the trees, is a great time to spot hawks. With shorter daytime hours, the hawks are especially busy hunting for their next meal. Here are a few hawks you may see in our area over the winter. Rough-legged Hawk These beautiful hawks visit us during the winter from the Arctic. These hawks…
While we simply get out our heavy coats, hats, gloves and boots for the winter, our backyard birds go through some amazing changes to make it through the cold and snow. Behavioral Changes We can all notice some of the behavioral changes birds make during the winter months. Some birds migrate. The other birds that stay tend to congregate in…
Minnetonka Manager Carol Chenault shares how she readies her backyard for the change in seasons.
Nesting season is well under way for our backyard birds. Although “one and done” is not true for some of our backyard birds when it comes to nesting. Just as soon as they have one brood off, they start another brood. American Robins can do 2–3 broods a season; Eastern Bluebirds have 2–3 broods; House Wrens do 2 broods…
Up to 20 different species of warblers pass through the Twin Cities area between mid-April and the end of May, with the bulk passing through between the 5th and 15th of May. If you’d like to catch a sighting or two of these colorful migrants—in your backyard or around town—Minnesota birding expert Bob Janssen has helped us to prepare…
Prepare Your Yard for Spring Migrants 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 ofthese migrants to stay and raise their broods in your own backyard.…
March is a month of transition from winter to areas of open water therefore signaling the return of water fowl. Canada Geese 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…
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…
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…
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!
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…
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.…
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…
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…