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!
Category Archives: Seasonal Happenings
Holiday Treats for Birds
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 […]
Winter Water
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Turn Your Starling Problem Upside-Down!
As the autumn migration ramps up, you may find that you have increased numbers of European Starlings passing through your backyard. Starlings’ greedy and aggressive behaviors can intimidate other feeder birds and drain your food sources. Here’s an easy tip for serving suet to your smaller clinging birds while discouraging starlings.
Late-Summer Reading List
The crazy, hazy, lazy days of late summer call for a great reading list! Bird lovers will enjoy these selections by local resident, naturalist wildlife photographer and prolific author; Stan Tekiela. A Year in Nature with Stan Tekiela—a Naturalist’s Notes on the Seasons Learn from the expert in this collection of some of the 500 […]
Late-nesting Birds
Spring is just the beginning of the nesting season for our backyard birds. Some birds will produce numerous broods over the entire summer season and some birds will wait until mid-summer to start nesting. Multiple Broods Extend the Nesting Season For instance, American Robins can produce 3 or 4 broods from May through August. Each […]
In Depth: Baltimore Orioles
This article is from our Bird’s-Eye View Newsletter Archives: May/June 2011 By White Bear Lake Manager Bob Ellis One of the most striking songbirds to visit backyards is the oriole. The vivid orange and black coloring of a male Baltimore oriole is unmistakable and dramatic. While both sexes display a white wing bar, the female’s […]
When to put out hummer and oriole feeders
One of the spring FAQs at the Minnetonka store is “When should I put out the hummingbird and oriole feeders?” Folks look a little surprised when I answer “April 26th.” After backyard bird feeding in the same location for a couple decades and recording the first oriole sighting of the year, orioles typically arrive in […]
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