Connect with Nature!
House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon) are familiar birds, largely because they thrive in altered habitats, including forest clear-cuts, parks, brushy thickets, and residential areas, and because of their habit of nesting in man-made objects, such as bird houses, mail boxes, old hats, and other objects left outside. Like other wrens, House Wrens have loud bubbling songs and harsh scolding call notes. Read more...
An inexpensive, highly functional roosting pockets can be a popular spot on a chilly or breezy night. Made from natural coco fibers, it provides a cozy pocket for small birds to roost (sleep) in at night. Read more...
Sunflower Chips, black oil sunflower seed without the hulls, is a great food to offer if you'd like to attract oodles of birds to your feeder while being lazy about sweeping hulls. Read more...
If your black oil sunflower seeds are vanishing at an alarming rate, and your feeders seem especially crowded and noisy, the “grocery beaks” may be paying you a visit! If you have the honor of hosting them this year, you're lucky -- our population of Evening Grosbeaks has declined 78% in the last 40 years. Read more...
The first time I saw a “wild canary”, I thought it was a pet store escapee! Read more...
Song Sparrows are found throughout North America, but with up to 30 different subspecies, this bird may look different wherever you travel. Visitors from other parts of the country often confuse the local Song Sparrows with Fox Sparrows, but Fox Sparrows are larger. With a little practice, you will learn to recognize Song Sparrows by their distinctive, and beautiful, call note. Read more...
For those in search of gold (finches), Nyjer seed is the best bait! Read more...
Many people who feed birds are familiar with the heart wrenching feathery thud of a bird striking a window. Read more...
Black-headed Grosbeaks are striking summer residents throughout much of the western U.S. Read more...
Sometimes, you’re glad to be in a mall food court or near a “restaurant row,” where enough choices are close by to please everybody. Have you thought of creating a Food Court for Birds in your back yard? Like people, birds have preferences about what, where, and how they like to eat. Here’s how you can build a Food Court for the birds in your neighborhood. Read more...
Whether your yard is urban, suburban, or rural, you can encourage nesting birds to take up residence. Food, water, and a sheltered nesting site are the essentials. Here are some tips to increase your likelihood of success: Read more...
Predators can wreak havoc, so take precautions against raccoons, cats, opossums and even larger birds and squirrels by using a Bird Guardian on your birhouse. It's an elongated access tunnel that fits over the entrance hole of a bird house. This anti-predator device can protect nestlings from the reach of predators, and also serves to discourage squirrels from enlarging the opening on the nest box and claiming it for themselves. Read more...
Although Western Tanagers (Piranga ludoviciana) are brilliantly colored and nest across much of the western United States and Canada, they can be hard to see most of the time. They nest in mountain forests and tend to stay hidden in the shade. During spring migration, however, these colorful birds become a common sight in yards, parks, and bird baths throughout the Willamette Valley. Read more...
It is spring, so Audubon Society of Portland’s Wildlife Care Center will soon be very busy handling the “huddled masses” of baby animals that find themselves at their doorstep. Often well-meaning backyard bird enthusiasts mistakenly believe they’re helping a baby bird in trouble, when less interference would be the best course of action. Read more...
Backyard Bird Shop carries the largest selection of hummingbird feeders in town. If you haven’t taken a look at our selection before, it can be overwhelming in the beginning. Here are some tips to make your purchasing decision easier: Read more...
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