Connect with Nature!
While they all readily gobble up black oil sunflower seeds, the smaller finches also enjoy having their own feeder stocked with Nyjer seeds. Finches tend to be nomadic, so you may see many birds one week and few birds the next. Read more...
It's a dreary winter day, a few juncos hop around the millet tray while House Finches and chickadees work on the black oil sunflower feeder. Suddenly a flash of color zooms down to the suet feeder. What's that bird with the striking black and yellow face? Why, it's a Townsend's Warbler! Read more...
A visit from a Varied Thrush can brighten up a drab winter day. This striking bird may remind you of its cousin, the American Robin, only dressed in orange instead of red. Read more...
Those aren’t locusts swarming your suet feeder – they’re Bushtits! Read more...
Once limited primarily to California, Anna's Hummingbirds have expanded their range in recent decades and can now be found in Portland year-round. Read more...
Pine Siskins will delight you all winter long with their aggressive and acrobatic antics in your backyard and at your feeder. This common winter bird has a bright yellow bar on each wing and at the base of the tail that will help you distinguish it from many of its finch relatives. The rest of its body is streaked brown. Read more...
Canada Geese are eye- and ear-catching birds that have captured the imagination of Americans for hundreds of years. Living symbols of the changing seasons, they are a source of wonder and speculation even today. Read more...
You know how it is. Once someone gets a bad reputation, they’re deemed responsible for all kinds of mischief, deservedly or not. So it is with cowbirds, who leave the care of their young (from eggs to adulthood) to other species. The unlucky foster parents are often warblers, sparrows or finches. Read more...
The Sharp-shinned Hawk is a very impressive hunter of almost entirely small birds! Perhaps you’ve seen one as you stood at your window, watching an array of small birds feeding at your feeder: suddenly the birds fly off helter-skelter! A small hawk flashes in, turns abruptly, extends its long legs forward and grabs a songbird right off its perch! Read more...
Is there anything cuter than watching California Quail parents stroll into your backyard with a covey of young to eat millet or cracked corn and drink water from your birdbath? Read more...
Downy Woodpeckers are family favorites! We all love to watch the “Downies” who feed regularly at a suet feeder hanging from a wrought iron crane outside our family room window. Read more...
Our native pigeon is a lovely, soft gray color with a gracefully-shaped body that is longer and sleeker than that of a Rock Dove (a.k.a. city pigeon). Band-tailed Pigeons will readily come to an open, platform feeder offering millet, cracked corn and sunflower chips. They'll come to any feeder offering those food choices, as long as the feeder is large and stable enough to accommodate these relatively large backyard birds. Read more...
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...
Black-headed Grosbeaks are striking summer residents throughout much of the western U.S. Read more...
When you attract songbirds to your yard, chances are good that you will eventually attract avian predators as well. While some people don’t like the idea of hawks feeding on “their” birds, many others welcome this opportunity to see raptors up close. Read more...
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