It’s a good time to do something extra to attract birds to your yard, upgrade your feeding station, add to your landscaping, and prepare for the late summer transition to fall bird feeding and watering. As birds complete their nesting activities and begin regional movements and migrations, make sure you don’t miss any of the action coming your way. We always offer specific ways to improve your backyard feeding station, water feature, landscaping, and bird house options, but this week we want to inspire you — encourage you — to do a little shopping on your own with an eye to the changing season ahead, and what will help improve your backyard bird habitat — for you and for birds.
Where to start? Local wild bird stores, landscaping companies, and nurseries are a must; and your local hardware store may have just the products you have in mind, or something you haven’t thought about to date. There are also plenty of wild-bird specialty-stores online that offer quality products that are probably not readily available in your neighborhood. Consider your options: A wide variety of feeders, bird baths and water features, drippers, fountains, flowering plants, berry bushes — and don’t forget a dedicated binocular for your home that you can keep within reach while observing the action at your feeding station and throughout your yard.
The rest is up to you! If you’re short on cash; make a wish-list of items you can pick up another day, or suggest as gifts; but it’s always good to be aware of what backyard-birding products are available and what you need to make your feeding station or landscaping complete and the best it can be for the birds you wish to attract and benefit.
Our favorite birding shopping sites online include, but are certainly not limited to, the following backyard specialty stores, listed in reverse alphabetical order for a change:
Wild Birds Unlimited at https://www.wbu.com/
Perky-Pet at https://www.perkypet.com/
Optics4Birding at https://www.optics4birding.com/
Duncraft at https://www.duncraft.com/
Droll Yankees at http://drollyankees.com
Brome Bird Care at https://bromebirdcare.com/
Best Nest at https://www.bestnest.com/bestnest/wild_birds.asp
We hope your August is off to a great start and trust you are enjoying your yard as much as the birds that add so much to it!
