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Get Ready for Fall!

August 2009

Get Ready for the Migrants!
Fall migrations have begun!
 
Depending on where you live, some birds have begun the arduous journeys that carry them to their winter habitat. Now is a great time to see birds you may not normally have an opportunity to see. Be prepared with a pair of binoculars, a good field guide (experts at OnlineNatureMall.com recommend Sibley's Guide to Birds or the new Peterson Field Guide to Birds), or even better, have fun using Thayer Birding Software with its easy-to-use Identification Wizard. You just input a brief description of the birds and you instantly see a photo gallery of all of the birds fitting your description!
Learn when birds in your state begin to migrate.
Simple things you do every day...
From the cup of coffe you drink in the morning to the lights you turn on at night, impacts birds. Everyday activities increasingly erode their habitat, deplete their food supply and create new dangers for them to face. Here are 5 top tips for living bird friendly: 

1. Provide birds with fresh food and clean water...Clean your feeders regularly with a solution of 1/4 cup bleach to 2 gallons water and be sure to rinse well. Birds love water and bird baths often attract species that wouldn't visit your feeder. Add a water wiggler for even more birds.

Bird Bath Flag      Shade Grown Coffee          Cat Bird Bath          Stokes Binoculars
        Splish Splash Flag           Coffee Made in the Shade       Cats & Baths Don't Mix         Donate Old & Buy New

 
2. Drink shade-grown coffee...Preserve wintering habitat for key migrant species like the Cerulean Warbler. Purchase shade-loving varieties of coffee.
3. Keep your cat indoors...Enough said.
4. Prevent window strikes...Early fall migrants are already on the move. Place feeders at least 3 feet away from windows, move indoor plants away from windows and ask office and apartment managers to turn off interior and exterior lights during fall migrations. Read more.
5. Donate your old binoculars to conservation...Assist long-distance migrants by donating your old birding equipment to biologists across the hemisphere. Make now the time for those new binoculars

See the Photo Contest Winners Below!

See all the Winners                 See all the Entries
 

Great Reads                            Attract Birds                             Identify Birds

A Supremely
Bad Idea
 Birding Adventure
The story of the mad dash around the country by 3 maniacal birders in search of the rarest and most beautiful birds. From Texas to Florida to Michigan, read their hilarious and amazing encounters with nature and humanity, including a man building a forty-foot ark in his Seattle backyard!
 
One Man's Owl
 
Birding Adventures 
This is an engaging chronicle of how the author and the great horned owl "Bubo" (for its scientific name Bubo Virginianus) came to know one another over three summers spent in the Maine woods.
 
 
Birding Adventures 
 
For anyone who has ever watched birds, whether at a reserve in the UK or through your own kitchen window, here is an engrossing, funny, and moving journal of the pleasure, insight, and solace birding can bring. 
Attracting Birds to Your Backyard
 
Attract Birds
536 Ways to Turn Your Yard & Garden in a Haven for Your Favorite Birds! 
Serious and casual gardeners alike get help choosing the specific plants, flowers, shrubs, and trees for attracting some of the best-loved birds, including bluebirds, warblers, goldfinches, and cardinals.
 
Decorative Feeders
Catch that bird's eye with this metal seed feeder in dazzling blue. Holds up to 5.5 lbs of mixed seed. Made of heavy duty, rust resistant, galvanized steel with a high quality powder-coated finish. Continuous metal perch offers generous feeding space for birds. Steel cable. Seed director and drain holes ensure fresh seed presentation.
 
Bird Baths
 
Hummingbirds love the color red so when we found this beautiful, red enamel bird bath we loved it! Such tiny birds prefer to bathe in shallow water--even dew drops! This is the perfect bath to give hummer, and other migrants a place to refresh and rest. Why not add a dripper fountain to any bird bath and watch the birds flock to it! 
Guide to Birds of North America
  
Guide to Birds of North America
America's favorite, Guide to Birds of North America for Windows and Mac is a fun way to identify birds! Eliminate the guesswork with the easy-to-use ID Wizard. Fun quizzes sharpen your birding skills. Easily export photos and songs to your iPod or MP3. Extra Bonus: Includes the entire Birder's Handbook, a classic reference, with hundreds of articles on every aspect of bird behavior.
 
8x42 Fury Binocular
 
Birding Binoculars
Experience the WOW factor! Fury performs beyond expectations with  bright, crisp details, generous 358 foot wide field of view and it is waterproof, argon purged and backed by Vortex's VIP unconditional lifetime warranty. The Fury binocular is meant to last for generations.
 
Voices of North AmericanOwls
 
3-Tube Finch Feeder
 
Sometimes you can't even see a bird to identify it, like owls who have a rich repetoire for communicating in the dark. This 2-CD audio guide features 200 tracks of hoots, screams, chitters, squawks, squeals, bill claps and barks of 19 regularly occurring species of North American owls and two rarities-the most comprehensive guide to owl vocalizations available.
Enter the Photo Contest & Earn a Discount!
Visit WildBirds.com and submit a photo for a North American bird or a World bird found outside North America. Then sign-up for the eNewsletter to see if you won. Every entrant receives a 5% discount coupon for OnlineNatureMall.com and the winners receive a 10% discount! Here are the most recent photo winners:
3-Tube Finch Feeder                  3-Tube Finch Feeder
North America Winner                                         World Winner
Roseate Spoonbill by Chris Schober                                  Kaka by Taffy Parry