The Wild Bird Habitat Stores
Connecting families with nature since 1993
in their backyards and beyond
February News from the Wild Bird Habitat Stores

Mid-winter Sale
Wild Bird Habitat Stores
February 1 - 15, 2016
Bird Feeders, bird baths, bird houses, and more
Bird of the Month

American White Pelican
The American White Pelican is one of the largest birds of North America measuring a little over 5 feet in length with a wingspan that can exceed 9 feet, the second largest wingspan of any North American bird. They may be heavy reaching weights of 16 to 20 pounds, but in flight they are fluid and graceful and can soar as majestically as any broad winged bird
Black Oil Sunflower
February 1 - 15, 2016
Black Oil Sunflower Seed
25 LB Bags - $10.99
-  Premium Grade A
 - Pesticide Free 
- Certified NON-MGO
THE MESSENGER will be returning to Lincoln on April 22, 2016
Harlan County White Pelican Watch, March 1 - April 15
Area residents know spring is just around the corner when the American White Pelicans begin returning from their winter feeding grounds along the U.S. Gulf Coast to take up temporary residence at Harlan County Reservoir.  White Pelican arrival dates begin as early as late February up through early April. 
 
White Pelican Homecoming Celebration and Spring Fling, March 28 - March 29
The Alma Chamber of Commerce hosts their annual Spring Fling on the fourth Friday evening in March, and White Pelican Homecoming events are co-scheduled around that date. The main event is March 28-29 with scheduled activities through April 5. Activities typically include: boat tours for Pelican viewing, wagon rides, music, late night shopping, a community spaghetti feed and more, the Paradise on the Prairie Art and Photography Show, Sale and Silent Auction. 
For information contact the Harlan County Tourism office or call 1-800-762-5498 
Check out DAVE'S  BIRD CHATTER for February
 
Wachiska Audubon's  Field Trip
Wachiska Logo

Squaw Creek
National Wildlife Refuge
on the Missouri River
10:00 a.m. on Sunday, February 28
 
Spend a day in northwest Missouri cruising the refuge's wildlife loop drive where viewing the masses of snow geese that use this avian rest stop. Other birds that frequent the refuge are bald eagles, trumpeter and tundra swans, and rusty blackbirds. Most viewing will be from inside or near our cars and will require very little walking. 
Contact John Carlini, (402) 475-7275 for infomation

Peregrine Falcon Nest Viewing
 Peregrine Falcon at Capitol Building by Dave Titterington
Nebraska State Capitol
Sunday, February 21 / 1:00 PM
 
Join Wachiska Audubon for a free tour of the Nebraska State Capitol Building on Sunday, February 21; at 1:00 p.m. Meet at the north door for a one-hour tour which will include viewing the peregrine falcon nest from the 14th floor. Roxanne Smith,  tour guide, will show and tell us about numerous features specifically dealing with birds and nature in our state.
 
 Birds can use up to 15 percent of their body weight 
overnight just keeping warm.
Mark Your Calendars To Count The Birds in the
GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT
FEBRUARY 12 - 15.
 
February is the month for the Great Backyard Bird Count and Wild Bird Habitat wants to get everyone thinking and preparing for this for this free, four day bird count. Visit the GBBC website now at Bird Count to learn more and make plans to participate. Get the family involved counting bird. Have students count birds in the schoolyard or at a nearby park. Then log your data onto the Great Backyard Bird Count website. It's a great mid-winter activity for individuals, families, classrooms, scout troops, anyone, to get outside, get some fresh air, enjoy a bit of nature, and be a citizen scientist providing valuable data to biologists.  Linda and I usually count birds at coming to our feeders at our home on Friday, the first day of the count. Saturday we count birds at the Pioneers Park Nature Center. Sunday we take a road trip counting birds and log our findings in using the various zip codes where we counted birds. Then we wrap up this annual bird count at our home on Monday. Whether you count the 5 birds you see in your yard or the 75 birds you find walking through your neighborhood or park, every bird you count is important. The information you provide is combined with the Christmas Bird Count and Project Feeder Watch to create a snapshot of the distribution and health of the birds we all have come to love and enjoy. The Great Backyard Bird Count is a project of Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology and Audubon.

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Dave
Dave's February Bird Chatter
February is National Bird Feeding Month. The cold, possible snows and declining natural food resources with most water frozen can have a huge impact on our birds. This month was set aside to encourage people to provide supplemental food sources in backyard bird feeders and an open supply of fresh water. 

February is also the month for the Great Backyard Bird Count. If you have not participated in this annual bird count take the time this year to do so. You'll have a great experience plus provide important data to the biologists at the Cornell University Bird Lab. All you need to do is count the birds in your backyard, schoolyard, city park, nature center, anywhere you find birds. It's fun! It's free! It's for the whole family! It's for the birds! We have all the information you need at the Wild Bird Habitat Stores.
Read more of Dave's Bird Chatter

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Why Should U.S. Bird Enthusiasts Care About 
the Canadian Boreal Forest?
 
The Boreal Songbird Initiative (BSI) is a non-profit organization dedicated to outreach and education about the importance of the North American Boreal Forest to birds, other wildlife, and the global environment.
 
As the voice for boreal birds, the Boreal Songbird Initiative is committed to protecting the Canadian Boreal Forest-the largest intact forest on Earth-on behalf of the billions of migratory birds that rely on it.
 
Why is this United States-based organization working on Canadian forests? The North American Boreal Forest-the majority of which is in Canada-is the largest intact forest left on Earth and is critical to North American birds. It also stores remarkable amounts of carbon and is the largest source of unfrozen fresh water on Earth, helping to keep our planet cool and our waters pure. Although we are primarily driven by the need to conserve boreal bird habitat, we recognize that these other values are also important reasons for conserving large portions of this majestic forest.
 
The mission is to protect critical bird habitat within the boreal forest for the billions of birds that call the boreal home. The BSI supports the Boreal Forest Conservation Framework, which calls for the conservation of at least 50% of the boreal forest and the application of leading-edge sustainable development standards in the remaining lands. The boreal forest-North America's bird nursery-is a biodiversity hotspot that sustains billions of migratory birds and countless other wildlife. The race to develop the boreal forest is on, and without science-based conservation strategies much of the forest and the countless values it provides will be gone before we know it. 

Each spring, between 1 to 3 billion birds begin making their way up to North America's boreal forest. Some have shorter trips from the Lower 48 while others begin their journeys as far away as southern South America. During peak migration, millions of individual birds may cross the U.S. border into Canada toward the boreal forest on any given day or night. Many species of birds do in fact migrate at night, so that the migration of these huge numbers of birds can go largely undetected.  Many will stop in places scattered throughout the U.S. along the way, becoming the beloved backyard birds of spring and fall migration we have come to know and cherish.
Of species regularly found within Canada and the United States:
  •  80% of waterfowl species regularly breed in the boreal
  •  63% of all finch species regularly breed in the boreal
  •  53% of warbler species regularly breed in the boreal
 
Show your support for the Boreal Songbird Initiative 
 
Attend the documentary THE MESSENGER at the Mary Riepma Ross Theater in Lincoln, NE. April 22 - 28,  2016, presented by Nebraska's Wild Bird Habitat Stores.
 
Wingtip: Although up to 3 billion birds enter the Boreal Forest every spring to breed, more than 6 billion birds migrate out of the Boreal Forest every fall after the nesting season to or through the United States.
Coming April 22, 2016
 at the Mary Riepma Ross Theater in Lincoln, NE

Presented by
The Wild Bird Habitat Stores
Watch for details
 
Songbirds take flight and fight to survive in our changing world. Moving from the northern reaches of the Boreal Forest to the base of Mount Ararat to the urban streets of New York, THE MESSENGER brings us face-to-face with a remarkable variety of human-made perils that have devastated Thrushes, Warblers, Orioles, Tanagers, Grosbeaks and many other songbirds. Threats include hunting, light pollution, high-rise collisions, pipelines, pesticides and loss of migratory habitats
 
.THE MESSENGER is the artful story about the mass depletion of songbirds on multiple continents, and about those who are working to turn the tide. According to international expert Dr. Bridget Stutchbury, who is featured in the documentary, we may have lost almost half the songbirds that filled the skies fifty years ago.

The Lincoln premier will open on Earth Day, April 22 and run through April 28, 2016. This event is also part of Nebraska's International Migratory Bird Month. JoAnne Jackson, producer of the film and Bridget Stutchbury, biologist from the documentary, will be on hand opening night to discuss issues and answer questions about imperiled songbirds. In May, 2015, Wild Bird Habitat held a private screening of the film at the Ross Theater and was the first American audience to see the Canadian produced documentary. THE MESSENGER opened in L.A. and New York City on December 14, 2015.


Click  THE MESSENGER  to learn more

Wild Bird Habitat Stores
recipients of the 2015
Wildlife Communicator Award
from the
Nebraska Wildlife Federation
Nebraska International Migratory Bird Month - May 2016
International Migratory Bird Day began in 1993 as a way to bring attention to birds, bird migration, and bird habitat needs. This international event is typically celebrated the second Saturday in May. The idea is to have agencies, organization, groups, schools - anyone interested in bird conservation to host an event focusing on birds in some way.
 
In early 2015, Dave Titterington (owner of the Wild Bird Habitat Stores in Lincoln and Chairman of the Nebraska Birding Trails Network), Andrea Faas (Director of the Pioneers Park Nature Center) and Lindsay Rogers (Wildlife Education Specialist at Nebraska Game & Parks) decided to create an International Migratory Bird MONTH in Nebraska. And so May 2015 was established as International Migratory Bird Month in Nebraska and proclaimed so by Governor Pete Ricketts.
 
A goal was set for 25 bird-related events to happen across the state. With the support of many organizations and agencies, there were nearly 60 events! A website was created - www.nebraskabirdmonth.org - where all events were listed, All in all, 2015 Nebraska International Migratory Bird Month was a huge success!
 
The team would like to grow the month-long event for 2016and are asking people to make plans now to host an event for 2016 International Migratory Bird Month this May.
 
Events do not need to be extravagant. But a simple organized bird walk on a Saturday or Sunday morning would be wonderful. Or a "how to use your binoculars and identify birds" class would be great. Even just a kid's workshop where they make a bird feeder and learn about watching birds would be amazing. The specific "event" and date/time is up to you. Whatever works into your busy schedule would be great. Remember, these do not need to be huge events.
 
The idea is that if all the dedicated conservation organization and agencies and people like you each do one small thing, together we will create a statewide network of events, classes, workshops, programs all focusing on birds throughout the month of May without over investing a lot of time and expense. Please let Lindsay Rogers know if you are interested in creating an event. The team will work on overall publicity and marketing to help ensure events are well attended. If you need help with event ideas, please do not hesitate to call Lindsay Rogers (402) 471-5581 or by email at [email protected] 
 
Nebraska Bird Month
Together we can make Nebraska's International Migratory Bird Month
a huge success for the birds!
Wild Bird Habitat Stores
recipients of the 2015
Earth Keeper Award
from the
Wachiska Audubon Society
Environmentally Friendly Bird Feeders
Birds Choice Recycled Feeders
Although the durability and natural look of cedar bird feeders continue to be preferred, the new line of feeders made from 100% post consumer recycled plastic is gaining in popularity. Many of these bird feeders have a lifetime warranty against fading, pealing, cracking, and chipping. They clean up like brand new, even after years of use. And speak of easy cleaning, many of the cedar and recycled plastic feeders we stock have removable perforated steel bottoms. This also allows moisture to pass through and the seed to remain dry.
 

Made in the USA
 
Heated Bird Baths
Winter is approaching and, as temperatures plunge below freezing, birds will have difficulty locating a source of open water. Providing a source of fresh water for backyard birds during the winter months can be a very beneficial addition to your winter bird feeding program, often attracting more birds than the seed in your feeders. 

Read more about Providing Water During Winter for your backyard birds



Wild Bird Habitat Stores
recipients of the 2015
Best U.S. Birding Retailer
from the
Gold Crest & the Bird Feeding Industry
Nutra Safflower for Goldfinch
Nyjer thistle seed has traditionally been the preferred seed of the American Goldfinch. The cost of Nyjer seed can vary greatly as it is a product imported to North America from India and Ethiopia and they set the price, and the price is rising once again. Nyjer is an oil seed which is why it is enjoyed so much by finches. In countries where it is grown this seed is crushed and used for cooking oil, much as in North America we crush black oil sunflower and safflower seed for cooking oil.

At Wild Bird Habitat Store we have received many reports and have had personal experience that Goldfinch readily feed on Nutra Safflower seed. In fact they may prefer it over Nyjer thistle seed. This could be a great alternative to supplementing Nyjer thistle seed for attracting Goldfinch. One benefit of Nutra Safflower is that this is a product grown by American farmers.

Nutra Safflower is available in 20 and 50 pound bags at the Wild Bird Habitat Store locations or by bulk quantity.

Internet customers can order Nutra Safflower seed on line. Although Wild Bird Habitat Stores Internet store offers free shipping on orders over $100, there is no free shipping on wild bird feeds. That allows us to keep our Internet wild bird feed prices low.  Order Nutra Safflower on line.

 
Meeting about THE PRAIRIE CORRIDOR at bottom
Peanut Feeders - A picture is worth a thousand words
Yellow-shafted Flicker
Downy feeding young
Hairy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
photos by Dave of Wild Bird Habitat

Check out Wild Bird Habitat's Peanut Feeders

 

Caged Peanut Feeders - Feed woodpeckers not squirrels & starlings
Yellow-shafted Flicker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
photos by Dave of Wild Bird Habitat

Check out Wild Bird Habitat's Peanut Feeders

 

Best Woodpecker Suet Plugs

Attractor High Energy Suet Plugs available at 
the Wild Bird Habitat Stores

  • Roasted Peanut Attractor Plugs
    P-Nutbutter Logs
    Suet Log w/WP
  • Pure Attractor Plugs
  • Sunflower Attractor Plugs
  • No-Melt Peanut Butter Attractor Plugs
By the pack or by the case, woodpeckers love 'em



Nebraska Birding Trails
Nebraska Birding Trails Website 
Has a New Look
The Nebraska Birding Trails was developed in 2003 listing more than 400 birding sites across Nebraska. Chaired by Dave Titterington of Nebraska's Wild Bird Habitat Stores with members of the Nebraska Bird Partnership's Birding Trails Work-group which was comprised of members from government agencies, the University of Nebraska, Nebraska Travel and Tourism, Nebraska Ornithologists Union, and conservation groups and individual birders, it was an immediate success. Recently the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission with the help of Nebraska Educational Television revised the Nebraska Birding Trails website to give it a new look and make navigation locating birding sites easier. We hope you check it out at: 

NEBRASKA BIRDING TRAILS 

Two other websites developed by the Educational Work-group of the Nebraska Bird Partnership have also been revised. 

PROJECT BEAK
Project Beak
Project BEAK is an interactive, web-based curriculum that contains scientifically accurate information about avian conservation, avian form, function and other adaptations that help birds survive, Nebraska's unique avian biodiversity, Nebraska's threatened and endangered birds, plus video clips, interactive games, quizzes and diagrams, additional resources and links, and classroom lesson plans. 

This website is devoted to helping Nebraskans and visitors identify and learn about the over 400 species of birds which can be found in our state.  Are you trying to identify a bird you saw?  Use "search by characteristics", where you can search by size, color, range, and habitat. Or, you can search or browse the full Nebraska bird list by common name, scientific name, or bird group.

Bird Identification Made Easy
Cornell Lab
Cornell Bird Lab offers two apps that includes a wizard to help you identify birds. Best of all there is no charge for these apps. Check them out and start identifying the birds you see today.

Merlin Photo ID
Merlin ID Wizard
 Where to go Birding in Nebraska
At the Bird Expo in Mexico, MO the Wild Bird Habitat Stores 
received the Best Birding Retailer of 2015 Award

Over the 23 years Lincoln's Wild Bird Habitat Stores have been in business they have received numerous awards. These awards included The Lincoln Journal Star, Howard Wiegers "Conservationist of the Year Award", the Edna Shields "Sharing Nature with Children Award", the "Earthkeeper Award" and "Lyman's Award" from Wachiska Audubon, and the Better Business Bureau's "Integrity Award". On September 30th, 2015, the Wild Bird Habitat Stores were recognized by leaders in the birding industry as the 2015 Best Birding Retailer of the Year by leaders in the biding industry.  On October 27th, 2015 at the Nebraska Wildlife Federation's Wildlife Awards Banquet the Wild Bird Habitat Stores were honored 
to receive the "2015 Wildlife Communicator Award".
 
 
The successes Wild Bird Habitat has been recognized for is only because of the friends and customers our business has generated, our dedicated staff, and all those who continue to support bird conservation, environmental education, and outdoor birding recreation that Wild Bird Habitat has been honored and privileged to partner with over the past 23 years. We thank everyone for their support.   Dave, Linda, & Katie Titterington
 
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4840 Orchard
(402) 464-4055
Alamo Plaza Store
(402) 420-2553
Wild Bird Habitat Store

South Lincoln, NE location
5601 South 56th Street
In the Alamo Plaza

     North Lincoln, NE location
                                                  4840 Orchard Street
                                      in the little white house


Toll Free Phone: (800) 606-2553

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