White Breasted Nuthatch Cardinal

The Pretty (But Poorly Named) Purple Finch

Sometimes you’re just in the right place at the right time – but without the video camera. I was standing at the kitchen window watching all the bird action out on the deck.  We had been putting sunflower bird seeds on the flat board of the deck railing and it was very popular with the
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Winter Finches

On Tuesday another snowstorm blew in, carrying with it a flurry of finches. I admit that my enthusiasm was a bit less for the snow, since shoveling the deck has become a much more tedious task, but the arrival of the Common Redpolls at the birdfeeders was a delight to see.  The action was fast
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Feathered Meditation

Simple pleasures.  I suppose it is a consequence of aging, and the ability to find pleasure sitting in one place for long periods of time and letting your eyes and mind be entertained by the small feathered creatures that fill your yard.   Personally, I find it’s almost hypnotic to watch the flittering, skittering movement of
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A Sky View

Thirty two years ago when we bought our house in Willow River, I had a skylight installed in our bedroom.  At that time the view included a couple of tall, old jack pines and the branches of an aspen. I could watch squirrels chasing one another up and down and around and around the trunk,
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Creating a Bird Oasis

You enjoy feeding birds and watching them come to your yard, right?  Well, now is the time to create an even better oasis for the birds. Spring is when people (especially those in the northern regions of the U.S.) are crazy to get into their gardens and to get their fingers in the soil. This
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Bird Seed that does not sprout

Now that the snow cover is gone here in the Northland, people are discovering both the good and the bad.  A friend of ours experienced the good when a melting snowbank revealed the phone she lost months ago.  Whether it works or not remains to be seen. All sorts of  things reappear in our yards
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Timing is Everything

  There is a schedule that the birds follow in the mornings at the feeders.  First, before full light, the goldfinches come in to the feeder containing Nyjer seed, and furiously peck at the ground for tidbits that have fallen down. Northern Cardinals also seem to prefer dawn and dusk to visit the feeders.  By
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