It’s the most wonderful time of the year if you’re a birder! And the staff here at Bird Watcher’s Digest is spending every minute we can in between our work responsibilities trying to soak up all the migrants passing through our yards and patches and whatever birdy spots we find ourselves this spring. We thought… Read more »
Every morning, I crawl out of bed, put on my walking clothes, and take my little dog, Frankie, for a walk. In other words, I go birding. At most times of the year and when I’m pressed for time, I stick to the streets and alleys near my house for about 20 minutes. There, the… Read more »
“Garlic mustard is an exotic invasive, and it must be stopped!” Does this sound familiar? Because I hear words to this effect every spring, and due to Spring Bird Brain, I file Pull invasive garlic weed! in the low-priority lobe of said bird brain. But, with my recent efforts to create a more sustainable, bird-friendly yard… Read more »
Here at Bird Watcher’s Digest we’re celebrating mothers, both human and avian! At this time of year, female birds are hard at work laying eggs and taking care of their young. If you’re looking for ways to help mothers with wings, we have five great ideas to share. Keep cats indoors. Domestic cats—even well-fed, mostly… Read more »
Since discovering a Carolina wren roosting at night in an old robin’s nest in the eaves of my porch last winter, I have been providing peanut pieces and mealworms in the feeder I have installed on my balcony railing. The wren has been a steady visitor since, along with the robin that reclaimed the wren’s… Read more »
It’s spring! It is literally time to get out there with the birds! To keep things interesting, especially as avian activity continues to ramp up with spring migration, we offer Bird Bingo! We have designed bingo cards for five regions of the United States: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Northwest, and Southwest. Click on the PDF for… Read more »
I enjoy watching and photographing bird behavior. Recently I had the opportunity to photograph a white-breasted nuthatch pair as they prepared to nest in my backyard. Nuthatches make their nests in natural cavities, such as a broken limb or tree trunk or perhaps an old woodpecker hole. My nuthatch pair found a cavity in tree… Read more »
A little over a year ago, just as Ohio’s governor was announcing stay-at-home orders, I was packing up my things to do the exact opposite. An unhealthy situation prohibited me from staying in my house any longer. And so, I said goodbye to my home for the past twelve years—the first house I had owned,… Read more »
For the first time in the nearly seven years I’ve lived in this house, birds have nested on my front porch. Not one nest, but two: a robin and a mourning dove. I’ve long expected mourning doves to realize that the tops of the porch–roof support columns are wide enough for a nest, but it never happened until now, and, in fact, it was the robins who chose… Read more »
I’ll always enjoy the coziness of wintertime, but nothing rivals the anticipation of emerging bulbs and plants awakening in the flower beds in my yard come springtime. Last spring, when the pandemic effectively eliminated all of my 2020 travel, I turned to yardwork and improving the “birdiness” of my plants and flowers to bolster my… Read more »
