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Wild Bird News
  • The Wild Bird News is mailed free to our active customers four times a year. It’s a good way to get feeding ideas as well as information on upcoming events and sales. Come in and sign up, then you will also receive coupons in the mail every couple months to use on products of your choice.
Birds you can expect to see during our Chicago Winter
  • Cardinals
  • Blue Jays
  • Chickadees
  • Downey Wood Peckers
  • Red Bellied Wood Peckers
  • Hairy Wood Peckers
  • Flickers
  • Mourning Doves
  • Brown Creeper
  • House Finches
  • Gold Finches (changed color)
  • Juncos
  • House Sparrows
  • White Throated Sparrows
  • White Crowned Sparrows
  • Starlings
  • Red Breasted Nuthatches
  • White Breasted Nuthatches

Tips for Fall & Winter Feeding
  • If you’ve been feeding Safflower in the Summer then you will want to add some Black Oil Sunflower for the added fat the birds need in the cold weather, everyone loves Black Oil Sunflower, and those nasty Grackles are gone for the Winter.
  • The Nuthatches come back to our feeders when it gets cold again:
  • A peanut feeder is a great feeder to add for both the Wood Peckers and Nuthatches.
  • Keep your Thistle Feeders out for the Gold Finches, you won’t get as many and they change colors (all look like females) but you will get them all winter long and your seed stays fresher in the cold.
  • The birds don’t mind the seeds getting a bit wet in the snow but they don’t want them soggy. Try putting out smaller amounts of seed more often. This will keep it dry.
  • Also, seed still in the shell, like Whole Sunflower, will not stick together when it gets wet like those out of the shell like Chipped Sunflower.
  • It’s about that time of the year to be thinking of heated birdbaths. I have several kinds available; One that will clamp on to a deck rail and others that stand-alone. I also have heaters to put into existing baths. All the heaters have thermostats in them; this allows them to only come on when it’s below freezing.

Here are several tips to help with servicing your baths this winter.
  • Move the bath closer to the house, so you won’t have to trudge through the snow to fill and clean.
  • When you plug your extension cord to your bath heater wrap electrical tape around the plugs, this will keep them dry.
  • If you are using a heater in a concrete bath: make sure to keep the heater covered with water.

Goldfinches
  • When you put up a thistle feeder for the beautiful Goldfinches, put it at least 8-10 feet away from any other types of feeder. The finches want their own space. Also be sure your seed is fresh. Never buy more then what you can use in a month.
  • Did you know that Thistle seed is not seed of Thistle. So you will not grow thistles! The Goldfinches do however use the thistle plant fluff to line their nests late in the summer, so they carry seeds in with the fluff and that may grow thistles in your yard.
Serving Wheaton, Warrenville, Naperville, Lisle, West Chicago, Lombard, Glen Ellyn with quality bird feeders (including squirrel proof feeders and hummingbird feeders), houses, baths, poles & baffles, seed, and suet plus garden gifts, cards, binoculars, wind chimes, books, and toys.

Updated on September 29th 2006   •    Copyright © 2004 - 2006 Wild Bird Center of Wheaton all rights reserved.