Wild Birds Unlimited, Kitchener, ON

     A great addition to a community of birders is a store specializing in all things related to birds -  seed, feeders, nesting boxes, optics and so forth.
     Last year (almost exactly a year ago in fact) a Wild Birds Unlimited store opened in Kitchener, ideally positioned to serve the naturalists of Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge and the surrounding area. 

     Many of us had previously made the trek to the Wild Birds Unlimited store in Guelph, so we were very happy to have a store in our community, located at 4391 King Street East in Kitchener. 

     The owner of the store is Cathy Hale, seen below with her dedicated and highly proficient assistant Debbie Huck.

Debbie, Cathy

     Before taking the plunge with this venture Cathy was an account manager with a Canadian telecom company with international scope, a career from which she derived a good deal of satisfaction. When the company was sold to US interests, however, and conditions began to change, her level of contentment went into steep decline, and she decided to resign her position.
     She took time off to ponder her future and following discussions with the owners of several other Wild Birds Unlimited stores decided to take the plunge into the world of retail. She had previously been a client of the store in Burlington, ON and had a lifelong love affair with nature, nurtured by time spent in British Columbia and here in Ontario. It seemed like an obvious move.
     And she has not regretted it one bit.  She has always been happy dealing with people and looked forward to the challenge of building a clientele and developing her business. Cathy is very much a "people person" and goes out of her way to interact in the most positive and friendly way with her customers, whether they come into the store to buy one suet block or a month's supply of seed and a couple of feeders. Her view of life is that you receive happiness by giving happiness. 
     The store has a wide variety of bird feed - suet and seed, for example.

     All of Cathy's bird seed is sourced locally and supplies are received weekly ensuring that the bird food is fresh. My personal favourite is a "no mess" mix containing a variety of seeds - sunflower hearts, peanuts, safflower etc. - thereby attracting a range of species. And there are no shells to clean up after those messy birds have finished eating!
     Whatever type of bird feeder you have in mind, you will find it at Wild Birds Unlimited. And most of them have a lifetime warranty.

     In addition to helping birds, we also need to improve conditions for solitary bees, those essential pollinators, so critical to all life on earth, and Cathy has bee "hotels."

     And did I mention she has bird feeders?

     While I was there several customers came into the store, including a delightful young woman coming in to buy both hardware and seed. In recent months she and her mother have been walking the Bruce Trail and have recently completed the Niagara section of it (Bravo!), and as might be expected they have been seeing many birds during their hikes. Now she wishes to take it a step further and feed them at home.

     I have to say that Cathy was a fountain of knowledge and a paragon of cooperation and kindness as she helped this novice find exactly what she wanted.
     The use of a chart to show her client the range of species to be expected was very helpful.

     I chatted with this customer myself and I know that she left the store very pleased with the service she received and the products she purchased.
     Lest anyone think that I have a financial interest in this venture, I do not. Nor do I have any links of kinship to Cathy.
     I am simply very happy that the store has been established in our neighbourhood and I am sure that myriad other birders feel the same way. Whether you are a veteran at feeding birds, or someone about to embark on the task of putting out bird feeders for the first time, this is the store to obtain quality, value, a warm smile and good service.
     Go and talk to Cathy or Debbie. You'll be glad you did.

     Just tell them David sent you!

The First Weekend of Fall Bird Banding at SpruceHaven and a Visit by Wild Birds Unlimited, Kitchener, ON

   
24 August 2019

     There is always a sense of excitement and anticipation when we start afresh with our bird banding activities and this year was no exception. I met Kevin, dark and early, and we were soon afterwards joined by Ross, and set up five nets.
     It was cool when we started (8° C) and few birds were moving around. At that temperature nor were the mosquitoes fortunately!  
     We retraced our steps from the final net and in the very first one retrieved a juvenile Grey Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis). A Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilocus colubris) had also been ensnared, but since we do not have a permit to band hummingbirds it was released right away.
     This young Grey Catbird was acquiring new feathers as can be clearly seen below.

     A couple more rounds of the nets yielded nothing, but the day was warming and insects were starting to rise out of the grass, and our next circuit was more productive.
     A Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas), which undergoes at least partial moult before leaving the breeding grounds, was also showing evidence of moult in the tail feathers.

     It is relatively infrequently that we trap Field Sparrows (Spizella pusilla) so we considered ourselves exceptionally fortunate to capture two juveniles of this species.

     A Nashville Warbler (Leiothlypis ruficapilla) is somewhat more predictable, however.

     Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) is the most common new world sparrow in our area, so the only surprise was that we caught but one.

     House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon) have had a prolific breeding season this year, with several successful nests at SpruceHaven, and this young bird will soon be making its first migratory journey.

All birds banded 24 August: House Wren (1), Grey Catbird (1), Field Sparrow (2), Song Sparrow (1), Nashville Warbler (1), Common Yellowthroat (4)  Total: 10 individuals of 6 species.

25 August 2019

     It was our great pleasure to host a group of people under the aegis of Wild Birds Unlimited (wbukitchenerwaterloo@gmail.com) who were interested in all that goes on at Sprucehaven. It was a small but enthusiastic group, and it was my great pleasure to try to impart some of the magic of SpruceHaven to them. I was especially delighted to see children present.

     I do not have all the names of the people above but I will give the ones I know and I would be happy to add the the others if people would contact me. Along the back row, working from the left, unknown, Sharon Dillon-Martin, Tammy ?, Cathy Hale (Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited). In front are Darwin (great name!) and his sister, Joy. Tammy is their mom and is to be congratulated for bringing out her children to enjoy the wonders of nature.
     Kevin was unable to band with us this morning, but Ross came out to help and Heather was happy to make her first appearance of the season. Judy and Lorraine came out later.
     It was with a good deal of pleasure that we caught our first empidonax flycatcher, the morphology and biometrics of which narrowed it down to Least Flycatcher (Empidonax minimus).

      It was while processing this bird that a fly in the family Hippoboscidae, an obligate parasite of birds and mammals, dropped out of the feathers. (Picture courtesy of Ross Dickson)

    
     These flies are commonly referred to as flat flies and can compress their body and easily insert themselves into the feather tract of their avian host, being able to move sideways to sidle through the feathers. At least we did the bird the service of removing this bothersome intruder!
      A Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) is a resident species, and this individual that flew into our mist net was banded along with the migrants.

     The highlight of our banding session was a Mourning Warbler (Geothlypis philadelphia), a species we do not often capture, and in fact a species infrequently encountered in the field.

     A young male Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus) let Heather know that he was not at all sanguine about being handled.

     It is not so bad when they seize your whole finger as above, but if they clamp down on the skin between your thumb and forefinger it is painful!
     A Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus) was our first capture of the season.

     Chipping Sparrows (Spizella passerina) breed locally so it is quite possible that this juvenile bird may have been born right at SpruceHaven. 

     Our final bird banded was a juvenile male American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis), a resident species. I expect we will trap a few more goldfinches before the season is done.

     It was a great weekend of banding, aided in no small measure by good weather, and the wonderful fellowship of bird enthusiasts, and a visit from Cathy and friends. 
     Ross will be back at it on Tuesday!

All birds banded 25 August: Least Flycatcher (1), Warbling Vireo (2), Black-capped Chickadee (1), Grey Catbird (1), American Goldfinch (1), Chipping Sparrow (1), Song Sparrow (9), Mourning Warbler (1), Common Yellowthroat (1), Rose-breasted Grosbeak (1). Total: 19 individuals of 10 species.

Useless Squirrel-proof Feeder

Totally Useless Squirrel-proof

Feeder

    I bought the bird feeder shown below from a Wild Birds Unlimited store with the assurance that, while it would not keep out red squirrels or chipmunks, it worked very effectively to prevent marauding grey squirrels from getting to the peanuts. As you can see from the pictures below, grey squirrels can get past the supposed barrier with ease and sit and eat the peanuts with impunity. I sent a picture to the store where I purchased the feeder but did not even receive an acknowledgement and they continue to sell this feeder. Buyer beware! This feeder is totally useless as a defence against squirrels depleting your peanuts in short order.