Flying Colors

Flying Colors is a sponsored column on the hobby of backyard bird feeding written by Michael Zuiker, owner of the Wild Birds Unlimited store at the Lee Harrison Shopping Center. Visit the store at 2437 N. Harrison Street or call 703-241-3988.

For the past year we have truly enjoyed our journey with you in your backyards, patios, parks and preserves. We have explored the seasons, the storms, the sunsets and the songs of your backyard birds. We have looked at the beauty of the flying birds through your eyes and knowledge.

We also sprinkled in 27 years of history of the Lee Harrison Center.

It has truly been my pleasure to share with you my knowledge of the great hobby of backyard bird feeding.

But that knowledge is just the beginning. Because nature will and does challenge us as to what we think it is and what is right. So, we are always looking for more experience and more knowledge and new ideas and new solutions.

Is that not what makes being in nature that much more alluring? Look under the rock! What is there? Look into the sky. What do I see? Close your eyes and open your ears. That is a new sound not heard before!

So, a big thank you for taking this journey with us. We hope you cross over to our website and follow “Flying Colors” there. We will continue to provide bi-monthly articles, stories and videos about the wonder of nature and the hobby of backyard bird feeding.

And a BIG THANK YOU to ARLnow for helping us share our love of bird feeding with the great Arlington community. Their platform helped us connect to many people who did not know of Wild Birds Unlimited existence.

Remember by using high quality foods and feeders in your yard, you just never know what might show!

Seasons greetings! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay happy, stay inquisitive, stay true to yourself.

Flying Colors is a sponsored column on the hobby of backyard bird feeding written by Michael Zuiker, owner of the Wild Birds Unlimited store at the Lee Harrison Shopping Center. Visit the store at 2437 N. Harrison Street or call 703-241-3988.

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There is always an end. An end to a movie. An end to a song. End to a relationship. End to the hot fudge sundae. There is an end to a story, a commute, a sunset, a job. There is always an end.

Yet, an end cannot exist without a beginning. A beginning which could come at the end of the end.

Complicated? You got me there.

Because at the start of “Flying Colors,” we, all of us, went on a journey. A journey of discovery. We really did not know exactly what we would uncover.

Uncover we did though every other week for over a year. We discovered birds, we discovered weather, we discovered solutions to challenges that affected our backyard bird feeding hobby. We discovered a little history of a place in Arlington that has pulsed with life for over fifty years. We discovered truths and we discovered urban legends that do not stand the time of science and knowledge.

It has been a journey that I hope has been fun and entertaining for you.

Sometimes that journey takes you to a new “nest.” A new place to call home. A new place in which to discover new adventures and mysteries and new knowledge. Flying Colors is moving to that new nest. This new home will be located on our web page.

It is here were we will share with you our love of all thing’s nature and the great hobby of backyard bird feeding. It is here where we will engage you to explore and discover all that is beautiful and joyful in your hobby of backyard bird feeding.

We have been blessed to be able to introduce you to us through ARLnow and share with you our love of the hobby of backyard bird feeding. We are very thankful to have had the opportunity to work on the ARLnow platform to have a voice.

But, now it is time to fledge.

So, let us continue these magical moments together at a new nest so we can “Bring People and Nature together.” Thank you for the time you spent with us and we hope you travel to our new home to stay connected with us and your love of backyard bird feeding.

Flying Colors is a sponsored column on the hobby of backyard bird feeding written by Michael Zuiker, owner of the Wild Birds Unlimited store at the Lee Harrison Shopping Center. Visit the store at 2437 N. Harrison Street or call 703-241-3988.

When little Johnny or little Susie “irrupt” at the restaurant table, that is not a good thing.

When sports coaches “irrupt” on the sidelines, that is not a good thing.

When politicians irrupt… well you know!

But winter bird irruptions are a really unique experience. They happen, in varying degrees, every year. That is what makes them so exciting.

When natural winter food supplies are scarce in northern Canada, numerous bird species “irrupt”, migrating in large numbers to other areas in search of food.

Winter is a great time to attract these visiting species. Keep your feeders full and look for birds associated with irruptions. Juncos, white throated sparrows and finches may be making a repeat appearance to your yards this winter. Purple finches, pine siskins and common redpolls are “irruptive winter finches” attracted to finch feeders filled with nyjer or our WBU finch blend.

Sometimes nyjer seed takes a while to be eaten in the feeder. Make sure you keep the seed fresh and do not let it get wet. Once the seed starts to spoil, the birds will leave the feeder and find other sources of food elsewhere.

Many of these birds come back to the same exact location each year. Juncos and wintering sparrows can now be found hopping backwards on the ground scratching for seeds. They love blends with millet and sunflower chips.

We always recommend putting the food in a tray on the ground to keep the seed from getting spoiled with dirt, moisture, bird wastes, etc.

Birds are also developing into “foraging “guilds. They are forming small winter-feeding flocks. They can learn each other’s warning calls to stay safe. Chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, kinglets and titmice may join together.

Attracting these hungry and irruptive winter guests can be a lot of fun. So, be prepared. Before you know it, these out-of-towners will be just that, headed out of town.

Flying Colors is a sponsored column on the hobby of backyard bird feeding written by Michael Zuiker, owner of the Wild Birds Unlimited store at the Lee Harrison Shopping Center. Visit the store at 2437 N. Harrison Street or call 703-241-3988.

You see it with your eyes, with the dimming of the day. You feel it on your face, when the winds blow hard from the north. You hear it with the calls of migrating flocks of geese and leaves rustling under your feet. The season has changed and fall is upon us.

There is beauty in the colors. There is energy with a crispness in the air. There is a sadness in the nakedness of nature. oaks, elms, maples, all stand structurally sound and bare with their strength to see.

Shrubs that bare fruit, are all being devoured by flocks of birds. The living flowers in gardens, once pollinating, are withered and have fallen.

Yet, the front, back and side yards of our little kingdoms are packed with birds. Busy preparing for the changes to their world. Looking for sources of food, water and shelter as the long nights and short days of survival begin.

Flocks of juncos and white throated sparrows have made their way from the northern forest to take up residence in my backyard.

Juncos have been commonly called “snowbirds,” because they show up so strikingly on the ground after the first snowfall. It is always a challenge for me to try and pick them out of the myriad of autumnal colors of leaves that cover my grounds.

If you see a leaf bouncing on the ground in the early morning, there is a good chance it is a junco or white throat right next to it. When you spot the one, your eyes will soon after discover twelve more. They flock well in numbers. They winter here, so tray feeders with sunflower chips and a “little” millet will help sustain them.

Even though natures colors may be waning, you can add color to your habitat by attracting reds and blues in the form of cardinals and bluejays. Both species will flock in the Winter to find food and shelter and protection from predators.

Whole peanuts, peanuts that are shelled and tree nuts in a good mix will bring in 6-10 strikingly beautiful bluejays like magic. Any really good mix of black oil sunflower, peanut meats, and safflower will brighten your winter yard with blazing red and orange of the male and female cardinals.

Thirty cardinals, queuing up on tree branches in my yard during a snowstorm, waiting their turn at the feeders, is a striking image.

These are just a few of the dozens of different species of birds you will attract in your yard this winter with good feeders and good food.

Here is a warning for you: do not be tricked into buying the “cheap blends” because they are cheap in price. They are useless in terms of foods that provide fat for the birds.

The number one food that the birds need to survive the long, cold, winter nights is fat. Cheap blends, with mostly millet, have no fat. Avoid those at all costs, even though the cost is minimal.

Don’t let the nakedness of nature dampen your spirit. Clothe your yard with many colorful birds. We can help you do this! Watch our video to learn how. Hint-Hint you get something for free!

Flying Colors is a sponsored column on the hobby of backyard bird feeding written by Michael Zuiker, owner of the Wild Birds Unlimited store at the Lee Harrison Shopping Center. Visit the store at 2437 N. Harrison Street or call 703-241-3988.

Aaahhhhhh. It is the best season of the year. The birds are singing. The bees are humming. The flowers are blooming. Couples are snuggling. The candy shaped hearts are filling…

Oh Wait! Wrong Season.

This is the best time of the year. The birds are flocking. The flowers are going to harvest and seed. Candy looks more like bats and monsters. But, hey couples are still snuggling in the brutally fierce cold north winds blowing down from the Canadian Provinces. It is the perfect time to “fall for fall!”

With trees putting on a rainbow show of colors, the bright blue skies, the crimson sunsets and glorious brilliant golden sunrises, how can you not embrace this fantastic season?

In addition to natures colorful show, your birds are ever more active in your yards. They are in tune to the changes and are adapting their schedules to ensure they will survive.

We have it easy. The temperatures drop and we put on another coat or sweater or both. When it gets dark we go inside and snuggle up to the fireplace and a good book. The wild birds in your yards are not so lucky. Well, depending on what is on TV, they may be luckier than us. But their nights are longer and colder and they must eat a lot to survive.

To do so, they will find the good places to forage for food. This could be a large field with wild flowers and shrubs going to seed and fruit. Truth is, you do not see those fields very much around here anymore. So, the birds have to find other reliable places to go to get the food they need to survive.

This is where your restaurants come in. When you set up your feeding stations and keep them filled with “fresh, high fat foods”, the birds will set those up as their winter-feeding stations. The birds will know that those feeders will give them a source for high energy foods they need.

Does this mean you can’t take a week off and go to Miami to play in the surf? No, you can. The birds will not become dependent on only one source of food to sustain themselves. Birds will have multiple feeding stations around your neighborhood, as long as they exist, and forage at all of them. Yet you will insure that you get many visitors of different species by keeping your feeding stations full.

Remember, very soon, your backyard birds will be out in the cold nights for 12 hours. That is a long time to burn of their food that they were able to find during the shorter hours of the day. Less flying around to find food and more readily accessible high-quality food close by gives the birds a much better chance to survive the winter.

Many of our customers say that all is their favorite season. If you are one of them, then we say “fall for fall!” Get out and play — maybe not this weekend with the impending Nor’ Easter! Instead, fill up your feeders and help your wild birds get the food they need to weather this storm.

Until October 31, Wild Birds Unlimited is having our Fall Bird Food Sale! All of our 20 lb. bags of premium blends and seeds are 15% off. Daily Savings Club members will receive an additional 5% off.

If you want to learn more about becoming a DSC member, ask an associate for details. Stock up before the nasty weather and get those feeders filled. The entertainment of watching your birds will have your “fallin for fall!”

Flying Colors is a sponsored column on the hobby of backyard bird feeding written by Michael Zuiker, owner of the Wild Birds Unlimited store at the Lee Harrison Shopping Center. Visit the store at 2437 N. Harrison Street or call 703-241-3988.

Ok, I have a confession to make. I like donuts. I like them a lot. In fact, I never met a donut I did not like.

Ok, there was that one donut in Nova Scotia, but just one. My doctor is not to happy with my love of donuts. It is not good for me and I know it. So, every day I eat a grapefruit to balance my diet.

Wild birds do not have my problem. Sure, we all used to think that birds love bagels and stale bread and donuts. But they really don’t! They eat and need to eat natural foods to survive and thrive.

This is an on-going annual requirement for the birds. So, for 27 years we have been educating our customers about the seed’s birds need and the best variety to give them.

Sure, you see birds eating that off brand of bird seed full of millet, cracked corn and milo. But they are not the birds you want; english sparrows, starlings and grackles. That is also not the seed you want to feed them. milo, flax, rape seed and wheat are all filler seeds that most birds will not eat.

Good quality seed blends are full of black oil, safflower, peanuts and sun chips. Those types of blends have tons and tons of high fat foods for the birds. They use that fat for energy during the day and for creating warmth at night. Not only that, but you will get the birds you want; cardinals, chickadees, wrens and woodpeckers to name just a few.

Do you go in the grocery store to buy food and check the ingredients on the back? You know that the first ingredient is the number one thing in that the package. So, if you buy a bag of bird seed and the first ingredient is millet, that’s what makes up most of the bag.

Would you want to eat a whole bag of high fructose corn syrup? I don’t. Neither do the birds.

This is what makes our seed blends different. We can guarantee you that you will get beautiful backyard birds with our seed blends. Stop in and check out the first ingredient on our seed blend bags. You will see that most of them are sun chips, black oil and peanut pieces.

Now you might be the person sitting there saying well, yeah, but I can get seed blends in another store too. Sure, you absolutely can; but we can promise you that ours is fresher.

We receive our seed once a week, and we guarantee it is fresh. Our WBU seed blends have a higher fat content than other store brands. This gives the birds that extra fat they need for the upcoming winter. It is also 99% clean from sticks and stems.

So, don’t buy the donut, I mean that yucky millet brand bird seed blend. Buy the grapefruit and the Good WBU Bird Blends. Your birds will thank you!

Come take the Bird Seed Challenge with us. Stop in and grab a 2 lb. bag of Choice Blend at no cost to you. It’s free! Take the challenge and try us out, you won’t be disappointed!

Flying Colors is a sponsored column on the hobby of backyard bird feeding written by Michael Zuiker, owner of the Wild Birds Unlimited store at the Lee Harrison Shopping Center. Visit the store at 2437 N. Harrison Street or call 703-241-3988.

14,191,000. What makes up a minute? How do you fill up an hour? How does a day “fly” by? Where did the month go? Is another year gone?

Simple questions to wonder about when a “milestone of time” occurs. For us at Wild Birds Unlimited, that milestone is now!

For 27 years, WBU has been bringing people and nature together in an ever-changing landscape; mentally, emotionally and physically. For 27 years, our eyes have been looking out into our center. And boy, the things we have seen.

In the beginning, the center was failing. 20-40% vacancy was not uncommon. We worked endlessly to get people to discover our new, unique nature store dedicated to “wild birds” in the neighborhood yards.

On Sundays at 4 p.m. in the fall, the parking lot was 95% empty! A winning Washington football team, a failing grocery store and a failing discount pharmacy did not help this situation.

When they left, the center reinvented itself. One fifth of the center was removed and a new anchor grocery store opened up. A small coffee shop also opened up; Star… something or other.

More businesses came and more businesses went. Here is just a short list of what Wild Birds Unlimited has said goodbye to:

Super Fresh Grocery, Rite Aid, Foam Center, Seredipity, Dogma, TCBY Yogurt, McDonalds, Popeyes, Baskin-Robbins, Oriental Gourmet, cleaners, optometrist, another yogurt store, a dance studio, book store, children’s clothing store, florist, fabric store and there are a few others I am sure I have missed.

Yet, through it all, Wild Birds Unlimited has maintained its relationship with Arlington; but more importantly our friendships with our customers.

Businesses may come and go, but it is gut wrenching and heartbreaking to lose those friendships that we have developed all these years. When we started, many of our customers were in their 40’s through their 70’s. Twenty-seven years adds up and takes its toll. Those that have left us, have left us too soon and we miss them. They cannot be replaced.

Now, the Arlington demographics have evolved over the last 10-15 years to a much younger family nucleus. The blur of tiny bundles of energy in the form of four, five, six, seven-year old’s and higher have energized the center. Talk about energy! Wow.

That is part of the new makeup of the center that our bird store has seen. So, we adapt. Yet our mission is not different then is was when we opened.

We Bring People and Nature Together!

It does not matter if the person is 4 or 80, our goal is to educate them and help them enjoy the wild birds in their backyard.

So, after being open for 14,191,000 minutes, we have to have a party. This Saturday, September 29th, we will open our doors at 8 a.m. and be open for 12 hours to celebrate with all of you.

Take a look below and come on by and let us thank you. Whether you have been a customer for 27 years (and yes, they exist) or coming in for the first time. We are here to help you enjoy the beauty, peace and “JOY” of nature in Arlington.

Thank you, but I have to go now. The minutes are ticking!

Flying Colors is a sponsored column on the hobby of backyard bird feeding written by Michael Zuiker, owner of the Wild Birds Unlimited store at the Lee Harrison Shopping Center. Visit the store at 2437 N. Harrison Street or call 703-241-3988.

We all know how intense the weather has been this summer. All the hot days. All the rain and flooding. And the dominating weather story for the past 7 days of Hurricane Florence has everyone monitoring their news feeds. I have a sister in South Carolina and nephews in North Carolina.

Nature will always remember who is in charge when weather events like this occur.

With warnings and advice and preparations, we can insulate our lives, to the best of our abilities to protect ourselves. What happens to wildlife though? Especially birds when these events occur.

Our chief naturalist for Wild Birds Unlimited pulled together some fascinating facts about what birds do to survive.

Bird Behavior and Responses to Hurricane Events

• Birds and hurricanes have coexisted for ages, and birds have developed many strategies to survive and rebound from the effects of these natural disasters.
• Birds are sensitive to barometric pressure, so they can sense when a major storm is on the way.
• In response to an approaching hurricane, some birds will migrate earlier than they normally would. Research has found that sparrows speed up their fall departure in response to falling barometric pressures.
• Some migrating birds move toward the eye of the hurricane, staying in this calmer area until the hurricane dissipates. They often end up hundreds of miles away from their normal migration route.
• Birds that don’t migrate often shelter in place, trying to find cover wherever they can. Many non-migratory birds seek shelter inside thick bushes or on the leeward side of trees.
• Cavity roosting birds, such as woodpeckers, chickadees and nuthatches may seek shelter in their nest or roosting cavities, and some will seek out man-made nest boxes.
• Research (although limited) seems to show that most land birds weather hurricanes well if they can find appropriate cover.
• The most direct impact of hurricanes that occur during the storm are most evident in seabirds. The indirect effects, which occur in the storm’s aftermath due to damage to the habitat, are most evident in land birds.
• Hurricanes dramatically affect birds’ natural habitat and food sources, which can put pressure on already stressed species.
• A major threat to bird survival is the vegetation damage caused by hurricanes and some birds may perish since the local habitats no longer provide the food they need.
• Due to the lack of food resources, some birds may disperse in search of more suitable habitat and others will seek out artificial sources of food.
• Migrating hummingbirds are known to swarm nectar feeders in hurricane ravaged areas where natural nectar plants have been destroyed.
• Population declines of land birds are often related to their diet and the loss of food resources. Fruit, seed and nectar feeding birds struggle the most with the loss of habit, while insect eating birds and birds of prey are less effected by the storms impact.
• Providing supplemental bird foods, fresh water and shelter are very important actions to take to help the bird population in your area after a hurricane.

This hurricane will most likely stop some of the bird migration heading south. At least in the short term.

Take some time to be outdoors and watch and listen for the songs and sounds of the warblers, vireos, thrushes and other migrating birds. There is a unique occurrence that happens at times when extreme weather events prevent birds from moving.

These “fallouts” happen with thousands of birds getting out of unfavorable wind and rain conditions and settling in habitat to wait. If you time it right, you can experience a spectacular viewing of many different species of rarely seen migratory birds.

Hurricane Florence is setting up this scenario. Try to get out this weekend to a park or field with your binoculars and cameras.

Be safe.

Save The Date: Saturday, September 29, we will be celebrating our 27th anniversary with a great party and sale. Visit our website for details on all the party happenings.