This is a male Pine Grosbeak. We’ve had the pleasure of him hanging out at our seed bird feeding station for a week or so now. The bright red color is just awesome with our snowy back ground. The male has black and white wings which just set off the red color and make it burst!

Immature grosbeaks have similar color as females. As they grow they change from a pinkish to the bright red of a male adult.

This bird is the largest of Washington finches, about the size of an American Robin.

The female Pine Grosbeak is not as colorful. They have no red coloring. These little ladies have bodies of grey with heads and necks of orange or rust color. Their wings and tails are dark brown with white bars.

Nests are made of twigs, moss, grass, lichens and fur. The nest itself is a bulky cup shape. The female typically lays about 4 pale blue-green blotched eggs each year. Eggs take 13-15 days to incubate. Dad helps with the chores by bringing mom and babies’ food. Pine Grosbeaks breed in sub-arctic and conifer forest. Generally they breed in wet areas or other open areas near a tree line. Their non-breeding habitat is determined by available food.

This birdies like to dine on buds, fruits, berries & seeds. In the summer about 15% of their diet is made up of insects. Most forging is in trees but they will eat seeds off the ground.

We hope you have the pleasure to view these wonderful birds up close. Visit our on-line store a grab a new seed feeder for your yard to help welcome the Pine Grosbeak! http://www.ChimesAndBirds.net

Until next time, Enjoy them birds!

Chimes and Birds

Even though it’s winter and cold out, seed bird feeders still need cleaning maintenance on a regular basis. With wind blowing snow into the tray area seed will freeze and thaw as the sun and temperatures rise and fall. This will cause seed to get moldy and rancid. A bad food source will make birds sick or even kill them.

Simple cleaning will prevent seed from going bad in feeders. Time between cleanings has many variables, weather is the main one. If you see moldy seed in the feeder, you must disinfect the feeder. Use a solution of 10 parts water to 1 part bleach. Soak the feeder for a couple of minutes if possible. Otherwise just keep pouring the solution through the feeder. A small soft brush can be used to remove any mold stuck inside. It is VERY important to rise the feeder thoroughly! Let the feeder air dry so fresh seed will not absorb the moisture. You can also use an air hose to speed up the drying time. Our goal is to never see moldy seed in a feeder.

Cleaning your feeders will keep them looking good for years to come. Different bird feeders require different cleaning and maintenance. Check requirements on the package of all new feeders.

Fill bird feeders with fresh seed. To help keep feed safe for birds store in a location that rodents can get at. Rodents can carry diseases to birds that don’t effect them. Never put rancid seed back into a feeder.

If we want to welcome and enjoy birds in our yard we need to make it a safe environment for them. Don’t over crowd them, more bird feeders is better then less. Clean fresh food and water is a must. If we can”t live up to these simple rules, then we shouldn’t invite birds to our yard.

Visit Chimes and Birds for many styles of seed feeders for year round use.

Enjoy them birds!

We have extended or FREE gift offer with every order. As a thank you to all our customers past & present, receive a FREE gift with every order! All Free gifts must ship to the same order address, no split delivery address’. Hurry offer will expire 12/16/2011. Thanks for being our best customer! Enjoy the season!

For those of you who have the hobby of a freshwater fish tank as well as gardening you might not know that the used water is like liquid gold for gardens & plants. Regular maintenance is required for our fish tanks, every month. This involves siphoning 25% of the water out of the tank. Save that priceless water for you garden & plants. It is loaded with micro nutrients that plants love and you should not just send it down the drain!

In the water that most think is yucky or nasty, from decaying food and other things. Our plants welcome with open leafs. They are more then willing to accept the free Phosphorus, Nitrogen, Potassium, Iron and more. All these help our plants thrive and survive. We always pour the water in our flowerbeds, around shrubs and in the veggie garden. Even in the winter I continue to dump the water in the garden & flowerbeds.

And if the sad day should come that one of your little finned friends should pass, dig them into the garden. This is no new concept; dead fish have been added to soil for years.

Water is something we waste too much of. I try very hard to save on the water used for our gardens. We have a rain barrel system, a hand dug shallow pond to dip water from. I even save the water from hot bath for canning, once cool I water.

Chimes and Birds hopes this little tip is helpful for you.

Enjoy your yard & birds!

Great View, quiet neighborhood & close to food!
Just kidding. While heading to Wisconsin we passed this vacant Osprey nest. Sorry the picture is not too clear, weather and all.

Anyway An Osprey is a large eagle-like bird. With a size of 24″ and a wingspan of 5 1/2 foot!!!They live on fish. This raptor is the only one that plunges into water feet first to catch din-din. They carry the fish head first for better aerodynamics. They tend to get harassed by Bald Eagles for the catch.

Nest are made on man-made towers, as seen here. Dead trees are also used for nest building.

They do a complete migration to southern states, Mexico, Central & South America. The only place they do not got to is Antarctica.

Although Chimes and Birds has nothing to feed Osprey, we do have a great selection of other bird feeders!

Enjoy those birds!

We have these wild flowers growing in a ditch that runs along side our barn. The ditch almost always has water running in it. They bloom late in the summer. The hummingbirds love them! The orange flowers are very delicately sitting on a tiny stem. Do you know what they are called? We would just like to know.

Visit Chimes and Birds website to pick out a hummingbird feeder for your yard today so you can enjoy these little wonders in your own yard.

Thanks for stopping by.

We live in northern Michigan and would like to share some of the types of birdseed we use to attract certain birds to our yard. We like to change our seed types with the changing seasons to provide the best nutrition for the birds in our area. I’m sure these birds are viewed in many other states as well.

Northern Cardinal

These beautiful birds are a delight and always welcome at our home. We’ve had the best results with a platform type feeder. We chuck if full with a variety of sunflower seeds. Black oil, striped and of course sunflower parts all work well. In addition we add peanut parts & dried fruit to the tray. You can purchase a seed mixture from a local feed store that includes most of the items listed as well as white millet blended in.

American Goldfinch

The finches come by far in the widest variety of colors, not just gold. Their favorite food hands down is nyjer seed. A thistle or tube feeder works for this seed product. These little guys also enjoy fine sunflower chips, red & white finch millet. Don’t get me wrong a nice feeder stuffed with black oiled or stripe will please them as well. Many feed stores have products the include a great mixture that finch’s will love no matter what time of the year it is

Black-capped Chickadee

These birds don’t turn down too many free meals. Most are present year round for a snack or meal. They enjoy eating out of a tube feeder, platform or even a human hand! The variety of seed they eat is crazy! Just about any type of seed you place out will be ate. Of course they like a variety of sunflower seeds, but don’t stop there! A feeder containing different types of millet, grain products, peanut parts & dried fruit is sure to be a hit and bring them in. A standard birdseed mix will fill most of this order. It can be purchased just about anywhere, even a grocery store.

Blue Jay

A lot of people could care less if these birds are around the yard or not. I personally like them and think they’re gorgeous. They also do best with a platform feeder. But they do manage just fine at our tube feeders. The buffet for them includes, sunflower seed of any type. Don’t forget peanut parts, grain products, millet, safflower & dried fruit. Again if you purchase a seed mixture that includes most of these items listed you should have great results attracting the Blue Jay to your yard.

Evening Grosbeak

As with most birds I’ve listed, these birds have a wide-open diet preference. With a platform feeder you should be able to welcome them into your yard year round. Just about any general seed mix will attract them. Sunflower seed is a big hit as usual, but so are many other ingredients. They will flock to the feeder for millet, peanuts, grain & safflower. Again you can purchase a general seed mixture and it will meet their needs.

As a side note

If you’re just starting out feeding our feathered friends try a “general wild bird food mixture”. This will start the ball rolling to attract birds, and then you can spread out from there. Do the research for your area and what your birds will require at different times of the year.

Our area has black bears so we need to remove feeders at times to avoid destruction to them. You need to be aware of dangerous wildlife in your area as well. Bird feeders may not be the only target in the yard!

We offer many types of seed & suet feeders for our birds using a variety of feeders. Be sure to use the right feed for the season. Always keep feeders clean so birds stay healthy. Water should always be available for bird bathing & drinking.

Please visit our website Chimes and Birds to help you get started with one of our quality bird feeders or a birdhouse for your yard.

Good luck and enjoy the birds in your yard!

Eating the bee!

Great colors!

This awesome dragonfly was snacking on a bee. I was getting some birdseed for my bird feeders when I heard the clicking and crunching, I had to check it out. When I seen its wonderful color I ran in the house to grab my old outdated camera and hope for a good shot. The close up in real life was too cool. Its color & eyes were too much!

Dragonfly’s do eat a lot of bugs, which is a good thing. They come in many colors and sizes and to get a glimpse close up is so enjoyable.

Just wanted to share!
Chimes and Birds

Now that our freezer is stuffed. Jelly has been made along with pies. Many berries given to friends and family, it’s time to clean up the raspberry patch. We had an awesome Red Raspberry season this year and hope to enjoy just as many berries next year. In order to help this happen we need to make sure that we help it happen with some simple steps.

1) Clip out all fruit producing stalks from this year. These will be the dark brown stalks. The leafs might even have a tint of yellow.

2) Tie all the new shoots together in small bunches. These are the green stalks. This will help in the winter to avoid snow damage due to the weight of snow.

3) We always take the hedge trimmer and trim the bunched new stalks to about 4 foot tall. This will also help to avoid breakage in the winter and force the root system to become hearty for the next season.

Your Red Raspberry bushes should be ready for winter and next years wonderful fruit producing season. As a final note, we keep them tied up in bunches all summer. This makes it much easier to pick the berries without stalks flopping this way and that. The bees and hummingbirds will still get at the buds in the spring.

Visit Chimes and Birds for more tips and a great selection of bird feeders, wind chimes & much more.

As I looked out my window it looked like snow in August! At closer examination I found a male and female American Goldfinch also called a Yellow Canary by us common folk. These 2 were enjoying picking the seed out of this Thistle Weed. Kind of like us picking fresh berries rather than store bought.

I really tried to sneak up and get a picture of both digging around for their feast but was unable to get close enough. I did manage to get the female. The male was very active going in and out. While the female was sure to get her full reward of fresh food.

These Goldfinch enjoy seeds and insects. They nest in the late summer and use the silky down from wild thistle for the nest. They tend to fly in small flocks and twitter during flight.

Now the funny story behind this weed in our yard is as follows. I was trying to be helpful and push mow. As I did this I lopped down “a mini forest” of thistle weed. When my man got home he was not pleased with my attempt to help. He was saving these weeds to take photo’s of. There was a bit of bickering back and forth. Me saying “there just weeds!” and “I don’t want picker weeds all over the yard as they seed” Him saying “they’re art” All said and done the mower puked out on me so some “art weeds” were saved. Good thing because now our birds have more yummier food and nesting materials to choose from.

We feed our finches thistle / nyjer seed but fresh is always better. Chimes and Birds has some very durable mess seed feeders that are great for finch and other bird feeding.

Until next time, enjoy those birds!