Enjoying A HobbyThat’s “For The Birds” (NAPSA)—Asbirdwatchers can tell you, birds can put on a spectacular backyard show if you provide the right props. Birds are warm- blooded, like all of us, and they need to eat to maintain their energy levels. Because typical backyard birds are so small they needto eat often. Mourning Doves, for instance, can consume up to 16 percent of their body weight in food daily. Hummingbirds, which can beat their wings 60 to 200 times per second, are knownto regularly devour half their weight in nectar every day. One companyhasbuilt its business on helping people provide the right food to attract birds to their backyards. It is the original and largest franchise of specialty birdfeeding stores with more than 290 locally owned and operated locations in the United States and Canada. For more than 20 years the company has defined and refined birdseed blends—more than 40 in all. Each store sells as many as seven custom seed blends—all specially formulated for the birds in the store’s particular region. According to Jim Carpenter, president and CEO of Wild Birds Unlimited and well-known birdfeeding expert, the blends seek to mimic howbirds find food in their natural habitat. Said Carpenter, “Somebirds, such as sparrows, juncos and doves, enjoy eating at the ground level. Other songbirds, such as chickadees, nuthatches, grosbeaks, jays and titmice, like to eat from feeders placed high off the ground. “Some blends are designed to be used in feeders hung from trees or poles or feeders mounted on poles. Other blends are perfect to put in feeders close to the ground.” There’s even a blend designed for both. Birds eat certain seeds at the feeder and sweep the rest of the seeds to the ground for the ground-feedingbirds to enjoy. “The beauty of our birdseed Songbirds, such as chick- adees, cardinals and House Finches like to eat from feeders placed high off the ground. blends is that you can attract the greatest variety of birds to your backyard by using a blend instead of a single seed such as oil sunflower,” Carpenter said. Somebirds, however, prefer specific seeds or food. Finches, for example, are partial to niger, or thistle, which is a very small seed similar in size to the caraway seed you might find in rye bread. Jays enjoy striped sunflower seeds but they really love peanuts—either in the shell or out. Hummingbirds find nectar (sugar water) irresistible. And woodpeckers savor suet! Wild Birds Unlimited stores are staffed with certified birdfeeding specialists who can help people choose the right bird food for their situation. Based in Carmel, Ind., the company specializes in bringing people and nature together by providing expert information and offering an exclusive line of products designed specifically for the backyard birdfeeding hobby. And the hobby is bigger than you might think. According to the latest U.S. Census figures, more than 54 million Americans— about one in five—feed the birds. They spend more than $4billion in pursuit of their hobby and $2.6 billion of that total is spent on bird food. For a Wild Birds Unlimited store near you, call toll-free (800) 326-4WBUorvisit www.wbu.com.
