How to Keep Hungry Squirrels at a Distance
Watch Anne Jaeger of The Oregonian's Homes & Gardens magazine interview Scott about how to thwart the squirrels at your feeders without driving yourself squirrelly. Read more...
Connect with Nature!
Connect with Nature!
Watch Anne Jaeger of The Oregonian's Homes & Gardens magazine interview Scott about how to thwart the squirrels at your feeders without driving yourself squirrelly. Read more...
David Lukas is a well known naturalist and writer who got his start right here in Portland. We knew him in the beginning, working with David in our shops and learning from him as he so expertly led bird walks for Backyard Bird Shop. Read more...
By day, a mild-mannered part-time bookkeeper for a group of optometrists. Nights and weekends, a naturalist and teacher dedicated to enlightening people about the birds and other wildlife of the Portland area. Read more...
Escape the winter doldrums with a Westside birding adventure to Koll Creekside Marsh! Read more...
Winter bird watching along the Columbia river can be surprisingly good if one heads for any of the dams upstream from Portland. Bonneville, The Dalles, John Day, and McNary dams are all easily accessible within a day’s drive. Read more...
Read this to familiarize yourself with some of the popular areas visited on Backyard Bird Shop bird walks. Bird species at each site will vary seasonally. Following are general guidelines for know what to expect: WINTER means waterfowl, raptors, and winter sparrows and most places we visit include a body of water with surrounding trees and brush that attract those birds. SPRING means warbler migration, lots of breeding birds doing courtship stuff like singing and displaying, so we try to go to sites with water and good trees that would attract warblers and other songbirds. SUMMER means more songbirds, flycatchers, orioles and such. Birding slows down after breeding, days are hotter, and both people and birds are feeling it. FALL means more migration of songbirds, shorebirds and waterfowl. Back to the water and trees to see what’s moving through. For more extensive information about sites please refer to the book Wild in the City by Mike Houck and M.J. Cody. For detailed maps please refer to the Thomas Guide. Read more...
Woodpeckers are well known for their specialized feeding behaviors. With chisel-like bills, these birds excavate wood or peel bark in search of insects. Their long tongues are barbed at the tip to aid in removing insects from tunnels and crevices. Read more...
You may hear this bird before you see it! If you hear scratching and rustling noises coming from leaf litter or a birdfeeding area, you may be hearing a Spotted Towhee. Try to get a peek, because it's a beautiful backyard bird! Read more...
Halloween fun centers around frightening ourselves with creepy stuff like skeletons, ghosts and goblins, witches, monsters and ..... bats? Read more...
It's an "old wives tale" that keeping your feeder filled year 'round may somehow stop birds from migrating! Read more...
The Chestnut-backed species is a conifer lover and, true to its name, has a distinctive chestnut-colored back. Its primary range is the Pacific Northwest. Read more...
I often get asked “When do the goldfinches migrate?” The answer is: “They don’t.” Read more...
Whether you are looking out over a river, a wetland, a residential lawn, or a parking lot, it is not hard to see swallows on any summer day. These graceful fliers spend much of their time on the wing, speeding through the air as they catch flying insects. They even drink and bathe while flying. Read more...
Nuthatches are the only birds in our area who are equally adept at going either direction on a tree trunk, upward or downward. Ornithologists believe that nuthatches find insect food by going down a tree trunk that would be missed by birds going up the tree trunk, so the nutty behavior is really an evolutionary advantage. Read more...
Meet Scott Lukens, Founder of Backyard Bird Shop Read more...
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