Migration, Informative | March 02, 2023

Focus on Binoculars This Spring!

Don’t miss viewing colorful Spring migrants up close and witness the excitement of Songbirds building a nest and raising their young. Our optics are also great for sporting events, vacations, and hunting. Binoculars make Great Mother’s Day & Father’s Day presents! Come in today and try a pair. We even offer “Test Drives – NO expectations or strings attached!” Details at the store. We guarantee no one (Big Boxes – websites) NO ONE beats our prices!

Binoculars help to bring birds closer and really are a must for every birdwatcher. You will be able to see things that previously went unnoticed. For example, watch the Tufted Titmouse pick up and drop several peanut pieces before it finds just the right one. Watch the male Northern Cardinal court the female by gently placing food in her mouth. Notice the changing colors of American Goldfinch as they begin to molt from summer to winter plumage. Later in the summer, watch several species bring their babies to your feeder to teach them to feed.

Not convinced? Come to our monthly First Friday Bird Walks and test a pair!

Here is a great article to help you determine your needs and select the perfect pair, Focus on Binoculars!

Bird Watching | January 04, 2023

Project FeederWatch: Winter Feeder Bird Highlights!

Project FeederWatch is in full swing! Check out the 2022-23 season’s progress and add your own observations at FeederWatch – Count Feeder Birds for Science! The project continues until April so there is still time to participate.

The new 2022 edition of Winter Bird Highlights, the annual summary of the 2021-22 Project FeederWatch season is now available in downloadable and printable pdf format! Providing insightful information about the abundance and distribution of the birds that visit our yards across the United States and Canada, this new report provides a wealth of information gleaned from the Regional Roundup! The report describes what was learned from last season’s FeederWatch counts, and includes lists of the 25 most common birds observed in each of the 7 regions, which includes Hawaii.

This new publication also features research that used behavioral interactions birders reported during Project FeederWatch observations, a profile of Northern Flickers wintering in Canada, a review of which native sparrows are most common in the different regions, and more. Overall, it’s especially interesting to review the top 25 birds and their flock size in your region, plus it is insightful to learn how species vary from region to region, from west to east and south to north.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology operates Project FeederWatch each year. Citizen Science at its finest, the data contributed by individuals in communities throughout North America is scientifically analyzed to help create an annual picture of winter bird abundance and distribution. This helps scientists create accurate population maps which can help track gradual wintering range and population changes not only in this season but also over the span of many years. We encourage you to participate! Visit feederwatch.org to find out how!

Informative | November 17, 2022

Songbird Station’s 2023 Wild Bird Photo Contest Update

Due to lack of photo submissions, Songbird Station will not be offering a 2023 calendar. We appreciate those who took the time to enter their images in the contest!

Informative | October 03, 2022

We love your feedback!

Keep those notes and letters coming!! Below is a letter that I received yesterday. It was so kind of Becky to take time to write. I was especially happy she noticed that I appreciate the every day wonder of the world that God has created for us like she does. I love the 2 videos she recommends. Take a look at them.

Remember Nature is a Stress Reliever from God. Take time today to listen to the birds sing!!

~Bird Man Mel

Attracting Birds, Hummingbirds | September 30, 2022

Fall Hummingbird Feeding with Bird Man Mel!

Bird Man Mel had a flurry of hummingbird activity in his backyard last week and captured some fantastic images. Check out his tips and tools that will bring Hummingbirds to your yard as they head south for the winter!

Bird Man Mel feeding a hummingbird with the Whimsy Wand

Having a hummingbird land on your Wand just inches from your face is truly a thrill! Hang it out with your other feeders and when you want to use it, take all your feeders down and hold the Wand in the same area. In minutes, you'll have a hummer land and get up close and personal with you.

Bird Man Mel & the Hummingbird Whimsy Wand

I love using our handmade copper hummingbird wand feeder this time of year. Birdman Mel

Hummer Rings & Trainer

I put my hummingbird rings in our plastic holder on the deck rail. The trick here is to place them in a plate that is deep enough that you can put water in it in the holder sits in the water. That keeps any ants on the deck from getting to your rings.

Now is absolutely the best and easiest time to hand feed hummingbirds with our Hummer Ring or Hand Feeding Copper Hummer Wand!

Bird Man Mel feeding a Hummingbird from a Hummer Ring

Feed Hummingbirds out of your hand. Use with any nectar, great for children and seniors.

Hummingbird Whimsy Wand

A couple quick tips on hand feeding hummingbirds. In this feeder I hook my copper Songbird Essentials hummingbird wand on my deck hook. That way my hummingbirds get used to feeding from it, then I sit down by it and they more quickly come to feed.

Now is absolutely the best and easiest time to hand feed hummingbirds with our Hummer Ring or Hand Feeding Copper Hummer Wand!

Bird Watching | September 07, 2022

First Friday Bird Walks – Bird Count for September 2, 2022

During our First Friday Bird Walk co-sponsored by Songbird Station with the Columbia Audubon Society, we had 19 attendees! We went to 3M Wetlands and traveled 1.34 miles. Although overcast skies turned to a nice hard rain 32 different taxa were reported. Below is the sighting count from this walk!

1 Wood Duck

1 Mourning Dove

1 Ruby-throated Hummingbird

1 Great Blue Heron

4 Green Heron

3 Turkey Vulture

1 Cooper’s Hawk

2 Red-shouldered Hawk

2 Broad-winged Hawk

1 Barred Owl

4 Red-headed Woodpecker

2 Red-bellied Woodpecker

6 Downy Woodpecker

2 Pileated Woodpecker

3 Eastern Wood-Pewee

1 Empidonax sp.

1 Eastern Phoebe

2 Great Crested Flycatcher

3 Blue Jay

47 American Crow

8 Black-capped Chickadee

6 Tufted Titmouse

2 House Wren

8 Carolina Wren

1 Gray Catbird

1 American Robin

25 Cedar Waxwing

2 House Finch

6 American Goldfinch

1 American Redstart

15 Northern Cardinal

11 Indigo Bunting

Events | March 09, 2022

Songbird Station’s 2023 Wild Bird Photo Contest

Songbird Station is holding their annual Wild Bird Photo Contest from January 15th – October 1st for their 2023 calendar. Click below to see the contest rules.

Photo Contest rules

Informative | March 01, 2022

Gold Crest Distributing & Songbird Station are excited to be featured in the current edition of Rural Missouri Magazine!

“Birding Business” By: Zach Smith

If there is such a thing as reverse empty-nest syndrome, then Mel Toellner — or Bird Man Mel as he’s known to friends, family and viewers of his YouTube channel — probably has it. Since last summer he’s stepped back from his companies’ day-to-day operations; his son, Grant, and daughter, Becky, have taken the reins of different sides of the businesses he built from a few seeds. He’s neither sad to walk away nor concerned for the transition for a few reasons. His business was built on a passion for birding, and that passion was shared with the family. Mel’s kids were born into it, the same way he was.

Mel fledged his family business sense by helping his father with his company, Toellner Tire Co., in his native Bunceton. Later, he’d find his wings as a manager of sales, development and distribution for Ralston Purina. But like so many of the birds he loves to watch and educate others about, there was something instinctive calling the young entrepreneur. Tiny seeds planted by Boy Scout merit badge work, watching the geese in Rochester, Minnesota during trips to the Mayo Clinic with his father and a birding summer camp scholarship given to him by a member of the Columbia Audubon Society all germinated in Mel’s garage in Mexico. There, the idea for a birding store that would one day grow into a company supplying most of the same kind of businesses in North America, was hatched.

To view the rest of this article by Zach Smith of Rural Missouri click on the link below.

https://ruralmissouri.org/birding-business/

Events | November 10, 2021

Art of Conservation Songbird Art Contest

The Art of Conservation® Songbird Art Contest™ is a new art competition hosted by Wildlife Forever, focused on sharing the wonder and species diversity of North American songbirds. Building off the successful Wildlife Forever Fish Art Contest® and inspired by the legacy of artist and conservationist Jay Norwood Darling, participants will learn about a North American Songbird Species and compete for prizes and international recognition.

Young birders and budding bird artists ranging from high school to kindergarten are encouraged to enter Wildlife Forever’s 2021 Songbird Art Contest through November 30th. Students can create an original illustration of 1 of 5 species, including a Black-Capped Chickadee, American Robin, Wood Thrush, Yellow-rumped Warbler, or Veery. For students in grades 4 through 12, you must include a one-page creative writing essay about the bird you illustrated. Art and creative writing emphasize the Art of Conservation Program established by Wildlife Forever.

A judging event will be held in December with avian biologists, local birders and partner organizations with winners being announced on National Bird Day, January 5th. Winners will be honored in 4 different grade categories: K thru 3rd grade, 4th thru 6th grades, 7th thru 9th grades, and high school grades 10 thru 12. You must submit your entry by the end of this month, November 30^th! Follow the link to learn more! www.songbirdartcontest.org

Informative | October 27, 2021

Mel joins David Lile on the KFRU Morning Show!

In case you missed Mel Toellner aka Bird Man Mel on KFRU with David Lile this morning, follow the link below to hear the recorded broadcast!

Bird Man Mel on KFRU!