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!
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.
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.
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 30th! Follow the link to learn more! www.songbirdartcontest.org
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!
Project FeederWatch turns your love of feeding birds into scientific discoveries. FeederWatch is a November-April survey of birds that visit backyards, nature centers, community areas, and other locales in North America. You don’t even need a feeder! All you need is an area with plantings, habitat, water or food that attracts birds. The schedule is completely flexible. Count your birds for as long as you like on days of your choosing, then enter your counts online. Your counts allow you to track what is happening to birds around your home and contribute to a continental data-set of bird distribution and abundance. Join the count!
Project FeederWatch is operated by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Birds Canada. Since 2016, Project FeederWatch has been sponsored by Wild Bird Unlimited. We thank them for their support!
All native flowers are good food source for native pollinators like bees and butterflies; they have evolved with one another. Fall blooming natives are especially important in nourishing the migrating insects and preparing the adults and caterpillars for winter. The best plan for a pollinator garden is to plant a diversity of native plants; perhaps 30 different native species grown from a local seed source.
Find a local distributor in the Grow Native Resource guide at www.grownative.org
Ask a member or learn more by joining the local Hawthorn Chapter Missouri Native Plant Society at www.columbianativeplants.org
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