• February is National Birdfeeding Month, encouraging us all to take care of birds with food, water, and shelter at a time of the winter when birds’ stores of food start running out.
• If you want to participate in a bird count, join the Great Backyard Bird (GBBC), and count birds February 14-17 in your backyard for science or join a GBBC community event in your area. Check out how to participate in the count at birdcount.org
• The cycle of life begins again in the bird world. Our earliest nesters Great Horned Owls and Bald Eagles will be nesting throughout February, and the first chicks may hatch toward the end of the month.
• By late February, the very first of our “spring” migrants, the killdeer, will arrive in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
• Eastern bluebirds will be checking out possible nesting sites by the end of February, looking for suitable neighborhoods with food, habitat and shelter to raise a family. Make sure you clean out bluebird and other nesting boxes early in February before they begin their scouting. Starved for insects all winter, we’ve seen bluebirds in February breaking into basketball-sized paper wasp nests to get at the tasty hibernating larvae inside.
• In February, cardinals, titmice, house finches, chickadees, and mourning doves break their winter silence and begin signing their “spring” songs again.
• Flocks of robins and bluebirds can be seen feeding from fruit-bearing plants like hollies, sumac, and dogwoods. Both birds will also visit heated birdbaths in large numbers.
• Mating season begins in February for red foxes, raccoons, skunks, beavers, opossums, and snowshoe hares. Bear cubs are born and black bears become more active outside their winter dens later in the month.
• February can still be quite cold and below zero temperatures are not uncommon. When temperatures are consistently below 10 degrees F. birds must eat constantly during daylight hours to conserve enough calories to make it through the long, cold nights. Help them by keeping feeders stocked with foods that are high in fat and energy, especially now as foods that birds cached earlier in the fall are now starting to run out and remaining wild foods are scarce.
• February is a great time to learn about birds and nature by visiting a local nature center, indoors where it’s warm. Check out Carpenter Nature Center (in Hastings, MN and Troy, WI), Dodge Nature Center (in West St. Paul), Tamarack Nature Center (in White Bear Lake), and the Maplewood Nature Center (in Maplewood) or visit the Como Conservatory for a tropical bird experience in February.
