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Welcome to BirdTracks® Online!
An e-mail newsletter from
Wild Birds Unlimited for January 2004.

In This Issue:
 - Attract sparrows and other winter visitors by ground feeding.
 - The Great Backyard Bird Count Feb. 13 - 16.
 - Live from New York - It's Bird FeederCam!

Attract sparrows and other winter visitors by ground feeding
Attract and watch a greater variety of birds under your regular feeders this winter by providing a ground-feeding option. Use a ground feeder - an open tray feeder that is slightly elevated off the ground. Fill it with a quality seed blend high in white millet. Ask at your local Wild Birds Unlimited store which seed blend is appropriate for your area. White millet is a favorite of many ground-feeding birds like sparrows, juncos, and mourning doves.

According to findings resulting from the Great Backyard Bird Count, two of the top 10 birds reported at feeders are ground-feeding birds. Juncos are predominant winter visitors across North America, and the Mourning Dove is a predominant year-round resident across North America. Wild Birds Unlimited is a proud sponsor of the Great Backyard Bird Count. Learn more about it at www.birdsource.org/gbbc/.

Birds find their food by sight. They will hop along the ground inside, or just outside of, a protective cover area scratching and searching for food. Providing an open tray feeder allows birds to find the food and allows unobstructed views for your observation and enjoyment.

Place the feeder near vegetation that allows birds a quick hiding space from predators. About 3 feet from bushes or a brush pile is far enough to expose prowling predators, but close enough for a quick-flight hiding place.

The Great Backyard Bird Count Feb. 13 - 16
For the seventh consecutive year, the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society are planning to count the birds across America Feb. 13 - 16, 2004. This effort, which Wild Birds Unlimited sponsors, helps define:

• Where birds are living and in what populations.
• Their migration patterns.
• Bird habitat needs.

All of this information contributes to wild bird conservation efforts.  It's easy to participate:

• You can spend as much or as little time as you like.
• You can make it a family outing or school or scout project.
• Just count the birds in your backyard, local park or wildlife refuge.
• Then report your findings online at www.birdsource.org/gbbc

Join the Great Backyard Bird Count fun! February 13-16. Thanks in advance for your participation!

Live from New York: It's Bird FeederCam®!
Wild Birds Unlimited has partnered with the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology to enhance our one-of-a-kind Bird FeederCam on the Internet that gives birdwatchers a bird's-eye view of birds at feeders.

Bird FeederCam images are being broadcast from the Treman Bird Feeding Garden at the Cornell Lab. People around the globe can see the birds just as if they were looking out the window of the Lab's visitor center. Visitors can access the FeederCam page on the Wild Birds Unlimited web site, www.wbu.com/feedercam_home.htm , and on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Project FeederWatch web site, www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw 

FeederCam operates from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST, and viewers can choose to see four types of birdfeeders and a small pond up close using a feature that focuses in on one feeder or area of the garden. A live video stream keeps pace with all the action at the feeders - woodpeckers devouring suet, finches feasting on nyjer, ducks and geese enjoying the water and much more.

Since 1996, hundreds of thousands of viewers have watched the birds on the "classic" version of Bird FeederCam which generates a live picture every 45 seconds. The ability to now use live video streaming adds a whole new dimension to the Bird FeederCam experience.