The Avant-Garden Shop: Your Garden & Bird Store

Ever heard of a Pine Grosbeak or a Bohemian Waxwing?

Last month’s blog post talked about the arrival this winter of Evening Grosbeaks. Another grosbeak, the Pine Grosbeak, is also showing up, which is exciting, because these large, beautiful finches rarely come this far south. If I recall, the only time I’ve ever seen Pine Grosbeaks was in the Hudson Bay Lowlands during the breeding … Read more

Garden Gate: Episode 202 – Compare the quality (Nov. 6th, 2020)

Customers often talk about the price of bird food when they should be considering the QUALITY! On this episode I dissect a bag of box store bird food. Even I was shocked at how poor the quality was. Birds don’t eat wheat or milo which is in high quantities in box store mixes. Even the … Read more

Seen any Evening Grosbeaks yet?

Not all bird species fly south for the winter, and not all of those that do come as far as Peterborough. Last year was what was called an “irruption year” for birds. Many bird species, such as Pine Siskins, the 2 redpoll species, and Bohemian Waxwings came here in greater numbers than in a typical … Read more

Garden Gate: Episode 200 – Salt Box Shoppe rustic bird houses (Oct. 9th, 2020)

Every couple of years we head to the Lake Huron area to camp or visit and attempt to see some of our artists who live and work in the area.  This year we were able to visit two after camping for a few days at Pinery Provincial Park. First stop was to see April Gregory … Read more

Garden Tips: Fall migration’s on its way

As we move into fall, the birds begin their move for the winter. Although there are still plenty of American Goldfinch and Northern Cardinal young begging for food, most of this year’s hatchlings are now fully independent of mom and dad and are footloose and fancy free. As young disperse from their home base, the … Read more

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