Books
Part of what makes birding a lifelong interest is the fact that the more you know about birds, the more you realize how little you know. Books play an important part of your journey to understanding our feathered friends.
Absolutely indispensible is a field guide, especially if you're just starting out.

Choose a regionalized guide, for instance, a guide to the eastern or western regions of North America. Make sure it includes all the birds you're likely to see in your chosen birding area, in all the common plumages. A state guide has advantages also. Paintings do a surprisingly better job of capturing the overall feel of a bird and, as a result, have an advantage over photo-based guides.

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Feeders
If you ask people how to attract birds to your landscape, the majority will quickly respond, "Put out a feeder." That's good advice but not all feeders are created equal in function or warranty. Many of the feeders offered by Wedel's come with a lifetime warranty. That means it's the last feeder you'll ever have to buy. That is until you decide to add a new feeder to your feeding station. From hummingbirds to crows, Wedel's has it all.

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Nest Boxes
Birds decide where they are going to spend the summer months based on the suitable locations to raise a family. In the case of cavity nesting birds (those who live in holes in trees) the addition of nest boxes can, in fact, lure birds into your landscape. The importance of housing is underlined by the fact that the decline of Bluebirds has been reversed, in part, by the addition of nest boxes to pastures and fields. From wrens to Wood Ducks, Wedel's has it all.

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Seed
In addition to choosing the right feeder, you need to choose the seed to go into it. The most important part of choosing the right seed is to buy the freshest seed available. Seed is not like fine wine in that it doesn't get better with age. Wedel's has weekly seed deliveries so you can be assured of getting the freshest seed available.

Most stores know that many customers make their seed purchases based on price versus looking at the ingredient list when purchasing a mix. Customers often don't ask about cleanliness when shopping for black oil sunflower. Government regulation allows up to 25% debris in "field run black oil sunflower." This means that there can be 12 ½ pounds of sticks and stems in the bag. When you are price shopping, the lowest prices will always be "field run black oil sunflower." (You can calculate the real price of "field run black oil sunflower" by dividing the price by 37.5 to find the actual amount of seed in the bag.) Wedel's sells only the cleanest black oil sunflower seed available. We do not sell "field run black oiler."

Filler seed is the strategy used when selling mixes. Some grocery store mixes are frequently over 50% filler seed. If half the seed in the mix you are purchasing is filler seed, you are actually paying twice as much for your seed as you thought you were.

Common inedible filler seeds include milo, or sorghum; wheat, rice, rape seed, buckwheat, oats and other cereal grains. The worst ingredient to find in your bird seed mixes is "grain products" which is just unidentifiable debris from the bottom of hoppers. The number one ingredient in a good blend should always be black oil sunflower or sunflower meats.

Wedel's offers three very high quality seed blends: Wedel's No Waste Blend, Roger's Blend and Roger's No Mess Blend which are available exclusively at Wedel's. No waste, no filler - just stuff birds really do eat.

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