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Bird lovers ready feeders for backyard seed feast By Dani Dodge of the Mail Tribune ASHLAND -- With the cold weather finally snapping, bird lovers Saturday flocked to stores Saturday for seeds and suet. "I love birds and it's fun to watch them in my yard," said Carol Walker as she bought seeds at the Northwest Nature Shop in Ashland. "In the summer I don't get as many, but this time of year they need your food." Walker was one of many who stopped by the shop Saturday. City employees were on hand to answer birding questions, and people like Walker who had prepaid for bags of sale seeds were picking them up. "We have a lot of seed-eating birds who winter here," said Linda Chesney, a coordinator of the city's environmental stewardship program. "Because of development, some of their natural habitat has been destroyed and so this could be looked at as a way to compensate." She added that from an educational standpoint, having bird feeders in yards also gives families a way to enjoy wildlife in the winter from the comfort of their armchairs. "And they can become acquainted with the wildlife in their own back yards," Chesney added. Mike Uhtoff, one of the owners of the Northwest Nature Shop, said he believes the popularity of bird feeding is growing. "Gardening used to be considered the No. 1 recreational activity," he said. "I think bird feeding and bird-watching is a strong No. 2, if not No. 1 now." Uhtoff said people can start feeding birds in their yards very cheaply. A person can make a bird feeder out of scraps of wood and buy a 5-pound bag of seed for $2. Some already-assembled feeders run $15. Those just starting out should spread piles of the seed around their house, as well as put out the filled bird feeder. Eventually, the birds will find it, Uhtoff said. Different seeds and styles of bird feeders attract different types of birds, but people at Saturday's event said they've seen everything from hummingbirds to warblers and woodpeckers. "If you use sunflower seeds, you're pretty sure you'll get chickadees and Steller's jays and scrub jays," Uhtoff said. Walker sees blue jays, finches and juncos at her house, which is on a third of an acre a few blocks above Siskiyou Boulevard in Ashland. Walker picked up 50 pounds of sunflower seed, 20 pounds of thistle seed and two suet blocks: total $35. She expects the bird feed to last through most of the winter. "It's amazing how many birds you can attract," Walker said. "Sometimes as many as 50 or more are flying around my house." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA