Birder Caters To The Fast Growing Hobby Of Bird Watching

By Nancy K. Crevier

There is more than a little irony in the fact that not only has she nurtured a love for feathered creatures her whole life, worked for Audubon of Greenwich, and owns Wild Birds Unlimited in Brookfield, but that her name is Margaret… Robbins.

“It is purely coincidental,” laughed Ms Robbins, who runs the shop with her son, Phillip. “But I don’t remember a time when I was not a birder. I started watching birds with my father in his garden when I was just a little girl, and we always had lots of bird feeders. Then in college, I joined the National Audubon Society.”

Since then, Ms Robbins has taken birding classes through the Cornell University laboratory of ornithology and spent many vacations with her husband, Jack, and their three boys centered around birding. She keeps a life list of species she has seen and travels in order to spot new birds. “I’m very serious about birding,” she said of the hobby she says is the fastest growing hobby in the United States, second only to gardening.

She and Phillip, who is the operational manager of Wild Birds Unlimited, opened the store at 317 Federal Road in Brookfield in June 2007. “We’re a unique store and people know they can come here and get advice and have questions answered. I share their passion,” said Ms Robbins. Business has been great, she said; customers have been flocking to the store from all over the state and region, seeking the quality birding items and feeds that Wild Birds stocks.

Bird feeders line the walls, hang from pole systems, and spill from shelves. Components for an add-on pole system for feeders fill half of one wall, and Wild Birds carries a full line of products for cleaning feeders and bird houses.

“In this economy, when we are paying nearly $4 a gallon for gas and movies cost $10, there’s not a whole lot left that is fun and affordable to do. It is not a huge expense to watch birds,” Ms Robbins pointed out. A setup of one pole and two feeders costs less than $100, and a 20-pound bag of seed for $15 will last more than a month.

“Bird watching will last you a lifetime, and if you have feeders there is always something happening around them from dawn to dusk,” said Ms Robbins. Bags of premium bird food consisting mainly of black oil sunflowers, striped sunflowers, safflower, and millet — Wild Birds Unlimited does not carry bird food that is made up of milo, barley, wheat, and corn fillers that songbirds do not eat — are neatly piled near the front entrance, surrounded by a vast array of colorful bird baths.

Even a beginning birder wants binoculars to catch the antics of the visitors to the bird feeders, and at Wild Birds Unlimited, customers can choose from binoculars that cost $40 to those that cost $1,000.

 Wild Birds Unlimited carries a full line of gift items to please the nature lover, including silk-screened bird print towels and potholders; pins and earrings; stepping stones; garden flags; hand-painted, functional birdhouses; wind chimes; and birdsong alarm clocks. Young visitors to the store enjoy the selection of games, puzzles, flashcards, and stuffed birds that occupy one corner of the store, said Ms Robbins.

Ms Robbins and her son are enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge of birds and helping people develop a love for the hobby of bird watching. They are thrilled to have customers drop by just to chat or ask a question.

“We already have wonderful customers. I can’t honestly say that we have a set demographic. We have customers from their 20s to their 80s, and lots of young families. People bring in pictures of the birds at their feeders, even,” she said. So many, in fact, that they have installed a large bulletin board on which to post the photographs.

 “The most important thing in opening up this store was to be educating people about the environment, starting with birds,” Ms Robbins said. Birds play an important part in indicating the state of the environment, she said.

“Can you imagine waking up in the spring and hearing no birdsong? It was the problems that raptors were having with their eggs in the 1960s that led us to discovering that DDT was poisonous not only to the birds, but to people as well. When you see a large bird kill on the shore, it tells us that something is wrong in the water. Raptors are at the top of the food chain. If something is happening to them, then something is wrong with the fish they eat, and what the fish eats, and maybe the water,” explained Ms Robbins.

There are many reasons to attract birds to the backyard. Bird watching is a great way to bring families together. Small children love the feeders that attach right to the windows, giving them a closeup view. Older children learn to identify the bird species and how they benefit the environment, and for everyone, it is just plain fun to watch variety of birds carry on throughout the different seasons, said Ms Robbins.

Birds are pollinators, spreading seed from what they eat. They eat a huge amount of pest insects and mosquitoes, and will devour large quantities of grubs from the lawn. “Don’t use chemical treatments on lawns or bushes,” cautioned Ms Robbins. “It can kill birds and there are natural alternatives available.” And by taking part in annual backyard bird counts sponsored by Cornell University, birders can help track migration patterns and help determine if dwindling numbers indicate a species is in trouble.

“You are truly helping the environment, as well as getting pleasure,” said Ms Robbins.

She dispelled the myth that birds should not be fed in summer. “If you live in an urban area, you could be contributing to invasive species staying around, but feeding our songbirds in summer does not disrupt the migratory patterns or prevent them from learning to forage,” she said.

In winter, bird feed might supply close to half of a bird’s diet, but in summer, it is a very small part of a wild bird’s diet, she said, as they have plenty of food in the form of berries, bugs, and worms. Bird feed should be varied from winter to summer, with a higher calorie blend of mostly black oil sunflower seeds in winter, and a feed made up primarily of striped sunflower and a little millet for the song sparrows during the summer. Suet is an excellent offering in winter, but Wild Birds Unlimited also carries a blend of suet and cornmeal for the summer with a higher melting point. Living mealworms, or larvae, are available at the store to supplement the diet. “Mealworms are a wonderful addition to the feeder during the winter, but in the summer, the bluebirds go crazy for them,” Ms Robbins said.

There are no other stores in the immediate area dedicated primarily to birds, said local bird watcher Renee Baade, so she is pleased that Wild Birds Unlimited is in Brookfield.

“It seems like a company that will know about birds. It is really good to have someone knowledgeable and somewhere people can go to ask questions,” said Ms Baade, a member of New Haven Bird Club, Western Connecticut Bird Club, and a former board member of Connecticut Ornithological Association. “There are places that sell bird supplies, but it seems like [Wild Birds] will know what makes a good bird feeder, what a good bird seed is.”

There was no one thing that got Ms Baade interested in the hobby over 30 years ago. “I think it was just wanting to know more about the birds I heard singing,” she said. “With birding, a whole new world opened up to me. It’s being exposed to the natural world that people don’t know exists out there.”

She moved to Newtown from the Chicago area in 1998, and the first thing she did was take part in the Christmas backyard bird count. Like Ms Robbins, she is serious about bird watching. Not satisfied with the thrill of wood thrushes, veerys, and wrens in her own yard, she travels all over just to watch birds. She recently traveled to Weston in hopes of spotting a European sandpiper.

“Anything along the shore is usually interesting,” she said, although a few years back in Newtown a golden-crowned sparrow showed up, and this past spring, a Scott’s Oriole appeared in Manhattan.

Ms Baade has shared her excitement of having bluebirds nesting in the boxes she had put in her yard with residents of Ashlar of Newtown. Working with another Newtown bird lover, Dottie Evans, bluebird boxes were installed on the Ashlar property where residents can enjoy the beautiful birds as they go in and out.

Ms Evans calls herself a “chronic bird watcher” who has been observing the feathery creatures “forever.” This particular time of year is exciting for bird watchers, said Ms Evans. “A lot of songbird migrants are coming in this time of the year. We’re looking for the rose-breasted Grosbeak that arrives around May 15, and the Baltimore orioles that come around mid-May, as well,” she said. The Baltimore orioles stay here for the summer, but the rose-breasted Grosbeaks are a brief visitor, lingering only a week or two before continuing on their way north. “And of course, it won’t be long before the hummingbirds are here,” added Ms Evans.

Margaret and Phillip Robbins are available to give talks at senior centers, garden clubs, children’s organizations, and for other groups. Ms Robbins will be leading a Warbler Walk at Tarrywile Park in Danbury on Sunday, May 18, from 8 to 10 am. She will also present “Gardening For Birds” at Brookfield Public Library on Wednesday, June 18, at 7 pm. For more information about these programs, contact Ms Robbins at 775-4888.

“There is nothing more relaxing to me than sitting down and watching my birds, and I think my customers feel that way, too,” said Ms Robbins.

Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Shop is at 317 Federal Road, one-half mile north of Costco. The store is open Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm, and Sunday from noon to 4 pm.