INDUSTRY NEWS

Visit the Birding Business Blog for the latest news from the staff at Birding Business.

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Looker Products Sold
After 28 years serving the wild bird feeding industry, Carolyn Looker has turned over the business operations of her family-owned enterprise to the care of Songbird Essentials.  Carolyn and her company have been a fixture in this business since before there was a birding industry, and she has mixed emotions about stepping aside.  This move gives her more time to spend with her family, and an opportunity to do more travelling.

The company will carry on with the same staff and headquarters in Milford, IL, under the leadership of another family-owned business, Gold Crest Distributing, owners of Songbird Essentials.  Retailers can continue to buy directly from Looker Products, or from Gold Crest, whichever they prefer, making it a seamless transition.  Carolyn has a lot of friends in this business who will miss her smiling face and can-do attitude, but her products will still be a part of the various trade shows around the country in the Gold Crest booth.

All of us at Birding Business wish Carolyn the very best retirement has to offer.

For more details please visit www.lookerinc.com, or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Or call Gold Crest at (800) 269-4450.

KAYTEE(®) Arizona Hummingbird Disaster Relief
The Monument Fire that scorched the Arizona wilderness earlier this summer made an immediate impact on both the human and wildlife population. Over 30,000 acres of habitat was destroyed making survival a struggle and forcing wildlife into residential areas. This region is both an important nesting area and major migratory route for approximately eleven species of hummingbirds. Estimates indicate the fire destroyed nearly 80% of hummingbird nesting sites and that most of this year's broods did not survive. Many adult hummingbirds that survived the fires perished afterwards from exhaustion, stress and dehydration. They crowded into residential yards in search of food and shelter and a big fear was that when birds from further north migrate through, they would find their important fueling areas gone. If they couldn't find food, then they would not bulk up enough to survive the long journey south.

KAYTEE(®) Wild Bird Products developed a plan to help the birds, the Arizona Hummingbird Disaster Relief. They created two ways for the public to get involved. One was the purchase of an Arizona Hummingbird Disaster Relief "Rescue" Kit (at cost) exclusively offered on Amazon.com consisting of a 16oz Cedar Works Dipper(tm) Hummingbird Feeder and a 16oz bottle of the new KAYTEE Hummingbird ElectroNectar(tm) Concentrate. The second was by making a financial contribution to support feeding and habitat restoration efforts. KAYTEE and Cedar Works(®) Feeders, both Central Garden and Pet Company brands wanted to ship $50,000 of KAYTEE Hummingbird ElectroNectar(tm) Concentrate and Cedar Works Planter Hummingbird Feeders to the affected area.

The region has a lot to recover from, but this is a great example of a major manufacturer working hard to give back to the birding community.

Baby Robins Conjoined By Plastic
A PAIR OF AMERICAN ROBINS IN UTAH is serving as a testament for proper nesting material for birds. Wildlife Rehabilitator Priscilla Todd learned of the young birds when her son spotted the hapless pair fluttering in her backyard. A quick examination revealed that the bodies of the young birds were fused together around their wings. Birders were buzzing with questions like how did a robin lay an egg with two embryos?

Todd contacted local media in the hopes that a veterinarian would offer to try to successfully separate them, since the birds seemed otherwise healthy. Veterinarian Dr. Douglas Folland saw the story and offered to help free of charge. He was able to separate the birds and made a surprising discovery. The robins were joined by a plastic thread, most likely used by one of the adults for nest construction. This meant that the birds were hatched from separate eggs and after they hatched, the thin plastic got wound around their wings and as they grew, their skin grew over the thread. Considering that robins leave the nest about 13 days after hatching, that is incredibly fast.

Both birds survived the surgery, one with both wings intact and in good health. The smaller, weaker bird had to have a partial wing amputation. As of the printing of this issue, the larger bird was slated for release after recovery, the weaker was on track to become a mascot for Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Ogden.

This story serves as a good reminder to customers to be responsible when placing nesting material out for birds. The use of natural fibers is crucial and hopefully will prevent birds from using unsafe materials like plastic.

Urban Bird Treaty
WITH ALL THE BUDGET TALKS, it's nice to hear that there's still a little money for birds from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The agency announced 18 cities that won the Urban Bird Treaty Grant. The program helps cities preserve ecosystems and habitat to aid migratory birds as they pass through the communities and raise awareness about native birds being an indicator of a healthy ecosystem.

Backed by a $70,000 challenge grant to each city from the Service, the Urban Conservation Treaty will support bird initiatives throughout the country. The Urban Bird Treaty city and their partners develop and implement bird conservation projects and provide matching dollars and in-kind support. The Service provides the challenge grants and technical assistance. The cities of Phoenix, AZ; Kennedale, TX, Twin Cities - Minneapolis and St. Paul; Indianapolis, IN; Opelika, AL; Hartford, CT; Ogden, UT; Lewistown, MT; San Francisco, CA and Washington DC were the winners.

"These cities and their partners promise to work to increase awareness of the value of migratory birds and their habitats, especially for their intrinsic, ecological, recreational, and economic significance," according to the press release. The wide variety of native birds thriving in urban areas underscores the importance of these urban/suburban habitats to the survival of many bird populations.

These cities can become effective sanctuaries for birds and other wildlife, with people ready to conserve and enhance natural resources. This is not only good for the birds, but also for the quality of life for people living in and visiting the cities.
If your city was on the list, you can learn more about the grants from http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/urbantreaty.html

Sunflower Prices At An All Time High
The Sunflower Grower's Association does not have optimistic news about bird seed prices this year. Delayed planting and tight stocks have pushed sunflower prices to an all-time high. The bird food market and crushing plants are offering the old crop price of oil-type sunflower at just shy of $40.00 cwt in a number of locations. New crop prices hit the $30.00 mark in some areas in May and were not predicted to change over the summer. Last year's prices hovered around $15.00 cwt in May.

Since sunflower can grow in varying geographical areas from Canada all the way to the Mexican border because of the versatility it offers to the crop rotation strategy, many farmers hoped it would help them. 

In the Upper Midwest where there is a surplus of moisture, wet soils forced many farmers to "shift things around" according to central ND area farmer Dean Knell. Knell told the National Sunflower Grower's Association that along with others in the Dakotas and Minnesota, they were hopeful about sunflowers this year with few choices remaining at the end of May and a wet cycle that signals no end in sight. North Dakota had been hit particularly hard with floods in late spring, well into the summer.

The sunflower's deep taproot is beneficial at drying out soil in wet areas and, conversely, affords the sunflower excellent drought tolerance in dry regions. Northwestern ND farmer, Kayo Grubb, told the association that they had good luck with fields coming out of sunflower being dryer the following spring. "After sunflower, we've been able to get in there quicker the next year it seems," Grubb said about their rotational strategy.

Conversely, sunflower is the hope of farmers dealing with extreme drought in the High Plains down through South Texas where farmers are looking toward sunflower with promise amidst other failed crops. "Our sunflowers are holding on and look like they will make an average crop for us this year," according to South Texas farmer Mike Hudsonpillar who sees other crops around his region struggling with very little or no rainfall over the past several months.

This could be another challenge to the wild bird retail industry as we head into the Holiday Season.

Bird Feeder Cleaning Law Struck Down In Ohio
Council of Ward 7 in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio proposed a controversial ordinance that would have required residents to clean up their bird feeders, and met with serious controversy around the world after it was picked up by the popular Drudge Report website.

After several calls, emails and letters not to mention unwanted worldwide publicity of the proposal, the idea was withdrawn. The Council discovered there are three ordinances on the books that cover the situation.

Despite a month of bad publicity and stress that Councilman James called ''for the birds,'' he said he is not ashamed of proposing what has come to be known as the ''bird feeder ordinance.''

This had more to do with people being angry that the government was attempting to legislate how to run their feeding stations, but is a good reminder that customers need to be aware that a clean feeding station is not only best for the birds, but appreciated by neighbors.


Wild Bird Centers Sponsors
"Changing the Face of American Birding"
The Wild Bird Centers of America is proud to help sponsor a pioneering conference on October 22, 2011 at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge near Philadelphia, PA. The conference will be conducted by birding luminaries from around the USA who will explore the conference's theme, "Changing the Face of American Birding", as speakers and workshop leaders. Full details are available at the Fledging Birders Institute at www.fledgingbirders.org.

George Petrides, Jr., CEO said that "supporting this conference is important to the bird feeding and bird watching hobby as we present our birding franchise opportunity to new and growing audiences. This conference will help us better understand that exciting future."

The conference will review the current status of the birding community, examine factors that have limited participation by various demographic groups and facilitate effective outreach to new birding audiences. The diversity of North American birds is one of the most compelling factors that draws millions of people to this very popular hobby yet the established birding community does not yet reflect a similar diversity within its ranks.

Tomorrow's Bird Feeding Starts Today
"Dedicated wild bird feeders are the key to the long term survival of our industry" says Sue Hays, W.B.F.I.'s Executive Director. The big questions have been:

How do we increase the number of people feeding wild birds?

How do we remind people to fill their bird feeders, replace feeders, and use quality products?

The Wild Bird Feeding Industry's Research Foundation will launch its US and Canada consumer education program this fall in an effort to expose 15-20 million new people to a broad range of touch points including websites, magazine articles, media coverage, social media activity and lecture and conference speakers.

To achieve this, the trustees are working to raise money not only to support the Foundation, but to make its consumer education outreach initiative broader and stronger. The latest communication tools such as social media, mobile media, and video, among others, all help the association to remain current, approachable, accessible and relevant.

As a non-profit, the Foundation relies almost exclusively on donations and contributions to sustain it and to fund its initiatives. The Foundation can be a tax-exempt vehicle for people and companies to contribute to its consumer education program in order to expand the hobby of backyard wild bird feeding. Check out www.wbfi.org for more detail.