Shepherd’s Home Hardware Outdoor Living Centre is for the birds

Like many Canadians in winter a lot of birds migrate to warmer climates to deal with the cold months, in fact an estimated 400 native species of birds in Canada will migrate annually ranging from Canada Geese to some species hummingbirds.

Not every bird has the desire or luxury to fly south and those fine feathered friends often need some assistance for human’s to make it through chilly northern winters.

Shepherd’s Home Hardware Outdoor Living Centre in downtown Armstrong carries every type of bird seed applicable to the North Okanagan bird population.

“We carry the black oil sunflower seed and that will feed most of the backyard birds like, blue jays, cardinals, finches, chickadees, evening grosbeaks, mourning doves, pine siskins, nuthatches, tufted titmice, white-throated sparrows,” Staff horticulturalist Candice Charest said. “We also have some mixed bird seeds that carry the sunflowers, millet, cracked corn and wheat.”

When the temperature plummets birds require additional calories to keep from freezing.

“For the really cold winter months we carry our suet packs and that has the extra fat that the birds need to stay warm during the cold weather,” Charest said.

Having the right feeder for the right seed or suet and a specific type of bird is also important. Shepherd’s Home Hardware carries dozens of different feeders.

“We have the feeders specifically made for your suet blocks, we also have feeders that will hold what they call granola bars and then we also have the bird feeders that will hold bulk seed for the majority of your birds,” Charest added.

You can find all your bird seed and feed needs at Shepherd’s Home Hardware Outdoor Living Centre in Armstrong or online www.shepherdshardware.ca.