I am feeling the love of Winter. February is the month of love anyway, so why not try just to accept winter and love it?

Even though it is mostly cold and gray out, I still find beauty in the midst of winter.  Snow?  Yes, it can be disturbing to your daily work drive, and yes it can cause chaos on the roads, but when you take a deeper look at it, its beauty is unmeasurable.  White and bright.  It seems to twinkle like crushed diamonds.  I remember one evening when I was walking down the street while it was snowing.  The quietness of it was so mesmerizing and the sheer beauty of it was spectacular!  …I felt so peaceful and content.

Now Ice on the other hand leaves my mind blank since I absolutely cannot find any love or beauty in it.  At all.  The only place I want ice is in my drink. 

One of the things I like to do that also gives me love and joy is to watch the birds outside flocking to my feeders. It makes me smile; it makes me laugh.  It entertains me.  And some of these birds are so beautiful! 

I did some research and found out that the following birds are most common in the backyards of our area:

American Crow (47.2%)

Northern Cardinal (46.6%)

Tufted Titmouse (39.4%)

Blue Jay (38.3%)

Downy Woodpecker (38.2%)

Song Sparrow (37%)

 Carolina Wren (36.7%)

White-breasted Nuthatch (35.8%)

 Dark-eyed Junco (31.7%)

Red-bellied Woodpecker (31.4%)

Carolina Chickadee (30.1%)

These are just a few of the birds that one may see in our local area during the winter.

I also love purchasing cute bird feeders at the Marshall County Co-op and filling them with various types of seegs.  Some of my favorites were the cute Barnhouse and the cool Owl.  In addition to cute bird feeders, I also purchase tasty suet cakes and just watch the birds go crazy over it.

Some of the seeds I purchased were “Birds Luv Em”  brand seeds, coming in premium, economy, and classic blends along with a Farm Fresh Harvest Mix.  

I found Audubon Park premium blend and Feeders Select Wild Bird food, along with their striped and black oil Sunflowers seeds.

Some of people’s favorites of this brand also include sunflower hearts and chips, safflower seeds, and no waste blend.

They also have a critter crunch and a Sweet Corn Squirrel log for feeding the squirrels who relentlessly try to steal the birdseeds from the birds.  Luckily there is a way to

prevent the squirrels from doing this.  It is a squirrel baffle that you can install and will help keep squirrels away from the feeders.  They also have this at the Marshall County Co-op.

It is so funny to watch these birds and animals and I find myself not wanting to stop watching them!  I don’t want to miss a thing! 

Another cute bird seed idea is the songbird bell wild bird food that looks like a bell.  How adorable is this!

The bugs for bird bag almost made me slightly gag since I was looking at dried worms, through the bag. I found out that you can mix this with your seeds and the birds will go wild!  That makes it so worth buying for them!

If you are looking for something that will make you feel love and some joy, why not start up a new hobby, get yourself a birdfeeder and start watching the birds.  And always remember that the Marshall County Co-op is there for you for all your questions or concerns about the right birdfeed, etc.  Stop in and browse.

 That too will give you some joy!