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• Bird of the Month
• Best of Glad You Asked
• Project of the Month
• FREE Wallpaper
• Find Us on the Web!

Bird of the Month: Baltimore Oriole

Do you have your oriole feeders ready? You should start seeing these orange beauties in your yard soon. Want to know how to attract them?  

Get our tips for attracting orioles, and listen to their song.

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Best of Glad You Asked

Seeking Spring “Snow”
Our snowball bush blooms in spring, but the show doesn’t last long. We’ve seen other bushes in town that are still blooming into July. Why is this? —Frankie and Donald Hall, Warrensburg, Missouri

Melinda: Several plants go by the common name of snowball bush. The most common spring-blooming types are the viburnums. Some have round white flowers that look like snowballs, while others have flatter flowers with a lacy appearance. The spring blooms fade as summer approaches.

The white flowered hydrangea is also called snowball bush. It produces much larger and rounded flowers in summer. Take a closer look, and you may discover your neighbors are growing this type of hydrangea instead.

Don’t Go, Goldfinch
American goldfinches appear at my feeders near the end of April, then disappear about 2 weeks later. How can I convince these birds to stick around?
—Doug Goodgion, Falls Church, Virginia

George: In May, American goldfinches may move from your backyard to habitat that’s more suitable to their nesting needs. They seek out fields with plenty of thistle plants, which they use to build nests and feed young.

All you can do to keep them around is offer the foods they prefer, such as nyjer (thistle) or sunflower seeds in the shell or medium cracked.

Also, it’s possible that these finches have been in your backyard before April as well. Their olive-brown winter plumage is so dramatically different from yellow summer plumage they begin to sport in spring, that it’s possible they have been visiting your feeders incognito. 

Subscribers can access our Glad You Asked database with hundreds of questions and answers from George and Melinda.

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Project of the Month

This coffee-can birdhouse is a reader favorite, and we wanted to bring it back just in time for spring. Build this inexpensive birdhouse with a recycled can!

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FREE Wallpaper

Download great wallpaper for your computer, like this photo of an American goldfinch on redbud by John McKean.

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Find Us on the Web!

Follow us on Twitter! It’s a great way to stay in touch with our editors and keep up-to-date on contests!

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