Wood Thrush Notes: Upcoming Events

Warner Parks Hummingbird Celebration

Next Saturday, September the 13th, join us as we take our show on the road, literally! John will be manning our booth at the Warner Park’s Hummingbird Celebration with all of our favorite hummingbird merchandise, including feeders, nectar, accessories, and more! As the name implies, the Hummingbird Celebration is 5 hours of hummingbird themed fun located right down the road at the Warner Park Nature Center. Festivities begin at 9am, and will include hummingbird banding and viewing stations, other vendor booths, as well as food and drink. Our good friends at Harmony Wildlife will also have a booth there dedicated to what they do, so you can come and say hello to your friendly neighborhood wildlife rehabilitators! At 1PM inside the nature center, Habitat Landscapes founder Ivan Chester will be giving a presentation titled “Gardening to Attract Hummingbirds and Pollinators,” highlighting how traditional landscaping often offers little benefit to wildlife, and more beneficial alternative methods to attract hummingbirds and pollinators. Admission is free, and there is something there for people of all ages, so come on down and see us! Gates open at 9am and the festivities continue till 2pm.

Our Booth Last Year

Hummingbird Happy Hour

If you are looking for something a little more mellow, then perhaps the Warner Park’s Hummingbird Happy Hour is more your speed. Enjoy beer, cocktails, and hors d'oeuvres amongst the flowers and hummingbirds of the Nature Center. While this event does require the purchase of a ticket for admittance, you can feel good about where your money is going as all proceeds from ticket sales support Warner Park’s Bird Information Research and Data (B.I.R.D) program. Tickets are $75, and I will link to the page to purchase them here. As there will be alcohol, you must be 21+ to attend. The party kicks off at 5:30 and will run till 7:30.

Common Nighthawks on the Move

This evening as I was walking the door to leave, I saw some medium sized birds flying in circles above the parking lot across the street. A look through a pair of binoculars revealed that they were, as you might have guessed from the title, Common Nighthawks! These interesting birds have one of the longest migrations of any bird here in North America, flying from as far south as Argentina as far north as the Yukon Territory in Canada. Surprisingly, one of the best places to find these members of the nightjar family is in illuminated parking lots around dawn and dusk as they swoop gracefully around light poles catching insects. They are beginning be reported congregating in numbers of upwards of 150 birds, although I only saw a modest 4-5 while closing the shop.












Wood Thrush Notes: Fall Migration, A Record Hummingbird

Fall Migration

With summer winding down and autumn right around the corner, Fall Migration is underway! We love Fall Migration at the Wood Thrush Shop. Few things serve as a better distraction to the trickle of House Finches and raggedy bald Cardinals at our feeders than the chance at seeing something unusual that requires the retrieval of a field guide off the book shelf!

Just the other day while passing through Ashland City, I observed four Great Egrets in the mud flats of Marrowbone Creek. These large, graceful members of the Egret family can be found the world over, but are most commonly seen here in Middle Tennessee during the Spring and Fall Migrations.

With Fall Migration also comes the nonbreeding plumage warblers, which can provide a fun challenge for the enthusiastic birder. As the breeding season has concluded, not only are many species no longer sporting their vibrant spring plumage, the males are also no longer singing their distinctive songs to aid in identification.

Don’t have time to go traveling around to find interesting birds? That is one of the great things about the migration months, sometimes the birds come to you! For example, both of these warblers below were right out in my own front yard. Birding can’t get much easier than that!

A Record Hummingbird

Last week, the small town of Dover, TN. was the location of a new record in the birding world, thanks to an important discovery made by Cyndi Rutledge and Southeastern Avian Research! While banding hummingbirds, in the backyard of a resident, they re-captured a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird by the name of K78219. So, what’s so special about K78219 you ask yourself? This particular hummingbird has the distinction of being the oldest known Ruby-throated Hummingbird on record!

First captured on July 14th, 2017, K78219 was so unbothered by his capture that he returned and was caught again in 2018, 2020, and 2021. He didn’t resurface again until August of 2024, where he was calculated to be at least 8 years and 2 months old. Excitement began to build during the offseason with the knowledge that if the bird returned the following year, it might be a record.

Sure enough, on July 22nd 2025, K78219 was captured again at the ripe age of 9 years and 1 month old, making him the oldest ever male Ruby-throated Hummingbird! This story doesn’t end there, though… A month later on August 20th, the same bird was captured again, putting its age at 9 years, 2 months, and 20 days, officially making it the oldest Ruby-throated Hummingbird ever captured!

The Oldest Ruby-throated Hummingbird Ever Recorded

Photo Credit: Cyndi Rutledge, Southeastern Avian Research






Wood Thrush Notes: Decreased Feeder Activity, Hummingbird Feeders on Sale, Select Fountains on Sale

Decreased Activity at Feeders

Have you noticed a slowdown at your bird feeders? Over the last few weeks, we have begun to receive our annual “where are my birds?” questions and if you are one of the many folks noticing this, we’d like to put your mind at ease. This is normal, and we experience this every year around this time.

There are a couple reasons for this. Remember back in May and June, when it felt like you were refilling your feeders once or twice a day? During those months, (the busiest time of year at the feeders) birds are eating not only for themselves, but for their young as well. Fast forward to late summer/fall, the young have left the nest, the breeding season has concluded, so they now only have to eat enough for themselves.

The other reason for reduced feeder activity is because everything in nature that produces food, be it nuts, seeds, fruits, or berries has or is producing food right now. This coupled with the warm weather means that insects are still extremely prevalent, (as you’ve likely discovered for yourself if you have tried to go outside to enjoy the last few nice evenings.) so there is an abundance of food available for them in the wild this time of year. Our weekly seed shipments are how we know that the birds never depend on our feeder offerings; during May and June, we have to order between 7,000-9,000 pounds of seed each week. During September and October however, we might order as little as 3,000 pounds per week.

To summarize, if you have started to notice a decline in your feeder activity, there is nothing wrong, it is all part of the natural order of things. Feeder activity will begin to increase again once we get into November, with cooler temperatures becoming the norm and insects becoming scarce. In the meantime though, we do have a few suggestions for ways to get your birding fix.

Pileated Woodpeckers Feeding

Photo by Eli Haislip

Peak Activity at Hummingbird Feeders, Hummingbird Sale

While things might be slowing down at your seed feeders, hummingbird feeders are a different story. August and September are actually the busiest time of the year at hummingbird feeders. That’s right! If you put up a feeder this spring and became discouraged by the lack of activity, not only is it not too late, now is the best time. Now that hummingbirds have concluded their nesting, they are turning their attention to fattening up for their long migration south. In addition, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds that nested further north are already on the move, meaning they will be passing through and visiting feeders as well as our hummers that spent the season here.

If you want a place nearby to sit, relax, and enjoy impressive numbers of hummingbirds, consider stopping by the Warner Park Nature Center. It is the best place in the area to watch hummingbirds!

We also inevitably get questions about a lack of feeder activity this time of year. While your location often dictates your numbers of hummers, a complete lack of interest in your feeder is unusual. When we hear this, the first question we ask is always “When was the last time you changed your nectar?” If the answer is more than three days, that is your culprit. During summer temperatures, nectar needs to be changed at least every two to three days, otherwise it will ferment and/or grow mold. Make sure to keep your feeders clean and you nectar fresh, you don’t want to be the person who misses the hummers because of spoiled nectar and dirty feeders!

To celebrate the peak activity, all hummingbird feeders and accessories are 20% off, now through Friday, August 29th!

Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird Visiting a Perky Pet Pinch-waist Feeder

Photo by Eli Haislip

Providing Water, Select Fountains on Sale

Another way to attract birds to your backyard during late summer and fall is by providing water. While running water is the most attractive option, that is not to say they won’t drink or bathe in still water! This week, in addition to our special on hummingbird feeders, our Hydrangea Leaves fountains will also be on sale 20% off! Don’t let the shallow depth of these fountains fool you, birds will still happily drink and splash around in these. Also, because of the depth of the reservoir, a deicer can also be used meaning this fountain can stay out year-round! Our supply is extremely limited, so if you want to take advantage of this sale, it might be worth calling ahead to make sure we are not out.

Campania Hydrangea Leaves Fountain, Regularly $320, This Week, $256

Photo by Campania International

















Wood Thrush Notes: All Iron 25% Off, a White Hummingbird in West Meade

Do you have an old, worn out, leaning pole? Maybe your squirrel baffle still works, but its beauty days are far behind it. Or perhaps you’ve been wanting to buy a deck mount pole to really bring those hummingbirds in close, but you keep putting it off. Now’s the time to stop putting it off and finally make it happen… All Erva iron products in the store are 25% now off through Friday, August 22nd! There are several items included in this we want to highlight, so before you tell yourself you don’t need anything metal and scroll down to read about the white hummingbird, at least skim this section!

SB1D, SB8, and SB2 Baffles

That’s right! Our baffles are also included in the iron sale. Erva baffles are made here in the USA and built to last. When used in the correct situation, they are 100% guaranteed to keep squirrels and racoons off your feeder. The SB1D is our favorite baffle overall. While all three are equally effective, this one has the lowest profile and therefore will collect the least mess from the feeder above. The only thing to keep in mind is due to the design, SB1D baffles will only work on poles where the top can be removed; they will NOT work on standard one piece shepherd poles. (Fortunately though, all our poles are included in the sale as well!) SB2 baffles look like the SB1D but on steroids. These are the baffles that we can guarantee against racoons. While the SB1Ds will probably keep a racoon off, the giant SB2 certainly will. These are also a good deterrent to keep snakes out of your bluebird box. Lastly, we have the conical SB8 baffle. This wraparound model is the one you need if you are using a shepherd pole. Normally, these baffles are $35, $70, and $40 respectively, although this week with the sale price, they are $26.25, $52.50, and $30!

Hummingbird Feeder Poles, Rain Guards, and Decorative Hooks

Our hummingbird feeder poles, ($25 for green, $20 for red, $23 for black before discount) metal rain/sun covers, ($30 for large, $19 for small before discount) and decorative (but functional) hummingbird hooks ($13.50 for black, $15 for red before discount) are part of the sale, too! We are currently in the peak of hummingbird activity at feeders, which will continue now through early September. Even after this, hummingbirds will be passing through with regularity into October, so it’s not too late to get your hummingbird feeding accessories.

A White Hummingbird in West Meade

In the past week, we have received multiple reports from customers living in West Meade of seeing something a little… Different. This mystery flier turned out to be a white Ruby-throated Hummingbird! While this is not unheard of, it is quite rare. Most likely it is leucistic, however without being able to observe it for ourselves, we cannot rule out the even rarer albino as a possibility. If you live in the area and have seen this bird, let us know! Email us any photos or videos you are able to get of it to thewoodthrushshop@gmail.com and we will follow up with an update in our next blog!

Happy Birding!

Wood Thrush Notes: Bald Birds and Preventing Bugs in Seed

What’s Going on with that Bird?

Have you recently seen a Cardinal that looks like it went to a barber shop and told the barber to “give me my money’s worth?” You’re not alone! Every year around this time, we begin to hear reports from customers and see examples on our feeders of bald Northern Cardinals, as well as Blue Jays. As odd as they look, we can assure you that this is normal. Typically, it is caused by molting (the process where birds lose and replace their feathers) although in certain cases it can be caused by feather mites. For most individuals, the feathers will grow back within a few weeks, well before the colder nights of late autumn arrive so there is no need for us to worry!

Strategies to Keep Your Seed Bug Free

It’s the time of the year when birdfeeder activity slows down noticeably after the torrid pace of spring and early summer. August thru October is typically when you will see the least amount of activity at your feeders. Why? Because the breeding season is over, and adult birds no longer have young to raise. Feeders are EXTREMELY important to birds while raising young. Rather than roaming great distances in search of food, taking them away from their nests, they make repeated trips to your feeders. With nesting responsibilities concluded they can now afford to broaden their search for more natural food sources, including seeds of plants and insects which of course are in vast supply.

We will often caution customers against buying large quantities of seed at this point in the season. Instead, they may want to reduce their purchase for now knowing that large quantities of seed may sit in a container for a few months which will likely result in a buggy experience. The bug I’m referring to is the Indian Meal Moth. This little brown moth, about ¼” in. in length, loves dry goods such as seeds, grains, crackers, flour, dry pet food, cereal, etc. Because the seed we sell is never treated with pesticides, it is inevitable a few Meal Moth eggs will find their way into a bag of seed. Given time in a warm, safe container, those eggs will hatch and become the next stage of their lifecycle, a larva. The larvae will then cocoon to later become the moth. Thus the cycle begins.

· Buy smaller quantities. During this time frame, when you do purchase a new bag of seed, make sure you use ALL the remaining seed in your container and give it a good rinse before adding the new bag of seed. You want to make sure there aren’t already the beginnings of insect activity.

· Another great option, and this is something we do here at the shop, is run the bag through the freezer overnight. The cold temperatures in the freezer are cold enough to kill eggs or larvae, thus preventing the issue before it can begin.

· Going back to our first point, we highly recommend not buying more seed than you will go through in a month. If you are able to go through the seed faster than that, that’s even better. Besides, it gives you a chance to come by the shop and see us more often!