Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Shop

NATURE SHOP

Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Shop Susan Haynes

Susan and Bob Haynes have known each other all their lives, and in August 2022, opened a Wild Birds Unlimited franchise together in Culpeper. The store is not just a place to buy bird seed. It is a resource for customers to get in touch with nature. Walking through the Wild Birds store is like walking through nature with Susan and her family as excellent guides to the world of birds. Susan Haynes, who worked as a special education teacher in Orange County, has a vision to educate her customers about wildlife. Having homeschooled four of her now-grown children, they now work at the store. One of their sons even works as a wildlife educator and utilizes non-releasable birds of prey in educational programs around Virginia. He has shown some of his birds in her store and at various events like CulpeperFest. He educates about owls, hawks, falcons and vultures. Given her educational background, Susan Haynes loves to teach about birds and conservation. She wants to help the next generation to love birds as much as she does. She strives to impress upon them conservation awareness early in their lives. “We have lost 2.9 billion birds for various reasons,” Susan Haynes said. Susan teaches how songbirds can be saved if everyone does their part. Some conservation actions include making windows safer to prevent window strikes, keeping cats indoors, reducing the size of lawns, growing native plants and trees, ceasing use of pesticides and herbicides, reducing the use of plastics and observing and sharing bird activities to help scientists know where birds are migrating and nesting each year. “If we all work together, we can make huge strides to preserving our birds and wildlife.” In the store, there are special blends of food to attract a wide variety of birds. They have many large or small bird feeders, bird houses and suet - animal fat easily digested and metabolized by birds like woodpeckers, nuthatches and chickadees. “Some of our feed,” Susan Haynes explained, “while good for birds, discourages squirrels who like to steal the bird seed.” The seed in the store is also regionalized, not nationalized. Seed blends are specialty food for birds in this area. It is full of things birds like to eat. Customers can also shop online for products that are available in the store. And for those who need a bit more guidance with what their bird friends might enjoy, store staff are able to answer questions with excellent advice. Wild Birds Unlimited has a mission to bring people and nature together with education and products designed by experts. The Haynes’s vision is to work with the community to teach about conservation and go to schools to teach about what is best for our environment. Wild Birds Unlimited will soon be well known as not just a bird feeding store, but they will become Culpeper’s local resource for questions and answers to backyard birding and wildlife conservation.