February is National Bird-Feeding Month, because feeder activity picks up as birds molt, fatten up for migration, sing to attract mates and defend territory, and build nests. It's an exhausting schedule. Though the weather may inspire you to sit by the fireplace, birds know that this is the time to get busy for breeding, nests and chicks. A full feeder will give them the edge as they prepare for the intense breeding season.

Left: A Western Bluebird rests on a sycamore branch

February means it's time to put up nesting boxes for beautiful Western Bluebirds. If you are near bluebird habitat—wide lawns and big trees, such as parks, golf courses and cemeteries—they are likely to show up, looking for nest sites. Bluebird expert, Ian Kimbrey, will put up a bluebird box in a tree, if your property is within about a half mile of good habitat. Plus, our store can furnish the live worms and Bug Berry mix that will have the bluebirds laying eggs and hatching chicks in your yard. Contact the store at 424-272-9000 to get to reach Ian.

How can one tiny olive-colored bird make such a racket? That's because it's a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a hyperactive little gleaner, that hovers in bushes to pick bugs off leaves. They can arrive alone or as part of a mixed flock of fellow insect-eaters, such as Bushtits, to clean your bushes of bugs. They also might visit your suet feeder to round out their winter diet with a bit of fat. Though they're known for frantic foraging, you won't see their ruby crown, which resembles an orange mohawk, unless they get really agitated.

Right: This Ruby-crowned Kinglet is reacting to an intruder

They've been pale gray and white all winter, but February is when American Goldfinch males begin to molt into their brilliant yellow and black plumage. The females, by contrast, stay a soft beige, but both have distinctive black and white wing bars. When they are not foraging for seed pods and catkins in your bushes, they happily will visit nyjer feeders, along with their cousins, the Lesser Goldfinches.

Left: This Scrub Jay probably is hoping to steal a peanut

Arriving with a tooth-rattling screech and a flash of blue feathers, bold Western Scrub Jays descend on your feeders looking for peanuts (especially those in the shell) and sunflower hearts. Beyond the feeder, they scour the place for acorns and other seeds, insects and even eggs of other birds. They begin to nest in February, so they are likely to be even hungrier now. Never shy, scrub jays have been known to fly into a house, if they see a chance to grab a peanut, and they always remember the cracks and crevices of your yard where they've hidden those treats.

If you walk near Marina del Rey, watch any tall tree for the big piles of sticks that mark the nests of Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets. If they find a suitable tree, they will nest close to homes and even busy streets, as long as they are near shallow water. The four-foot-tall herons and egrets are imposing sights, as they stand or wade in water, hunting for fish or frogs, or mice in open fields. Great Blues are the most widespread heron in North America.

          Right: A Tree Swallow pair discuss their nesting box

In February Swallows arrive along the coast, but most of them are not the distinctive Cliff Swallows that used to descend en masse at Mission San Juan Capistrano. California has several other native swallows, the Top Guns of the bird world, who swoop and dive to catch insects. Our most common winter visitors are the steel-blue-and-white Tree Swallows, best observed at the Ballona Wetlands, where Friends of the Ballona Wetlands has installed numerous nesting boxes on poles, dead trees being in short supply. Canyon bottoms sometimes host gray and dark brown Northern Rough-Winged Swallows, who appropriate drain holes or weeps in bridges, retaining walls or drainage canals. As always, Cliff Swallows take advantage of freeway overpasses to shelter their mud nests, glued to the concrete.

Jackie and Shadow, Southern California's best-known Bald Eagles, already have laid two eggs, as of this writing, and another could be on the way. Count 36 or 37 days from the first lay (January 23) to watch for a pip, the first sign that a chick is hatching. For more eagle watching, the four nests with cameras on Catalina and the Channel Islands, will begin to lay eggs about February 15. Check out the Institute for Wildlife Studies or YouTube to see all four nests.

Winter is the time for many bird events, where the public is invited to participate. Check out:
--The Great Backyard Bird Count, February 13-16 in 2026, is a fun, family-oriented event where a group counts all the birds they see on at least one day or part of a day on that weekend. Participants can send in their counts using eBird, which makes it easier. The website has all the information about how to participate. 
--Project FeederWatch continues. Even if you are starting late, any counts you do are important.