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. 
“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.