JAMESTOWN – Last month, Wegmans and the Audubon Center & Sanctuary began a partnership that promises to be good for both wildlife and nature education.

Conewango Blend, Audubon’s own blend of birdseed, is now available in 10-pound bags at Wegmans.

“We’re projecting a 50 percent increase in our birdseed sales,” said Audubon President Ruth Lundin. “With all proceeds benefitting our programs, exhibits, buildings and grounds, purchasing Conewango Blend is a tremendous way to support nature education for all ages.”

Created by a team of local birders, Conewango Blend is carefully balanced to attract the broadest variety of birds with the least waste. It is heavy on black oil sunflower seeds to entice the friendly chickadees, colorful cardinals and acrobatic titmice. It has canary seed for the finches and millet for the soft-spoken mourning doves. Blue jays will enjoy the peanut pieces.

If the winter already seems long to you, feeding wild birds can give you something to look forward to. The Conewango watershed that includes New York’s Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties and Warren County in Pennsylvania is a flyway with a high number of migrating species of birds that can be enticed to feeders.

Twenty- and 40-pound bags of Conewango Blend are available at Ashville General Store, Ashville; Ekey’s Garden Centre, North Warren, Pa.; Hamlet Farms, Sheridan; Herbs R 4 U, Jamestown; Howe’s True Value, Warren, Pa.; Lakewood Apothecary, Lakewood; Lighthouse Point Grocery, Mayville; Russell Veterinary Hospital, Russell, Pa.; as well as at Audubon.

Located at 1600 Riverside Road, one-quarter mile east of Route 62 between Jamestown and Warren, the Audubon Center & Sanctuary has over five miles of beautifully maintained trails. Its 600-acre wetland preserve includes a native tree arboretum and several educational gardens.

The Nature Center building houses a collection of live animals, including fish, reptiles and amphibians, plus interactive displays that inform and engage visitors of all ages. Winter hours are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturdays and Mondays, and 1 to 4:30 p.m. Sundays.

Friends of the Nature Center and children are admitted to the exhibits free of charge; non-member adults pay only $6. Sunday is a free admission day.

There is no charge to visit the Blue Heron Gift Shop, walk or cross-country ski the trails, or observe Liberty, Audubon’s non-releasable bald eagle, in her outdoor habitat behind the Nature Center building. Outdoor activities are available from dawn to dusk daily.

To learn more about Audubon and its many programs, call 569-2345 or visit www.jamestownaudubon.org.