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December 04, 2007

Don't forget to feed the birds!

This recent cold snap got me thinking about our feathered friends. Winter is a difficult time of the year for the birds. Not only do they have to deal with cold temperatures, but limited food and water supplies. Many fruits and berries are gone and bugs and insects are hard to find. A lack of rainfall has diminished water resources and cold temperatures have frozen most existing water supplies.

Most bird species will switch from a diet of insects and fruits to a diet of seeds and grains during the cold winter months. Chickadees, Titmice, Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers and White-breasted Nuthatches will store insects and nuts for winter consumption and join flocks that contain several bird species to forage for food.

You can help those seed-eating birds by putting birdfeeders up in your yard and there are some seed that are better than others to feed during the winter. Oil sunflower seed has high fat and protein content and most birds can eat this seed due to its thin outer shell. Cardinals, Blue Jays, chickadees and woodpeckers are especially fond of Black oil sunflower seed.

Of course variety is the spice of life and you can include a good seed mix to attract other birds. Many seed mixes include Black Oil Sunflower Seed, Striped Sunflower Seed, Safflower Seed and Millet. It will not be unusual to find Mourning Doves, Carolina Wrens, Chickadees, Cardinals, Blue Jays and Sparrows dining on a good seed mix. Just be sure that any seed mix you purchase does not contain milo, as this is a filler and the birds will simply toss it to the ground. Goldfinches and House Finches enjoy Thistle. Thistle is a tiny seed that needs a special feeder but can easily be found in grocery, feed, department and bird feeding specialty stores.

And don’t forget those ground-feeding birds! White-throated Sparrows, House Sparrows, Mourning Doves, Dark-eyed Juncos (and Cardinals too!) usually forage for seed on the ground beneath the feeders. I usually place a healthy amount of millet under my feeders for these birds, but you can avoid the mess and purchase a ground feeder that has been made for this purpose.

Suet is also an excellent source of fat for our feathered friends, especially since the birds need a high number of calories to keep their bodies warm. Suet is rendered beef fat that is prepackaged and sold in grocery, feed, department and bird feeding specialty stores. Sometimes the suet will contain other ingredients, such as peanuts, peanut butter, seed, insects and fruit. You can also make your own suet and recipes are easily found on the Internet. The base ingredient for most homemade suet is peanut butter, but Crisco or lard is a great substitute for those with peanut allergies.

Woodpeckers are especially fond of suet, but you may also find Carolina Wrens, Chickadees, Titmice and Blue Jays flocking to your suet feeder.

Whole Peanuts are another source of high fat and protein. You can either buy a peanut feeder or string them with yarn on your feeder or in the trees. And the same birds that enjoy suet will snatch those peanuts up to eat.

Water is just as important to these birds as food. Obviously water is prone to freezing this time of year, but hardware stores and bird feeding specialty stores sell immersion heaters and there are birdbaths that have built-in heating units.

Not only do the birds benefit from the seed and water, but you do as well! It’s fun to watch our feathered friends hop and flit about the feeders. You can keep a tally of the different bird species you see at the feeders, watch their eating behavior or see how often the birds go the water for a bath or a drink. You can also participate in Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Project Feeder Watch or Great Backyard Bird Count as a citizen scientist.

Whether you decide to keep it simple or get involved with observations, make sure you feed the birds this winter!

Posted by Colleen Crank on December 4, 2007 02:13 PM

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