How to Help Birds Weather
Winter
From ENN.com
Winter is prime time for
attracting birds. Beckoning birds to your backyard in winter can be easier than
in any other season if you provide what they need to weather and survive the
coldest months.
Scarcity of natural available
food, cold temperatures and severe storms push bird mortality high all winter
long. You can help birds meet their nutritional needs during wintertime, and
will surely be rewarded with a diverse, frequent flock of feathered friends.
There’s lots of birdfeed
to choose from, much of it is produced as a sideline business and can contain
low quality fill that birds just won’t eat. Some birdfeed has even been
identified as containing toxins known to be harmful to wildlife. Responsible
research on your bird feed choices will provide birds with the food they
require and protect them from toxic chemicals.
Companies like Cole’s
wild bird feed offer a wide variety of seed, suet and specialty products
specifically formulated to attract birds. Their entire line of products is all
natural; seed is top of the crop pulls with absolutely no fillers,
preservatives, mineral oils, or pesticides, so you can be sure you’re giving
your backyard birds the best in high quality, safe food choices they’ll love.
Birding expert Elaine
Cole offers some timely tips to ensure birds in your backyard this winter
season.
Food
Feeding birds is by far
the simplest way to attract them. Adding the best winter bird food
choices to your feeders when the temperatures drop, will give birds the extra
energy they need to survive even the worst weather. Foods high in oil and fat
are the most popular winter picks.
* Black oil sunflower
seeds –Seeds have slightly thinner shells and a higher oil content than other
types of sunflower seeds, making them a more efficient and nutritious food.
Offer them in platform, tube or hopper feeders to attract a wide range of
hungry birds. You can eliminate discarded shells (that lie under snow and
damage new grass in spring) by serving Cole’s Sunflower Meats, with shells
already removed.
* Suet – For maximum
calories, suet is an optimum winter food choice. Cole’s offers no-melt suet
cakes as well as suet specialty feed blends adding nuts, seed and other
enticing elements into the suet.
* Peanuts – From jays
and titmice to nuthatches and chickadees, many backyard birds love this
high-calorie, fat-rich nut. Because peanuts don’t freeze, they’re perfect for
winter feeding.
* Niger – Also known as
thistle seed is a favorite food for winter finches such as pine siskins,
redpolls, and goldfinches. Another oily seed that offers lots of calories,
niger helps birds store fat they need to keep warm.
* Fruit – Many songbirds
that favor fruit migrate in winter, but many other birds that stay in snowy
areas year-round will also enjoy the treat. Offer chopped apples, orange
wedges, or banana slices, on platform feeders, spikes or nailed to trees.
Chopped or dried fruit can also be added to suet mixtures. Cole’s Nutberry Suet
combines fruits, nuts and seed, making it a perfect choice.
* Seed mixes – For
convenient and economical winter feeding; nothing beats a good-quality birdseed
mix. While birds can probably tell a good mix just by looking at it, humans
cannot. Choose a mix that features large proportions of sunflower seeds and
millet, but avoid mixes with large proportions of unappetizing fillers such as
wheat, milo and corn. Birds will pick out the yummy stuff and leave the filler
– and a big mess – behind. Learn about seed mixes at www.coleswildbird.com.
Water- Fresh, liquid, moving water using birdbath
spritzers or fountains will readily attract many backyard birds in winter. Add
a heater to your water supply and you’ll be surprised at the number of birds
that use it.
Shelter- A cozy place to roost will keep your backyard
birds secure and comfortable even in the worst weather. Bird roost boxes and
other shelters are essential to protect small birds from frigid, dropping
temperatures. Offer birds a source of winter nesting material to use as
insulation.
Serve safely- Just as backyard birds may be more desperate
during the lean times of winter, so are predators such as cats and hawks.
Position bird feeders in a safe place to protect them and pay attention to
prints in the snow to learn what predators may be threatening your feeders.
Start now preparing your
yard for winter so birds will learn it’s a safe place long before they’re in
desperate need. By providing for birds’ basic needs as cold weather approaches,
it can be easy to attract birds to your yard in winter. You’ll enjoy their
company even when the weather is at its worst.