Feeders Bring in Winter Birds

by Kevin Strauss

During and after this week’s snowfall, my backyard birdfeeders, which had
been quiet for much of the December and early January, were covered in pine
siskins and redpolls. It seems that either there is plenty of wild food around
Ely this year, or the birds just hadn’t found my feeders yet. Either way, I was
happy to see them.

While some people who feed birds worry that they will become dependent on
human-supplied seed sources, ornithologists (bird scientists) tell us not to
worry. Bird seem to use bird feeding stations as a supplemental food source,
not as their primary source of winter food. While it is a good idea to keep
feeders full throughout the winter, an empty feed isn’t going to result of
dozens of starving birds in your backyard. The birds will just search for
another feeder, or search for food in the nearby woods.

If you only have the space or funds to feed one kind of seed, many birding
experts suggest putting out black oil sunflower seeds. These seeds have
smaller husks (easier for small birds to open) and a higher fat content than
other sunflower seeds. The high fat content of these seeds are just what
our winter redpolls, nuthatches, grosbeaks and chickadees need to keep
warm. While smaller birds like nuthatches and chickadees can get seeds from
a variety of feeders like “tube” feeders, larger birds like grosbeaks need flat
hanging “platform” feeders to land and get their seeds.

If you want to attract insect-eating birds like downy and hairy woodpeckers,
you can put out suet (beef fat), either in a commercial suet feeder or in an
old onion bag. Most grocery store meat departments like Zups and IGA have
suet for sale, and as long as it is below freezing, you don’t have to worry
about it going rancid. If you don’t want to mess with suet, you can mix a suet
substitute from peanut butter mixed with lard or cornmeal and spread on
tree bark or a pine cone.

Some birds like dark-eyed juncos and several sparrow species, are ground
feeders. You can attract these birds by either sprinkling seeds on the ground
around your feeders, waiting for other birds to spill seeds from your
feeders, or by putting out a ground platform feeder.
In addition to providing food for area birds, you will attract more visitors if
you can provide for their other needs as well. Tree cover, especially
evergreen trees will provide shelter for visiting birds, as will building a loose
brush pile near the feeders. By feeding in sheltered areas, birds won’t have
to use up so much energy shivering to stay warm.

Water can be a tricky thing to provide in the winter, but it can be a magnet
for backyard birds. While birds can eat snow to fulfill their water needs, it is
much easier, and uses less energy for them to drink liquid water where they
can find it. You can either put out plastic bowls of warm water each morning,
or purchase a plug-in heater for your plastic bird bath. Rather than heating
my bird bath around the clock, I plugged my heater into a timer, so it only
heats the water during the day, when birds are most likely to make use of it.
While it may seem like most of our wildlife has either left or is sleeping
through the winter, these hardy songbirds remind us that even they can
handle the cold.