Winter is for the Birds!

Winter is an important time to maintain your feeding stations and birdbaths. Many species of birds have increased their winter survival rates by frequenting backyard feeders throughout the season.

Water In Winter
Benefits For Wild Birds

Providing fresh water for wild birds during the cold winter months offers birds a greater chance of survival. Bathing will help to improve the insulative capacities of their feathers. Eating and melting snow has a high metabolic cost for birds, drinking water will help reduce this metabolic expense. Heated birdbaths or adding a heating element to your current birdbath will keep water from freezing over. Learn more about providing for birds in the winter by reading Enjoying Bird Feeding More by Bird Watchers Digest.


High Energy Foods
Kernels, Nuggets & More

Winter is a great time to offer new foods to your backyard birds. Here are some great high energy foods for your birds to discover:
-- Sunflower Treat - Ingredients: Shelled sunflower kernels, In-shell sunflower seed. Offering sunflower seeds out of the shell, we call it Sunflower Treat, is a great way to help birds conserve energy. Not having a shell to remove means there will be less mess under the feeder, too!
-- Suet Nuggets - Ingredients: Rendered beef suet, peanuts, corn, oats. Available in 4 flavors: Berry, Bluebird, Orange and Peanut. Mix suet nuggets in with your current seed mix or offer alone. The birds will appreciate the boost in energy suet provides.
-- Insects and Worms - Birds will love the opportunity to feast on these in winter when live insects are scarce. Offer insects with these Insect Suet Cakes or Choice Insect Suet Logs. Mealworms come conveniently in a resealable bag or can and are best offered in their own feeder, mixed in seed or made available on the ground.

Find all of these great items and more at Wild Class Nature Center.

Thanks for reading!

Happy Birding...

Simple Seed Strategies

With so many types of seed and seed mixes available, it can be confusing knowing which seeds (or peanuts!) to offer in your feeders. Here's a quick rundown on your backyard birds' preferences:

• Millet: Small seeds that are round and range in color from golden tan to reddish brown. White proso millet helps attract birds to a new feeder since it is more visible. Attracts buntings, doves, finches, juncos, pheasants, quail, siskins, native sparrows, towhees, thrushes, Carolina wrens. Even bluebirds and robins will eat millet when food is scarce in winter.
  
• Milo: Hard, round, reddish seeds that only a few birds favor. When there are other seeds available in a feeder, birds will discard the milo or ignore it completely. Milo is found in inexpensive seed mixes because it is cheap and relatively big which makes it a popular filler. Attracts doves, pheasants, quail, wild turkeys.
  
• Safflower: Small, plump white seeds. Popular seed for discouraging jays and squirrels from feeders because of the bitter taste. Buy safflower to add to your current mix or use it alone. Attracts cardinals, chickadees.
  
• Striped Sunflower: Larger and thicker-shelled than black-oil sunflower. Frequently found in seed mixes, striped sunflower is a favorite food item for large-billed birds capable of cracking the shells. Attracts cardinals, jays (squirrels, chipmunks!).
  
• Black Oil Sunflower: Small black seed with a thin shell, it is the most common type of seed offered at feeders in North America. High in energy, it is the preferred food item for a wide variety of birds. Attracts cardinals, chickadees, finches, sparrows, grosbeaks, titmice, nuthatches, woodpeckers, wrens, jays and many, many more!
  
• Nyjer/Thistle: Tiny, thin black seeds. Nyjer is costlier by the pound than most other seeds but a little goes a long way. Offer in feeders specifically made for nyjer to prevent the tiny seeds from spilling out onto the ground. Nyjer is heat treated to prevent pesky weeds from growing under feeders. Attracts goldfinches, house finches, purple finches, pine siskins.
  
• Peanuts: Shelled peanuts are a popular addition to any feeding station. Attracts chickadees, jays, juncos, nuthatches, sparrows, titmice, woodpeckers. In-shell peanuts are a favorite for jays and, of course, squirrels!
  

Knowing which seed or seeds a particular species likes is only half the battle.... you also have to make sure you are offering it in the proper feeder for the species!