Photo: Red-bellied Woodpecker, Steve Donovan/Audubon Photography Awards
Annette Skye
We can help our bird friends survive winter weather by providing them both food and water, particularly in urban and suburban areas where native habitat may be scarce. If your yard is already a wildlife sanctuary, providing supplemental food and water can make it even more attractive to winter birds. Careful preparation, maintaining your equipment and selection of nourishing food all are key to ensuring a successful and healthy feeding station.
Keep It Clean!
Northern Cardinal, Angela W/Audubon Photography Awards
If you have stored feeders since last winter, make sure you give them a good cleaning before filling them. This will ensure you aren’t transferring any bacteria from remnants of food that may have been sitting in the feeder for months. According to National Audubon’s 11 Tips for Feeding Backyard Birds, uneaten seed can be a source for deadly mold. You can clean birdfeeders with dish soap, although some authorities suggest an additional decontamination with a 10 percent solution of non-chlorine bleach. Cornell’s Winter Bird Feeding pamphlet suggests using a weak bleach solution if there’s evidence of disease in your yard. Always make sure the feeder is completely dry before filling it, to avoid mold growth.
After that initial cleaning, clean the feeders again at least every two weeks, and, unless snow prevents it, clean up seed waste under the feeders often. If you use already hulled bird seed you may avoid some of the mess. Discarded seed and seed waste can get moldy even in winter, and birds feces can contaminate fallen seed under feeders.
Pick High-Quality, High-Energy Food
Although inexpensive wild bird seed blends available in many stores may be tempting, it pays to spend a little more money for quality food. Cheaper blends often include filler grains such as red milo, which birds by and large will not eat. The food is wasted, and, when birds fling it to the ground to get to something they prefer, the waste grains and seed can attract pests as well as make it more difficult to keep the feeding station clean and free of mold. There are a variety of high-quality mixes to meet specific aims, such as avoiding mess or attracting certain kinds of birds. See Mixology: Breaking Down 5 Common Birdseed Blends.
Black oil sunflower seeds will attract a large variety of birds. They are easy for birds to crack open and provide high-energy, oil-rich meat. Some kinds of food are preferred by different birds. Cracked corn, peanuts, Nyger seed, safflower seed, millet and suet all have their fans. To attract a variety of birds, provide a variety of foods. See Who Likes What: The Favorite Birdseed of Feeder Regulars and Rarities. Suet varieties can include peanut butter, insects and berries to attract different birds as well. And, if you don’t have a feeder, suet balls and seed wreaths are readily available options during winter.
Provide a Clean, Heated Water Source
Birds appreciate a source of clean, unfrozen water in winter, for drinking and bathing. If you have a bird bath, a bird bath heater will help to prevent the water from freezing over. Be sure you only plug a heater into a ground-fault interrupted circuit to prevent shorts. If you don’t have a grounded outdoor outlet, a National Wildlife Federation Blog suggests buying several heavy-duty plant saucers so that you can replace frozen baths with fresh ones each morning. See Don't Forget Water for Birds in Winter. Of course, it’s just as important to keep bird baths clean as it is feeders. Change the water daily and clean the bird baths completely at least every two weeks, following the same guidelines as for cleaning feeders.
Pine Siskin, Christopher Baker/Audubon Photography Awards
Be Wary of Predators
Flocks of birds in your back yard may attract predators. It’s not uncommon for a Cooper’s Hawk to stake out a yard with bird feeders. If you notice repeated predation, take the feeders down for a while to encourage the hawk to look for another source of food. Do the same if a neighborhood cat stakes out your feeding station.
If you take care and follow a few simple rules, you can enjoy watching birds from the warmth of your home, even when the weather is frightful!
Annette Skye is an avid gardener who enjoys birdwatching.