While year-round bird feeding is a source of enjoyment for our family, nothing beats the rewards of winter feeding. Step outside to fill your feeders and just “listen” to how much the birds love you. The bright Blue Jan will announce to the neighborhood your arrival. Quickly I start to my favorites, the Chickadees, making their chick-a-dee-dee-dee calls. No sooner than you step back inside than you’re likely to see the vivid red of a male Cardinal scanning the ground for seeds you’ve dropped.
When should you feed? When you can enjoy it, but you just like you and me, the birds are hungry when hey roll out of bed (or off the perch, as the case may be be). Start your pot of shadegrown coffee and then pull on a jacket, slip into boots and fill your feeders. The chill morning air will quickly wake you, and you get the bonus of a show of color, sound and enthusiasm equaled by no morning TV or radio talk show!
In cold weather, birds become big eaters out of necessity. Margaret Clark Brittingham, a wildlife ecologist conducting research in Wisconsin, found that a Chickadee in mild winter weather must eat the equivalent of 150 sunflower seeds a day to stay alive. When the temperature drops below 0 degrees F, the number of seeds increases to 250. However, Brittingham’s study also fund that Chickadees frequenting feeders still foraged 75-80% of the daily energy requirements. So enjoy helping out Chickadees and other birds this winter, but don’t worry that they are depending on you for survival. Because winter weather greatly increases energy needs, I feel feeding “suet” is a must. Suet is high in fat (2.5 times the calories per gram than grains) it’s a “high-octane” winter food for birds. My favorite suet cakes are the Peanut Butter Cakes. Want a suet feeder that birds love so much you can’t keep it filled?? Try our Suet Logs and our ” Suet Plugs.” The Plugs are made specifications (they contain no fillers and they fit our log holes). I guarantee this will be the favorite feeder in the yard.
Want to start or end your day stress-free? Now is the time to enjoy bird feeding. You and your birds will be glad you did!
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