Feeding Your Winter Birds
For birds that don’t migrate south, winter can be a challenge. Cold days and nights require that birds expend a lot of energy keeping warm. Winter birds forage all day long, and tend to take in the most food right before roosting in the evening, to provide them with the energy to keep warm throughout the night.
With that in mind, be sure your bird feeders are kept full at all times, especially in the late afternoon. And providing foods that are high in fat will supply the calories birds need while they’re not feeding at night. Two good food choices are plain black oil sunflower seeds that were developed for their high oil content, and also suet—.jpg)
rendered beef fat. Solid vegetable shortening can also be used—studies have shown that it’s more easily digested than beef fat and provides the same fat calories. Birds crave these high fat foods in winter. Mixes that contain a lot of nuts are good too, since nuts have a high oil content. Sunflower seeds and nut mixes can be offered in a hopper, tube or platform feeder, and suet can be hung in a suet basket, or just placed on a platform feeder. Avoid using seed mixes that have a lot of “filler” seeds in them, such as wheat, milo, canary seed and millet. Often these seeds will end up on the ground as birds flick through the seed to find the higher quality seeds and nuts they’re looking for. An exception is millet—doves, juncos, sparrows and other ground feeding birds tend to like it, but they’ll like plain, black oil seeds just as much. 
Where you put your birdfeeders may also need to be changed in winter. Try to find a sunny location, sheltered from gusting winds. Wind is much more difficult for birds to deal with than just cold. And having several feeders up will prevent squabbles as birds vie for food and their position on the bird feeders. 
Providing water for your winter birds cannot be stressed enough. Birds need water for drinking, but on days when all their water sources are frozen over, birds sometimes resort to eating snow. That chills their bodies and uses lots of energy to heat the water to their internal body temperature. That’s energy better spent keeping warm.
Water is not only necessary for drinking—birds need it for bathing too. In winter, keeping feathers oil and dirt-free is essential for insulation against wind and cold, 
and also for flight from predators. Dirty feathers spell disaster for winter birds. But even on warmer, sunny winter days when birds want to bathe, water on ponds and streams can still remain frozen and unusable. Give birds an open water source with either a heated bird bath, or by installing a bird bath heater in your existing bird bath.
and also for flight from predators. Dirty feathers spell disaster for winter birds. But even on warmer, sunny winter days when birds want to bathe, water on ponds and streams can still remain frozen and unusable. Give birds an open water source with either a heated bird bath, or by installing a bird bath heater in your existing bird bath. With just sunflower seeds, suet and ice-free water, you can help your birds survive and stay healthy all winter long.
- Posted at Tuesday, December 16, 2008 12:52 PM
- In Wild Bird Feeding Category | Permalink
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I'm having an unususal number of house finches at my feeders this year. I have some each year but this year is unusual. And I' having the usual mix of sparrows....English sparrows (a pain in the neck since there are so many) a lot of cardinals, quite a few green jays, woodpeckers, whitecrowned sparrows, field sparrows, mocking birds, etc. I've been putting out a lot of bread scraps, stale cookies and crackers. I have a bag of dog food that my nephew brought to me when he gave me a dog.....the dog won't eat it, but the birds love it.....and if they kick some out on the ground, the dog likes to pick it up and eat it!!!!! I had a large hawk in the yard yesterday and he cleared the area real quickly. It's very cold here now....in the low to mid thirties with 25 mile winds so I religously put out the feed and water but sometimes it's and effort to get myself out there to do it.
Kenedy, Texas
Posted by Sis Regmund on Monday, December 22, 2008 10:44 AM
I have 5 feeders that I keep filled with sunflower hearts and I clean & refill my heated birdbath every evening when I get home from work. With 2 big snowstorms back to back this past weekend the birds were in a feeding frenzy and a dozen at a time were getting warm drinks. During the storm over 40 Mourning Doves were sitting in 1 tree, and even 2 Crows swooped in to pick seed up out of the snow beneath the feeders. I'd never seen them do that before! A lone Starling has been at the feeders too, maybe he got lost and is now stuck here? I have suet set out in two different spots and the birds love it along with the Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers. I'm thrilled to help out my feathered friends, they provide hours of entertainment. The squirrels dine at their own feeder on the pine tree and the skunks, chipmunks and even an Opposum enjoy the fallen seeds on the ground. We're having a blast watching the action. So even with 2 feet of snow and temps down to 4* already, I will continue to feed & water the wildlife in my yard to help them survive too.
Posted by Barb in NH on Monday, December 22, 2008 04:14 PM
I am being do diligent about feeding and keeping the birdfeeds filled but this year I have way to many house sparrows!!! I have my usual variety of purple finches, chickadees, cardinals, some doves, lots of different woodpeckers, tufted titmice, but these birds are getting literally shoved off the feeders by these sparrows.I have changed the feeders to contain black-oiled sunflower seeds and safflower seeds to try to offer something they may not "love to eat". Any suggestions to help with my dilemma?
Posted by Jan on Monday, December 22, 2008 08:21 PM
I too had a problem with sparrows. So I bought a sattelite feeder.Its got black oil sunflower seeds. It helped a little. I also have a tube feeder with peanuts, and an upside down suet feeder and a regular one. My neighbor feeds the bird seed so it kind of distracts the sparrows until they eat all his seed. Then they come back to my house to eat the food that the books and bird store say they don't like. I think I might have to start paying my neighbor to keep feeding bird seed.
Posted by Karen Patterson on Tuesday, December 23, 2008 11:14 AM
I have to many sparrows at my feeders. They empty the feeders daily. I have 5 feeders with Blackoil sunflower seeds and they chase alot of the other birds away. Any suggestions to keep them at bay that the other birds can feed also?
Posted by Carol Kuzo on Saturday, January 17, 2009 05:58 PM