Every autumn, migratory birds leave their native places and fly to warm countries for the winter, but woodpeckers, sparrows, pikas, jays, crossbills, beautiful titmice and bullfinches still remain in the snowy garden.
There is a common misconception that birds do not suffer from severe frosts and hunger in winter, but this is not at all true. Even in the most severe frosts, the body temperature of birds averages 42°C, and for small ones even 45°C. In order to maintain it this way high level they need constant nutrition, which is very difficult to provide in winter, and sometimes, in moderation various reasons, and completely impossible. That is why in winter time Birds often depend on humans for their survival.
In our article we will tell you why to feed birds in winter and tell you how to do it correctly so as not to harm them.
Why feed birds
Birds are excellent helpers in the fight against a variety of pests that can be found in the garden. During the time of feeding the chicks, they can destroy an incredible number of insect pests, hunting for caterpillars and beetles from early morning until late evening.
Receiving feeding in winter, birds become “attached” to a certain place, and in the spring, if they don’t build nests in your garden, they will at least return here to hunt for insects and additional food. In addition, by feeding birds you help maintain their population.
The word “feeding” means that the birds need to be fed, and not fed several times a day. They should find only part of the daily requirement in the feeder, and find the rest in nature - insects in the bark of trees, plant seeds in the ground or under the snow, otherwise the birds may lose their “grip” and will be too dependent on humans.
Just keep in mind that feeding needs to be done correctly; if you do it carelessly, the birds can get sick and even die.
To feed birds, including in the forest and in the country, it is best to use special feeders, rather than throwing the feed directly onto the snow or ground. The easiest option is to cut a feeder from a plastic bottle or milk or juice carton.
A small feeder in the form of a house without walls will be more environmentally friendly and beautiful, in addition to being attractive appearance, it is also the most convenient for birds, just do not forget to make sides around the edges so that the food does not blow away in the wind.
It is better to hang the feeder on the south side of the tree, where it will be protected from wind and snow, and as high as possible so that rodents cannot reach the food. In addition, birds will good review and they will be able to notice in time a cat, fox or bird of prey that ambushes in such places. Fill the feeder at the same time 1-2 times a day; the birds will quickly get used to your schedule and the rest of the time they will look for food on their own. 
In severe frosts, birds eat almost any food they come across in order to constantly maintain the desired body temperature, and without realizing it, they can harm their health. That is why it is important to ensure that salty food does not get into the feeder - crackers, seeds, salted lard. The accumulation of salt in the body of birds causes poisoning and subsequent death.
You should not feed your birds fried, spicy, fatty, sour or spoiled food. Fresh black bread causes fermentation and volvulus, so you should also avoid it. It is important to understand that birds rarely die due to poisoning, but it leads to a weakening of the bird’s body and its illness, which can ultimately lead to its death.
Very often you can find ordinary millet in feeders. In fact, millet is contraindicated for birds, because unlike millet, millet does not have a shell, which leads to the oxidation of fats on its surface and the subsequent appearance of pathogenic organisms. For the same reason, we always wash this cereal before cooking, but birds on raw millet get all the bacteria in full. Eating millet by birds does not always lead to illness or death, once again It's definitely not worth the risk.
Sparrows and doves suitable: barley, wheat, raw cereals, seeds, dry bread crumbs. Do not give sparrows and pigeons pieces of bread - in frosty conditions the birds are not able to peck at it.
Tits In addition to seeds and dry bread crumbs, in severe frosts you can offer a piece of unsalted lard or butter.
For bullfinches and waxwings
You can prepare dried rowan and hawthorn.
Also suitable: a hard-boiled and grated egg, pieces of raw beef, cottage cheese, cut into apple slices.
How to make Bird Pie.
Bird pie is made with fat. First you need to prepare a mixture of sunflower seeds, raw oatmeal, peeled nuts and dried fruits. Then put unsalted lard, cut into pieces, into a deep frying pan and melt it over a low heat, pour the resulting fat into the “dry” mixture (in the proportion of one-third lard to two-thirds of the remaining ingredients) and allow it to harden. After the cake has hardened, you can hang it in the garden or secure it in any other place, for example, near a window.
Take care of the little garden defenders. Protect their nests from crows and cats. And share food with your feathered friends. Let's help the birds together!
Birds in winter, insects in hibernation, fruits and berries under the snow find little food. From morning to evening, birds look for crumbs of food. Downy, warm feathers protect against cold, but not against hunger.
During snowfalls, blizzards and severe frosts, birds starve and die en masse. More than 10 species of birds winter in Moscow and the Moscow region: chickadees, great tits, nuthatches, blue tits, spotted woodpeckers, siskins, bullfinches, magpies, mallard ducks, gulls, sparrows, pigeons and crows.
People are trying to help our feathered neighbors survive this difficult period for them, setting up feeding areas and feeding troughs. But everything must be approached with knowledge, because by feeding birds incorrectly, it is easy to harm them with the best intentions.
You need to know that feeding birds depends on their belonging to one group or another. There are birds whose diet is completely dependent on humans, there are those that can feed themselves but will gladly accept human help, and there are groups whose feeding is extremely undesirable, etc.
GROUPS OF BIRDS
1. Completely dependent on a person. This group includes sedentary synanthropes: city pigeons, sparrows and mallard ducks. These birds stick to a certain small territory and do not move beyond it.
Pigeons and sparrows in their natural environment in middle lane do not live, they are inhabitants of subtropical regions. They came to the north following man, and if in the summer they find enough food in nature, then in the winter they are completely dependent on us. Ducks, being the natives of our region, abandoned grueling flights and became sedentary. These three species of birds cannot exist without human help; the amount of natural food that they are able to find in nature is so small that it will not allow them to survive the winter.
2. They can survive the winter without our help, but they will not refuse if we offer it. This group includes small forest birds that regularly winter in the middle zone and are quite adapted to this: tits, nuthatches, woodpeckers, greenfinches, jays.
3. Most often they obtain food on their own. This group includes bullfinches, fieldfare thrushes, waxwings, goldfinches, buntings, siskins and tap dancers, pikas and wrens. These birds are true nomads, never stopping anywhere for long periods of time.
Thrushes and waxwings in winter feed exclusively on the soft fruits of trees and shrubs - mountain ash, hawthorn, blueberry and even snowberry. They do not visit feeders, completely depending on the presence of berries on the branches (by picking rowan fruits, we thereby reduce the amount of food available to them, so it is better not to prepare rowan for winter feeding. Those who feed on rowan are more likely to find it on a tree than in the feeder).
Bullfinches feed on the seeds of rowan, ash, and lilac. They occasionally visit feeders, happily eating seeds, but due to their nomadic lifestyle they never stay at the feeders for a long time.
Goldfinches, buntings, siskins and redpolls feed on weed seeds and feed on birch trees. You are unlikely to see them at feeders in the city. You can set up feeding areas for them in vacant lots and outside the city, but this is a complicated matter.
The pika and wren are strictly insectivorous birds and survive the winter by searching for wintering insects under the bark or among the needles of spruce trees.
4. Feeding is extremely undesirable
The last group includes the hooded crow and magpie. It is better not to feed these birds. This is especially true for crows, whose numbers in cities exceed all reasonable limits.
The hooded crow is omnivorous; its diet includes both plant foods and animals. At the same time, the city gives the crows protection from natural predators; here they raise their chicks more successfully, quickly increasing in number. This, in turn, becomes a problem for other animal species. They comb green spaces more thoroughly in search of food, destroying all the nests of small birds that they encounter, stealing ducklings and even baby squirrels. And the better the crows overwinter, the more food they find in winter, the more eggs their females will lay in the spring, the more chicks they will feed, the more nests of other birds they will destroy, the more chicks they will find and eat. By feeding crows, you increase their number and, accordingly, reduce the number of other birds - warblers, nightingales, warblers, finches, greenfinches. Some species of birds cannot nest in the city at all because of crows.
A certain area of terrain can only support a limited number of animals. And only the strongest and fittest survive the winter, this is natural selection. By feeding animals in winter, we allow the weak to survive, who will also leave offspring in the spring. But, in addition to this, in the spring the number of animals of the same species will be higher, there will be competition for nesting places and food, and not only weak individuals will not be able to fully feed their offspring, but also those who would survive the winter without our help find themselves in a difficult situation. This also applies to sedentary birds. By feeding urban pigeons, we maintain their high numbers, and the health of birds in general noticeably deteriorates, which leads to annual epidemics.
If you do not feed urban ducks, most of them will not survive until spring, but the species as a whole will not suffer, since migratory ducks will maintain their numbers. And the increase in the urban population is already negatively affecting our ponds - ducks completely eat up many types of aquatic and semi-aquatic vegetation, exposing the banks, and eat most aquatic invertebrates and tadpoles.
So whether to feed the birds or not is something everyone decides for themselves.
BASIC FEEDING RULES
Birds cannot be fed, they can only be fed! This is especially true for species from the second group. When feeding, birds receive their entire daily ration only from a feeder, and when feeding, they receive only part of the necessary food from humans, and are forced to find the rest of their diet in nature. In nature, the diet of birds is very diverse. Moving through the forest, flocks of tits check cracks in the bark in search of wintering insects, their larvae and pupae, and pick up seeds various plants, and at the feeder they eat exclusively seeds and lard. And with the constant presence of seeds in the feeder, tits simply stop looking for other food. A monotonous diet, and even rich in fat, leads to liver disease. The birds themselves do not understand the danger of one-sided feeding and, even if there is a choice of different foods in the feeder, they prefer to eat only seeds, as the most nutritious type of food. An excess of fat leads to liver disease and early death of the bird. It turns out that instead of benefiting us, we can cause irreparable harm to the birds.
An observant person will notice that about a month after the tits start feeding, birds with very fluffy plumage will begin to fly to the feeders; the tits look like fluffy balls. Often these birds are more trusting, are not afraid of humans, and often drive other, more “slender” birds away from the feeder. To people who are far from biology, they seem stronger and thicker. But an experienced person will immediately say that these birds are not feeling well. Precisely because feeling unwell they fluff their feathers, trying to retain as much heat as possible, losing their natural caution.
The food should not be in the feeder all the time. It is better to accustom yourself and the birds to a certain regime, filling the feeders once or twice a day, in the morning or morning and evening at the same time. They poured a glass of seeds, the tits took them away and that was it. No matter how they beg you, knocking their beaks on the glass, you need to be persistent and not give in to your feelings. In general, the regime is a very valuable thing. If you strictly adhere to it, then the birds will quickly get used to the fact that at a certain time they can expect to find food in the feeder, and the rest of the time they will go to look for food in other places.
WHAT TO FEED
It is forbidden. You must immediately understand that some foods for birds are harmful and often deadly. At the same time, the birds themselves do not understand this and eat them, harming their health.
Under no circumstances should birds be given: fried and salted seeds, salted lard, millet, black bread and spoiled foods with unpleasant smell or the presence of mold.
Can.
Pigeons: a specially prepared mixture or wheat, or better yet barley, which can be bought at the Poultry Market (grain is also cheaper than cereal). The best cereal is pearl barley. White bread /in small quantities/, cereals, just not instant, but dense, not loose. You can add unroasted seeds in small quantities.
Sparrows: pearl barley is too hard, but everything else that pigeons eat is also suitable for them. Sparrows prefer millet from grain.
Ducks: it is best to feed grain (grain mixture or wheat) or mixed feed for chickens, but these types of feed sink in water, and to feed them you have to either sprinkle them on ice or make special feeders semi-submerged in water, which is unrealistic in an urban reservoir. So there is practically no alternative to white bread. Ducks also eat unroasted seeds, which do not sink in water, unlike other types of grain. However, ducks become so accustomed to bread that they eat the seeds less readily.
Tits: unroasted sunflower seeds, medium-fat cottage cheese mixed with white breadcrumbs so that the cottage cheese does not stick together, but is grainy, scraped lean beef, grated hard-boiled egg, finely chopped fresh apple. On frosty days, it’s good to hang a piece of unsalted lard and put a piece of butter. You just need to take into account that in addition to seeds, tits must get used to other foods, so don’t be upset if they don’t eat them at first.
In addition to birds, some other animals also visit feeders; most often we see squirrels at feeders. Whole squirrels are placed in their feeders. hazelnuts(hazelnuts), whole pine nuts, chopped walnuts, whole apricot kernels, sunflower seeds (also unroasted), pieces of sweet crackers, cookies, bagels, pieces of fresh apple (even in cold weather, fresh apples are in demand among squirrels, despite the fact that they freeze through), dried fruits, dried mushrooms, boiled egg, cottage cheese. Squirrels don’t eat almonds, and raw peanuts are also not popular, but you can offer them.
Salt for squirrels is not harmful, but it is better salty foods do not use, as they can be eaten by birds, for which salt is dangerous. It’s very good to attach a white bird’s stone (pressed chalk) to the squirrel feeder - squirrels in nature are always deficient in calcium and will certainly be happy with such a gift.
WHERE IS IT BETTER TO PLACE FEEDERS?
It is best to feed birds away from their homes, choosing an area with convenient perches (pigeons sometimes sit all day near the feeding area waiting for a freebie, they simply have nothing else to do) and shelters. A concentration of birds at feeders will inevitably attract predators, and if there is no place to hide nearby, your birds may be in danger. For small birds, it is better to arrange feeding areas near a dense bush or at the edge of a coniferous forest. We must also remember that the wind is very dangerous for birds, so feeders should be located in places protected from it.
Of course, the feeder outside the window is very attractive to us, but it is not very useful for the birds and does not please the neighbors at all. The feeder is always a source of garbage - the husks of the seeds, the birds litter the space a lot, and if the tits take the seeds to the sides, the sparrows husk the grain on the spot. Often, in search of food, birds begin to fly into open windows, which often ends in death for them; birds are often smashed against the glass. Besides bird droppings does not decorate our window sills, cornices and balconies, as well as parked cars. This, first of all, of course, concerns pigeons.
MANUFACTURING A FEEDER
When making feeders of any design, it is important to remember the main rules:
1. The feeder must have a roof, otherwise the food may be covered with snow or flooded with rain and become unsuitable for birds.
2. The hole in the feeder should be wide enough so that the bird can easily get in and out of the feeder.
The simplest feeders can be made from plastic bottles or juice or milk cartons. It is necessary to step back 5 cm from the bottom, cut out wide windows, pour food onto the bottom and hang it by a rope or tie it with wire to the trunk. You can make edible balls: soak white bread in water. Let it soak thoroughly, then squeeze it out. Add the seeds and grains you have and mix the resulting dough. Fold the rope pieces in half and tie them in a knot. Now take some dough, put a rope inside and make a ball. Dry the resulting product in the oven. Making hearts and stars is even easier. Cut it out of cardboard the required form, spread a thick layer of flour paste and sprinkle with the feed mixture. Dry the resulting halves in the oven. Then glue the halves together by inserting a rope between them.
Even during the hungry winter period, each species of bird prefers to eat a certain food. Who will fly to your feeder? It will depend on what is poured there.
Unique food
What to feed birds in winter? This question worries many of us with the onset of cold weather. Ornithologists advise how to properly feed birds in winter. They recommend making a mixture, seventy-five percent of which will consist of sunflower seeds. Due to its high calorie content, this product will become the main energy source for small birds. Granivorous birds and woodpeckers happily feed on sunflower seeds. Nuthatches, tits, etc. love this food. It allows them to survive in winter cold conditions. a large number of those vegetable fats that are contained inside the seeds of this crop.
Plants' seeds
What to feed street birds in winter? Some birds prefer oats, millet, millet, rice and wheat. Granivorous birds will certainly visit your feeder if oats and millet are poured into it. Goldfinches, sparrows, greenfinches and other birds will flock to this meal. Pigeons also prefer to peck grains.
What else to feed birds in winter? With pleasure, birds will feast on the seeds of watermelon, pumpkin, melon, hemp, thistle, nettle, quinoa and burdock. They will also eat corn kernels. It is worth keeping in mind that watermelon seeds should first be crushed. Then nuthatches or tits will happily eat them.
Quinoa seeds are eagerly eaten by many birds. Cut plants are collected in brooms and stored until winter. In cold weather, the quinoa is stuck in the snow near the feeder. If desired, you can thresh the weed and sprinkle its grains to the birds along with other feed.
Blue tits, as well as most species of granivorous birds, love Burdock seeds, which are the main food for goldfinches. But bullfinches prefer other food. They love to eat seeds
Animal products
What can you feed birds in winter? As a feed during a hungry period for birds, the menu can include meat, lard, as well as beef or These products will appeal to tits, nuthatches, and some other species of birds. However, it should be borne in mind that meat and lard should be unsalted. How to feed the birds? Lard or meat should be cut into small pieces and strung on twine. Then the products are hung on tree branches or bushes. But in order to prevent crows, jackdaws, magpies, dogs or cats from getting the feeding, the pieces should be placed away from the ground. It is necessary to hang the twine among thin branches on which heavy birds cannot land.
Why feed birds these products in winter? The fact is that during the hungry period, birds require high-calorie food. Animal fat, which is in a soft state, is best mixed with other foods, preparing a kind of layer cake. Place it in vegetable nets and hang it in places accessible to birds.
For tits, woodpeckers, pikas and nuthatches, the tasty food is horse, lamb, beef and lard (always unsalted). The melted product is poured over branches and tree trunks. Birds eat frozen drips.
Berries
What to feed birds in winter? The most beautiful visitors to the feeders - waxwings, bee-eaters and bullfinches - are attracted by hawthorn and rowan berries. The fruits must be prepared in advance by drying the autumn harvest.
Tree seeds
Common urban plantings include ash and maple trees. The seeds of these trees are called lionfish. In autumn, most of them fall off the ground and become inaccessible to birds. If you don’t know what to feed the birds in winter, collect lionfish when cold weather sets in and hang them on feeders. Waxwings, bullfinches, and some other birds that visit bird cafeterias love to eat this food.
Nuts, cones and acorns
This food must be prepared in the fall. The basis of the winter menu for crossbills and woodpeckers are cones. Jays prefer to eat acorns. By preparing this food for birds, you can attract squirrels to your feeder.
Menu for poultry canteens
If you want to diversify the food that you put in the feeder for your feathered visitors, you can prepare special mixtures for your little guests. It is recommended to include fifty thirty-five percent of white millet and fifteen percent of corn grains in the menu for birds. If you decide to feed your birds with high-calorie food, then make a “pie” for them. It should contain three cups of softened margarine or fat, the same volume of grain or millet, and one cup of sunflower oil. Rolled oats can be added to the “bird pie”, as well as whatever is on hand. These can be apple peelings and any seeds, chicken eggs and nut kernels, honey and sugar, and sweet syrup. The mixture should be thoroughly mixed and left to harden in the cold. The dough can be given to the birds immediately. To do this, place it in a plastic cup or cardboard box. The containers are hung on trees.
What to feed street birds in winter? They can put small pieces of bacon rinds in the feeder, as well as canned food intended for pets. Birds will happily peck boiled eggs and potatoes. Rolled oats are suitable for them, but only in the form of flakes, not ready-made porridge. Birds will readily peck dried pupae, larvae and insects.
Corvid food
If you decide to feed these birds, then you can put minced meat, raw or boiled meat and fish, cottage cheese and eggs, a variety of cereals, pieces of vegetables and fruits, canned or steamed corn in the feeder. They will willingly peck nuts. You can leave a whole raw egg for the bird. She will carefully drink its contents, and eat the shell as a mineral supplement. The feeder for such birds may contain various chicken by-products - hearts, heads, necks, etc. What should corvids not include on the menu? This list includes milk and sausage, canned food and potatoes, citrus fruits and tomatoes, fatty cottage cheese and fried foods.
What not to put in a bird feeder
When compiling a bird menu, it is worth considering some restrictions. For this you should know in winter.
It is strictly forbidden to include any spicy, salty, fried, or sour foods in the menu for birds. This product poses a great danger to them. This product causes diarrhea in birds, which leads the birds to certain death. The fact is that black breads contain a large amount of salt.
This component is harmful to the health of the liver and kidneys. When feeding, birds often leave a certain part of the food in their crop. If there is bread there, it swells and quickly begins to ferment. This process can lead to the death of the bird. Rye bread is especially dangerous. When kneading dough, more yeast is added to this product than to wheat dough. It is very difficult for birds in winter, and therefore any disease can be simply fatal for them.
Even in the coldest times, birds require a certain amount of feeding, which is why it is necessary to know what to feed the birds in the feeder in winter. What exactly is poured into it will determine which bird will come to feast on it. You also need to know the table of what you should not feed the bird, because not only their future health, but also their life in general will depend on it.
Unique bird food
Ornithologists recommend making bait that contains 75% sunflower seeds. Since this food has a high calorie content. It is this that will be the main energy source, moreover, for absolutely every bird, both granivores and woodpeckers. Nuthatches and bullfinches also like this type of feeding. Basically, it is the seeds, which contain a large number of vegetable fats, that allow birds to survive in the winter.
Ornithologists also advise placing calcium baits in feeders, which are used to feed ordinary poultry. As a rule, this is construction plaster, eggshell.
Plant and tree seeds
Almost all birds prefer grain food. This includes the following cereals:
- wheat;
- oats
That is why if you don’t know what to put in a bird feeder, then feel free to add grain and in the near future sparrows, pigeons, and other species of birds will flock to the meal. In addition, birds enjoy the seeds of watermelons and pumpkins, which must first be crushed, with great pleasure. Birds also feed well on hemp, burdock and even corn.
Many birds also like quinoa seeds, which you can prepare yourself.. To do this, plants are cut in the summer, tied into brooms, and in this form they are stored until the onset of cold weather. After the onset of winter, they are simply stuck into a snowdrift located near the feeding site. If desired, quinoa can be threshed, and the resulting grain mixed with other cereals for feeding. Most granivorous birds, especially titmice, adore nettle seeds. But goldfinches prefer burdock seeds; if bullfinches often fly into the bird’s dining room, then it is preferable to add horse sorrel seeds.
They love birds and the seeds of some trees, such as ash and maple. Such seeds are also called lionfish. IN autumn period they fall to the ground and many birds no longer have the opportunity to feed on them. Therefore, they can be collected in advance and simply hung on feeders during the winter cold. Such seeds are very popular among bullfinches, waxwings and many other birds that visit dining rooms in the winter.
Animal products
In times of hunger for birds, you can use raw meat and lard or add beef and chicken fat as food. Tits and nuthatches will enjoy such food, and other birds are especially eager to consume such foods. But it should be noted that meat feed should not contain salt, and should also be cut into small slices and hung on a string, and then on a tree or bush. Moreover, in such a way that dogs, cats and heavy birds could not reach it.
Meat products are quite high in calories, and birds desperately need such food during the cold season. Animal fat, which is found in meat, can be mixed with grain and you will get such a high-calorie puff pastry. Such pies are usually placed in vegetable nets and tied on branches.
Tits, woodpeckers and pikas especially love lard from sheep, pork and horse meat. Usually such lard is melted and poured over the branches and trunk of a tree. And in winter, birds simply peck at frozen greasy streaks.
Nuts, cones and berries
The most beautiful visitors to bird canteens, such as waxwings and bullfinches, are very fond of delicious rowan berries and hawthorn. But they need to be prepared first. This is done simply - just collect the crop from the trees in the spring and dry it. And in winter, plant the berries on twine and hang it on the trees.
For crossbills and woodpeckers, the main food is cones, which must be harvested in the autumn. But acorns are more suitable for jays. By the way, if you fill the feeders with such food, you can see squirrels in addition to birds; they also love such bait.
Menu for poultry canteens
To make bird food more varied, you can prepare a special mixture for bird feeder visitors. As a rule, such a menu should include the following components:
- Sunflower seeds - 500 grams;
- white millet - 350 grams;
- corn grains - 150 grams.
For more high-calorie feeding for feathered visitors to the feeder, you can make a special pie. To prepare the bird treat, you will need three glasses of margarine, which must first be softened (you can replace margarine with any fat). To it you need to add three glasses of millet and one glass of sunflower oil. As additional ingredients you can add rolled oats, apple peel, nuts, sugar. All ingredients must be mixed and frozen until solid. Place the bird pie in a cardboard box and hang it on a tree.
Almost all birds eat bacon skins very well, but they must be finely chopped. They also like canned pet food. Birds will not remain indifferent to boiled eggs, to the potatoes. You can feed them with rolled oats, but in flakes, not in finished form. In addition, they can be given ordinary dried larvae, insects and pupae.
Prohibited foods for feeding
Naturally, it is strictly forbidden to feed birds with spoiled, fermented or moldy foods. There is also a fairly large list of products that are quite familiar to humans, but are deadly for birds.
So, the list of prohibited products includes:
Winter feeding for birds is a noble activity, but it requires some knowledge and attentive attitude from a person. Even ordinary millet poured onto a windowsill can affect the health of a bird. In this regard, it is necessary to know exactly what to feed birds in winter..
Due to severe frosts and an insufficient number of trees and shrubs, our feathered friends suffer from food shortages during the cold season. As a result, their population is becoming smaller. Surely you noticed that in last years Are there fewer birds on the streets than before? Let's take care of them in winter and help the birds survive the cold.
What can you feed birds in winter: food options
They not only delight us with their beauty, birds also perform an important function - they destroy insect pests, thus preserving vegetation. But alas, in the cold season it is very difficult for them to find food, because all the insects are hiding, and seeds are not so easy to find. Due to these factors, many birds do not survive. We advise you to do a good deed and put food in a feeder on the street or at least on your balcony. But what do birds eat?
Most city residents have no idea what birds eat. There is no need to give them crackers or chips; such food is unlikely to be beneficial. The same can be said about fruits; birds should not eat sweet or sour foods. Any foods with spices cause dehydration.
We recommend choosing sunflower seeds (raw), pearl barley, millet, and wheat. Oats, Hercules flakes (not instant cooking without any additives), chopped raw peanuts. On extreme case Bread crumbs will do, although they are not very healthy or nutritious. Remember that in the cold season birds need more nutritious food, but in the summer they are quite happy with insects or grains.
You can give the birds one thing or just mix several ingredients at once. Sprinkle the mixture where the birds are, on the snow or in a bird feeder (if you have one). As we said above, try not to give bread crumbs.
Another option is a mixture of pork fat and crushed seeds and cereals. You need to mix soft fat with a mixture of crushed cereals and seeds. Mix and form into balls, place them on a board or paper, and place in the freezer for 1 hour. We tie each ball with threads and hang them on trees.
Lard will save birds in severe frosts!
Severe frosts are especially terrible for birds. When the temperature is too low, their body needs fats, which are almost impossible to find in nature. Therefore, we advise you to help them. Tie a piece of fresh lard without spices with a thread and hang it on a tree branch.
Useful food for all birds
Just like other living creatures, birds need calcium. To provide them with this mineral, you can put egg shells or even chalk (natural, without dyes) in the feeder.
What to give to pigeons?
Unlike most birds, pigeons will not eat food from feeders. They only eat what is on the ground. Therefore, in this case, we recommend scattering seeds and cereals on the ground.
Don't throw away your chewing gum on the street!
Many birds peck at chewing gum, which many throw on the ground. The result is inhibition of the gastrointestinal tract and complete cessation of the stomach, death. Never throw away chewing gum on the street!
What should you not feed birds in winter and at any other time of the year?
Not all products are suitable for feeding birds. Some of them can cause bloating, fermentation and pain. If you do not want the birds to suffer and suffer, under no circumstances give them the following types of food:
- All types of bread (the same goes for other baked goods);
- Millet;
- Chips;
- Roasted and salted seeds, nuts;
- Chips;
As you can see, there are not many restrictions, but they are worth remembering. The listed products can lead to serious consequences, including death.
What can you feed birds in winter? There are a lot of options for feeding and if you have the opportunity, be sure to help our feathered friends.
