Winter Bird Feeding- What's On the Menu Today
Blue Onblue
6 years ago
I only feed the birds in the winter. After consulting with a naturalist I have been reassured that feeding the birds in my area during this time will help and not harm them. So today's menu (zero degrees) is black oil sunflower seeds, cracked corn, peanuts as well as two suet mixes. One for the suet feeders and one for under the pine ground feeding (with a mix of black oiled sunflower seeds, cracked corn and peanuts.). The mix in the Tupperware is beef lard, hulled sunflower seeds, peanuts, canary seed and millet. This I just toss under the pine tree with the other bird food. The suet feeder cake is beef suet, peanuts, cracked corn and meal worms.
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Comments (8)
Pat Z5or6 SEMich
6 years agoRelated Discussions
happy november, what did you feed your loving cp today?
Comments (42)Finally had the chance today to do some more work on the pile containing the very old bucket of fish. It still smells rather horrid, but whether it's the fish, the rotting pumpkins or something else - who knows. In fact, much of the fish is rotting, with just the bones and fins evident. Anyway, today I added to the pile: --four paper grocery store bags of shredded or cut up paper napkins, plates, cups, torn up boxes that had contained teas, bandaids, and etc. + many many many many tissues and such. --the paper bags. --one very large plastic bag of Starbucks espresso grounds and two smallish silver Starbucks bags of coffee grounds, with filters. --about 12 pumpkins, squashes, and gourds, already rotting. --contents of compost bucket, mostly veg and fruit stuff, tea bags, coffee grounds from our French press, but also shrimp shells and the paper the shrimp came wrapped in. --coffee from a large bag of coffee in a cardboard box, can't recall which place it came from; this stuff's intended for parties and such --medium-sized bag of leaves, mostly maple, that someone conveniently left next to their garbage can. Naturally, I liberated it. :)...See MoreWinter birds & feeding
Comments (9)Yes, it's reasonable that house finches and pine siskins are around your area, and that they spend the winter. My sister has had house finches at their place in the Saskatoon area, year-round, for the last 15(?) years, likely more (and breeding records a few years after they started showing up). For the first time, we've had house finches here for a sustained period and they nested successfully in our neighborhood - will have to keep an eye out to see if they winter. Regardless of the mixed opinions the birding world has of their spread, it sure is nice to have colorful birds around that sing year-round, not just in the courting season. Pine siskins kind of come and go - they are around all summer and most winters here, but we didn't notice any last winter. Chickadees are always reliable! You didn't mention them, but I'm sure you have them. You can also expect redpolls at some time during the winter, especially if there is a lot of snow in the north, and they are pushed south to feed - keep an eye out for hoary redpolls among them (extremely short-billed, "frosty" birds). When a flock of redpolls shows up, you'll go broke keeping the niger feeders full, LOL! Siskins also tend to favor niger, so I'm surprised they're not pigging out. Also, evening grosbeaks - they seem to be especially attracted to lilac seeds (lots of lilac hedges in small towns in Sask!), and will eat sunflower. Other likely possibilities are pine grosbeaks, red crossbills, white-winged crossbills, particularly if there are any groves of spruce around - these tend to be roaming, and will come and go. Re. other regulars at your feeders, you can probably expect to see white-breasted or red-breasted nuthatches or both, and downy and hairy woodpeckers are a given. The odd flicker that winters over (quite common here) may also show up. They all like suet and peanut/peanut butter feeders. Blue jays also like peanuts...and if you put out unroasted peanuts, will bury them all over (no big deal and which we actually found kind of fun - it caused me to learn what peanut plants look like, LOL!) We haven't really had great success with putting fruit out in winter - though my sister finds it to be wildly popular in spring with the migrating songbirds when late storms hit. (She's also have had great results with fresh fruit and melon through the summer for orioles, robins, cedar waxwings, catbirds, warblers.) By the way, most of these "nonmigratory" birds don't have distinctly different plumages between adults and immatures (unlike, say, warblers and some of the other summer migrants) - so identification will be a little easier for a while. Female and immature house sparrows can always be distinguished by their, shall I say, lack of distinguishing characteristics? They are large, have that distinctive conical bill shape, and otherwise are just kind of...grey-brown. With more observation, I'm sure you'll be able to pick them out of any......See MoreAnyone have any luck feeding your yard birds suet?
Comments (12)Tony, I'm with you. I have never had any luck with suet of any type or recipe in Florida. I DO think you are more likely to succeed with it in cooler weather because the birds need a much higher energy type food then. And also because many types of suet cakes and mixtures spoil quickly in the heat. But even in winter, my woodpeckers prefer to eat sunflower seeds directly from the tray feeder, and they ALL ignore the suet. I do buy the big SEED cakes (BirdOla, etc) that just look like lots of seeds, peanuts and fruit somehow molded into a large square. You probably know what I mean...there's no suet that you can see, just the seeds & fruit bits. I put that in a wire holder designed just for it, and the goldfinches will eat from that, until it gets too small for their short beaks to reach it through the wire. They still drop shells and a little bit of seed under the feeder, but they can't fling it all over while looking for something they like, so it's much less messy. My goldfinches finally showed up about 3 weeks ago, and I've had as many as 30 in the yard at once. There are at least 4 that are almost completely yellow and black now. Just gorgeous. I haven't seen any buntings or grosbeaks this year, though. And the chipping sparrows left right when the goldfinches showed up. But I'm happy...I have my cardinals back, my white-winged doves are here, and my goldfinches. My seed-eating catbird and my seed-eating Myrtle warbler both left, after stuffing themselves for several weeks. (They obviously didn't get the memo telling them they prefer insects and fruit.) I'm really happy now that the squirrels can't seem to reach the feeders any more. (Still knocking wood, though.) Try one of the big seed cakes and see if you like it! Marcia...See Morefeeding birds
Comments (3)Make sure you get one that will keep the seed dry in nonstop rain. Most mass-market bird feeders won't do that. I have one made by BC Indian tribes that's called a Rainforest Feeder and it's designed to keep the seed dry in our wet winters. Made of local cedar, with a huge roof that completely overhangs the seed compartment and perches. Works very well, I've had mine for years. Squirrels and rats can chew on the cedar though. I also have a clear plastic, conical, squirrel-proof feeder (which really is, and rat-proof too) that keeps the seed very dry, with a huge conical roof that overhangs the seed compartment and the seed tray that the birds perch on. I also have a finch-feeding tube, but they don't stay all that dry in the rain, even with a cover on top. Wet seed goes moldy and can make the birds sick, so it's something you want to take seriously. And the tubular feeders can be very hard to clean the moldy seed out of. Avoid seed mixes with millet as they attract house sparrows, an invasive species. I use plain black oil sunflower seeds. Pricey, but little waste, and no house sparrows. Juncos, chickadees, nuthatches, towhees, jays, gold- and house finches, and all the native sparrows like it. Our fine feathered friends are actually quite adept at taking care of themselves in winter, given half a chance. I feed birds because I enjoy watching them, and to make up for loss of native food supplies to urbanization. But it does affect them, concentrating populations where there are feeders, and perhaps increasing populations of the ones that like feeders beyond what would have been there naturally. I just read an article about a European bird species that normally migrates to Spain for winter, but some are now migrating to England and congregating at bird feeders in winter. The ones going to English feeders show narrower beaks and shorter wings than the ones that continue to migrate to Spain. Speciation in progress....See More
basilcook3
6 years ago
ZachS. z5 Platteville, Colorado
6 years agobasilcook3
6 years agoZachS. z5 Platteville, Colorado
6 years agobasilcook3
6 years agoZachS. z5 Platteville, Colorado
6 years ago
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ZachS. z5 Platteville, Colorado