Feeding birds in winter is the right thing to do, but people don’t always understand how to do it. Many parents make feeders, and children themselves pour mountains of food so that their beloved birds do not go hungry. However, this is not always the right decision. In most cases, people do not know how to feed tits and sparrows in winter, much less what exactly they can feed.
How to properly feed tits and sparrows in winter
Before you run and pour mountains of food into the bird feeder, you should remember that there should not be a lot of it. But this only applies to those cases when there is no severe frost outside. The whole point is that tits and sparrows need to be fed, and not given a feast. Otherwise, they will stop searching for food on their own, which will have a detrimental effect on their ability to survive.
It is best to place feeders on tree branches, but high from the ground. This is done to prevent rodents and pets from getting to the food and birds. In addition, food should be added to the feeder on a schedule so that tits and sparrows become accustomed to the schedule. It should also be taken into account that the process of feeding birds should be carried out until spring, so that hungry birds do not circle around the feeder.
What you can and cannot feed tits and sparrows in winter
What you can feed:
| Food: | Peculiarities: | Who eats: |
| Sunflower (seeds) | Seeds should make up almost 70-75% of the total feed (they are filling and high in calories, and contain a lot of fat) | Tits, woodpeckers, sparrows, nuthatches and other granivorous birds |
| Millet | ||
| Millet | Dry food (often sold as pet parrot food in pet stores) | Sparrows, goldfinches, pigeons, greenfinches and other granivores |
| Oats | Raw or boiled cereal (without spices and oil) | Sparrows, goldfinches, pigeons, greenfinches and other granivores |
| Wheat | Raw or boiled cereal (without spices and oil) | Sparrows, goldfinches, pigeons, greenfinches and other granivores |
| Rice | Raw or boiled cereal (without spices and oil) | Sparrows, goldfinches, pigeons, greenfinches and other granivores |
| Meat | Pieces of raw or dried meat, finely chopped. Without any salt or spices! | |
| Salo | Raw lard without salt! It can be strung on a thread and hung | Tits, nuthatches and other species (crows, jackdaws and magpies may arrive) |
| Beef fat or chicken fat | It can be mixed with bread or placed separately in the feeder. Fat should not be salty! | Tits, nuthatches and other species (crows, jackdaws and magpies may arrive) |
| Dried rowan (viburnum, hawthorn) | The berries must be prepared in advance and dried in the fall. They can be placed in a feeder or hung with beads | Bullfinches, waxwings |
| Maple seeds (lionfish) | They should be collected in the fall, when they fall from the trees. In winter, such food is often inaccessible to birds, as it is covered with leaves. Mud and snow | Bullfinches, waxwings |
| Cones | From various types of coniferous trees, should be collected in the fall | Woodpeckers, crossbills |
| Nuts | Any fresh nuts, not salted (like store-bought peanuts) and not roasted | Woodpeckers jays and other species |
| Acorns | Gathered in autumn | jays |
| Corn | Dried | |
| Watermelon and melon grains | Good source of fats and nutrients (prepared in the summer, dried) | Bullfinches, jays, woodpeckers |
| Pumpkin seeds | Good source of fats and nutrients (prepared in the fall) | All granivorous bird species |
| Chicken egg shell | Serves as a good calcium supplement (you can put a piece of natural chalk in the feeder) | For all types of birds |
Birds wintering in the middle zone require human support. However, the question of what to feed birds in winter is not so simple. Usual table food and even feed for chickens are not suitable for wild forest inhabitants. Find out everything about why it is so important to feed, and not to feed, pichugs, what you should and absolutely should not treat them with, what food you can prepare in the summer. Find out the recommendations for choosing a diet for tits and sparrows, pigeons and ducks, so as not to cause harm to the birds instead of benefit.
Why do birds need more food in winter?
Of the existing strategies for survival during periods of prolonged cold: to climb into a deep hole somewhere for hibernation, to fly away from extreme frost and to actively resist hypothermia - the birds chose the last two. Moreover, the species remaining to spend the winter are excellent evidence that cooling is not the main reason for their migrations.
Winterers don’t mind the cold if there is plenty of food
Thick down and dense feathers provide sufficient protection of the body from heat loss, but are not able to create it. Birds obtain energy to maintain their high temperature, which reaches 42 degrees in some species, from food. At the same time, the lower the thermometer drops, the more actively the atmosphere removes heat, which means that more food is required to replenish energy costs.
On the other hand, the winter day is shortened, and birds stop active activity with the onset of dusk, so they have much less time than in summer to search for a sufficient amount of food. If the bird remains hungry, it will inevitably freeze to death by morning.
Having time to eat before night is the main condition for the survival of birds in winter
Do all birds need help equally?
Before you start collecting feed and hanging feeders, you need to find out who exactly needs an increase in “food allowance”. Based on their feeding preferences, birds wintering in mid-latitudes can be divided into the following groups.
- Insectivores. The vast majority of birds specializing in feeding on invertebrates fly away, leaving only those who know how to catch spiders, springtails and larvae of various insects that have fallen asleep in the cracks of tree bark. These are kinglets and pikas. Offering them millet and bread crumbs is pointless. Even if a pika joins a flock of tits, she will do so not for the sake of expanding her diet, but for the greater security that the flock provides.
- Nomadic lovers of soft fruits. These include blackbirds, waxwings and bullfinches. They prefer to pick berries directly from trees and bushes and rarely visit feeders. Bullfinches can sometimes feast on sunflowers, but after a week or a week and a half they will still continue their journey.
- Nomadic granivores. By winter, the seeds of plants such as burdock, thistle, knotweed, and birch do not scatter, but remain on the shoots and attract goldfinches, siskins, buntings, greenfinches, tits and redpolls. These birds from the order of passeriformes will be happy to visit feeders, but, in addition to tits, they will prefer to see them outside the city limits. Conventionally, this group includes the nuthatch, which feeds on insects in the summer and switches to seeds in winter.
- Sinanthropus. This is the name given to birds and other animals that have adapted to humans to such an extent that they can no longer do without him. These are pigeons, sparrows and that part of the waterfowl population that was fed in the fall and did not migrate south.
Waxwings and other nomads can easily feed themselves
There are two more species: the crow and the magpie - it is better to leave them to their own devices. Helping these birds maintain their numbers means creating unbearable conditions for nightingales, finches and other songbirds, whose nests the corvids mercilessly destroy, eating eggs and chicks.
Three main rules for winter bird care
Setting up feeders is an intervention in the life of wildlife, just like picking mushrooms or mowing grass. A man watches how the birds dear to his heart are fed, and thinks that he saved them from death. But he does not see what will happen next, how his actions will affect the birds themselves and the entire ecosystem. He does not assume that he acts as a new factor of natural selection, and an incredible selection that helps the weak survive. “Do no harm” - this medical principle is included in the three important rules of winter care for birds.
Feeder drawing
The rule is paradoxical - birds cannot be fed
Feeding and feeding are completely different things. Feeding means that a person takes full responsibility for providing the birds with nutrients, as is the case with domestic and caged species. This approach to wild birds poses two serious dangers.
The first is that, getting used to a free treat, the bird stops collecting food on its own. Why work hard: remove the pine cones, break the bark - if there is a whole mountain of food lying very close by. At the same time, the bird's diet becomes very poor. They choose the most delicious, for example, sunflower seeds, ignoring everything else. The intake of fats into the body increases, and vitamins decrease, as a result the bird has every chance of simply not surviving until spring.
These beauties should eat as varied a diet as possible.
An example illustrating this state of affairs is caring for village chickens. They are only fed, and they have the widest opportunities to search for a variety of natural food, which is why they grow strong and healthy.
The second danger is that birds quickly get used to feeding from human hands and lose the skills of quickly searching for pasture. If people suddenly abandon the feeders, their charges will waste the precious time of a short winter day visiting empty sites and may not have time to saturate the body with energy. Just 2-3 hours without food - and the bird will not survive the frosty night. This is why you should not feed birds occasionally in winter.
The merciless rule is to fill the feeder once a day.
An empty feeder for most of the day is not a crime, but training the birds to a certain feeding regime, which will force them to devote the day to searching for food on their own.
Conditioned reflexes in birds are developed quickly. It is enough to sprinkle the fertilizer at the same time for 3-4 days, and the birds will remember it. When to do this depends on the commitment of the person and the degree of his employment. It is recommended to feed about two hours before dusk, so that the eaters are guaranteed to go into the night well-fed.
Visitors to the canteen are well aware of its working hours.
But if there is a chance that the feeder will be forgotten or left, for example, during a vacation, it is better to fill it in the morning: the birds will have a chance to get enough before dark in another place.
Restrictive rule - what should not be in the feeder
Of course, birds should not be fed spoiled, fermented, or moldy food, but there is a large list of foods that are familiar to humans, but harmful, and sometimes even deadly, for the bird population. What not to feed birds:
- Salted seeds, pistachios, crackers, lard, cookies. It is difficult for birds to remove excess salt from their bodies because they do not have sweat glands. All the work falls on the kidneys, and they may not be able to withstand the increased load. In addition, some salts are deposited in the joints, which will disrupt the bird's musculoskeletal system and cause it severe pain.
- Roasted seeds and hazelnuts. The danger comes from fats, the excess of which affects the liver and pancreas, as well as carcinogens from such foods.
- Rye (black) bread. It very quickly begins to ferment, often already in the bird’s crop, making it difficult, and in some cases, blocking breathing, since the crop, dilated from gases, presses on the trachea.
- Fresh wheat (white) bread. Is it possible to feed birds bread? It causes indigestion because it turns into a sticky mass that is difficult to move through the digestive system.
- Kernels (seeds) from cherry, peach, apricot pits, as well as almonds. They are rich in hydrocyanic acid and even for humans, their excessive consumption is fraught with poisoning.
- Millet. Cleared of filmy shells, it is covered with fine bitter dust, which housewives wash off with hot water before cooking. Old, rancid millet, on the surface of which oxidized fats are present, is especially dangerous.
- Potato. Raw tubers contain the alkaloid solanine, which a bird needs just a little bit for serious poisoning. Boiled potatoes can be considered almost pure starch - a very heavy food for the bird's digestive system. The same applies to rice - you should not feed it to birds.
- Mushrooms. These organisms actively accumulate heavy and radioactive metals and can carry clostridia spores, which cause botulism.
- Canned food. In addition to the product itself, they contain vinegar, sugar, salt, spices, preservatives and flavorings, which are completely unnecessary in the bird's diet.
- Soft and granular food for cats and dogs, especially economy class. They contain soy, yeast, fat and attractants - taste enhancers designed to force the animal to eat food that is unnatural for it.
Sunflower seeds - the main food for wintering birds - must be unroasted
What food to prepare yourself
Most of the supplements: sunflower seeds, canary seeds, millet - are purchased in specialized pet stores. You should not purchase seeds at gardening outlets: they can be treated to protect against pests. It is recommended to germinate a small amount of purchased seeds. If the seedlings become covered with mold, it means that the seeds have been contaminated with spores and are not suitable for birds to eat.
You can ask yourself the question of what to feed titmice in winter in the summer and make it a rule that when cutting a watermelon or melon, collect the seeds, wash them and dry them. Pumpkin seeds, overripe zucchini, squash and cucumbers are prepared in the same way. Birds like bundles of dried fruits. They are made by stringing pieces of dried apples, pears, and rose hips onto a strong thread.
You can collect a couple of kilograms of watermelon seeds in the fall.
But you should not collect rowan, viburnum, birch, alder and weed seeds; it is better to leave them for wild birds to feed on their own.
Guests are flying to the feeder - it’s time to put out the treats
For most small birds, you can pre-mix grain mixtures and bag them up at a rate of one bag per feeder per day. The basis of such a mixture is, as a rule, seeds, to which oats, millet, as well as more expensive but nutritionally valuable flaxseed, hemp and canary seed are added to diversify the diet.
Instead of oats, you can use rolled oats, but not instant, but denser ones. Crushed wheat and barley (barley) would be appropriate. A certain amount of dry wheat bread crumbs is acceptable.
The feeder can also become an original garden decoration
Features of feeding tits
Tits are the only birds for which an increased amount of fat is not dangerous, so for them the food mixture may include unsalted lard, raw meat, cottage cheese, hard-boiled eggs and even frozen butter. To prevent other species from reaching the elite bluebird table, feeders for these birds are made to swing, and pieces of lard are simply hung on tree branches using twine.
It is useful to teach tits to take high-calorie fat not from the feeder, but from tree trunks. To do this, lard is melted, put into a pastry syringe and poured onto the bark. Of course, it is more convenient to do this if fertilizing is organized close to home, otherwise the lard will harden along the way. But such a treat will attract not only tits, but also pikas and nuthatches - those who like to look for food in cracks in the bark.
Treats for birds
For tits, you can make a so-called bird pie. To do this, place pieces of unsalted lard in a deep frying pan, melt and add the following mixture:
- sunflower seeds;
- dense oat flakes;
- watermelon and melon seeds;
- pieces of dried fruit;
- crushed nuts (walnuts, pine or hazelnuts).
“Pies” for tits made from lard and grain additives
The mixture is stirred evenly and left to harden. You can make several holes in it for ropes in advance; to do this, stick 3-4 pencils into the still warm lard to the bottom of the pan. The frozen “pie” is taken out and hung on a tree.
How to please sparrows, redpolls and greenfinches
Finding what to feed sparrows and other small birds in winter is not difficult. The basis of the grain mixture is millet and oats. Barley and wheat are too harsh for them, so it is better to offer them in crushed form. The seeds in the mixture should be less than half the volume, since many birds choose them and do not eat the rest, which depletes the vitamin composition of the feed.
Hard watermelon seeds are not suitable for sparrows because, unlike tits, they are too lazy to crush them with their beaks. You can add pumpkin seeds, peeled from the shells and lightly crushed with a potato masher, to the fertilizer.
To maintain healthy bird bones, calcium supplementation is recommended, and small stones are recommended for proper digestion. To do this, crushed eggshells or shells, pieces of school chalk or plaster, and washed river sand are added to the usual mixture.
The best sparrow feeders have a roof to protect them from snow.
It is better to make feeders for small passerines small in size, but with a roof. The huge “restaurants” attract pigeons, and the roof will prevent snowstorms from covering the grain. Although sparrows are smart, they will not be able to dig it out from under the snow.
Is it worth feeding wild pigeons?
What to feed pigeons in winter and is it worth it? Due to its size, this bird easily swallows any grain: barley, wheat, oats, crushed corn - and also digests bread, even fresh, more efficiently than passerines. Barley is considered the most useful food for pigeons; it is also quite cheap if you purchase it from livestock breeders in rural areas.
It should be taken into account that pigeons form large flocks in the city. Regular feeding attracts new birds and increases the survival rate of chicks, as a result of which flocks become truly gigantic and begin to cause inconvenience to people. The area chosen for feeding, as well as the areas under the wires around it and even the windshields of cars parked nearby, will quickly become covered with droppings.
Pigeon food can be sprinkled directly on the snow or asphalt
In some countries, for example, in Austria, there is a small but offensive fine for feeding pigeons. Local authorities believe that these “city dwellers” should be left to their own devices when it comes to food so as not to increase their population.
How to help Gray Neck and other waterfowl
Of the anseriformes on the ice-free water bodies of the middle zone, you can most often find mallards and swans; goldeneyes, tufted ducks and other ducks remain occasionally. All of them belong to migratory birds, but do not migrate for various reasons: they are fed, wounded, sick, too old to fly, or, conversely, did not have time to change their chick feathers to an adult one.
Their natural food consists of underwater parts of plants and small invertebrates that remain active in the relatively warm winter water of various settling tanks and spillways. But with extreme drops in temperature, waterfowl, especially swans, need help. Among the supplements you can offer them:
- any sprouted grain;
- finely chopped carrots and apples;
- oatmeal with boiled vegetables;
- Chinese lettuce leaves.
The brown feather swan is still too young and needs help in winter
If swans winter systematically, then you can prepare hay for them in advance and gradually throw it into the water. It will swell and be closest to their natural diet.
Winter feeding is a noble cause, but requires careful attention. Even just by pouring a handful of grain on the windowsill, a person affects both the health of an individual and the state of the gene pool of the entire species. Selecting the right bird food, feeding location and timing must all be carefully considered to avoid harm to wild birds.
“Don’t tease the dogs, don’t scare the cats, don’t spare any grain or crumbs for the birds” - the words from the children’s song have been stored in the memory of each of us since deep childhood. Everyone remembers that it is necessary to feed birds in winter. Probably every family with a child has done it at least once. But, unfortunately, this often happens: a child pours grain a couple of times, and then gets bored with this activity. Over time, parents forget about it, and as a result, many ownerless boxes hang on the trees. But the process of feeding birds can be interesting and, most importantly, useful for a child. This teaches children attentiveness, care for the world around them, and compassion.
But, in addition to the fact that birds need to be fed regularly, you need to know what to feed. Some people believe that in winter, when there is a lack of food, birds can eat anything - this is a mistaken opinion. Therefore, what is poured into the feeder will determine who exactly will fly to you today.
What to feed birds in winter?
Seeds
With the onset of cold weather, many are asking this question. Ornithologists - scientists who study birds - know everything about proper feeding of birds in winter. Based on their recommendations, we can create a mixture that will contain more than seventy percent unroasted sunflower seeds. For small birds, this food will become the main source of energy, since the seeds are very high in calories. Even granivorous birds and woodpeckers feed on sunflower seeds with great pleasure. This food is also loved by tits, nuthatches and other birds. The seeds of this crop contain a large amount of vegetable fats that are beneficial for birds, which allow them to survive in severe frosts.
Plants' seeds
There are a number of birds that prefer oats, millet, millet, rice, wheat. Such granivorous birds will be happy to visit your feeder if you leave millet or oats for them. This meal is to the taste of goldfinches, greenfinches, sparrows, and so on. City pigeons also prefer to peck grains.
The birds will feast on them with great pleasure seeds of melon, watermelon, hemp, nettle, thistle, burdock, quinoa. Also some birds may peck corn.
Please note that watermelon seeds must first be crushed. Tits and nuthatches will be happy to try this food. Many birds eagerly eat quinoa seeds. The plants are cut, collected in brooms, and thus stored until winter. When cold weather sets in, the brooms are simply stuck into the snow not far from the feeder. You can thresh the grains and mix them with other feed. Blue tits and many other granivorous birds are very fond of nettle seeds. For goldfinches, burdock seeds can be the main food. But bullfinches prefer different food. Horse sorrel seeds are a real delicacy for them.
Animal products
During the hungry winter period, it can be used as bird food. unsalted lard, meat, beef and chicken fat. This product will be appreciated by tits, nuthatches and some other birds. Salty foods should not be used for these purposes.
Berries
Delicious berries of hawthorn, rowan and other plants attract the most beautiful birds to the feeders - bullfinches, bee-eaters, waxwings. The autumn harvest is harvested and dried in preparation for winter.
Tree seeds
Often found in city parks maples and ash trees. Their seeds called lionfish. In the autumn, most of them fall to the ground, which means they become inaccessible to birds. If you have no idea what you can feed birds in winter, you can collect lionfish when the cold weather sets in and hang them in your feeders. Most likely, bullfinches and waxwings, as well as some other birds, will come to you.
Cones, acorns, nuts
This food is prepared in the fall. For crossbills and woodpeckers, cones can become the basis of the winter menu. Jays will prefer feeding on acorns. By setting up bird feeders with such delicacies for birds, you will also attract squirrels.
Prepared mixtures
For those who want to diversify the menu in the bird canteen, we can recommend preparing different mixtures for feathered visitors. For example, it could be fifty percent sunflower seeds, about thirty percent millet, fifteen or more corn grains.
An option for a higher calorie dish would be layered cake. To prepare it, take three cups of soft fat or margarine, the same amount of grain, and a cup of sunflower oil. If desired, you can add rolled oats and other ingredients. Many people use apple peelings, nut kernels, plant seeds, chicken eggs, sweet syrup, honey, and sugar. After thoroughly mixing the mixture, leave it to harden in the cold. The entire portion can be placed in a plastic container and left in the feeder.
Small strips can be placed in outdoor bird feeders bacon rinds, boiled eggs or potatoes, which will also be a pleasant treat for birds.
How should you feed birds?
Can string on a strong thread or wire meat and other products cut into small pieces. Such bundles are hung on bushes or trees. If you place the fertilizer away from ground level, there is a chance that it will not reach magpies, jackdaws, cats or dogs. You need to hang it among thin branches, then such heavy birds as crows will not be able to sit on them.
In winter, birds especially need human support, but you need to know who and what is best to feed, so as not to harm the birds.
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 do not live in their natural environment in the middle zone; they are residents 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 won’t 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 get 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 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 latter 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, pick up seeds of 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 away other, more “slender” ones 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. It is because they feel unwell that they fluff their feathers, trying to retain as much warmth 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.
In no case should birds be given: fried and salted seeds, salted lard, millet, black bread and spoiled foods with an unpleasant odor 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/, oatmeal, but 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
The squirrels are given whole 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 the squirrels use a fresh apple) in their feeders. in demand, despite the fact that it freezes through), dried fruits, dried mushrooms, boiled eggs, cottage cheese. Squirrels don’t eat almonds, and raw peanuts are also not popular, but you can offer them.
Salt is not harmful to squirrels, but it is better not to use salty foods, 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 heavily litter the space, 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. In addition, bird droppings do 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 out the desired shape from cardboard, spread it with 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.
Here are a few diagrams of the simplest feeders that can be quickly and easily made at home:
1. A feeder made from two plastic instant noodle boxes connected by pieces of plywood.
2. Feeder made from an empty juice or milk carton. Two or three holes are cut at the bottom of the bag. They can be either round or rectangular.
3. Pieces of unsalted lard, tied together with strong thread or twine. This bunch can be thrown onto the branches of a tree, where tits will find it, but the food will be difficult for crows to reach.
4. A feeder made of two empty plastic bottles of different sizes. This feeder can work automatically. As the birds eat the food, it spills out of the bottle again. You can put millet, oats, wheat and other bulk feeds into this feeder.
The numbers on the diagram indicate:
1 - cap made from a larger bottle
2 - the feed container is made from a bottle of a smaller volume. The bottom is cut off to make it easier to fill in the food, and holes are made at the neck from which the food flows into the cup.
3 - perch stick for birds
4 - food in a cup
5 - belt for attaching the feeder to a branch.
5. Feeder made from an empty plastic bottle. The neck of the bottle is partially cut off to leave a small roof. A piece of board with a perch for birds is inserted into the resulting hole, and food is poured inside the bottle.
If you start feeding birds, try not to give up this activity until spring, as birds flying to the feeder can be very upset and even die if you suddenly stop coming.
And finally, there is such a sign: if a tit sits on your hand, make a wish, and if the bird gives a voice, your wish will come true.
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Tips for parents “Feed the birds in winter...”
For birds, winter is a very difficult time of year. The poor birds are hungry and cold. Because of the cold, wintering birds lose a lot of heat. In order to keep warm, birds need to eat a lot, and in winter they need much more food than in summer. Finding food is the main activity for birds in winter. It gets dark quickly, and in the dark there is no food to be found.
Often in frosty conditions birds do not fly, but sit with their feathers ruffled. Why? It turns out that they do not fly in cold weather, because the bird freezes much faster in flight. When a bird sits, it has still air between its feathers. It prevents cold from reaching the bird's body and retains heat. In flight, frosty air rushes towards the bird’s body from all sides, and it freezes in flight.
And you can also see in winter frosts how the bird stands on one leg or the other. Why is she doing this? The bird warms its legs by alternately lifting them from the cold ground.
To keep warm, birds hug each other closely and hide their beaks under their wings. In winter, even those birds that live alone in summer flock together. This makes it easier for them to endure the winter. One bird found food and immediately notified everyone. So everyone is full. It is easier for the flock to notice approaching danger.
Winter is a difficult time of year for all birds, but not because of the cold and frosts, but because with the onset of cold weather food disappears or is significantly reduced. The winter day is short and birds have little time to search for food. Therefore, birds tend to go where it is easier to find food and where they can hide from the winter cold - to cities, villages, villages - closer to people.
Properly organized feeding will help more birds survive in winter.
Many of us arrange feeding areas and feeders for birds. But you must follow certain feeding rules:
1. Constantly replenish the feeders. Moreover, it is advisable to do this in the morning.
2. It should be taken into account that you should not feed birds fried or salted seeds, lard, or meat.
3. You cannot feed the birds with crumbs of black or rye bread, this can lead to their death.
4. You should not give birds rancid grain, moldy or musty foods, because they produce toxins that are fatal to birds.
5. You cannot simply overfeed the birds, so it is recommended to update the contents of the feeder no more than once a day.
Best suited for feeding birds:
1. Millet, oats, wheat - the most universal food that attracts birds that feed on various seeds and grains.
2. Sunflower seeds - a large amount of vegetable fats contained in them are an important source of energy replenishment in winter cold conditions.
3. Lard, meat - can also be used for winter feeding of birds. Some bird species love them very much. But it is worth remembering that this food should be unsalted and not boiled. This feeding should be placed like this - suspended on strings near the feeders (so that it does not reach crows, magpies, jackdaws, cats and dogs).
4. Dried rowan and hawthorn - need to be prepared and dried in the fall. They attract the most beautiful winter birds - bullfinches and waxwings.
5. Maple and ash seeds (lionfish) - fly from the trees in the fall and remain under the snow. Lionfish are collected in the fall and hung on feeders.
6. Cones, acorns, nuts are the main diet of some birds. If you prepare them in the fall, you can attract woodpeckers and jays to your feeder.
To make feeders, you can use different materials - wood, plastic, cardboard and their various combinations.
The simplest options are feeders made from plastic bottles, milk or juice cartons.
When making feeders, you need to follow a few simple recommendations:
1. The size of the feeder should be designed for the birds you decide to feed. Everyone knows that where crows and pigeons appear, there is no place for other birds.
2. The feeder must have a roof to protect the feed from rain and snow.
3. Birds must enter and leave the feeder freely.
5. Think in advance about how to attach the feeder (on a suspension, to a wall, pole or tree).
Children should also be involved in feeding the birds.A DIY bird feeder is not only about saving birds from hunger. Another goal being achieved is no less important – caring for our children. If you make bird feeders together with your children, and periodically involve them in replenishing these bird “canteens,” this will provide you with an invaluable service in education. This way your child will learn mercy and care. Having your own feeder, you and your child will be able to watch the birds, who constantly comes to eat, and who only occasionally. And how much joy a visit to the feeder of a rare or unfamiliar bird will bring. Observing the life of birds will help the child become closer to nature and teach him to treat the world around him with care.
Memo for parents
What to make a bird feeder from | A bird feeder can be made from any available material. The simplest options are from a plastic 2 or 5 liter bottle, hard (cardboard) milk or juice cartons. Feeders made of wood are very popular; they can be given any design, shape, or color scheme. Very often you can see combined feeders made of wood and plastic elements. Today you can buy various bird feeders; assembly will take no more than half an hour, which even a child can handle. |
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How to hang a feeder correctly | First of all, you need to remember that the feeder should be inaccessible to predators, in a quiet, windless place and should be as illuminated as possible. The best option is to hang the feeder on a tree branch. You can place the feeder on the balcony, outside the window, or attach it to a wall or pole. |
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What birds appear at the feeder in winter | Sparrows, tits, thrushes, bullfinches, goldfinches, greenfinches and even woodpeckers. This depends on several factors: |
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Feeding standards for birds | It is generally accepted that there are approximately 5 birds per feeder. The daily feeding rate, depending on the “visitors” of the feeder, should not exceed grain mixtures - 200 g, weed seed mixtures - 200 g, meat or lard - 50 g. |
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