Things to do to keep your birds happy this winter

With Winter on our door step I wanted to post some tips to help keep your birds both happy and more importantly healthy.

The first thing you should do in the fall before winter hits is check and clean your feeders. I try to clean my feeders twice a year, once in the spring and again in the fall. However it usually requires more. While feeding inspect the feeder to make sure it's still in tack. Also look for mold that may have formed due to rain. If you find it, take the feeder in and wash it. I use simple green as it's safe for the birds. Usually just a few sprays and let it sit a while. The rinse well, let dry and it's ready for use again. In the spring and fall I do a thorough cleaning with a power washer. While not necessary, it does do a great job. Keeping the feeders clean is a must for healthy birds. Also when the weather permits, clean the mess below the feeders. By doing this you'll assure the birds are getting clean, healthy food.

As I stated in my earlier post, water is an absolute must for winter birds. Birds need water to help maintain their body heat and during the winter months we all know how little open water there is. While birds may be able to find other food sources other than your yard, open water can be difficult at best for them to find. If your going to spend the time and money to feed them, also spend some money to purchase a heated water bath. You'll be doing the birds a great service as well as see more birds in your yard.

Few people think of providing shelter for their birds during the winter months. Shelters can be provided by purchasing a roosting box. Roosting boxes are like a wooden bid house except the entrance hole is located at the bottom and it has perches inside. The theory behind this is that warm air rises. The birds go inside and sit at the higher perches to enjoy more warmth. If you do this place the entrance away from the prevailing wind in your area. Here in NE Ohio the wind is usually from the NW so the entrance face SE. I had my doubts about the box when I bought it but the birds loved it.

Another idea for making a shelter is save your real Christmas tree after the holiday instead of just throwing it away. If you can lean it against a garage, shed or out building and use that to block the wind it's great. If there is nothing to lean it against you can just lay it on the ground again trying to pay attention to your wind. If you grab a neighbors as well and stack them together the birds will love you. They climb inside the pine and it makes a perfect shelter for them from the elements. My neighbor does this every year and the birds love it.

If you were just feeding seed during the summer, now is the time to switch to a high protein food source. Suet and peanuts are great sources of high protein. Also continue feeding black oil sunflower seed and just plain sunflower hearts are great as well. Like I said in my last post, protein turns into warmth for the birds. Stop in a local bird store and see what they recommend for your area. If they are to expensive, try making your own suet or buying it. Suet and usually be purchased for about $1.50 or less a cake.

Finally keep a bird watching journal. When did your humming birds leave? What date did you spot your first dark eyed junco? What birds did you see on the ground or at a feeder during migration? Keeping records of these types of things can be fun and useful. Things I note are as follows. Type of bird? Date arrived and date departed? Was it in a flock or alone? what was the weather like? What time of day? Things like this can be very useful and gives you an idea from year to year what to expect. By doing this the past two years I can almost plot the week my humming birds leave and return. Some day you'll sit back and refer to the journal just to see when the last or first time you saw a give species of bird. I think once you start it that it will only make the entire bird feeding process that much more enjoyable.