winter bird feeding types of bird feeders kinds of bird food ingredients

November 2009

Winter Bird Feeding

Leonard J. Buck Garden, Far Hills, New Jersey

Set up your feeders! Tis’ the season for feeding birds all across North America.

Feeding birds is predominantly a winter activity in northern Europe and North America. We provide wild birds with food when foraging is difficult due to weather. Setting up a bird feeder in your backyard ensures entertainment for you and cold weather sustenance for non-migratory backyard birds during a time when fresh food is less abundant.

Birds become dependent on feeders when the lush, berry-laden vegetation of summer and fall has withered, tree branches are bare, and insects have either died or gone dormant. Cold winters pose privation for all birds; finding food this time of year can be challenging for them.

It’s wintertime and the living’s not easy if you’re a non-migratory bird. Let’s roll out the welcome mat and set the table, guess who’s coming to dinner this winter.

Feeders:
Birds have different feeding requirements. Different styles of feeders will attract a large variety of birds to your backyard. Woodland birds benefit from hanging or post-mounted feeders. Hanging feeders keep seed clean and dry and constantly available in heavy snow. Also, a variety of food placed at different heights maximizes the number of species. Here are four types of feeders for your winter bird feeding program.

Common Hopper Feeders are the most user-friendly from a bird’s standpoint. They often resemble a small barn, are equipped with catch-trays and perches and hold large amounts of birdseed. Hopper bird feeders attract wild birds that won't visit tube or suet feeders. Larger birds, such as blue jays, grosbeaks, cardinals and morning doves, are comfortable feeding from a hopper feeder.

Popular Tube Feeders have long cylinders with perches at several feeding ports. They are considered “exclusive” bird feeders meaning, they exclude many larger birds. They are limited to smaller birds such as chickadees, finches, titmice and pine siskins. However, when a seed saver tray is added, it allows larger birds such as cardinals a place to perch and feed.

Globe Feeders, also known as dome or satellite feeders, are designed for smaller songbirds that can cling upside down. They have only seed holes, no perches; larger birds can not land on a globe feeder and hog all the seed. When other feeders are taken over by aggressive flocks, the more retiring, clinging birds can always find seed in a globe feeder. Globe feeders cater to chickadees, titmice, wrens and other tiny feathered friends.

Suet Feeders: After seed, suet, is the feed of choice for many birds in cold winter areas. Manufactured suet bird feeders come in a variety of styles, shapes and sizes; they attract birds that do not come to other types of feeders.

Setting Up Your Bird Feeder
It’s best to set out your bird feeder in autumn. That entices birds to build your feeder into their winter feeding routes. Keep your feeders out and replenish them regularly throughout the winter months. Remember, keep your feeders clean with a once-a-month cleaning. Using a solution of one part bleach to nine parts hot water goes a long way toward reducing disease transmission.

Seed Mixture
The past ten years have seen an ongoing diversification of mixes aimed at particular bird species. These mixes range from single grain (black sunflower, peanuts) to premium mixes that include apple and rosehip, rowan and juniper berries, papaya, banana and sunflower hearts. Some companies offer special mixes intended to attract particular groups or species of birds. A high proportion of nijer seed in the mix attracts finches, while peanuts and other large seeded grains attract woodpeckers and nuthatches. Some mixes include dried insects or insect larvae to attract insect-eating birds, or pieces of dried fruits for fruit eaters.

Some mixed seed sold at your local grocery store, has lots of filler in it--junk seeds that most birds won't eat. They contain milo, wheat, barley, and they may also include dyed seed meant for pet birds.

Red milo seed and wheat are used in the Southwest where a variety of quail, doves, towhees, and sparrows readily eat them. Eastern birds rarely eat milo and wheat, with the exception of blackbirds and doves, so any mixed seed with a large percentage of those seeds will probably go uneaten.

Good mixed seed has these beneficial ingredients:
a large amount of sunflower seed
cracked corn
red and white proso millet
perhaps some peanut hearts

It would be wasteful to fill a feeder with a standard mix of sunflower, milo, oats, wheat, flax, and buckwheat seeds; the birds will eat the sunflower seeds and leave the rest. Buy mixed seed from a specialty bird store or a hardware/feed store.

Ingredients
Black-oil sunflower is the number one bird seed that attracts the greatest number of species to your bird feeder. Almost any bird that visits a feeder eats black-oil sunflower. These seeds have a high meat to shell ratio, are nutritious and high in fat, and their thin outer shell makes them easy to crack. The kernel inside the shell is larger than the kernel inside a white- or gray-striped sunflower seed, so birds get more food per seed from black-oil.

Safflower is a white, thin-shelled, conical seed that is eaten by many birds and has the reputation for being the favorite food of the northern cardinal. Some feeder operators claim that safflower seed is not as readily eaten by squirrels and blackbirds. Your results may vary. Put safflower in any feeder that accommodates sunflower seed. Avoid feeding safflower on the ground in wet weather; it quickly becomes soggy and inedible. You can buy safflower in bulk at seed and feed stores.

Corn refers to dried, whole kernel corn, a favorite food for sparrows, blackbirds, jays, pigeons, doves, quail, pheasants, cardinals, nuthatches, and squirrels. Some feeder operators only use this food to lure squirrels away from bird feeders. Squirrels love corn--cracked or otherwise. Cracked corn is broken up into smaller, more manageable bits, easier to eat for blackbirds, finches, and sparrows.

Peanuts--de-shelled, dry-roasted, and unsalted--are a fairly recent trend in bird feeding in North America. Peanuts offer a great high protein boost to winter-weary birds and are accepted by insect eating birds like woodpeckers and wrens. Peanut manufacturers have now identified the bird-feeding market as a good place to get rid of peanuts that are unfit for human consumption. Several major feeder manufacturers now produce sturdy, efficient tube-shaped peanut feeders. Woodpeckers, jays, nuthatches, chickadees, and titmice will readily visit a feeder for this high-energy food. Even cardinals and finches eat peanuts.

Millet is one of the better carbohydrate sources for birds because it is highly digestible. Many grains acidify in the stomach, but millet is highly alkaline to counteract acids and digests more easily. It is an excellent source of protein with one of the highest amino acid profiles of all cereal grains. White proso millet is used more often in wild bird seed mixes formulated in the east, while red proso millet is used more often in western-formulated mixes. There are several reasons for this geographic divide, but the fact is that almost all birds that eat white proso millet are also attracted to red proso millet, and they are easily interchanged in any wild bird seed mix.

Nijer or thistle seed is a delicacy for goldfinches, siskins, and redpolls. This expensive seed is best offered in a special nijer feeder. The two most commonly used types of thistle feeder are: a tube feeder with small thistle-seed-sized holes that prevents the expensive seed from spilling out, and a thistle sock. A thistle sock is a sock-shaped, fine-mesh, synthetic bag that is filled with thistle seed. Small finches can cling to this bag and pull seeds out through its mesh. All thistle seed is imported to North America, and it is all supposed to be sterilized prior to entry into the United States and Canada.

Suet is the feed of choice for many winter birds. It offers energy-rich nutrition with a high fat content. Suet is dense, white fat that collects around beef liver, kidneys, and loins. Ask your grocery store butcher if you don't see packages of suet on display. Seed eaters and birds that normally eat insects eagerly accept suet. Suet lasts a long time in cold weather. If you want to create your own tantalizing bird treat, melt suet in your microwave and, before it solidifies, add peanut bits, raisins, apple bits, or other bird foods, then put it in your freezer to harden.

Fruit is an important dietary element for birds, but it can be hard to find in midwinter. Set out grapes, slices of citrus fruits, apple or banana slices, and watch your birds chow down. If you want to feed raisins, chop them up and soak them in warm water first to soften them up a bit. Offering fruit to tanagers and orioles is a traditional spring and summer feeding strategy, but many winter feeder birds will eat fruit, too.