Words On Birds 12-25-25

 

     We have had a series of quick storms come through our area in the past weeks. The latest one dropped a few inches of snow in some areas. More of these quick storms are predicted for the week ahead so there are a number of things to keep in mind in regard to the birds:

 

     Winter storms are particularly hard on the birds. Birds seem to know when a storm is approaching as they flock to feeders in the days before the storm, fueling up to sustain them through the worst of it. It seems that they can predict the weather with more certainty than our best-trained meteorologists. We had tens of goldfinches at every available perch on our thistle feeders, devouring the finch seed, a mixture of fine sunflower and Nyger seeds, as fast as we could fill the feeders.

 

     Birds are supplementing their natural food with the seed and suet at your feeders. The availability of feeder-food makes it a bit easier for them, especially right after a storm when natural seed supplies may be covered with snow or caked in ice. 

 

     It is important to go out right after a storm and clear the feeders of snow and ice. With blizzard conditions that often hit us, the wet, sticky snow may be blown horizontally for much of the storm and there isn’t a feeder that won’t get covered or clogged with snow. 

 

     Scrape away all snow and ice, especially from the perch areas and around the feeding ports on the feeders. We sometimes have to scrape the snow off the suet and hanging seed cakes. Your reward comes when a pine siskin or common redpoll joins the flock of goldfinches at your thistle feeders or an evening grosbeak finds your sunflower.

 

     In addition to seed and suet, you can put out some fruit for the fruit-eating birds which include the robins, bluebirds and mockingbirds. Dried raisins or cranberries will be welcome by some birds and mealworms will provide them some protein. If you have plantings in your yard such as crab apple, winterberry or holly, look for cedar waxwings, wintering hermit thrushes or catbirds that might also feast on the natural fruit. A lucky couple once had a western tanager eating apple, oranges and sunflower hearts at their feeders, and this western visitor survived the storms with their help.

 

     If you have a heated bird bath, many birds will flock to it as fresh water becomes more unavailable with these frigid temperatures. Even birds that don’t normally visit feeders may take advantage of the open water.

 

     At the height of the storm, and during these long, cold New England nights, birds seek shelter wherever they can find it. Some choose thickets, brush piles, evergreens, rhododendron, or other sheltering shrubs and trees. Some will crowd into cavities in trees, buildings and other structures to keep warm. You can help the birds by putting up roosting boxes or roosting pockets where birds can huddle to keep warm. Birds also use nesting boxes for roosting, so if you have bird houses around your yard that you have left up for the winter, these will provide added shelter at night for the birds. You can add grasses, cotton, or dryer lint to the boxes to add further insulation for the birds.

 

     A West Newbury resident had a bird-cam in one of her bluebird nesting boxes that she monitored during the spring and summer. She kept the nesting box up during the winter but had rolled up the cord from the camera to store from the winter. She saw the bluebirds checking out the box one week and decided to hook the camera back up to her TV. 

 

     Because the camera has infrared, she could watch what transpired in the house at night. The first night, five bluebirds were jockeying for position in the bird house, fighting one another until two got expelled. She watched the remaining three bluebirds hunker down for the night. She watched the next night and all five bluebirds came to terms, huddling together in the one box. They must have figured out that the body heat of five was better than three!

 

     No redpolls or other winter finches at our feeders yet this year, but others have had visits from evening grosbeaks. Our wintering flicker and Carolina wrens have made it through the storms so far. The number of goldfinches, woodpeckers, and junco have increased as well! In a previous year, we were rewarded when three male bluebirds visited our heated bird bath a few days after Christmas to drink from the open water.

 

     So with the frigid weather and winter storms upon us, be sure to keep those seed and suet feeders filled, and keep those heated baths going to help our birds survive!