The long sunny days of summer are made joyous by the songs of birds who come to our gardens, but now, with cool nights and tints of autumn color in the landscape, our bird friends are leaving us for the warm lands of the South. Yet we can persuade birds to visit our gardens through the winter months, too.
Of course, we cannot expect robins, catbirds, and orioles to stay over the winter in the North, but we can encourage those birds that do come to our feeders.
If you serve a varied enough menu, you may be surprised at the number of migrating birds stopping off and lunching with you before their journey south.
A birdbath or other container holding water for drinking and bathing will attract not only migrants but also everyday birds to your garden.
Place it where you can note the different kinds of birds that use it until the water freezes.
Kind of Feeder
The kind of feeder will depend upon the kinds of birds you hope to attract. Try to locate it near a window that will make a good indoor vantage point from which to observe your visitors.
A wide roughboard shelf at the windowsill makes a good feeding place for the song sparrow, junco, nuthatch, and downy woodpecker.
If they seem timid about eating while you watch from inside, you can hang a thin curtain at the window.
The shelf should be high enough so cats cannot leap upon it. A narrow piece of board nailed around the edge will keep food from being swept off by hard winter winds.
Fastening Feeders
If a shelf on the windowsill is inconvenient, you can nail a small shelf to a nearby tree. Or perhaps you could fasten a feeder to the side of your garage.
Some birds prefer to feed in a sheltered or protected spot on the ground, so providing more than one feeding station is best.
When you can no longer scatter food on the ground, you can put seeds and grain in a shallow pan and set it in the snow.
However, squirrels too often take advantage of easily obtained food, which may become a real nuisance.
It may be necessary to suspend the feeder from the branch of a tree with a strong wire. Or you can place the feeder on a pole or a piece of steel pipe set into the ground. Even then, you may have to use tin guards to outwit the squirrels.
Feeders should be easy to refill and should be kept filled; birds soon stop coming if they find the feeders empty. If we encourage them to stay with us, they will depend on us for a part of their winter food.
Beef suet is one of the best foods for birds, but other fats may also be used. As soon as cold weather arrives, the nuthatch, downy woodpecker, and chickadee greatly seek it.
But don’t wait until cold weather. Put it out right now so the birds will become accustomed to finding it in your feeders.
Suet for Breakfast
Many birds enjoy a taste of suet now and then. One September morning, I found migrating warblers breakfasting on it on my shelf.
The catbird comes for it all summer long. The downy woodpecker will accept little else, although he may sample my peanut butter occasionally in bitter cold weather.
While the weather is still mild, the suet should be rendered and put out in small cakes. It is less apt to go rancid when rendered than when left raw.
After cool days come, it may be nailed to the shelf just as it comes from the butcher. Then, the bluejays cannot make off with the entire piece simultaneously.
The Guests Arrive
Many birds enjoy a taste of suet now and then. One September morning, I found migrating warblers breakfasting on it on my shelf.
The catbird comes for it all summer long. The downy woodpecker will accept little else, although he may sample my peanut butter occasionally in bitter cold weather.
While the weather is still mild, the suet should be rendered and put out in small cakes. It is less apt to go rancid when rendered than when left raw.
After cool days come, it may be nailed to the shelf just as it comes from the butcher. Then, the bluejays cannot make off with the entire piece simultaneously.
The Guests Arrive
Small pieces may be pressed into the rough bark of a tree close at hand. The English sparrow may appear to get more than his share of suet, but just watch him and listen.
He chatters about what he has found to such an extent that all birds within hearing know he has found something good.
Soon, the downy woodpecker comes to investigate, and if he takes the notion, he may send the sparrows flying for shelter. His sharp beak commands a bit of respect.
Many birds relish sunflower seeds. The nuthatch seems never to get his fill, nor does the chickadee. The cardinal will come for them, although he likes squash or pumpkin seeds almost as well.
Most of the sparrows seem to prefer the fine, cracked grain prepared for baby chicks. Song sparrows, juncos, white-throated and white-crowned sparrows all relish this fine cracked grain.
Scatter it under shrubs, near hedges, or around spruce trees, or put it on the feeding shelf, and they will find it.
Some of the small-fruited flowering crabapples and hackberries offer food to late-lingering robins. Berries of the flowering dogwood and the mountain ash furnish food for robins and blackbirds in October.
Kinglets, warblers, chickadees, woodpeckers, and other winter birds seek the blueberries of red cedar. Such shrubs as viburnum, spicebush, and euonymus contribute to bird food in the late fall, and the seeds of barberry and sumac are prized.
When the last migrant has left your garden, winging his way to a sunnier land to spend the winter, your bird guests may not be so numerous. But do cater to those birds who stop in your garden for lunch.
Save bits of baked pie crust, dry doughnuts, cake crumbs, and crackers. Perhaps you may have nuts to share with the birds. The nuthatch likes hickory nuts cracked fine and black walnuts, although the bluejay may find them first and carry them off to hide them.
For a change, give the birds peanut butter. Spread it thinly on the shelf, work it into the hark of a tree, or fill a small jar lid that can be nailed to a tree or post.
One of the best feeders for peanut butter is the dried head of a large sunflower, which can be nailed to a shelf.
After the seeds have all been taken, the rough teed head makes an ideal place to spread peanut butter. The sharp beaks of the nuthatch and downy woodpecker find it “easy picking,” to say nothing of how much the chickadees enjoy it.
Other simple feeders are easy to make. Coconut shells may be made into substantial containers for suet cakes or sunflower seeds. You can bore holes large enough to fill with suet or peanut butter in a broken-off branch. If you hang it in a convenient place, it will soon have its quota of launchers.
Feeders that are made of wire or metal can be a menace to the birds in sections of the country where cold is the everyday temperature. Their tiny feet and eyelids may be injured when they come in contact with frosty metal.
Have you ever picked up a piece of frosty metal with bare hands and felt like your skin was being fairly pulled off?
Meat Fats
The birds will appreciate a scattering of sand and gravel when snow covers the ground completely. They need it to help digest their food. Save the bones from your roasts or rinds that have fat on them; they’ll be picked up quickly.
Meat fryings poured over fine oatmeal, sunflower seeds, and line chick feed make cakes that the birds enjoy. Perhaps your birds will like raisins, grated raw carrots, and apples.
If you let your outdoor larder become low, the nuthatch and chickadee will be on hand the next morning to scold you. So don’t disappoint them.
44659 by Eunice V. Fisher