Turning Your Backyard into Wild Bird Habitat: Surviving Winter
Survival for birds, just like people, depends on maintaining a warm body temperature. During the cold winter months birds don’t have the luxuries we do of heated homes and sweaters, scarves, mittens and parkas! But they do have means for combating the cold and we can help them by providing shelter and maintaining well stocked feeding stations.
In the fall birds molt and grow new feathers which they can fluff up for insulation. Loose down feathers trap air between the feathers and skin which reduces heat loss. The high body temperature of birds (102-112°) is maintained by a high rate of metabolism. Some species of birds lower their body temperature at night 10-20° to slow their metabolic rate. Most birds roost in protected areas and some gather together in tree crevices to share body heat. A customer of ours has reported regularly seeing fifteen or more bluebirds emerge from a sun warmed roosting box after having spent a cold winter night huddled together inside! The muscular activity of shivering also keeps birds, and us, warm by producing heat.
You can help the birds survive the winter by providing additional shelter in your wild bird habitat. Build a dense brush pile of discarded branches from your fall pruning chores. If you set-up a natural tree for Christmas, save the tree after the holidays, remove all the trimmings and put it outside near your feeding station to serve as cover or a windbreak. You can also help keep the birds warm this winter by adding a 3-4" layer of dried grass to the bottom of the cleaned-out nesting boxes in your backyard. The grass will provide insulation for roosting birds. To insulate your birdhouses even more, use removable weather stripping to fill in the ventilation holes or slits in the top of the box.
The birds need for food increases as the temperature drops. It takes a lot of energy for a little bird to keep warm on cold winter days and it takes a lot of food for little birds to maintain that high level of energy! Your feeding station should be stocked with high calorie bird food – black oil sunflower seeds, peanuts, mealworms and suet are all good choices. Don’t forget to sweep the snow off the feeders after a storm and keep the area under the feeder clear so you can provide a mix of millet and cracked corn for the ground feeders. It takes energy for birds to eat snow if no water is available so keep your birdbath de-iced for them.
This winter, the birds will appreciate the wild bird habitat you’ve created for them in your backyard and you will be rewarded by their presence and marvel at their ability to survive!