Helping Birds Through the Winter
Emily Ellis
Even when the weather outside is frightful, delicate birds such as chickadees, cardinals, and robins are able to survive. Despite their diminutive size, many winter birds have adapted to live through even the harshest conditions, retaining body heat by methods that include fluffing their feathers and shivering. However, they need plenty of food and shelter to do so effectively - which is where humans come in.
To celebrate National Bird Day today, we’re highlighting a few simple ways you can make your yard or garden a haven for birds this winter. Scroll down to read more.
Plant evergreens.
Oak Spring’s Aboriculture, Conservation, and Landscapes team planting a winterberry holly in early December.
When the weather is wet and windy, birds often seek shelter in the branches of bushy, prickly evergreens trees and bushes. Getting a few evergreens in the ground before freezing temperatures hit will not only create shelter for birds, but can provide them with tasty berries throughout the season.
Native evergreens such as American holly, winterberry holly, chokeberry, hawthorn and hackberry are all bird favorites, and lend a lovely splash of color to your winter landscape. Arranged in a border, such trees can also provide birds (and your home) with protection from the wind.
Provide a fattening buffet.
One of several feeders outside Oak Spring’s security hut.
The fatter the bird, the better chance it has of surviving a rough winter. Putting out extra winter feeders and keeping them stocked with high-energy goodies such as black oil sunflower seeds, shelled peanuts, and safflower seeds can help your local birds insulate themselves against the cold.
A chubby cedar waxwing at Oak Spring.
Tube feeders are the best model for keeping feed dry and deterring seed-snatchers like squirrels, but putting out other types of feeders - such as suet feeders and ground feeders - can attract a wider variety of birds and limit crowding. Check out the Audubon Society’s Guide to Winter Bird-Feeding for more tips.
Keep your property a little messy.
Echinacea seed heads in Oak Spring’s wildflower meadow.
Even in the winter months, long grasses and flowers can provide birds with protein-packed seeds. Not clearing away the seed heads of autumn wildflowers such as black-eyes Susans and coneflowers can help ensure ample foraging in the winter months; tasty insect larvae also overwinter in some plant species.
Winter birds, as well as other small animals such as snakes and rabbits, also love to use brush piles to shelter from the cold and predators. Leaving a brush pile out through the winter (or even making one specifically for wildlife using fallen branches, or even your Christmas tree) provides a valuable shelter for birds.
Winterize your birdhouses.
Photo by Sarah Causey
Some bird species will use nesting boxes as winter roosts when the weather is particularly nasty. To ensure that these accommodations are ready for their use, clear out old nesting materials in the fall and seal any cracks (weather-proofing strips or caulking can do the trick). Putting a thin layer of dry grass, moss, small wood chips, or other insulation to the bottom of the nest box can also help to keep it toasty.
To learn more about how we manage bird habitat at Oak Spring, read our blogpost about grassland bird conservation.
Banner image by Roger Foley.