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A primer for feeding wild birds over winter.

It's wonderful that so many people in North America are feeding wild birds. Wildlife in general has to depend on the local environment for survival and winter months can be particularly lean. Feeding birds can help.

Three kinds of birds camp by your feeder over the winter and spring. The first bunch is here year-round, and can include blue jays, black-capped chickadees, dark-eyed juncos and mourning doves. The second group of birds descends in the fall from the north to avail themselves of our relatively mild winters. Some of these winter visitors, like snow buntings and snowy owls, rarely arrive at your feeder. Others, though, like the common redpolls, American tree sparrows and northern shrikes may be periodic or regular visitors. A final group arrives in the spring. The fox sparrows and others visit on their way north to breeding grounds from the southern United States, while rose-breasted grosbeaks are among those landing here to set up territories and raise their young over the summer.

Watching birds can be fun. Backyards can be landscaped to attract and favour wild-winged visitors. Shrubs such as lilac and mock orange grow into large protective thickets that birds love. In seriously cold weather, feeders can make the difference between life and death for small, temperature-vulnerable species such as black-capped chickadees and nuthatches.

There are negative aspects to feeding, however. Feeders tend to concentrate birds at specific locations, making them vulnerable to predators. Sharp-shinned hawks, goshawks and northern shrikes have been known to locate and hunt at feeding stations. Some folks put out feeders to attract wild birds, then set their pet cats out, which hunt and kill them.

Predators can be challenged and somewhat thwarted by careful placement of feeders. Our feeder stations are located at least three metres (about 10 feet) away from dense cover. Open space around the feeder gives the birds a microsecond warning of winged or four-footed animals. Thick hedges and brush piles nearby serve as a quick retreat whenever a hawk or goshawk storms the feeder area.

Then there are the bullies; squirrels may descend as well, pushing out the birds. Red squirrels and New Brunswick grey squirrels are like kids in a candy store whenever they find feeders. Their intelligence becomes evident when folks try to deter them. Live trapping and releasing squirrels elsewhere during the winter months will probably spell their doom. Some feeders are designed to be "squirrel-retardant." Metal poles can make it difficult to climb platform feeders, and open locations discourage jumping onto feeders from nearby objects. Still, the squirrel situation frequently becomes an ongoing, chess game-like battle of wills with changing opportunities.

My parents use a different approach-they built a squirrel feeder, offering raw, not roasted, peanuts in the shell, given they are more nutritious. Squirrels and blue jays both love peanuts. I remember "alarm clock" blue jays circling our Fredericton home at dawn, screaming until someone arose to feed them. One grey squirrel understood Mom's feeding intentions well, and would even visit inside on very cold days. "Mammy" would come in, sit down, groom, stretch and relax for a time with Mom in the living room. Eventually she would go to the door to be let back out into the cold, white outside world. What a life!

There's a different wildlife consortium that emerges for leftovers after the sun goes down. Depending on the time of year, this motley cast includes mice, voles, shrews, rats, flying squirrels and raccoons. But the night crowd can also be interesting to watch. Flying squirrels may glide in to your feeder at dusk. Saw-whet owls have a tough time finding rodents in winter, so these little owls often perch near feeders after dark, waiting to pounce upon mice as they scurry around for the leftovers.

On balance, I still believe that feeding birds can be a good thing.

If there was a single seed to offer, the outside crowd would probably vote for black oil sunflower. This first-rate survival food supports tremendous numbers of winter species such as chickadees, nuthatches, finches, cardinals, grosbeaks and sparrows. We put out black oil sunflower seeds in tube feeders, and a mix of seeds on platform feeders and over the ground. We "tune" our feeders with seeds for the birds we want to attract and like to watch. When a mix has leftovers, try another mix until you find one where everything is consumed.

For small birds, black oil sunflower seed is best dispensed in cylindrical feeders with short perches. Longer perches allow larger birds to gain a foothold. A platform feeder or ground feeding is more appropriate for many large birds. These birds will also eat safflower, once they are accustomed to it.

White millet is a favourite food for juncos, sparrows, finches and blackbirds. These birds like their seed on a platform feeder or on the ground.

Corn will attract mourning doves, rock doves (pigeons), grackles, house sparrows, juncos, jays and pheasants. Sparrows prefer cracked corn; the others like the whole dried kernels, preferably on the ground. Niger or thistle seed is an expensive favourite of goldfinches, redpolls and pine siskins. Niger needs a special silo feeder-the seeds are very small and will pour out of the ports of an ordinary feeder.

Suet, a beef kidney fat, is attractive to wintering insect-eating birds like wood-peckers, nuthatches and chickadees. It will attract starlings and raccoons and also goes rancid, so use it in moderation. Suet is available at supermarket meat counters, and can be hung in a wire cage or in a recycled net onion bag. Overwintering robins, waxwings or other fruit eaters will appreciate apples, oranges and bananas impaled in chunks on a special spiked feeder, or on local tree branches. Raisins are also appreciated, especially if they have been soaked in water and softened.

If you think you may be the only people feeding in one locale, consider being consistent suppliers of food over the winter months. Studies have shown that feeders prompt some species to overwinter here rather than migrate south in the fall. The blue jays may have stashed enough to get by, but many other species do not store or hoard food. They may be depending on you and could get caught if you head south yourselves during cold weather. We ask neighbours to help when we're away. It's important to be conscious of the consequences when intervening in the habits of wild creatures-and important to be responsible when choosing to do so.

We generally put food out in the morning, in quantities that leave little on the ground by nightfall. The hanging feeders come in at dusk so raccoons don't destroy them. Feeders should be regularly cleaned, especially when the weather is damp and mild, as they can become a source of contamination from salmonella bacteria. Birds afflicted with salmonella become docile and unable to fly. Mould in stored seed is also more apt to occur with mild weather. We store our birdseed in clean plastic garbage cans in a cold basement. Seeds stored over the summer should be in a cool, dry place or the freezer.

The last seed goes out near the end of spring, which is a relatively seedless time in nature. Some people feed all summer, and enjoy seeing parents bring fledglings to their feeders to teach them about seeds. We prefer that parents teach their young how to forage in nature before discovering our feeders in the autumn.

Try feeding your wild neighbours this winter. Once you do, it might be hard to determine who appreciates it more: them or you.

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