Top 10 Things to Do For Birds For Winter

From George's Top 10 in Birds and Blooms Magazine.

© 2011 Donna L. Watkins
Female House Finch Eating Safflower Seeds

• Double your number of seed and suet feeders, as birds are now flocking and there are many more mouths to feed.

• Check the condition of feeders and squirrel baffles to make sure they will make it through another winter. Replace the ones you can't repair.

• Stock up on sunflower seeds in any form. They offer the greatest amount of energy for the birds in winter.

• Birds that are migrating south need water to both refresh themselves and to maintain their flight feathers.

• In the North, revert exclusively to suet and seed, as the fruit and insect eaters have gone south for the winter.

• After all the orioles and hummingbirds have passed through the area, remove all sugar-water feeders.

• Revert to simpler, shallower birdbaths that you can heat when the temperatures drop below freezing.

• Plant evergreens around feeders to protect birds from predators, and to provide safe roosting sites during cold winter nights.

• Take down most birdhouses and clean with a solution of 10% bleach.

• Leave several birdhouses up all winter as roosting sites for chickadees, bluebirds and woodpeckers.

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