Winter Feeding For the Garden Birds

Winter weather is very detrimental to our wild birds, especially if the natural food sources are scarce or made unavailable due to deep snow and ice. Strong healthy birds can usually withstand a single severe storm, but it is during long-continued adverse conditions that their resistance is lowered to the danger point. We should be prepared for these emergency periods and provide food and shelter.

Feeding stations for song birds can usually be established right in one's own back yard, in fact a shelf attached to a window sill will often enable one to see several kinds of birds at close range. The variety of foods acceptable to wild birds is quite large. Cracked corn, small grains, nuts, sunflower seed, suet, raisins, and the lowly weedseeds. They need water also, and so a pan set out near the feeder is truly a help too.