Winter Bird Feeders Entertain and Nourish

My favorite thing to do in winter is to put out food for the birds. Not only does this sustain them during this harsh season, it's entertaining to see who visits Sue's Cafe.

My favorite thing to do in winter is to put out food for the birds. Not only does this sustain them during this harsh season, it's entertaining to see who visits Sue's Cafe.

For several years, I served as a Cornell Ornithology Lab "backyard scientist" by counting and identifying birds that hung out at my feeding station in Truckee, CA. Pouring a generous line of black oiled sunflower seeds along the patio wall, I counted nearly a hundred grosbeaks feasting in an orderly row. If disturbed, the whoosh of their flight sounded like a jet engine.

Mountain chickadees dared to grab a seed, then take it to a safe place to eat at their leisure. These intrepid little birds stayed the entire year, while the grosbeaks visited from lower elevations. As long as there was food, they took shelter in the ponderosas.

The key to attracting a wide variety of birds is the seeds. Most birds ignored the standard wild bird food. The richer the seed, the more varieties of birds appeared at the feeder: juncos, chickadees, jays, evening grosbeaks, and pine siskins.

Because birds don't store fat, rich foods help them survive frigid winters. It became a post-Christmas tradition to put the tree outside and slather its limbs with peanut butter. Chickadees loved it. In fact, one courageous little one actually landed on the end of the knife, plunging its beak into the peanut butter before I could put it on the limb.

A lot of people believe human encroachment destroys food sources and shelter, but that's not necessarily the case. Wildlife actually increased as more houses filled the empty lots. Our HOA didn't allow fences between properties, allowing deer, bears, and coyotes to roam freely. We saw more of them wandering the greenbelts over time. It meant safety from hunters, if not from traffic, and some interesting food resources for them.

Bears not only found a smorgasbord of garbage to browse, they also sheltered under decks and inside ice caves formed where snow bridged between eaves and high drifts. This snow hardens into what is affectionately called Sierra cement. Other animals find shelter within architectural features. One day, I watched as a pair of ravens discovered a cozy nook where a beam jutted from under the roofline, making a handy landing spot.

Call me crazy, but I love this pageant of wildlife. I'm certain, though, that rangers and rehabbers would heartily disagree with me. If human food sources remain inaccessible, however, bears do not become a nuisance.

Bird feeders do present a risk

Large animals will raid a feeder, especially if suet and other oily foods are used. A squirrel soon found our peanut butter tree and chased away the chickadees. The biggest danger is bears. We were lucky that bears didn't regularly visit Sue's Diner. Only twice did the sunflower seeds entice them.

One night, my dog needed to relieve himself. Just outside the door, he yelped in surprise. When I checked to see what the problem was, there was a huge bear feasting on birdseed on the ground from the previous year. To my relief, he seemed quite content to ignore me and the dog and walked away when I shined the flashlight in his eyes.

The second bear adventure involved a trio of cubs. One looked like a yearling while its two siblings were smaller. The littlest one stood to check out the BBQ and was only about two feet tall.  For hours, we watched as they dug sunflower seeds out of the ice on the railing. When I saw how emaciated the smallest cub was, I wanted to empty the sack for them. That would have been a tragic mistake, but it was a terrible temptation.

Despite possible injury to myself, the bears would have learned to raid feeders throughout the winter. I would have created a trio of problem bears that would most likely be euthanized by Animal Control in the future. There's a saying in the wildlife rehab world: A fed bear is a dead bear.

After We Moved Downhill

When we moved from Truckee to Minden, NV, we set up feeding stations and birdbaths during the winter. They didn't need them in the warmer months. Here are some problems we encountered.

Every now and then, one has a really bad day. I don't mean to be flippant, but the dove that slammed into this window undoubtedly had a major headache. There were no remains in the area, but I'm amazed the bird survived. I moved the feeding station away from the windows, but still birds fly into them. They think reflections in the glass are real.

When I find an injured bird, I carefully remove it to a safe place to recover. Sometimes an overnight rest in a shoebox is enough. No food or water is offered. I just put the boxed bird away from household noise and light and let it be. After it recovers, I go outside to release it because, most of the time, the lid is barely open before the bird launches into space.

Sometimes, a bird is lying on its back with legs held upward. A Chinese folktale says that the bird is holding up the sky. If the bird's head rolls back at weird angles, then it is truly a goner. If the neck's not broken, there's a chance it will recover after a night in the Shoebox Motel.

At Sue's Cafe in Minden, we have LBBs, quail, flickers, ring neck doves and a cute little woodpecker. Recently, hawks and owls have discovered the abundance of cottontails and squirrels and have rid these "varmints" from our gardens. Jeff had to install a bent metal roof over one of the suet feeders which was rewarded by a dirty look from the marauding squirrel.

Robins gather around the birdbaths. And there's a huge flock of starlings, well over a hundred, which migrates around the valley. Occasionally they visit my water sources and drink the place dry. The first time this happened, half the flock drained the water bowls and the other half waited along the top of the fence while I refilled them. Definitely an Alfred Hitchcock moment.

Providing food, water and shelter will attract lots of wildlife to your gardens, no matter where you live.

Birdhouses are a great draw for birds in the garden. There's quite a real estate rush in spring. One LBB perched in front of one house trying to entice a mate to his fancy digs. She finally agreed that it was a good place … maybe … if it weren't for that cat. Later that winter, to my surprise, I discovered an LBB sheltering from the cold wind in one of the birdhouses. So you see, they’re essential to survival all year round.

Bird feeding isn't always benign viewing of sweet little birdies. Predators will always lurk nearby. So far, only one feral cat has tried to score a wild meal. A Cooper's hawk nailed a sparrow in flight up in Truckee. That was spectacular to watch despite the bad end for the sparrow. At least the hawk got a meal. It landed, lunch in talon, upon a snowy Manzanita, its wings spread outward showing off its plumage. It was quite breathtaking to see Nature in such raw display.

Once, I spied a grosbeak huddling next to the patio door, obviously freezing. I tried to scoop him up to warm inside, but it still had enough oomph to hop away. By the time I put on my boots, I found it hard as a rock in the snow. How depressing to come so close to saving it.

Did my efforts caused its death? Would it have survived if I had left him alone? Then I wonder if the seeds distract them from flying to their traditional destinations? I can't guess how animals direct their lives. I put out the goodies and have to detach. The effort does help a few animal neighbors get through the winter. And that, to me, is a reasonable risk.

All of these fuzzy photos were taken by Sue Cauhape.

If you enjoyed this essay, feel free to wander through the Ring Around the Basin Archives.