Farmers Weekly Review

If you need to get away, just for a minute for the holiday madness, they are waiting for you. Just outside. The birds of winter. Nothing can bring calm to a hectic day for me more than just stepping outside and looking at the birds.

That brilliant red of the cardinals against the grey and barren tree branches, or that blue jay hollering for more peanuts, I can just feel my blood pressure dropping as I focus on the birds.

Many people are bird watchers and enjoy feeding birds, particularly in winter. But there are some practices we do that we think are helping our feathered friends, but instead really causes them harm or even death. None of us does it intentionally; usually it is something we learned from someone else, or heard or saw online. Or figured, if a little is good, a lot must be better. Not always.

Let’s start with food. I grew up in a family that would put old bread and food scraps out for the birds. I also know people that will go to the bread outlet store and by dozens of loaves of bread to give to birds, particularly at a park where waterfowl like geese and ducks congregate.

I always used to think that was comical around the holidays at a local park — there was one person in particular that would throw loaves of white bread for the Canada geese. It made me think he was pre-stuffing the birds with bread for the holiday dinner table.
But in reality, that bread can in the long-term kill birds in a most painful way. The overabundance of poor carbohydrates and too much protein and cause a condition in young waterfowl that can be deadly. The phenomenon called “angel wing” that affects young, growing birds. Large amounts of bread or popcorn raise birds’ blood sugar and protein, and decrease levels of Vitamin D and manganese.

This imbalance of fuel causes the young birds wings to grow too quickly causing them to weigh more than their wrist bones can support, so they twist outward. As the bird grows up, the bones solidify, and the damage is permanent creating a fatal situation — a flightless bird.

Feeding bread to birds isn’t damaging only to waterfowl though, our backyard songbirds can have tragic effects if they fill up on bread. Birds have to be very efficient in their meal choices due to their extremely high metabolism. It takes a fast-running motor to keep an animal that weighs so little (less than you realize) going, especially in winter.

Just like when we snack on cookies, crackers, popcorn, bread, and other carbs, it fills us up (of course humans just keep on eating) but in birds the sensation of fullness in those tiny stomachs, stops them from continuing to look for nutritious foods. A little black-capped chickadee weighing about a third of an ounce, can freeze to death with a belly full of bread.

So what’s the solution? Just don’t. Don’t feed bread and scraps to the birds. I know your dog will thank you (maybe your cat too). Instead feed birds the energy packed, oil-rich seeds they prefer. But don’t waste your money on that bargain seed that is on sale. You know that bin at the big box store — they hire those little brown moths to fly over to boost sales.

Buying inexpensive birdseed — just as in the case of garden tools — is the most expensive seed you can buy. It is mostly filler seed, milo and millet, and not a preferred seed for birds. More than likely, they will just pitch the unwanted seed out of the feeder to the ground that will produce a nice batch of weeds for you next spring. Also if we have wet weather, the pile of shells and discarded, uneaten seed can mold and cause additional harm to birds.

If you want to feed birds and not create a big “menu” for them, buy oil sunflower seeds. They are great nutritionally and are a favorite of most birds. If you are really into multiple feeding stations and want to expand the menu, just like us, birds have favorite foods.

Blue jays will practically eat out of your hand if you have peanuts in the shell — make sure you pick unsalted but roasted peanuts. I have a small deck at my house (and 12 different feeders), and as soon as I step out in the morning with the peanut bag, I hear the jays familiar barking “caw, caw” even before I get the peanuts put out on the deck railing. They swoop down and grab the peanut by its waist and jam it into their throat. It bulges out so much it looks like an instant goiter. Then the grab another and fly off to the tree to snack.

Shelled peanuts put into a wire tube feeder are very attractive to woodpeckers of all kinds, and as the temperatures drop, you will start to see more and more birds going for them. Peanuts are energy packed and have a high fat contact. Speaking of fat, suet is a great food for birds, particularly in winter.

Feeding birds is a great pastime, and a way to support nature and destress yourself. Unless you have squirrels — stay tuned. An article on those wily marauders is coming soon.