{"id":1569,"date":"2021-11-10T14:28:40","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T19:28:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbannaturestore.blog\/?p=1569"},"modified":"2021-11-10T14:28:40","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T19:28:40","slug":"winter-is-coming-what-can-i-do-to-help-the-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.mppdev.net\/index.php\/2021\/11\/10\/winter-is-coming-what-can-i-do-to-help-the-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter is Coming – What Can I do to Help the Birds?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This fall we have been fortunate to enjoy lovely weather throughout the month of October and now well into November, but we all know this won\u2019t last.  So how can we set up our yards to help our feathered friends get through the winter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s think about what seed we should be offering.\u00a0 Providing birds with seeds that are high in calories gives them energy to survive the colder weather. Sunflower seeds<\/a> are a favourite of all songbirds with choices of striped sunflower, black oil, and sunflower hearts.\u00a0 The shell on striped sunflowers is harder than the shells of black oil which makes it difficult for smaller birds to access.\u00a0 Shells of black oil sunflower are softer making it easier for birds to extract the inner seed.\u00a0 If you want to keep it tidy, sunflower hearts are the best choice as the shells have been removed eliminating any mess under the feeder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Peanut halves, which are peanuts out of the shell, are another good choice that are high in fat and calories.\u00a0 Certain feeders<\/a> are designed specifically for peanuts if you would like to add a separate feeder for this offering.\u00a0 Peanut\u00a0 feeders will attract hairy, downy and red-bellied woodpeckers, as well as nuthatches, chickadees and blue jays.\u00a0 If you have only one feeder, peanut halves can be mixed in with sunflower seeds providing the feeding portals on the feeder are large enough to allow both seeds to flow through without becoming clogged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Suet cakes<\/a> are a great source of energy for all birds.\u00a0 These cakes can be offered in suet cages for clinging birds, or hopper feeders that have suet cages attached to either side.\u00a0 Hopper feeders with this feature are a welcome sight for birds who are not comfortable clinging to suet cages.\u00a0 Suet nuggets<\/a> are another option for birds to enjoy.\u00a0 The nuggets can be added to your seed feeder or fed independently in a mesh peanut feeder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Last, but certainly not least, is water.\u00a0 Birds need drinking water year round.\u00a0 Natural water sources will freeze sending birds in search of water elsewhere.\u00a0 Eating snow isn\u2019t the best way for them to obtain water as they have to expend precious calories which they need to stay warm.\u00a0 We can help by offering a heated bird bath<\/a>, or by adding a bird bath heater to an existing bath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s keep our birds happy and healthy this winter by providing them with the resources they need to get through the upcoming months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy Winter Birding!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jane Paradis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This fall we have been fortunate to enjoy lovely weather throughout the month of October and now well into November, but we all know this won\u2019t last.  So how can we set up our yards to help our feathered friends get through the winter? Let\u2019s think about what seed we should be offering.\u00a0 Providing birds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[26,60,61,76,17,31],"class_list":["post-1569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uns-birding-blog","tag-birdseeds","tag-birdwatching","tag-canadawildbirding","tag-unsbirds","tag-urbannaturestore","tag-winterbirds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.mppdev.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.mppdev.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.mppdev.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.mppdev.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.mppdev.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.mppdev.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.mppdev.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.mppdev.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.mppdev.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.mppdev.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}