Bird To Do List: December – February

Here are some tips to help you create your winter safe haven:

• Provide large quantities of food because in winter, small birds eat almost constantly during the day. Migrating songbirds need large amounts of food, too, but less often.
• Fill your feeders with high energy food. As it gets colder, especially at night, birds will search for foods that help them cope. Peanuts are a great source of energy and protein. Try Lyric Delite Mix, a shell-free/mess-free/waste-free combination of peanuts, sunflower kernels, tree nut pieces, and pumpkin seeds that will attract a variety of songbirds.
• Don’t forget birds like finches, whose feathers turn a dull olive color. Provide a finch feeder filled with Nyjer Seed, which are specially designed and formulated for their small beaks.
• Cardinals and blue jays are attracted to a good all-purpose seed like Lyric Wild Bird Mix, which contains white proso millet, black oil sunflower seed, cracked corn, shelled peanuts, striped sunflower seed and safflower seed. (Tip: Safflower is one of the few seeds that feeder pests like squirrels, grackles and starlings will pass up!)
• Don’t forget to place feeders at least 30 feet away from windows or doors to avoid crashes!
• Trees and shrubs bursting with berries and seeds, and evergreens that provide cover will be welcoming homes for birds that frequent backyard feeders.
• Consider designing water edges or wetland areas somewhere on your property to create a richer bird habitat.
• A lush edge habitat will attract hummingbirds, phoebes, titmice, and orioles that fly throughout driveways and across lawns to reach the plants along the border of your landscape.

Find the original article published by Lyric Wild Bird Seed here.