Helping Birds in Fall and Winter
BY THE WILD BIRD CENTER, WEATHERFORD, TX
Nothing beats the winter blues more than seeing a
flash of color at a feeder, a newly molted cardinal
or a shy migrant lurking under your hedges. Now
is the time to think about what you can do to help
your birds through fall and winter. Here are some
ideas:
#1: Protect the migrants. Although migrating birds
will not necessarily come to your feeders (they are,
after all, migrating through and might not know of
your desire to help support them), there could be
some migrants who stop over in your backyard.
One thing to consider is your window. Could a
migrating bird mistake that clean picture window
as a fly-through? There are many decals avail-
Frozen Ber ries
able to place on your clean
windows, or you can just
place branches in the way of
the reflective glass. Copper
wind spinners, balloon spin-
ners and decorative “cut
glass” sun catchers are all
effective in deterring birds
from window hits.
84
#2: Continue to offer all the
elements of a safe backyard
habitat–food, water and
shelter. Consider starting a
brush pile. It’s a great hiding
place for wrens and ever-
curious chickadees. Start
with a wooden pallet or large
logs and then add twigs,
sticks, broken branches and
boughs of pine and spruce.
Designate a safe area in
your yard. Birds will readily
come to your feeders if they
are close to cover.
#3: Winterize your nest
boxes. Now is the time to
clean out those bluebird
boxes that hopefully gave
you pleasure all spring and
summer. Clean boxes thor-
oughly with a stiff brush and
a bleach-and-water solution