Is it possible to feed birds oatmeal? Feeding birds in winter. Which birds fly to the feeder in winter, and which bird will not appear at the feeder in winter?

Feeding birds in winter is the right thing to do, but people don’t always understand how to do it. Many parents make feeders, and children themselves pour mountains of food so that their beloved birds do not go hungry. However, this is not always the right decision. In most cases, people do not know how to feed tits and sparrows in winter, much less what exactly they can feed.

How to properly feed tits and sparrows in winter

Before you run and pour mountains of food into the bird feeder, you should remember that there should not be a lot of it. But this only applies to those cases when there is no severe frost outside. The whole point is that tits and sparrows need to be fed, and not given a feast. Otherwise, they will stop searching for food on their own, which will have a detrimental effect on their ability to survive.

It is best to place feeders on tree branches, but high from the ground. This is done to prevent rodents and pets from getting to the food and birds. In addition, food should be added to the feeder on a schedule so that tits and sparrows become accustomed to the schedule. It should also be taken into account that the process of feeding birds should be carried out until spring, so that hungry birds do not circle around the feeder.

What you can and cannot feed tits and sparrows in winter

What you can feed:

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The table below shows foods that can and cannot be fed to tits in winter.

The table below shows foods that can and cannot be fed to sparrows in winter.

Why can’t you feed birds salted lard and fried seeds?

Any disease that affects a bird in the winter becomes many times more dangerous for it than it would be in the summer. Gastrointestinal diseases in birds are quite common, as during harsh winters they may eat junk food in search of survival. This food is offered to them by a person who knows little about the feeding habits of animals.

INTERESTING: It turns out that chewing gum thrown away by humans is often perceived by birds as a piece of bread. They peck at it, but then die, since the chewing gum completely inhibits and clogs their digestive tract.

When offering lard to tits and other birds, make sure that you do not cut it from the salty part. Salt is poison for birds. Their kidneys and liver cannot digest and remove it, and therefore such a product will be certain death for the small creature.

It would seem that sunflower seeds are the healthiest food for birds. But only if the seeds are raw. Roasted seeds absorb too much fat and the birds' gastrointestinal tract cannot absorb it, causing poisoning, diarrhea and indigestion, which is very destructive for most species.

How to get kids involved in bird feeding

It is best to feed birds in winter together with children. This way they will learn to care for our smaller brothers and love nature. To do this, you can turn feeding tits and sparrows into a game.

Do you know what to feed birds in winter? After all different birds prefer different foods. By choosing what to put in your feeder, you can attract different wintering bird species to your garden. You can purchase these feeds on the market without much difficulty.

Listed below are the different feeds and birds that will come to the meal organized for them!

Wheat, oats, millet, etc.
For some birds, the most preferred food is plant seeds and cereal seeds. Goldfinches, greenfinches, sparrows and other granivorous birds flock to the wheat or millet sprinkled into the feeder.

Birds in winter can also be fed with wheat bran, solid oat flakes, poppy seeds, and pearl barley. For baked goods, only dried white bread crumbs can be given.

Not roasted sunflower seeds sunflower, pumpkin, etc.
Very useful food for birds are sunflower and pumpkin seeds, flax, and sesame seeds. The presence of vegetable oils makes it a good source of energy, which will help birds survive the winter during this cold season. In addition to granivorous birds, woodpeckers, tits, nuthatches, etc. will be happy to flock to it.

Also, some birds happily eat corn and watermelon seeds, which need to be crushed in advance. If you are keen on breeding useful birds in your garden, then in the fall collect weed seeds - nettle, quinoa, burdock and thistle, and then add them to the feeder.

Meat, lard, frozen butter, beef fat.
It is advisable to feed some birds with meat products! These include titmice, nuthatches and some other species that also live in our open spaces.

Hang a piece of unsalted lard or meat on a string and after a while you can watch the tits dine on it.

And put a piece on the shelf in the feeder butter, you only need a little, but on particularly cold days this product will help the birds.
It is advisable to hang it in a place where crows, magpies, and cats do not get there.

Dried berries and fruits.
Make a bunch of dried fruits and berries. Using a needle, thread pieces of dried apples, pears, plums, and apricots onto a strong thread, tie them tightly into a ball and hang them near the feeder.

Harvested, pre-dried berries of hawthorn, rose hip, viburnum, and rowan will attract such beautiful wintering birds as waxwings and bullfinch.

These birds will delight you not only with their liveliness and interesting coloring, but also with their singing, and will also help get rid of pests in the garden. Therefore, feeding them is not only interesting, but also useful!

Seeds from ash and maple.
The varieties of these trees are among the most common on our lands. Their seeds are lionfish; virtually all of them fall in the fall and are hidden by snow. Hang these seeds on feeders and bullfinches, waxwings and other birds will flock to them and eat them.

Hazelnuts, cones, acorns.
Cones are the main food of crossbills and woodpeckers in winter period. Jays hunt for acorns, accumulating and hiding them in selected places - this food helps the thrifty jays to survive the winter. In addition to the listed birds, squirrels can also stay in a feeder with such grub. And feeding squirrels by hand is a pleasure!

Pumpkin and apple pulp.
A whole pumpkin will decorate the garden and feed the birds! Take a small pumpkin with a tail. Cut “windows and doors” in it so that the birds can get inside. And there they themselves will choose what to eat - seeds or aromatic pulp. Tie the pumpkin by the tail with a strong rope and hang it from a thick branch on the tree.

If you have a lot of apples collected from your garden, and some begin to spoil, then you don’t need to throw them away, you need to feed them to the birds. Cut the apple in half and place it in a feeder or hang it from a wire. On a regular thread, the apples will dangle a lot, but on a wire, just right!

Calcium supplement.
During the nesting period (not necessarily in winter), garden guests also need to be fed foods that contain calcium. You need to add pre-boiled, ground food to the feeder. eggshells or pieces of chalk.

What should you not feed birds in winter?
It is strictly forbidden to feed birds fried, salty, and sour foods. You should not give fresh white bread, and especially BLACK bread, which begins to ferment in the crop, and it contains a lot of salt, which has a bad effect on the kidneys and liver of birds. You should also not feed birds citrus fruits, banana peels, milk, peanuts and spicy foods, pieces of pies and whites, chips, and potatoes.

But what kind of birds fly to warm regions and spend the winter in the middle zone. Tell me, what other WINTERING birds do you know? And what is the best way to feed birds in your opinion?

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They leave us in the fall migratory birds. They flew in, built nests, fed the chicks, cleared forests and gardens of pests - and again set off on a long and difficult journey. It is always sad to say goodbye to migratory birds, and you always want to say to them from the bottom of your heart: “Bon voyage...” To replace those that have flown away, bullfinches, waxwings, and tap dancers fly into our forests, fields, gardens and parks. These winter guests will fly north in the spring.

The so-called city dwellers also stay with us for the winter, street birds: tits, sparrows, jackdaws, crows, pigeons. In winter birds need feed. For this you need feeders. A wide variety of feeders are used, ranging from a primitive-shaped, simple tray with sides to feeding tables with a canopy over them in the form of a roof, which will protect the feed from rain and snow.

Not all foods can be eaten by birds, some of them can even be harmful. Young naturalists will find it interesting and useful to know What you can and cannot feed birds in winter.

When to feed birds?

Time: from early November to mid-April

You can start feeding birds even before snow falls, approximately in early November, and end in the second half of April. At first, birds do not visit feeders much, since they are not yet accustomed to them and food can still be obtained in nature. But deep snow falls, and birds begin to visit them willingly. When going around the feeders, it is always advisable to have a shovel and a broom with you to clear the approach to them.

Menu for birds

Particular attention should be paid to feeding various types of tits and nuthatch, which are the most valuable of our helpers in the fight against harmful insects.

For them, you can prepare in advance the seeds of watermelon, pumpkin, melon and sunflower, which are first crushed with a bottle or some other hard object, so that it is easier for the birds to get the edible pulp with their thin beaks. In severe frosts, it is good to give them finely chopped meat and lard, which tits eat very readily.

On the feeder table you should daily pour out various weed seeds, conifer cones, white bread crumbs, pieces of meat, dried berries and seeds of cultivated plants: wheat, millet, oats, flaxseed and hemp seed,

In winter, sparrows and titmice can also be fed: oatmeal, short-grain rice, unsalted and unroasted seeds, nuts (walnuts, almonds, cashews, pine, hazelnuts), pumpkin seeds, peanuts.

Seeds of grass and weeds, cones of coniferous trees need to be prepared in advance.

The following foods may also be included in the diet: pieces of fruit, dry or fresh berries, medium-fat cottage cheese mixed with white breadcrumbs, grated hard-boiled egg, mealworms.

Table: What to feed birds in winter

Winter feeding and hanging artificial nests will significantly increase the number useful birds who will diligently protect gardens, fields and forests from pests, and delight us with their wonderful songs.

Even during the hungry winter period, each species of bird prefers to eat a certain food. Who will fly to your feeder? It will depend on what is poured there.

Unique food

What to feed birds in winter? This question worries many of us with the onset of cold weather. Ornithologists advise how to properly feed birds in winter. They recommend making a mixture, seventy-five percent of which will consist of sunflower seeds. Due to its high calorie content, this product will become the main energy source for small birds. Granivorous birds and woodpeckers happily feed on sunflower seeds. Nuthatches, tits, etc. love this food. The large amount of vegetable fats contained inside the seeds of this crop allows it to survive in winter cold conditions.

Plants' seeds

What to feed outdoor birds in winter? Some birds prefer oats, millet, millet, rice and wheat. Granivorous birds will certainly visit your feeder if oats and millet are poured into it. Goldfinches, sparrows, greenfinches and other birds will flock to this meal. Pigeons also prefer to peck grains.

What else to feed birds in winter? With pleasure, birds will feast on the seeds of watermelon, pumpkin, melon, hemp, thistle, nettle, quinoa and burdock. They will also eat corn kernels. It is worth keeping in mind that watermelon seeds should first be crushed. Then nuthatches or tits will happily eat them.

Quinoa seeds are eagerly eaten by many birds. Cut plants are collected in brooms and stored until winter. In cold weather, the quinoa is stuck in the snow near the feeder. If desired, you can thresh the weed and sprinkle its grains to the birds along with other feed.

Blue tits, as well as most species of granivorous birds, love Burdock seeds, which are the main food for goldfinches. But bullfinches prefer other food. They love to eat seeds

Animal products

What can you feed birds in winter? As a feed during a hungry period for birds, the menu can include meat, lard, as well as beef or These products will appeal to tits, nuthatches, and some other species of birds. However, it should be borne in mind that meat and lard should be unsalted. How to feed the birds? Lard or meat should be cut into small pieces and strung on twine. Then the products are hung on tree branches or bushes. But in order to prevent crows, jackdaws, magpies, dogs or cats from getting the feeding, the pieces should be placed away from the ground. It is necessary to hang the twine among thin branches on which heavy birds cannot land.

Why feed birds these products in winter? The fact is that during the hungry period, birds require high-calorie food. Animal fat, which is in a soft state, is best mixed with other foods, preparing a kind of layer cake. Place it in vegetable nets and hang it in places accessible to birds.

For tits, woodpeckers, pikas and nuthatches, the tasty food is horse, lamb, beef and lard (always unsalted). The melted product is poured over branches and tree trunks. Birds eat frozen drips.

Berries

What to feed birds in winter? The most beautiful visitors to the feeders - waxwings, bee-eaters and bullfinches - are attracted by hawthorn and rowan berries. The fruits must be prepared in advance by drying the autumn harvest.

Tree seeds

Common urban plantings include ash and maple trees. The seeds of these trees are called lionfish. In autumn, most of them fall off the ground and become inaccessible to birds. If you don’t know what to feed the birds in winter, collect lionfish when cold weather sets in and hang them on feeders. Waxwings, bullfinches, and some other birds that visit bird cafeterias love to eat this food.

Nuts, cones and acorns

This food must be prepared in the fall. The basis of the winter menu for crossbills and woodpeckers are cones. Jays prefer to eat acorns. By preparing this food for birds, you can attract squirrels to your feeder.

Menu for poultry canteens

If you want to diversify the food that you put in the feeder for your feathered visitors, you can prepare special mixtures for your little guests. It is recommended to include fifty thirty-five percent of white millet and fifteen percent of corn grains in the menu for birds. If you decide to feed your birds with high-calorie food, then make a “pie” for them. It should contain three cups of softened margarine or fat, the same volume of grain or millet, and one cup of sunflower oil. Rolled oats can be added to the “bird pie”, as well as whatever is on hand. These can be apple peelings and any seeds, chicken eggs and nut kernels, honey and sugar, and sweet syrup. The mixture should be thoroughly mixed and left to harden in the cold. The dough can be given to the birds immediately. To do this, it is placed in a plastic cup or cardboard box. The containers are hung on trees.

What to feed street birds in winter? They can put small pieces of bacon rinds in the feeder, as well as canned food intended for pets. Birds will happily peck boiled eggs and potatoes. Rolled oats are suitable for them, but only in the form of flakes, not ready-made porridge. Birds will readily peck dried pupae, larvae and insects.

Corvid food

If you decide to feed these birds, then you can put minced meat, raw or boiled meat and fish, cottage cheese and eggs, a variety of cereals, pieces of vegetables and fruits, canned or steamed corn in the feeder. They will willingly peck nuts. You can leave a whole raw egg for the bird. She will carefully drink its contents, and eat the shell as a mineral supplement. The feeder for such birds may contain various chicken by-products- hearts, heads, necks, etc. What should corvids not include on the menu? This list includes milk and sausage, canned food and potatoes, citrus fruits and tomatoes, fatty cottage cheese and fried foods.

What not to put in a bird feeder

When compiling a bird menu, it is worth considering some restrictions. For this you should know in winter.

It is strictly forbidden to include any spicy, salty, fried, or sour foods in the menu for birds. This product poses a great danger to them. This product causes diarrhea in birds, which leads the birds to certain death. The fact is that black breads contain a large amount of salt.

This component is harmful to the health of the liver and kidneys. When feeding, birds often leave a certain part of the food in their crop. If there is bread there, it swells and quickly begins to ferment. This process can lead to the death of the bird. Rye bread is especially dangerous. When kneading dough, more yeast is added to this product than to wheat dough. It is very difficult for birds in winter, and therefore any disease can be simply fatal for them.

Winter promises to be frosty. Therefore, birds that are accustomed to humans will especially need his support. But when doing a good deed, it is important to remember some simple rules so as not to harm the birds with your impulse.

If you start feeding, feed until spring

The small birds that need human help the most are tits, bullfinches, thrushes, nuthatches, redpolls, goldfinches, grosbeaks, and sparrows. They have problems with food in winter. And feeders are most often made for them. Bullfinches and fieldfare thrushes can also feed on berries. This year, by the way, there are especially many rowan and rose hips, which, according to popular belief, indicates an approaching cold winter. But tits don’t eat berries; they need other feeding. “Feeding birds is a very responsible business. Unfortunately, not everyone realizes how much,” said Anna Stekleneva, head of the laboratory environmental education ICG SB RAS. – If you hang a feeder, then you need to add food to it regularly until spring. What happens when you stop adding food? Birds remember well where they were fed. We have seen this in practice. The tit will fly to the same place and wait, instead of looking for other places of food. It turns out that we are deceiving her. In the end, the bird may simply die of starvation. So, if you’re not sure you’re ready to regularly replenish the feeder, don’t bother.”

What food can kill a bird and what can save it?

“For some reason, many people add rice to the feeder, but this cannot be done! – explained Anna Stekleneva. – Rice tends to swell in the stomach. And the same tit has a very minuscule stomach. The bloated rice will cause her suffering. This also applies to other cereals that swell upon contact with a humid environment: pearl barley, buckwheat. From cereals you can use oatmeal and millet, ideally millet, in other words, unrefined millet. In its purified form, millet oxidizes and loses its beneficial properties. You can buy millet at pet stores. Sometimes millet is included in bird mixtures along with oats and other grains.” The main food that all birds need is sunflower seeds. It is important that they are not processed in any way. Salted and fried seeds can harm the bird's digestion. And it’s best to sprinkle the seeds unpeeled - the birds are used to pecking at them. Birds can also have bread crumbs, but the main thing is that it is not black bread. It causes fermentation in the stomach. Raw lard will help birds survive frosts. Naturally, it should be unprocessed: not salted, not peppered, not smoked. The lard does not have to be cut into pieces. You can simply hang a large piece by a wire - it’s convenient for birds to sit on it and peck out small pieces. Lard is high in calories and nutritious. This is the point: in order for the bird not to freeze, it must be well-fed.

Pigeon protection

Inevitably, pigeons will fly to the feeders and push away smaller birds. “Opinions are divided here,” said Anna Stekleneva. – Some people think that pigeons also need to be fed, others are sure that they need to be driven away so that the little ones can eat. We recommend everyone to make such feeders so that a bird the size of a tit or a bullfinch can enter. If a pigeon flies to the feeder, the tit, goldfinch and others will not get anything - they cannot withstand this competition. This is the situation with pigeons. They have been living next to humans for a long time, which means they are more adaptable; they are accustomed to eating in landfills. In addition, they are larger, it is easier for them to find food. Our task is to feed small birds. Pigeons will always find food for themselves.” If you have made the entrance to the feeder wide, you can pull strings that will allow the tit to get inside, but the pigeon will not be allowed in. Feeders are often made from plastic bottles, cutting an entrance into them. There are also some nuances here. The edges of the entrance must be covered with electrical tape. In cold weather, the plastic becomes sharp as a knife, and the bird can cut its legs on the edges. You can hang feeders on trees, near forest paths, to make it convenient to add food. “By the way, we noticed one feature in Akademgorodok,” noted Anna Stekleneva. “Our feeders hang along the paths, and residents, passing by, always add something. They may not be ready to create their own feeder, but they will grab a handful of seeds from home on the way to work, and such a habit will develop. We are thinking about hanging signs next to the feeders with a list of useful and harmful food for birds.”

Don't feed birds of prey

Everything is clear with small birds. What about the big ones? Don't they need our help? With the onset of cold weather, many birds of prey migrate to warmer regions. But some remain to spend the winter in Siberia. Among them are the great owl, hawk, sparrowhawk and goshawk. "When in the forest there is no food base(most animals have migrated, many rodents are hiding under the snow), birds of prey can fly to the city for food. In the city, it is sometimes easier to hunt, for example, pigeons,” explained Alexander Milezhik, head Novosibirsk Center rehabilitation of birds of prey. – I’ll note right away that it’s better not to feed them at all, not to lure them into the city. This can do a lot of harm. The city poses many dangers for birds of prey - cars, shop windows... Owls constantly hit the glass. Again, in the city, birds can be pecked by crows. Or, if you feed the same owl incorrectly, you can kill it.” By feeding the birds on your balcony, you can admire these small wild birds all winter. They won’t let you get your hands on them, but they will delight you with their views, visiting you again and again. And you will understand that it is not in vain that you are trampling this planet, but that you are saving living beings from hunger. Doing good is so simple, but still responsible!