February is Bird Feeding Month

I never realized that each month is dedicated to something. January was the soup month and February is dedicated to feeding the birds! Do you feed the birds? My husband loves to feed the birds and we have various feeders all around the house. We have a homemade suet feeder, which the woodpeckers and nuthatches just love. We have two feeders with black sunflower seeds and then a nyjer feeder for the gold finches. You should see them line up for their turn at the feeder. Our house sits close to the woods and we also have several large forsythia bushes in front of our deck where the feeders hang. The birds love having a safe spot to hang out. You never know when an owl or hawk will show up looking for a meal!

We enjoy watching the different varieties of birds that come to our feeders during the winter. Come spring we take the feeders down at night because of the bears. Bears come out of hibernation very hungry and an easy source of food for them is finding bird feeders. We usually have one or two small black bears that will venture up on our deck to see if we have forgotten to take the feeders in!When summer rolls around we only have the nyjer feeder and the hummingbird feeder.

Birds should not be offered many of the foods humans eat. Bread (fresh or stale) provides no real nutritional value for birds, and moldy bread can harm birds. Chocolate is toxic to birds, just as it is to dogs and cats (it contains theobromine), never offer birds any foods containing chocolate. Table scraps may not be safe or healthy for birds and most table scraps will attract mice or rats.

Instead feed birds black oil sunflower seed which is high in fat and provides good energy. The seeds are small and thin shelled and easy for small birds to crack open. Suet is another good option and as I mentioned goldfinches love nyjer seed, use a special feeder with smaller holes to prevent the tiny seeds from spilling out.

Create a safe space for your birds; provide bushes for shelter and refuge and a water source if you do not have a water source nearby. Feeding the birds is fun and can provide hours of entertainment.