Tips on feeding winter birds
Although more than half of Georgia’ summer-nesting bird species are spending the winter in the Southern tropics, we still have plenty of birds staying here during the cold season and brightening our drab winter days.
Of course, all of these birds need to eat, and wintertime is when they really need the food from our feeders. It provides them with the additional energy they need to stay warm during cold winter nights. On such nights, songbirds may burn most of their stored fat to survive the chill. Come sunrise, however, they must immediately start searching for food again or risk starvation. Conveniently located backyard feeders make it easier for them to get their vital nourishment. Also important is providing clean water for them.
Depending on where you live in Georgia, as many as 25-35 species of birds may visit your feeders during the winter. Not surprisingly, feeders in rural wooded areas may attract the greatest diversity of the feathered creatures. Still, feeders in urban and suburban areas may lure as many as 25 species.
In metro Atlanta, the top 10 species most likely to come to your feeders this winter include the tufted titmouse, Carolina chickadee, mourning dove, cardinal, blue jay, house finch, American goldfinch, white-breasted nuthatch, downy woodpecker and dark-eyed junco. Other species may show up occasionally. And if you leave up a full hummingbird feeder, chances are good that you may get a wintertime rufous hummingbird or another hummer species.
If you do have a visiting hummingbird between now and March 1, you are asked to report it at www.gahummer.org.
For birds in general, different species prefer different seed types and feeders. No one type is preferred by all birds. But if you’re going to provide one seed, the best all-round is the small black-oil sunflower seed. It’s preferred by many smaller species, including chickadees, nuthatches and titmice. It has a high oil content that is nutritionally important for birds, and a thin seed coat that is easy for them to crack open.
Also, a suet feeder is particularly attractive to woodpeckers and irregular feeder birds like Carolina wrens and brown creepers.
Remember: Clean feeders regularly, and rake up hulls underneath the feeders to help keep birds healthy.
More information: www.georgiawildlife.org/node/293.
In the sky: The Geminid meteor shower, now visible after midnight, reaches a peak Sunday night of about 50 meteors per hour. It almost always puts on a good sky show. The shower will continue through Wednesday night, says David Dundee, astronomer with the Tellus Northwest Georgia Science Museum. Look to the east from about midnight until dawn.
The moon will be new on Wednesday, and thus not visible — ideal for watching the meteor shower. By Thursday night, look for a thin crescent moon low in the west just after dark. Mercury is low in the west just after dark and sets about an hour later. It will appear near the moon on Thursday evening. Mars rises out of the east about 10 p.m. Jupiter is high in the south at sunset and sets in the west about midnight. Saturn rises out of the east about an hour after midnight.
