home » State support » What to feed sparrows on the street. What to feed the birds in the winter in the feeder? Is it worth feeding wild pigeons

What to feed sparrows on the street. What to feed the birds in the winter in the feeder? Is it worth feeding wild pigeons

Since school days, everyone knows that in winter you need to feed the birds. But in fact, this is not just a good deed, but an important support for birds in the cold, because without human help it can be difficult for them to overwinter. But it turns out that with the winter feeding of birds, not everything is as simple as it might seem at first glance. It is important not only to build the feeder correctly and hang it in suitable place, but also to choose food that is suitable specifically for wild birds.

In this article, we will try to tell in detail about what you can and cannot feed birds in winter, how to do it right and what rules should be followed when feeding birds in the forest and in urban areas.

What to feed the birds in winter

frosty and snowy winter - hard times for wild animals and birds. Naturally, they have adapted to survive in such harsh conditions. Unlike animals, which in most cases simply hibernate to wait out the winter, birds prefer to either move to warmer climes during cold weather, or actively resist hypothermia with the help of thick down or plumage.

Figure 1. Without human help, it will be difficult for birds to endure the winter

However, winter is fraught with another danger: lack of food. If in the warm season pichugs can find insects, larvae, eat berries or plant seeds, then in winter their diet is extremely limited. In addition, the duration of daylight hours during the cold season is very short, and the birds simply may not have enough time to get enough and simply freeze in the morning. That is why people need to take an active part in the life of birds and feed them to help them survive the cold (Figure 1).

Do I need to feed the birds in winter

No matter how strange it may sound, but it is impossible to fully feed the birds in winter. Human help does not come down to feeding, but to feeding, that is, to the issuance of a certain limited amount of food.

Note: This approach will help keep the birds alive, but it will not dull their natural instincts to find food on their own.

It turns out that not all types of birds need feeding:

Insectivores: for the winter, the vast majority fly to warmer climes. In our climate, only those birds remain that are able to extract small insects or larvae from under the bark, for example, pikas or kinglets. However, these birds do not feed on grain, so it is pointless to offer them feeding.
Nomadic birds eating soft fruits: such species include bullfinches, thrushes and waxwings. Since such individuals constantly fly from place to place, they are unlikely to become regular guests of the feeder. In addition, they prefer to peck berries directly from the branches.
Nomadic species that feed on grain: a fairly large group, which includes carduelis, tits, greenfinches, buntings, tap dances and siskins. It is really possible and necessary to feed them, but feeders should not be hung in the city, but in a park or forest, since only tits will fly to feast on your food directly near the house (Figure 2).

Figure 2. These species are in dire need of feeding (from left to right): tits, bullfinches, siskins and goldfinches

The so-called synanthropes are distinguished into a separate group. These may be the most feathered different types who are so accustomed to the person and his care that they have already forgotten how to get food on their own. A striking example is pigeons and city sparrows, but sometimes baited ones are also referred to as synanthropes waterfowl who do not leave their homes even in winter.

Impact on the gene pool

Incorrect feeding can have absolutely opposite consequences, in particular, it will negatively affect the gene pool of birds. There are several perfectly logical explanations for this.

Firstly, constant feeding leads to the fact that birds get used to receiving food from a person and stop getting food on their own. Secondly, by feeding birds, we help not only strong, but also weak individuals to survive. They, in turn, will pass not the best genes to their offspring and the species will weaken.

In addition, it is not recommended to feed magpies and crows. These birds must forage on their own, as the uncontrolled growth of the population of these species can lead to a reduction in the number of tits and sparrows. It is they who in spring, summer and autumn eat the bulk of annoying insects, and magpies and crows destroy the nests of passerines and destroy their chicks.

The danger of improperly selected food

It goes without saying that all the food you put in the feeder should be fresh, with no signs of rot or mold. But there are other types of food that absolutely cannot be given to wild birds (Figure 3).

A striking example of unsuitable food is rye bread or its crumbs. Getting into the digestive organs of a bird, it begins to ferment very quickly and causes serious digestive disorders, and sometimes death. In addition, salty food should not be given to birds, as they simply will not be able to remove the remaining salts from the body. In general, when planning to help the birds overwinter, it is better to familiarize yourself with the list of allowed and prohibited foods in advance, and strictly adhere to the recommendations of experts.

What not to feed birds in winter

It often happens that in an effort to do a good deed, namely, to feed the birds in winter, a person inadvertently harms the birds. Most often this happens if unsuitable food is placed in the feeders.

In order not to commit fatal mistake, be sure to familiarize yourself with the feeds that are strictly forbidden to feed birds:

Any salty foods including seeds, nuts, bacon or chips. Once in the body, salts are deposited in the joints, which can lead to diseases of the musculoskeletal system. In addition, almost birds are simply not adapted to excrete such an amount of salts, and after eating such food, an individual may even die.
Roasted nuts or seeds: since the frying process involves the use of oil, liver and pancreas diseases can begin in birds, which also often leads to death.
Black (rye) bread: very quickly begins to ferment in the digestive organs. V best case it will cause indigestion, and at worst, if fermentation began even in the goiter, it will lead to the death of the bird from suffocation. For the same reason, you can not feed the birds with fresh white bread: it must be slightly dried.
Cherry, peach or apricot pits: can cause severe poisoning due to high levels of hydrocyanic acid.

Figure 3. These products are categorically contraindicated for pichuga

In addition, it is undesirable to pour canned food, cat or dog food, mushrooms or table scraps into the feeder. All these products are alien to wild birds and can provoke very detrimental effects on their body.

What can you feed different birds in winter

The list of products prohibited for wild pichuga is quite extensive, and at first glance it may seem that the choice of suitable food for them is limited, but in fact this is not the case (Figure 4).

The following foods will bring great benefits for birds in winter:

Cereals: in particular millet, oats or wheat. They are eaten by many birds that stay in their native lands for the winter, since in the summer the goldfinches, sparrows and greenfinches feed mainly on seeds and cereals.
Sunflower seeds: are considered universal food, as they are eaten with pleasure by a variety of species of birds. In addition, the seeds contain many healthy vegetable fats, which serve as a valuable source of energy in cold weather.
Meat and fat: must be without salt. It can be hung on a branch by a rope, and chickadees, nuthatches and some other birds will eat it with pleasure.
Dried berries: in particular, mountain ash and hawthorn are a favorite delicacy of bullfinches and waxwings. In order for the top dressing to suit the birds, the berries must be collected and dried in advance, in the fall.

Figure 4. The best food for birds - natural

In addition, birds can be fed with unsalted nuts, pine and spruce cones, and acorns. They are very fond of jays and woodpeckers, which will become a real decoration of your feeder. Also, if you set out to prepare food yourself, you can collect the so-called lionfish - maple and ash seeds. They should be dried and placed in a feeder in winter so that the pichugs can eat this food, which is rare for the cold season.

In feeders

Feeding troughs are usually hung out in the city, and their design depends entirely on the imagination and capabilities of the owner. But the arrangement of the feeder must be approached responsibly (Figure 5).

Firstly, it is desirable to make a small canopy over it so that the laid out feed does not get wet or covered with snow. Secondly, it is desirable to place the structure at some distance from the ground, so that feeding pichugs do not become easy prey for cats or other animals.

In addition, the design of the feeder must be thought out in such a way that it is convenient for small birds to fly in and out of it. Since there is no need to feed magpies and crows, the feeder can be made small. You can also make its walls solid and leave a few holes so that only a small individual can get inside.

Figure 5. Feeders can be filled with any suitable food.

Naturally, when feeding wild birds, the same hygiene requirements should be observed as for domestic species. Accordingly, the feeder is best made from materials that can be easily washed, cleaned and disinfected. To prevent your feeder from becoming a source of infectious diseases, once a month it must be removed and cleaned of food and droppings. It is also advisable to provide small containers inside in which you will pour food. This will help you better control the amount of food you eat and prevent birds from scattering food.

By the way, you need to put food in the feeder no more than once a day, and preferably in the evening. So you will prevent overeating in birds, but provide them with the necessary energy for spending the night.

In the woods

Not all birds fly closer to people for the winter. Even in winter forest there are quite a lot of birds left and they suffer from food shortages much more than city dwellers. Therefore, if you have the opportunity, hang one or more feeders at the edge of the forest. It is desirable to fill them with the most natural products: cones, sunflower seeds or grains. You can also hang dried berries or pieces of fruit on tree branches. So you will be sure that forest birds will not be left without much-needed feeding (Figure 6).

Figure 6. Forest birdies also need human help

Regardless of the chosen method of feeding wild birds, you need to lay out food for them regularly. This is especially important in severe frost, after heavy snowfall or ice. In such difficult weather conditions, even those birds that are used to surviving in the cold without human help may not find food and die.

If you also decided to do a good deed and help the birds to spend the winter, be sure to watch the video. In it you will find many useful information about feeding birds in the cold season.

Introduction.
Hungry bird.
Feeding experiences.
Winter top dressing (K. Razhaisky's advice)
How to make a feeder.
About the birds.
Feed the birds!

In the West, they argue about whether or not it is necessary to feed birds in winter? But we don’t need to argue: when the night temperature drops to -10 ° C and below, titmouse lose up to 10% of their own weight overnight! To maintain body temperature (and she has about 40 ° C) and survive, they need food from the very early morning. But it happens that you can’t get to it - natural feeding places are either covered with snowdrifts or covered with an impenetrable ice crust. And only people can help them.

In the second half of winter, when most of the winter berries and fruits are eaten or gone, additional feeding is especially important for the survival of birds. In severe winters, feeding with special fatty, high-calorie food helps many birds survive.

Birds need to be fed in winter. We have known about this since childhood, but we can’t even imagine how many birds die of starvation in winter. In a snowy and frosty winter, they are doomed.

Hungry bird.

Ornithologists give the following data: out of every ten titmouse, nine die. Mainly from hunger. The bird's thermoregulation system is designed in such a way that if there is no food, then it does not function well. Therefore, many birds die on frosty nights, when the tiny body is unable to keep warm and freezes. A well-fed bird keeps warm until morning. She spends the night, fluffed up, and at dawn she goes in search of food. On the active life a lot of energy is spent, and only food can be replenished, which must be found under the snow and ice in a short winter day. That is why migratory birds heading south. They are very risky, making long-distance flights. Nomadic birds also often winter where it is easier to survive. Sedentary birds stay for the winter in their nesting places. If they find a feeder that always has food, then the bird has a real chance of surviving until spring.

Feeding experiences.

In our area, more than a dozen species of birds visit the feeders. Among the city it will be great tits, house and field sparrows, rock dove, gray crow. In a large park, on the outskirts, in a garden or in countryside, at the edge of the forest, the species composition will be more diverse. Not only tits, but also woodpeckers, nuthatches, pikas, goldfinches, bullfinches, waxwings, jays, magpies and other birds will fly to the feeders. But, nevertheless, the most common visitors to the bird's "dining room" are tits. We have several types of them. Everyone knows the most numerous great tit. Beautiful, cheerful, trusting and restless yellow-breasted pichuga. And even its scientific Latin name sounds very beautiful - "Sail Major". This noisy family also has another smaller relative that looks like a great tit - only in black and white. This is a Muscovite or a black tit. You will often see it where spruce trees grow.

Their closest relatives are the gray titmouse with a black “cap”. Because of the ability to puff up feathers, the nut is also called puff. Go to the forest park, just do not forget to take unroasted seeds with you. Be patient and you will be able to wait until not only great tits, Muscovites and puffs sit on your hand for food, but also the blue titmouse - a yellow titmouse with an elegant blue "hat" (like a snow maiden's crown - so blue, azure color and shimmers). Hence the name - lazorevka!

And whoever is very, very lucky can meet a unique bird - a white tit. White and blue, she, like a toy from Gzhel, flies from twig to twig in search of hidden insects. This tit is so beautiful and beautiful that people call it the prince. It is found in swampy floodplains with old willows and thickets of reeds and cattails. The bird has become rare. It is now listed in the Red Book of Russia.

In the old pine or spruce forest you can see the grenadier - crested titmouse. She received such a name for a sharp striped crest, reminiscent of a grenadier soldier's hat.

Look - at the top of the birch, among the thin hanging branches, a flock of fluffy white balls with long black tails fluttered! These are long-tailed tits. They are so unusual, from a distance they resemble a small ladle-spoon with a long handle. Hence the popular nickname - a ladle. But they go down to the feeder very rarely, preferring to rummage through the branches of trees and shrubs in search of spiders and insects hiding in the cracks of the bark or behind the scales of the buds.

If berries or small fruits are hung in the feeder or next to it (especially at the end of winter), this will attract bullfinches, waxwings, fieldfare thrushes. But to attract these birds, it is much more correct to plant mountain ash, viburnum, hawthorn, buckthorn, irgu, bird cherry and other berry trees and shrubs on your feeding area. In some towns and villages, along with pigeons and sparrows, wild pigeons, rare in our country, ringed turtledoves, which began to winter in our rather harsh conditions, can fly.

Ducks may remain wintering on a non-freezing river or pond, try to diversify their meager winter diet with the remains of compound feed, waste from a grain flow, elevator or from a canteen. You can’t feed them only with white and gray bread for a long time - ducks can get sick.

A student from the village wrote to us. Teleshovka, Tsilninsky district, Ulyanovsk region Ruslan Kulmatov, who feeds unusual birds: “At the beginning of winter, a flock of partridges settled on our straw stack. Every day I go out in the morning and feed them grain, but at the sight of me they all take off together, and when I leave, they come down noisily and peck at their breakfast. This bird "dining room" turned out to be the most original. By the way, in the old days, the Chuvash peasants had a good custom, when in the fall they specially left an uncompressed strip of grain in the field for partridges.

For tits, as well as for other wintering insectivorous birds, the best feeding is unsalted fat of any animals, unroasted sunflower seeds (they are very high in calories), pumpkins, and watermelon. They do not eat traditional millet or gray bread waste. This food will only attract the ubiquitous rock pigeons and sparrows. You can pour Hercules oatmeal with hot fat of animal origin; tits also eat this food. In case of interruptions in feed, you can feed the birds for a short time with leftovers from the table (boiled bones, cheese crusts, meat). For a bountiful New Year's Eve, there's an exotic recipe: cut a coconut across and hang it on a string - the best food for tits (unattainable for sparrows). Of all the "titmouse" foods, sparrows do not eat only watermelon and pumpkin seeds. They are more wary than great tits, so they are wary of unstable or shiny structures. These can be plastic bottles swaying in the wind with a narrow (3 cm in diameter) hole where tits squeeze through, but sparrows do not.

You can feed tits in cities; these birds appear here in winter in search of food. Feeding in cities preserves a certain number of tits in nature and makes it possible to observe them during feeding. In spring, the birds will fly away to the surrounding parks, forests and will nest far from feeding places. On the next year with the onset of cold and hunger, they reappear at the window or on the tree where the feeder hung the previous year. Some tits even persistently knock on the glass, as if demanding additional feeding. These are probably the birds that have already fed on the window feeder.

In a properly organized forestry, winter feeding of birds is also needed. Here the number of feeding species can be very large: these are several species (up to five) of our tits, and the great tit is no longer the most numerous species here. In a coniferous forest, there can often be chickadees, Muscovites, even crested tits, in a deciduous forest - blue tit. Indispensable here and crawl. Often there are large spotted and small spotted woodpeckers. Granivorous birds on feeders in the forest are also more likely. Among them are bullfinches, tap dancers, siskins, goldfinches. All these birds are very pleasant to observe, but sometimes they are so numerous that, like sparrows in the city, one has to somehow limit their number on the feeders.

From an economic point of view, these birds are of little use, since bullfinches and tap dances fly away to nest to the north, siskins fly to coniferous forests, while carduelis are granivorous in the full sense of the word and even feed their chicks mainly on the seeds of wild plants.

The most important winter feeding of birds in the orchard. The species composition of birds at feeders in the garden is rather limited. These are, of course, the same great tits, the usually numerically dominant species of the blue tit, especially in the southern part of the country, and the nuthatch. Muscovites appear from other tits in years of high abundance, only these pleasant birds do not remain for nesting in gardens.

Winter feeding of birds in the orchard, firstly, allows you to dramatically increase the number of tits. Each pair nests twice, and by autumn the number of tits increases tenfold. By spring, however, there are again few of them, 90% of them die in winter from hunger (and not from the cold, as is sometimes believed). Secondly, top dressing helps to keep young tits for the breeding season near the feeder, that is, in the orchard.

The great tit destroys insects not only in summer, but also in winter, and the second, apparently, even has for us greater value. In winter, tits cannot get by with one grain, they definitely need insects, and they are able to almost completely destroy mass pests wintering on a bole in tree branches. On clear, not too frosty or on quiet cloudy days, tits fly to the feeders for a short time in the morning, and then disappear: they collect insects nearby. These birds, as well as many others, have a very developed imitation of each other in search of food: as soon as one titmouse finds several wintering caterpillars of the codling moth at the base of the stem of an apple tree, a flock immediately descends from the trees and the search for food begins. After such an inspection of the trunks, there will be practically no wintering caterpillars left on them.

Attracting tits to the wintering grounds of codling moths is very simple: you need to apply drops of any unsalted melted fat on the bark on several trees. Birds quickly find their favorite food on the bark and, looking for it on the trunks, find the codling moth. First of all, of course, birds see and destroy caterpillars that winter openly in their nests (golden tail, hawthorn), but then they still prefer to look for insects wintering alone and covered.

It does not matter if well-fed tits do not find food in the feeder on a fine day, or if there is only a part of the usual daily allowance; then the birds willy-nilly have to go in search of insects. However, if there is a monotonous grain feed in the feeder, for example, hemp or sunflowers, tits will still leave to look for additional “animal food”.

But on rainy days, on sleet, after a snowfall with sticky snow and in severe frosts, tits stay near the feeder from dawn to dusk. It must certainly be full, since here it is the only source of food. On such days, especially if the weather is bad for a long time, you need to diversify the food more. Feeding should begin in early autumn. Then it is possible to keep more wandering birds in the garden, and tits have been wandering since August. And the more they appear in the garden even before deep snow, the more pests hiding at the base of the trunks and inaccessible in winter, they will destroy. In addition, since autumn there are more fine and warm days, on which tits work to collect insects in the garden, and do not feed at the feeder.

Nuthatches are at the feeder very often, but rarely more than a pair, or even one bird. The reason for this is the bird's intolerance towards its own kind. Nutcrackers, like tits, take a single seed from the feeder and crush it on a tree. Only tits pinch the seed with their paws, sitting on a branch, and the nuthatch thrusts it into the recess of the bark.

These birds, having eaten, tend to drag food from the feeder and hide it behind the bumps in the bark of trees. The food, however, does not disappear: quick-witted tits search for hidden sunflowers or hemp and feed on them right in front of the nuthatch, and he does not pay any attention to this and continues to stock up.

Remarkable success in attracting wintering useful birds was achieved by Professor P. A. Sviridenko in the garden in the village of Fefania near Kiev. A wicker basket was used as a feeder, placed near the window of the house for the convenience of observations. The main food was sunflower seeds, crumbs of white bread were added to them, and occasionally, in frosty weather, lard. Most often, great tits flew to the feeder. Titmouse, chickadees, nuthatches and small spotted woodpeckers used it systematically, but in smaller numbers, sometimes grosbeaks, finches, and buntings flew in. The food was in the feeder all year round, and this allowed the birds to visit the feeder even in summer and, in any case, begin to feed early in the fall.

The number of attracted tits gradually increased. There were significantly more of them in the second year than in the first. One day in March there was a heavy snowfall, and the number of tits reached a record figure of -300. P. A. Sviridenko explains the success in attracting such a large number of birds only by the fact that there was always food in the feeder, at least starting from early autumn.

P. A. Sviridenko organized a feeding point in Kiev, on the balcony of the apartment. A small cage with an open door quickly attracted tits. Over 6,000 arrivals were recorded on separate days. The titmouse, according to the calculations of the same author, eats 75 seeds per day, for each arrival the bird takes no more than one, obviously, 80 tits fed on the feeder. Small tits are sedentary. As experiments carried out in Latvia have shown, winter flocks do not leave their forest areas, but all the time stay only on them. Birds were fed on feeders, and then the feeder was gradually moved. Birds followed her: nuthatches and great tits, brown and black-headed chickadees, crested tits and blue tit. However, the birds followed the feeder only for a few hundred meters, already after 500 m only 15% of the original number of birds remained, the rest returned to where the feeder was.

The experiment was modified in the following way: birds were caught at the feeder (180 tits of various species and nuthatches) and released at another feeder at a distance of 1-30 km from the first one. The birds returned to their “own” forest if the distance was not too great: up to 5–6 km for crested tits and chickadees and up to 10–20 km for great tits, blue tit and nuthatch (K. A. and E. K. Vilke).

These experiments convincingly show that birds, in this case, tits and nuthatches, not only in summer, but also in winter, during their flocking life, strictly adhere to their territories. If we manage to attract birds to the feeder, then these will be “our” birds, which will constantly work in those territories where the feeders are hung out.

With regular feeding, even migratory birds can linger at the feeder for the winter. Six starlings successfully overwintered in the village of Proletarskaya, Rostov region, although the frost here reached 15-20 ° C. Quite often, starlings winter on the outskirts of Moscow, they feed on feeders and in other places. In 1970 flocks of starlings overwintered in Ostankino (Moscow).

In winter, not only small songbirds are fed. In the snowy winter of 1962/1963, in some countries of Western Europe, wintering waterfowl were intensively fed. About 200-250 geese and up to 500 ducks gathered near the feeders. Diving ducks willingly took food from the water, coots fed on bread, geese preferred oats.

In the harsh winter of 1966, in the south of our country, in the Kyzylagach Reserve, a mass death of waterfowl began. When the reservoirs were frozen, food was not available to the ducks, they went out onto land and fed on the seeds of various herbs. Some of the ducks were so weak that they could be picked up by hand. It was then that the feeding of birds with compound feeds, which were obtained specifically for this, was applied here.

(Konstantin Razhaisky, livestock specialist of the department of biodiversity, monitoring and environmental education)

“Winter is a difficult time of the year for birds. The cold forced all insects to hide, only some trees retained their fruits, and seeds can be found on large weeds sticking out from under the snow.

Many people seek to help feathered neighbors survive this difficult period by arranging feeding grounds and feeders. But everything must be approached with skill, because by feeding the birds incorrectly, it is easy to harm them.

First of all, you need to understand that birds cannot be fed, you can only feed them. How is feeding different from feeding? When feeding, the birds receive the entire daily ration only from the feeder, and when feeding - only a part of it and have to find the rest in nature. In nature, the diet of birds is very diverse. Moving through the forest, flocks of tits check cracks in the bark in search of wintering insects, their larvae and pupae, pick up seeds of various plants, and eat only seeds and fat at the feeder. And with a constantly full feeder, tits simply stop looking for other food. A monotonous diet, and even rich in fats, leads to liver disease. Instead of benefit, we cause irreparable harm to birds.

It is better to accustom yourself and the birds to a certain regime, filling the feeders once or twice a day at the same time. They poured a glass of seeds, tits pulled them apart, and that's it. No matter how they beg you, banging their beaks on the glass, be persistent and do not give in to feelings. Some bird foods are harmful and often deadly. First of all, it's all fried and salty. When eating salty food, salt quickly accumulates in excess in the body of birds, and their excretory system is less efficient than that of mammals, and poisoning of the body occurs. When frying, fats change their structure and cause severe damage to the liver. Also, spoiled food, rancid grain, moldy, musty products should not be used. They contain strong toxins. Even if poisoning does not lead to a quick death of the bird, it will weaken the body, the bird will fall ill and eventually die.

You can not give birds and millet. Unlike millet, millet is devoid of a shell, which leads to the oxidation of fats on its surface, the appearance of toxic substances, pathogens. Dangerous for birds and black bread. Rye starch is poorly absorbed by the bird's body, black bread is always more moist than white bread, has high acidity, which often leads to strong fermentation in the intestines up to intestinal volvulus.

So, what should not be given to birds in any case? Fried and salted seeds, salted bacon, millet, black bread and spoiled food with an unpleasant odor or mold. What then can feed them?

City pigeons are best fed with a specially prepared mixture, or at least wheat, and preferably barley, which can be bought at the Bird Market in Moscow. Of the cereals, pearl barley, which is peeled barley, is most suitable. White bread is not the best food for pigeons, but in small quantities it is quite suitable (but fried pies, whites, pizza, etc. are very harmful). You can add oatmeal to the Sisars, but not instant, but dense, not loose. In a small amount, you can add unroasted seeds. Barley is too tough for sparrows, but everything else that pigeons eat is fine for them too. Ducks are best fed with grain (grain mixture or wheat) or chicken feed, but these types of food sink in water, so there is practically no alternative to white bread. They eat ducks, but less willingly, and unroasted seeds that do not sink in water.

Unroasted sunflower seeds, medium-fat cottage cheese mixed with white breadcrumbs so as not to stick together, scraped lean beef, grated egg, hard-boiled, finely chopped fresh apple are placed in the bird feeder for tits. On frosty days, it is good to hang a piece of unsalted bacon, put a piece of butter. Tits should get used to other foods, except for seeds, so don't be upset if they don't eat it at first. In addition to these foods, nuthatches are happy to eat watermelon and pumpkin seeds.

It should be noted that if you already undertook to feed the birds in winter, then this should be done regularly - as the feed is consumed. Otherwise, you can destroy the birds accustomed to feeding. It is especially necessary to feed the birds during bad weather, in icy conditions, after a snowfall with sticky snow and in severe frosts. On days like this, you can't stop.

What can...

You can feed almost any bird. Preparation for this must begin in the summer, preparing food. Sometimes it's just enough not to throw away what we don't need. When eating watermelons and melons, collect and dry the seeds. In winter, they will be happy to feast on tits. They are also fed with sunflower and pumpkin seeds (not fried), hemp, pieces of unsalted lard and meat, various fats - margarine, butter, etc. They willingly eat tits and bread crumbs (black rye should not be given). It is better to use crushed stale bread. Fresh in the cold freezes and the birds will not be able to do anything with it. Sparrows and pigeons are also happy to eat bread.

For bullfinch and other granivorous birds, bunches are dried from summer and autumn weeds- swans, nettles, horse sorrel, burdock, etc. For waxwings and thrushes-field ash - clusters of berries, viburnum, mountain ash, black and red elderberry. Bullfinches also willingly feast on them, but unlike the previous species, they do not eat berries, but bones.

In winter, near the feeding trough, you will see among the city such forest inhabitants as the nuthatch, woodpecker, jay. Nuthatches and woodpeckers feed together with tits and often stay in common flocks. The nuthatches eat everything that the tits do, but above all they are interested in the hung lard, meat, pieces of fat. Jays also eat everything. Especially for them, from September-October, you can store gifts - collect acorns.

A number of feeds can be used to feed birds. Some of them you can harvest yourself, or you can buy ready-made food in pet stores (mixtures for parrots and decorative birds, although you can use cereal mixtures for rodents, which include oats, millet, seeds and other grains).

Sunflower seeds are eaten by all birds, but if there are few of them, feed them only to tits.
- Hemp seeds are excellent food for all birds.
- Watermelon, pumpkin and melon seeds, raw fresh fat and meat are readily eaten by tits.
- Oats are eaten by oatmeal and sparrows.
- Millet, millet love oatmeal and other birds.
- Crumbs of white bread are suitable for feeding all birds.

Many birds can be fed with weed seeds.

Quinoa seeds are eaten by many granivorous birds, but their tap dances are especially fond of.
- Nettle seeds are very fond of bullfinches, siskins, tap dancers, and the blue titmouse also eats them.
- Seeds of burdock and thistle - the main winter food for goldfinches.
- Horse sorrel seeds are readily eaten by bullfinches.

If you know what this or that bird likes, you can try to attract them to your garden by luring them with your favorite food. Of course, if these birds live in your area or fly there for the winter or summer. Here is the feed ration recommended by the RSPB for different birds:

Winter "pies" made from bacon and seeds attract tits, sparrows and greenfinches
- Lard and visceral fat are especially loved by tits, thrushes, wrens and woodpeckers
- Fresh or dry fruits and berries laid out on the ground will not go unnoticed by thrushes, robins (robins), tits and starlings
- Whole peanuts are a favorite treat of titmouses, greenfinches, sparrows, nuthatches, large spotted woodpeckers and siskins, and crushed peanuts are favorite treats of robins, forest hawkers and wrens. You can also try to attract charming and shy jays with peanuts.
- Cheese is loved by robins, robins and thrushes
- Many birds like potatoes, if you're lucky, they can even lure wild ducks, geese, swans and pheasants

...and why not?

Birds should not be fed salted nuts, chips, coconut, and it is better not to feed salted lard.

Before adding grain feed, it must be thoroughly calcined in a frying pan or baking sheet, until completely dry and flowable. After cooling, it is poured into a bottle and the cork is screwed on.

How to make a feeder?

Setting up a feeder is easy. In the simplest version, this is a plank with sides nailed to the edges so that the food is not blown away by the wind. When arranging feeders, you should not chase too complex and bizarre designs. It is better to make a few simpler ones and feed more birds. It is only important that, if possible, their food is protected from bad weather and pigeons. In winter, birds are not up to luxury - just to survive. The complication of the design of the feeder goes, first of all, in the direction of protecting food from bad weather and competitors of those birds that you want to feed. For protection, various covers, side walls are made.

Many make homemade feeders out of plywood, wood, or plastic. You can easily and quickly make feeders from milk bags and plastic bottles. They are more suitable for small birds: sparrows and tits. In order for the feeder not to be a trap, all holes must be through and located closer to the bottom. Automatic feeders are very convenient. These can be bottles turned upside down, or other designs. An open feeder, which is a board with food, should have a canopy covering it from snow.

Arbor-shaped feeder (designed for small forest birds and squirrels)

1. Fasten four racks, with a total length of 150 cm, from below with crossbars around the perimeter.

2. Fasten two opposite crossbars with a bar or board 10 cm wide. This bar (board) is a support for attaching the central pillar.

3. Two tiers of feeders are attached to the post. The upper tier (in the form of a tray with a side along the perimeter) is located directly under the roof itself and is intended for small birds.

4. Below, at a distance of 1/3 from the top, there is a second feeder for large birds and squirrels. It is also made in the form of a tray with a rim around the perimeter. A hipped roof made of improvised material (unpainted boards) protects the feeder from rain and snow.

Feeder in the form of a gallery for small forest birds

1. The roof and base of the feeder is made of a wide board or several boards with a total width of 15-20 cm, a length of 40 cm.

2. The roof and base are fastened with vertical posts made of improvised material (board or wooden slats). Width between uprights 30-35 mm to let small birds through.

feeder house

Hanging:

1. Make a pallet from boards with a small side of planks.
2. The roof is gable - we recommend making the roof slopes from "lining". Nail the top and bottom of the roof with nails.
3. If boards are used, then fasten the slope boards with planks from the inside.
4. Make a suspension from stainless wire, with which the feeder is attached to a thick branch of a tree.

On the pole:

1. It is required to make a support-column for the hanging feeder.
2. Attach a large feed tray to the post. The pallet is made of two boards that have cutouts for the pole. The ends of the pallet are bordered by a low side.

And such a feeder is dangerous for birds - they can get confused

Where to hang?

It is best to hang the feeder on the south side at a height of 1.5-2 meters. Thus, you will protect it from wind and snow (we usually have northwestern ones), on sunny days the food will warm up and thaw (if moisture suddenly gets into it), high altitude will not allow rodents to get to the feed.

In a sparsely populated place, you can arrange a whole "restaurant" for birds. Under a common large canopy, the main feeder is placed in the middle, and pieces of bacon, bunches of berries and weeds, various packages, etc. are hung around the edges. In this case, many more birds can feed at the same time. Here it is better to make several small feeders than one large one, because tits are very aggressive towards relatives. At the same time, 1-2 birds can be on the feeder.

Feeders for tits can be placed anywhere. They will find them both in the forest and in the city center on the windowsill. Bullfinches, goldfinches, tap dancers, siskins are more careful. It is better to feed them on the edges, in large parks, in wastelands. Bunches of weeds and berries are tied on the branches of bushes or trees not high from the ground. You can even stick them in the snow. For waxwings and thrushes, bunches of berries are also hung on branches or near large feeding tables. Don't stop helping until spring! Birds will soon get used to your "dining room" and will rely on this source of food. If you have started, then continue, even if you have very little food, feed the birds. In addition, consistency will provide you with a wide variety and number of feathered patrons.

According to observations in the Bitsevsky forest garden, up to 30 or more birds (primarily tits) can live near one feeder, and squirrels also regularly come. Birds not only eat what is in the feeder, but also carefully inspect the branches and trunks of trees that are nearby, destroying the wintering forms of pests. If on the site this will be done during the winter by several dozen tits; it is unlikely that any of the insects will be able to survive. Thus, taking care of bird food in winter, you also help in the matter of destroying pests.

About the birds.

Tit

From the end of autumn, tits appear near the feeders. Among them there are both settled and those who arrived from the Far North. In the Moscow region, the restless and restless great tit is more common. Its popular name is "grasshopper tit". This bird becomes very aggressive when it takes food from other smaller and weaker tits. In addition, she often uses other people's stocks. The female great tit, hatching eggs, is able not only to stand up for herself, but also to scare away the enemy with a formidable hiss. The Great Tit is recognizable by its shiny black cap, black throat and breast stripe, white cheeks, yellow sides and breast, greenish back, grayish-bluish tail and wings. This tit, even in winter, looks for pests in cracks in the bark of trees. She is by no means a vegetarian, so she eats not only various seeds, but also pieces of meat. The best treat for a titmouse is a piece of frozen fat, which is hung from a branch or placed in a feeder.

Less often, the crested tit flies to the feeder. It is easy to distinguish by a sharp crest. Small tits include: blue tit (with a bluish cap, wings and tail); a grayish Muscovite (with a white spot on the back of the head) and a chickadee (with a brownish back, a light breast and a black cap). All of them are happy to eat the same food as the great tit.

Sparrow

We always have a lot of field (village) sparrows next to the feeder. They are easy to recognize and not to be confused with house (city) sparrows by black spots on their cheeks and a chestnut cap on their heads. From a distance, the spots can be mistaken for the eyes, so the village "big-eyed" sparrows look very pretty. There is always food for birds in our feeder in winter and early spring. The guaranteed food has led to the fact that for several years now one large flock of sparrows of different ages has been living near the house, which is desperately fighting for a “place in the sun” with all other birds. These "natives" manage to drive away not only other sparrows, but also larger birds. It should be noted that sparrows are brawlers and excellent fighters.

House sparrows (with a gray cap and black upper chest) flock to larger urban and rural housing developments. They live near multi-storey buildings. In food, all sparrows are unpretentious, willingly eat crumbs of white bread and any grains. People can leave a loaf of white bread in the feeder, which sparrows will happily peck at. In frost, it is better to cut it lengthwise into two parts and put “crumbs” up. These birds suffer greatly in cold winters and even remain tailless, having lost their frostbitten tails.

Woodpecker

There are many woodpeckers in the Moscow region. There is also a black woodpecker (zhelna), it is the size of a good crow. During the day, the bird searches for insects in wood and under the bark of dry trees. More likely to see a Great Spotted Woodpecker at the feeder. One winter, such a bird spent the whole daylight hours on the drain next to the feeder. In windy weather, the woodpecker pressed against the trunk to stay on the tree. This bright woodpecker is larger than a starling. He has a black top of the head (the back of the male's head is red), white forehead and cheeks, fawn throat, breast and abdomen; red undertail and catchy stripes on wings and tail. A female woodpecker with a vile character lived on our site. She not only did not allow other birds to go to the feeder, but also did not allow them to eat the food that she herself did not eat (cereals, bread crumbs, etc.). If the birds began to feast at the time when the woodpecker was dozing, then she instantly woke up and made a low flight around the feeder. I don’t know what it meant, but all the birds flew away in fright. The woodpecker's favorite food was a dried loaf of white bread. At night, the woodpecker flew away for the night. It all ended with the fact that this bird began to gouge a thick plum branch. We did not want to lose this tree at all, so we had to drive the woodpecker from the plum tree. The bird began to fly to the site less and less, and then completely disappeared. I heard several stories told by gardeners I know, in which woodpeckers performed destructive actions in the country. They damaged not only trees, but also managed to gouge a wooden front door in one house.

On the feeders you can meet no less voracious small spotted woodpeckers that arrive with titmouses. Small spotted woodpeckers have a slightly different coloration: a red crown (the female has a light one), a black back with transverse stripes and an off-white abdomen with strokes.

Waxwings

Huge flocks of waxwings often arrive in the Moscow region at the beginning of winter, sometimes by Christmas. These birds are slightly smaller than the starling, with large pink crests and pinkish-gray plumage. At feeders, they are interested in seeds and dried berries. Waxwings fly to us from the forest-tundra and taiga. In summer there is a lot of food: mosquitoes, dragonflies, butterflies and other insects. With the onset of winter, waxwings look for food in other parts. Along the way, they feed on the fruits of mountain ash, barberry, wild rose and juniper. Birds are greedy. Their body does not have time to absorb all the food, so a lot of semi-digested residues remain on the snow. This gluttony continues for several weeks. Then waxwings fly to new places. At the end of winter - beginning of spring, these beautiful birds reappear in the Moscow region. And since there are few berries left by this time, the waxwings are saturated with swollen buds of aspen and poplar.

Sometimes beautiful waxwings are kept in cages. But in captivity, well-fed birds lead a sedentary lifestyle. Their natural waste accumulates under the perch so rapidly that frequent cleaning of the cages is required. Not everyone likes this, so caged waxwings are often released into the wild.

Other resident and northern migrant birds

The common nuthatch is less and less common in the Moscow region. This bird can be identified by its long straight beak, wide black stripes on the side of the head, grayish-bluish plumage above, light breast, brown sides, reddish rump and white spots on the tail. The nuthatch skillfully moves along tree trunks even upside down. He makes solid stocks and hides individual seeds. The nuthatch menu consists of insects, their larvae, acorns, nuts and maple seeds. Birds need coarse sand for digestion. The nuthatch usually arrives at the feeders along with the tits.

Sometimes near the feeders you can see a greenfinch with an olive-green or grayish-greenish color of the body, black tips of the wings and tail. In severe cold, the bird moves to the south, when it warms up, it returns to its original places.

And how good is the bright goldfinch with the black top of the head, black wings and tail; white cheeks, forehead, belly and rump; a red ring around the beak and a yellow transverse stripe on the wings. He quickly eats sunflower seeds, millet, oats, wheat and other cereals.

The common bunting adheres to the same diet (yellow head, throat, chest, abdomen; brown tail and wings; white stripes on the sides of the tail).

Occasionally you can see tap dancing. This is a small bird with a grayish-brown back, raspberry-red crown, chest and goiter; a black spot on the chest; whitish belly. She likes millet, oats and wheat.

Snegiri is one of the most beautiful birds suburbs. They fly more often for the remaining rowan berries. The bullfinch has a black cap, a ring at the beak; white rump, ash-grey back, pink-red belly. In females, the ventral side is gray. In winter, bullfinches eat dried mountain ash and hawthorn, maple, ash and grass seeds well.

The field thrush also loves dried berries of mountain ash and hawthorn. This is a large thrush with a gray top of the head and gray rump, brown back, white belly, dark strokes on the breast and sides. In warm winters, he sometimes stays in the Moscow region, and does not fly to more southern places.

You need to feed the birds at every opportunity, even while hiking and skiing in the forest and in parks. In some forests and forest parks near Moscow there are stationary feeders, which are usually empty. Take a bag of bird food with you: cereals, sunflowers, pumpkin seeds, zucchini, watermelons, melons or grapes. Place pieces of bread in the feeder. The poultry menu also includes ground crackers, crushed shells, grated carrots, finely chopped cheese, cottage cheese and many other products. Some birds (grouse, hazel grouse and black grouse) need coarse sand and small river pebbles in winter. It is hidden under the ice, and without such an additive, food is rubbed worse in bird stomachs: needles, buds, birch and alder catkins.

Feed BUT DON'T TAME!

Dear nature lovers!

If you really love Nature, animals, birds, and all other creatures created by the creator, then the best thing you can do for them is

DO NOT TRAIN THEM TO HANDS and to a person in general!

Doing like this - you amuse your pride,
and do not think at all about our smaller creatures.

Of course, you won’t do anything bad to them, feed them from your hand, be touched, play and go home.

And after you another will come, and they will fly to him as to you. And sit on his arm. If you think that all people are brothers and young naturalists, you are a little mistaken.

The best thing you can do for wildlife is all possible ways to show living beings that man is an enemy, and you need to stay away from him as far as possible!

Think about it. And you will understand that this is so. Squirrels, birds, deer, and anyone else suffer and die from your such false and short-sighted love (for yourself).

FEED THE BIRDS!

Winter is a difficult period in the life of birds... Winter feeding, on the one hand, makes life easier for a certain number of birds and helps to survive harsh days, and on the other hand, it also has a great educational value - it instills in children love and compassion for living beings.

Feed the birds in winter.
Let from all over
They will flock to you, like home,
Stakes on the porch.

Their food is not rich.
Need a handful of grain
One handful -
And not scary
They will have winter.

How many of them die - do not count,
It's hard to see.
But in our heart there is
And the birds are warm.

Is it possible to forget:
Could fly away

A lot of people feed winter period birds. And, not in vain. After all, in winter it is much more difficult for them to get food for themselves. And if the bird at least once remains hungry at night, then it will not live until morning. But there are so many benefits from them: they destroy pests and please with their chirping. So why not help them in a cold and difficult time of the year for them?

Bullfinch in winter.

However, you need to know some rules and features of how to do it correctly. After all, otherwise, human virtue can be fatally destructive for our feathered neighbors on the planet.

A little about the features of feeding birds

The very first thing that everyone who wants to help the birds needs to know is that you need to feed it, and not take it upon yourself. full responsibility about food. Why? Yes, everything is very simple: the bird will definitely remember the place where food will be left for it and will fly there constantly. And, if food is always available, then she will simply lose the ability to get food for herself.

As a result, it may turn out that a person will abandon this occupation. It doesn’t matter for what reason: maybe he just won’t have time, or it will be connected with the move. A person will not even think about accustomed birds. And they can die of hunger because of this.

In addition, there is also the danger that birds, having ceased to obtain food for themselves on their own, may lose the intake of many useful and necessary substances for them, which they can only get by eating naturally.

Also, if you do feed, it would be best to accustom the birds to dinner in the feeder shortly before dark. So it will be possible to be sure that they will be full at night, which means that they will not freeze until morning.

The next feature is that not all products can be put in the feeder. Some of them are very harmful to birds. Many can cause them fatal harm. But more on that later.

And in this regard, it is worth knowing which birds will visit the feeder in order to choose the right food for them. Even better is to choose a menu that can suit all possible feathered visitors.

Mostly tits, sparrows, goldfinches, siskins and some other species fly there to feast. Basically, these birds are insectivorous. They do not fly for the winter, because they know that they can also get frozen insects from the bark of trees. However, despite this, there is still much less food for them in winter. These birds, in addition to insects, feed on grain, seeds, and berries. In summer and autumn, there are plenty of them for good nutrition. But in winter, no.

Feeders and woodpeckers can visit. And, of course, crows and magpies will not mind eating free treats. So, if it is supposed to feed precisely small birds, then you need to pay attention to the size of the future feeder. It will need to be made such that large birds cannot penetrate there.

Birds such as sparrows and tits perceive the neighborhood with a person calmly. They are usually regular visitors to the "bird canteens". These birds are city dwellers.

And if there is a desire to feed goldfinches, siskins or nuthatches, then it is best for them to place feeders outside the city in a quiet and peaceful place.

The female bullfinch flew to the feeder.
Tits and a woodpecker at the feeder.

We make a bird feeder

Making a bird feeder is not difficult at all. And, this can be done from almost any handy material. Not only planks can be used, but also plywood, plastic bottles and much more. But, it is very important not to forget that in winter it snows very often. And from him the feeder can simply get wet. Then you have to make a new one. So, it’s better to immediately make one that can last all winter. So, the material for it must be chosen moisture resistant.

When making a feeder, remember that it will be convenient for the birds to eat from it. They must be free to get food. Of course, there should not be any sharp and cutting parts that the bird can get hurt on.

You should also take care that the future feeder is as well protected as possible from snow getting into it and from the fact that the food can be scattered by the wind. But, with all this, one must not forget about its convenience for birds.

It is best to place feeders on the branches of trees. You can mount them on buildings. They should be located higher. So it will be better for the birds to notice it and also, it will be safer for them. After all, during the meal, a predator can sneak up, and the bird may not notice it.

What can not be put in bird feeders?

So, the feeder is ready. Now you need to fill it with a treat for the birds. What can be included in them and what not? After all, some products can be deadly for birds!

First, consider what absolutely can not be left as a treat for them. Firstly, in no case should you feed them products that have expired, musty, sour and fermented products. You can not feed them fried, too salty.

You can not pour sunflower seeds into their feeders. But many do this, not knowing about their harm to birds. You can not feed many of them with bread. Mostly small birds. A small amount of dry bread crumbs, however, is acceptable, especially for tits. Also, without fear, you can feed pigeons with bread. For others, it will cause indigestion. Pigeons are not afraid of this, due to their larger size. And the tit is almost omnivorous. And her digestive system is more receptive to many foods that are not suitable for others.

Almonds and fruit seeds can cause poisoning in birds. Also, do not pour millet for them. Mushrooms and potatoes, as well as rice, are difficult to digest. Therefore, they should not be placed in feeders either.

Do not feed birds with products containing acetic acid and preservatives, various food additives, seasonings and spices. Naturally, canned food for their nutrition is also unacceptable. And, you can not leave for them food intended for pets: cats and dogs.

All of these foods listed here are very dangerous for birds. Some of them can cause poisoning, others - indigestion.

Sunflower tits.
The blue tit eats fat.
Rocky nuthatch eats in hand.

What can you feed the birds?

What is suitable for subcorking birds in winter? You can leave barley and oatmeal for them in the feeders. They will be safe for everyone. If you put bread crumbs, then they should be from a wheat roll. Also, they must be dry. Also, you can not pour only them. They must be mixed with something else. The only exception here is feeding pigeons. Many simply paint a loaf of bread for them, which they eat with pleasure.

Much more varied menu for tits. They can be treated with unsalted bacon, and hard-boiled eggs. The main thing is to grind the product. You can feed them with cottage cheese.

Since the birds feed on seeds and berries in their natural environment, it will be a good surprise for them to see this in the feeder. However, not all seeds should be poured there. About those that cannot be given to them, it has already been written above.

What are possible? Ideal for them are melon seeds, watermelons, cucumbers and zucchini, eggplant. Before serving these bird seeds, they should be washed and dried well after being removed from the vegetable. And only then it will be possible to feed them with birds in winter. Stocks of such food should be stored in a dry place. If it is supposed to feed small birds and pumpkin seeds are used for this, then they must first be crushed. After all, they will be too large for them, and the birds will not be able to chop them on their own.

Birds love to feast on dried fruits. You can cut into slices and dry apples, pears for them. Moreover, such a treat can simply be strung on a thread in the form of a garland and hung on a tree. Birds will peck at her with pleasure. You can also add dried rose hips to this composition. But other berries, such as rowan, for example, should not be plucked from a tree and then given to birds. They will peck at them from the branches anyway.

Oats are well suited for winter feeding of birds. Also, millet. It would be nice to add to the main feed and eggshell. Of course, it does not need to be left in the feeders entirely. They need to be crushed, crushed. Such a food supplement will help strengthen the bone tissue of birds.

So, food can also be useful for them. And in general, it is very good to make mixtures from the listed products. So the bird's menu will be varied, more tasty and healthy.

Photo of a bullfinch in winter on a mountain ash.
Bullfinch male on a mountain ash.

For days I searched the Internet for information on making bird feeders ... I promised my "students" to start making them together ... And I came across this material. It would seem, what is easier - to feed the birds in winter with what is at hand, more precisely - in the hand, and the more food, the better? But no ... Not everything is so simple. Nature is wise! Everything in it is balanced. This balance should not be disturbed by your "immeasurable" love for all living things. Therefore, I place this material completely as in Perhaps it will be of interest to many. And with gratitude for the information I went through my "educational program" in this matter ...

On these cold winter days, the children and I learn such a verse - we have such a custom: “As soon as it snows, hang a wooden birdhouse on a knot. And there, in the garden, behind the house, among the gray branches, a cheerful dinner is ready for the children's birds! " Little food is found by birds in winter, insects in hibernation, fruits and berries under the snow. From morning to evening, the birds are looking for crumbs of food. Downy, warm feathers protect from the cold, but not from hunger. During snowfalls, blizzards and severe frosts, birds starve and die en masse.

People strive to help our feathered neighbors survive this difficult period for them, arrange feeding grounds and feeders. But everything must be approached with skill, because by feeding the birds incorrectly, it is easy to harm them out of good intentions.

You need to know that the feeding of birds depends on their belonging to a particular group. There are birds whose diet is completely dependent on humans, there are those that can feed themselves, but will gladly accept human help, and there are groups whose feeding is highly undesirable, etc.

GROUPS OF BIRDS

1. Completely dependent on the person.

This group includes sedentary synanthropes: city pigeons, sparrows and mallard ducks. These birds adhere to a certain small territory and do not move beyond it.

Pigeons and sparrows do not live in the middle lane in their natural environment, they are residents of subtropical regions. To the north they came after man, and if in summer they find enough food in nature, then in winter they are completely dependent on us. Ducks, being the aborigines of our region, refused exhausting flights, becoming sedentary.

These three species of birds will not be able to exist without human help, the amount of natural food that they are able to find in nature is so small that it will not allow them to survive the winter.

2. They can survive the winter without our help, but they will not refuse if we offer.

This group includes small forest birds that regularly winter in the middle lane and are quite adapted to this: tits, nuthatches, woodpeckers, greenfinches, jays.

3. Most often they get food on their own.

This group includes bullfinches, fieldfare thrushes, waxwings, goldfinches, buntings, siskins and tap dances, pikas and kinglets. These birds are true nomads, never stopping anywhere for a long time.

Thrushes and waxwings in winter feed exclusively on soft fruits of trees and shrubs - mountain ash, hawthorn, svidina and even snowberry. They do not visit feeders, completely depending on the presence of berries on the branches (by picking off the fruits of mountain ash, we thereby reduce the amount of food available to them, so it is better not to harvest mountain ash for winter feeding. Those who feed on mountain ash are more likely to find it on a tree than in the feeder).

Bullfinches feed on the seeds of mountain ash, ash, lilac. They occasionally visit the feeders, eating seeds with pleasure, but due to their nomadic lifestyle, they never stay at the feeders for a long time.

Goldfinches, buntings, siskins and tap-dancing birds feed on weed seeds and feed on birch trees. You will hardly see them on the feeders in the city. For them, you can arrange feeding grounds in wastelands and outside the city, but this is a difficult matter.

The pika and kinglet are strictly insectivorous birds and survive the winter, looking for hibernating insects under the bark or among the needles of spruce.

4. Top dressing is highly undesirable.

The last group includes the gray crow and magpie. It is better not to feed these birds. This is especially true of crows, whose numbers in cities exceed all reasonable limits.

The gray crow is omnivorous, its diet includes both plant foods and animals. At the same time, the city gives crows protection from natural predators; here they raise their chicks more successfully, rapidly increasing in number. This, in turn, becomes a problem for other animal species. They more carefully comb green spaces in search of food, ruining all the nests of small birds that they meet, steal ducklings, and even squirrels.

And the better the crows winter, the more food they find in winter, the more eggs their females lay in the spring, the more chicks they feed, the more nests of other birds they destroy, the more chicks they find and eat. Feeding crows, you increase their number and, accordingly, reduce the number of other birds - warblers, nightingales, warblers, finches, greenfinches. Some species of birds cannot nest in the city at all because of crows.

A certain area of \u200b\u200bthe terrain can feed only a limited number of animals. And only the strongest and fittest survive the winter, this is natural selection. By feeding animals in winter, we allow the weak to survive, who will also leave offspring in the spring. But besides this, in spring the number of animals of one species will be higher, there will be competition for nesting places and food, and not only weak individuals will not be able to fully feed their offspring, but those who would survive the winter without our help find themselves in a difficult situation. This also applies to settled birds. Feeding urban pigeons, we maintain their high numbers, and the health of birds as a whole is noticeably deteriorating, which leads to annual epidemics.

If you do not feed the city ducks, most of them will not survive until spring, but the species as a whole will not suffer, since migratory ducks will retain their numbers. And the increase in the urban population is already having a negative effect on our ponds - ducks completely eat away many types of aquatic and near-water vegetation, exposing the shores, eating most aquatic invertebrates and tadpoles.

So to feed the birds or not - everyone decides for himself.

BASIC FEEDING RULES

You can't feed the birds, you can only feed them!

This is especially true for species from the second group. When feeding, the birds receive the entire daily ration only from the feeder, and when feeding, they receive only part of the necessary food from humans, and are forced to find the rest of their diet in nature. In nature, the diet of birds is very diverse. Moving through the forest, flocks of tits check cracks in the bark in search of wintering insects, their larvae and pupae, pick up seeds of various plants, and eat only seeds and fat at the feeder. And with the constant presence of seeds in the feeder, tits simply stop looking for other food.

A monotonous diet, and even rich in fats, leads to liver disease. The birds themselves do not understand the dangers of one-sided feeding, and even if there is a choice of different feeds in the feeder, they prefer to eat only seeds, as the most nutritious type of food. An excess of fat leads to liver disease and the imminent death of the bird. It turns out that instead of benefit, we can cause irreparable harm to birds.

An observant person will notice that about a month after the start of feeding the tits, birds with very fluffy plumage will begin to fly to the feeders, the tits look like fluffy balls. Often these birds are more trusting, they are not afraid of a person, they often drive other, more “slim” ones away from the feeder. To people far from biology, they seem stronger, thicker. But an experienced person will immediately say that these birds do not feel well. It is because of poor health that they fluff their feathers, trying to keep as much heat as possible, losing their natural caution.

Feed should not be in the feeder all the time.

It is better to accustom yourself and the birds to a certain regime, filling the feeders once or twice a day, in the morning or in the morning and in the evening at the same time. They poured a glass of seeds, tits pulled them away and that's it. No matter how they beg you, banging their beaks on the glass, you need to be persistent and not give in to your feelings. In general, the mode is a very valuable thing. If you strictly adhere to it, then the birds quickly get used to the fact that at a certain time they can expect to find food in the feeder, and at other times they will go to look for food in other places.

WHAT TO FEED

It is forbidden

We must immediately understand for ourselves that some products for birds are harmful, and often deadly. At the same time, the birds themselves do not understand this and eat them, harming their health.

In no case should birds be given: fried and salted seeds, salted bacon, millet, black bread and spoiled foods with an unpleasant odor or mold.

Can

Pigeons: a specially prepared mixture or wheat, and preferably barley, which can be bought at the Bird Market (grain is also cheaper than cereals). Of the cereals, pearl barley is best. White bread / in small quantities /, oatmeal, but not instant, but dense, not loose. In a small amount, you can add unroasted seeds.

Sparrows: barley is too hard, but everything else that pigeons eat is also suitable for them. From grain, sparrows prefer millet.

Ducks: it is best to feed with grain (grain mixture or wheat) or compound feed for chickens, but these types of feed sink in water, and to feed them you have to either pour them on ice or make special feeders semi-submerged in water, which is unrealistic in an urban reservoir. So there are practically no alternatives to white bread. Eat ducks and unroasted seeds that do not sink in water, unlike other types of grain. However, ducks get so used to bread that they eat seeds less willingly.

Tits: unroasted sunflower seeds, medium-fat cottage cheese mixed with white breadcrumbs so that the cottage cheese does not stick together, but is grains, scraped lean beef, grated hard-boiled egg, finely chopped fresh apple. On frosty days, it is good to hang a piece of unsalted bacon, put a piece of butter. It is only necessary to take into account that, in addition to seeds, tits should get used to other foods, so do not be upset if they do not eat them at first.

In addition to birds, some other animals visit the feeders, most often we meet squirrels on the feeders.

Belkam whole hazelnuts (hazelnuts), whole pine nuts, chopped walnuts, whole apricot seeds, sunflower seeds (also not fried), pieces of sweet crackers, cookies, bagels, pieces of fresh apple (even in frost, a fresh apple is in demand among squirrels, despite the fact that it freezes through), dried fruits, dried mushrooms, boiled egg, cottage cheese. Squirrels do not eat almonds, raw peanuts are also not popular, but you can offer them.

Salt is not harmful for squirrels, but it is better not to use salty foods, as they can be eaten by birds, for which salt is dangerous. It is very good to fix a white bird stone (pressed chalk) on the feeder for squirrels - squirrels in nature are always deficient in calcium and they will certainly be happy with such a gift.

WHERE IS THE BEST FEEDER TO PLACE?

It is best to feed the birds away from housing, choosing a site with convenient perches (pigeons sometimes sit all day near the feeding area, waiting for freebies, they simply have nothing else to do) and shelters. The concentration of birds at the feeders will inevitably attract predators, and if there is no place to hide nearby, your wards may be in danger. For small birds, it is better to arrange feeding grounds near a dense bush or on the edge of a coniferous forest. You also need to remember that the wind is very dangerous for birds, so the feeders should be located in places protected from it.

Of course, the feeder outside the window is very attractive to us, but not very useful for the birds and does not please the neighbors at all. The feeder is always a source of garbage - the seeds are shelled, the birds heavily litter the space, and if the tits pull the seeds to the sides, then the sparrows shell the grain on the spot. Often, in search of food, birds begin to fly into open windows, which often ends in death for them, often the birds break on the glass. In addition, bird droppings do not decorate our window sills, cornices and balconies, as well as parked cars. This, first of all, of course, concerns pigeons.

They are loved. We are talking only about white, not black bread. It should not be given to birds. V last years more and more often you can hear and read that even dry white bread is dangerous for birds and can lead to various diseases, up to blockage of the esophagus. This opinion is replicated on many sites. I decided to look into this issue, because. often I myself put dried crumbs or finely chopped pieces of white bread in the feeder. For woodpeckers, who also fly to the feeder, there is no better treat than a hardened loaf. Can this food harm the birds?

Not only sparrows, but also tits eat white bread in winter

Feed or feed?

White bread is not the most complete food for birds kept in captivity. However, this is not about them, but about sparrows and other birds that fly to the feeder in winter. We only feed them, which is very important, especially in bad weather. For example, during or after a snowfall. The rest of the time, the birds are busy searching for food on their own, flying to the feeders for a “snack”. That is, we are talking about top dressing, and not about full feeding. Many ornithologists do not advise putting food in the feeders in summer and autumn, when the birds themselves have to look for it. Otherwise, they lose the ability to get food and become completely dependent on humans.

The opinion of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Birds of Great Britain is interesting. The lack of a complete set of substances necessary for birds is called the disadvantages of white bread as a bird food. They fill the stomach and experience a temporary feeling of satiety. British experts suggest feeding birds with biscuit crumbs or pastries, and not “empty food”. It is recommended to give grated cheese, the remains of boiled potatoes in their skins, breakfast cereals and boiled rice.

Difficult and dangerous options

Reputable publications advise pouring raw sunflower and pumpkin seeds, corn grains, pearl barley, oatmeal, dried white bread crumbs into the feeders and putting unsalted lard. Some of them recommend giving the birds crushed watermelon pits, melon, thistle, horse sorrel and quinoa seeds. Seeds are proposed to be harvested in advance in the summer and to make brooms from stems and branches with seeds in order to stick them in the snow near the feeders in winter.

Garden quinoa seeds with beet-colored leaves

There are always a lot of sparrows near the feeder

Feeding trough near our house

My version of feeding the birds cannot harm them. I try to put wheat bread with bran and inexpensive loose sunflower seeds in the feeder. Only raw. They are sold in Auchan at a price of 41 rubles. 71 kop. per kilogram (2016).

Raw Sunflower Seeds are Ideal Bird Food

I can’t harvest cones and tree seeds in the fall. Let the birds themselves get them on the site. There is a lot of food for a variety of birds. I sometimes put small pieces of bacon in feeders, I don’t hang them on tree branches.

Bird cones are not interested at all

Sparrows that constantly fly up to the feeder are reluctant to eat buckwheat. Raw rice is pecked, but without much pleasure. Birds like millet even less. I stopped putting oatmeal. Sparrows leave it, and the groats, wet during thaws, become moldy. Sparrows and tits often fight over food. They are driven away more large birds: and woodpeckers. There is no better food for jays than a loaf of bread. Woodpeckers, unfortunately, after a meal, switch from a hardened loaf to a plum trunk that grows next to the feeder.

The woodpecker is patiently waiting for a dried loaf of white bread to be placed in the feeder specially for him.

You should not give wet food in winter, because. it freezes quickly. Even the fresh flesh of zucchini and pumpkins, which contains many seeds, soon becomes hard. Then the birds can't peck at it.

Dried white bread (preferably with bran) remains the food for most birds that many people who feed birds in the winter can afford. This is the case when the amount of feed is also important.

Five jays come to us to steal white bread crusts from the feeder. They first peck at the pulp, then fly away, taking the peels with them.

I noticed that sparrows like white bread more than cereals. In the feeder, sparrows first of all eat bread crumbs, even when there is another food nearby, which we consider a bird delicacy. Of course, sunflower seeds are in high demand.

(function(w, d, n, s, t) ( w[n] = w[n] || ; w[n].push(function() ( Ya.Context.AdvManager.render(( blockId: "RA -143469-1", renderTo: "yandex_rtb_R-A-143469-1", async: true )); )); t = d.getElementsByTagName("script"); s = d.createElement("script"); s .type = "text/javascript"; s.src = "//an.yandex.ru/system/context.js"; s.async = true; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); ))(this , this.document, "yandexContextAsyncCallbacks");