Backyard Bird Watching in Winter

Not all birds go south for the winter. Many hang around and find ways of surviving these cold months. Birds don't stop needing food and water through the winter. Also we don't stop enjoying looking at them through the coldest months. In fact, watching living organisms without the benefits of human clothing and habitat, survive the winter can help us through the months we are most likely to find depressive.

To keep birds in your yard and to keep enjoying their presence, there are things you need to do for them.  They need a reliable food supply. Birds are smart, if they know your yard supplies a reliable food supply, they will return over and over (even on the coldest days). Also, fresh water is needed as much, or moreso, through the winter months. De-ice any water you put out; perhaps a heated bath feeder would help.

Other animals are a wintertime problem. If the birds are hungry and need food and water, you have to figure they do too. Mount your feeders on poles at least 6 feet off the ground, and far enough away from trees, bushes, houses, etc. to keep squirrels and other freeloaders away.

Why feed and water birds? After all, they've been doing it on their own, without us, for eons. The Mother Earth News provides a good explanation: "But the truth is, we feed birds to nourish our own winter-weary souls, too. Somehow watching birds flit from feeder to bush to branch, to feeder to bush to branch, lifts our spirits. Putting out feeders not only gives us a closer look at our feathered friends, but also gives us a greater sense of kinship with the creatures sharing our natural world."