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How to Feed Birds in Winter
How to Look After Wild Birds in Winter
Find out how to feed birds in winter, including the best foods and methods of feeding the wild birds visiting your garden during this most difficult time of year for our feathered friends.
Whether you feed the birds all year round or have never put out a bird feeder in your life, it is very worthwhile putting food out for the birds during winter, because this is when birds need the most help getting food - especially in very cold periods where frozen ground and low temperatures can be fatal for them.
This guide explains how high energy foods are important, why even simple things like checking your bird bath for ice can be vital, and how to make a big difference to the garden birds this winter.
Photo Credit: Blue Tit in Winter Snow - copyright of the author
Why I Feed the Birds
Photo Credit: Feed the Birds - Winter Garden - 250 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle on Amazon
I gained my love of feeding the birds from my family - I grew up watching my parents and grandparents lovingly putting out food for the birds, hanging feeders, filling bird baths with water, and generally looking after our feathered garden visitors.
In return we were rewarded with an abundance of every day British garden birds - blackbirds, robins, tits, sparrows, thrushes - but also some of the less commonly sighted - dunnocks, greenfinches, siskins, bullfinches and more.
When I moved up north to Cheshire, we didn't initially have any feeders in the garden because we were focused on doing up the house. But we live near woods and are blessed with three oak trees, along with a variety of fruit trees and bushes, so the birds came anyway, as did the local wildlife, and once we started feeding them properly, what a treat!
Nesting blue tits every year, a pair of robins, numerous blackbirds, a plethora of finches, occasionally crows, and even the shy jays come and visit from their home in the woods. This year we have been treated to the sight of three - a pair, and possibly a grown up baby from last year. We even have an annual visit from a pair of woodcocks, which are very rare to see, especially on the ground and in a garden!
I love my garden wildlife and think it is very important to help and nurture it as much as possible. And I also love what we receive in return - gorgeous visiting birds and animals, and delightful birdsong morning, noon and night!
Why Winter Feeding is So Important to Birds
Photo Credit: Snow on Branch - copyright of the author
There are many reasons why birds need help with feeding in the winter. For starters, the cold temperatures and frozen ground can prove fatal. Food is scarce - especially in the snow. Go out and uncover patches of lawn so that birds can get to the ground and access natural food. But snow, and generally rainy weather, can make that natural food (insects, worms etc) hard to find. Here in Britain we experience a lot of flooding every winter, and all that water lying on the ground for days or even weeks means that the insects in the soil, worms and all, die. Which in turn, means no food for the birds and other wildlife.
In addition, if water turns to ice, birds can't find vital water, so it is important to check your bird baths and other sources of wildlife water in your garden during very cold weather - if they have frozen over, break the ice so that the birds have something to drink again.
This is why it is so important to put out food for the birds in winter. If their natural food sources are low, they have a reliable and plentiful source that they will learn they can return to again and again.
Not only will you be doing a great service to wildlife, but you'll be treated with a sight to brighten those dreary winter days - lots of lovely colourful birds on your feeders and tables! Put out the right food and you might even get to see rarities - this is more likely in winter as they are seeking out new sources of food. Sometimes, even visiting birds from other countries may appear (American birds get blown across the Atlantic to British shores sometimes, for example), so you might even end up seeing a bird you can't find in the guidebook!
This guide applies equally to birds all around the world. Whether you are in the UK, US, Europe, Australia or elsewhere, helping the birds is a very important thing to do this winter!
Give the Birds a Helping Hand
Do You Feed the Birds in Winter?
What to Feed Birds in Winter
While the birds will be grateful for any kind of food at this time of year, there are certain foods in particular that have greater benefits during the cold. Look for high energy foods especially, as this helps birds warm up in the cold weather. High energy foods include:
* Special high energy or winter mixes containing high energy foods like sunflower hearts or peanuts
* Suet
* Fat balls
Other foods that are good to put out in winter include:
* Niger seeds to attract small birds like goldfinches and siskins
* Mixes that include mealworms (such as "mealworm crumble"!) or dried mealworms as this provides the birds with natural food as well
* Healthy, suitable scraps such as apples and pears, grated mild cheese and cooked potatoes
* A drink! Don't forget about providing a water source via a small pond or bird bath, and keep checking to make sure it hasn't frozen over
Photo Credit: Robin in the Snow via Wikimedia Commons
Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License
Feed the Birds this Winter
12 units of high energy suet to keep birds warm and nourished in winter, as well as attract a wide variety of birds.
Amazon reviewers confirm the bird variety drawn to this feed, including Downy Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, and Carolina Wrens.
How to Feed Birds in Winter - Video Expertise - The Facts from Bill Oddie and Others
Peckish 12.75Kg Winter Warmer Bird Seed Mix
Fat Bird - DIY Fat Cake Making Kit
Gardman Value Suet Feast 10 Mega Value Pack
150 Fat Balls Pack For Wild Garden Birds
Harrisons Wild Bird Premium High Energy Fat Balls x 100
Bill Oddie's High Energy Nutri-Boost Bird Food 2kg
Feeding Ground Feeding Birds in Winter
To give ground feeding birds extra protection and haven in winter, you can put food out (such as seed mixes, soft foods and live foods) in ground feeding trays or stations like these:
Chapelwood Large Metal Ground Feeder
Ground Feeding Bird Guard - Small Mesh
Gardman Ground Feeder Tray BTO/BSO Approved
Gardman BA01305 Compact Ground Feeder Tray
Songbird Essentials Ground Platform Feeder Green
Backyard Boys Woodworking Seed Block Ground Feeder
You can also assist ground feeders in cold weather by clearing away ice and snow from the ground. Clear a different patch of lawn each day so that they are able to look for natural food sources in the ground.
How to Make your Own Winter Bird Feed
You can have a go at making your own bird food, such as fat balls and birdy loaves, from your bird seed mixes and your own leftovers like stale bread. This is especially great to do if you have kids, as they will love making things to help them birds and then watching them flock to eat them! A top way to get them involved in looking after winter wildlife.
This recipe combines the goodness of fat balls with the high energy content of suet and seeds. For your seed mix, use foods like sunflower hearts, black sunflower seeds, safflower, peanut granules, cut maize and lots of tiny seeds that are perfect for small beaks. Alternatively, use a pre-made mix such as OlymPeck! Bird Breakfast.
Ingredients
- 100 g of high energy seeds or winter mix
- 300 g high energy suet pellets
- 25 g fat
- 25 g dried mealworms
- 1 egg
Instructions
- 1. First, soften the suet pellets in the microwave, before adding the dried mealworms to the suet in a bowl
- 2. Stir in the fat and then pour in the seed mix
- 3. Bind together the mixture with the egg, and shape into fat balls on a sheet of greaseproof paper
- 4. Leave overnight so that the balls set
- 5. Hang the balls outside in a fat ball feeder or leave them out on the bird table, and enjoy watching the birds!
- Photo Credit: Birds eating fat balls in Fat Ball Feeder from Amazon
Make your Own Winter Bird Loaf
This recipe uses high energy seed and suet (as per the previous recipe), combined with oystershell grit. Grit is essential in the digestive system of all seed-eating birds, and as well as helping with digestion, it helps supply many of the minerals and trace elements needed for good bird health, which is especially important for those laying eggs.
Ingredients
- 200 g high energy bird seed or winter mix
- 100 g high energy suet pellets
- 100 g flakes of cereal
- Breadcrumbs from 2 pieces of stale bread
- 2 teaspoons oystershell grit
- 1 egg
- Dried mealworms
Instructions
- 1. Line a loaf tin with the dried mealworms
- 2. Add the seed mix, suet and oystershell grit together in a bowl
- 3. Once well mixed, crumble in the breadcrumbs and add the cereal flakes
- 4. Add the egg to bind the mixture together and stir well
- 5. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and leave until set
- 6. Turn the tin out upside down in the garden and leave out for the birds to tuck into!
Bird Feeders and Bird Table Care in Winter
Of course, all your normal bird feeders are vital for providing food in the winter - just make sure you invest in good quality, hardy ones that will withstand the bad weather.
However, there are certain feeders well suited to specialist winter food, like suet feeders and fat ball feeders, so look for those to hang up that high energy food! Also try to opt for a bird table that provides good shelter for the birds, which will help keep them protected in snowy and very cold, wet weather.
Amish Country Rustic Handmade Log Cabin Bird Feeder with Rock Chimney -
Remember to care for your bird tables and feeders in winter, just as you do all year round. It can be tempting to "forget" to maintain them as the weather outside is a bit off putting! But keeping your bird feeders clean and hygienic means that birds will stay healthy (essential at this time of year) and also means you won't be attracting unwelcome visitors like rats.
You don't want seed and other food out for too many days, so if it is taking a while to clear, reduce the amount of food you are putting out. If more birds start coming, you can monitor and adjust accordingly. The biggest danger to birds is droppings mixing with food, so that is why it is important to keep your feeding areas clean. A ground feeding tray can help keep areas cleaner than simply putting seed on the ground, and trays can also catch mess dropped from bird tables and feeders. Use a bird feeder bottle brush to keep cylindrical feeders clean.
Best Winter Bird Feeders
Not only is this a solid and attractive bird feeder for suet, it also has a tail prop to help woodpeckers balance with their tail on the feeder - so great for attracting birds of all kinds! It's also made of recycled plastic, so great for the environment, too!
Proteam BC1001 - Wild Bird Care Range -Fat Ball Feeder
Fat Ball Feeding Ring - Holds 10 Fat Balls
Chapelwood Heavy Duty Suet Ball Feeder
The Nuttery Squirrel and Predator Proof Oval Suet Feeder
Chapelwood Heavy Duty Suet/ Scraps Feeder
Chapelwood Wooden Scraps Feeder (winter Blue)
How to Feed Birds Around the World in Winter
Even Australia has a winter - and look how much this Crimson Rosella is enjoying his feed up in the Blue Mountains! Wherever you are in the world, you can help your local native birds. Here is a selection of excellent guides to feeding the birds in your part of the world:
FEEDING BIRDS IN WINTER IN THE UK:
* Feeding Birds Advice from the RSPB
* BBC Guide to Feeding Birds in Winter
* Seven Tips for Feeding Birds this Winter
FEEDING BIRDS IN WINTER IN THE USA & CANADA:
* Feeding your Backyard Birds - The Humane Society of the USA
* Winter Bird Feeding Educational Resources
* Winter Bird Feeding from Nature Canada
More guides to be added shortly!
Other Ways to Help Birds in Winter
Photo Credit: Blue Tit in the Snow - copyright of the author
In addition to putting out high energy food and ensuring a plentiful water supply, you can also help the birds by leaving out certain leftover scraps (mild grated cheese, soaked fruit and cooked potatoes are suitable, as are unwanted apples and pears).
Another important thing you can do is provide warmth and shelter. Nest boxes are ideal shelter for smaller birds, and will be used later in the year for breeding. Bird tables with a roof or bird house feeds also provide shelter while feeding.
This guide to helping birds survive the winter has lots more useful tips on feeding, shelter and hygiene.
Will You Be Feeding the Birds this Winter? - Leave your Comments and Feedback here!
Setting up the feeders tomorrow GREAT lens
Birds are such wonderful and fascinating creatures. Thanks for putting up so much advice and excellent information on how to feed these beautiful creatures of the Earth during the tough winter months! Really enjoyed reading this lens!
I enjoyed reading this lens. I am a birder and bird lover and feed the birds at my place all year round. Winter feeding is especially important, as is water.I live in a northerly region so fresh water is not available during winter. Consequently I have 2 heated bird baths which the avian visitors really appreciate!
Great lens. I love birds. One of my favorite joys is hearing a bird singing in the wintertime. It reminds me that spring is coming!
This is a fantastic collection of hints and merchandise.
I make my own suet balls and hang the up in the Dogwood Tree. The Cardinals love it and so do the little blue winter birds....can't remember their name!
nice lens, i like birds
It takes a good person to take care of birdies, and I wish more people would do it. Wonderful lens!
I love your bird pictures on here - very cute birds!
Great Lens! I love feeding the birds all year round, but I get a particular satisfaction knowing that I'm helping them in the wintertime when I fill the feeder and my suet holder. Thanks for the info. BTW to all American readers - the Great Backyard Birdcount is coming up on 2/15/13. http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc
Great lens, very nice way of providing local instructions for feeding the different types of birds in the winter. Thanks!
I have a huge cane grove behind my home, great shelter for the little feathered creatures.
This is one of the sweetest pages for birds that I have come across. Thank you for the great information.
Very well done. The birds appreciate you!
Excellent advise and information. Thank you.
Outstanding lens. Loved it.
- Author
@JeromyS7: Thank you! Yes I use a mixture of the two, modules and affiliate tools. If I want to just use modules but show more, I have two amazon modules together and leave the title blank on the second one, then they flow nicely and look as though they are one module when published :) Of course, now the images are bigger this can look a bit much, so breaking the two up with some text in the second module can solve that.
Great lens! You know, we put out the feeder (and hummingbird feeder) in the spring and take it down in the fall. I hadn't realized, it makes sense, to feed them in the winter too when food sources are more limited.
May I ask, how do you add multiple Amazon products? I can only add five with the standard modules. Do you use the amazon affiliate tools instead?
Thanks again!
JeromyS
Great idea on the fatballs...I will have to try that one. Congratulations on LOTD!!!
Very informative and beautifully put together.
Congrats on LOTD! Thanks for such a wonderful article on winter bird feeding! How wonderful it is to know that there are so many of us that care about our little feathered friends!
- Author
@Mary Stephenson: I love hummingbirds! Wish we had them here in the UK!
- Author
@Titia: Not at all, I think it's a newer feature as I have only just discovered it myself! :)
Congratulations on LOTD! I love birds and used to feed them till our cat came along.
That's a great idea. It never crossed my mind that it is more difficult for them to get fed, with less people offering food and the snow. Nice.
Enjoyed my stay in your winter garden with all the colorful birds. Compared to those, the birds in my country look awful boring greyish LOL
@Missmerfaery444: Darn, I always used the text button in the box builder, never looked further than my nose and so I never hit the Image button. How stupid can this Dutchie get. LOL
@choosehappy: Yes it is!
I don't have snow, but all year round we put out sugar water for the hummingbirds. We have one male that sticks around the whole year.
Congratulations on LOTD
Great subject and beautiful pictures. Since beginning to live part time in two different states, I have not been feeding the birds. I hope to begin doing that in the state where I will be spending the rest of the winter.
Congrats on LOTD!
Awesome lens!
I love the bird photos. Nice lens. Good information.
I love birdwatching and having a birdfeeder in the yard is a great way to enjoy the activity so I mounted a birdfeeder on the wooden privacy divider on my patio behind my apartment a few weeks ago. I don't have the greatest environmental surroundings for attracting birds so maybe I'll have to add a birdbath to my patio as well. So far, I've seen a bird at the feeder on only one occasion but the seed is slowly disappearing.
Lovely tips on how to feed the birds in winter.
Yes! During the ice and freezing temps we've had recently, it has been pretty difficult changing the water on the four water stations I have and to keep them in food. They ate like crazy! SquidAngel blessed and congrats on LOTD! B : )
Yes! During the ice and freezing temps we've had recently, it has been pretty difficult changing the water on the four water stations I have and to keep them in food. They ate like crazy! SquidAngel blessed and congrats on LOTD! B : )
Gosh, what beautiful bird pics! Congrats on lotd ;)
Very deserving! Congrats and looking forward to read more of your lenses. :)
Wonderful bird pictures on this page - my bird visitors clear the feeders everyday, so it's quite and expensive hobby! (but I don't begrudge it!)
Well deserved LOTD. Great subject. Lovely products.
@Missmerfaery444: Thanks very much. Good luck with your lens writing.
- Author
@Fiorenza: Thank you! There is a site called Squidtools which has numerous Squidoo tools, including the item box builder where you can showcase products on UK Amazon and also Zazzle, too. You'll need your own affiliate account with amazon.co.uk though. Alternatively if you join Amazon.co.uk's affiliate program they will have buttons you can use there as well. You can't add UK products to Squidoo's own modules as they only allow US. Hope that helps!
Our hummingbirds feed 365 days a year from our feeders, even the cat watches them feed.
Congratulations on LOTD!
I have made a house for birds by my self. There i give seeds in and birds come to eat them...
Well done on your Lens of the Day. Great lens. I feed the birds too though in this area there aren't many sadly.
One thing I did wonder as a complete newbie - how did you get those 'buy on amazon.co.uk' buttons? I tried adding AINs for UK products but it wouldn't let me enter a description and then they disappeared when I saved the module.
LOTD and a purple star lens, I can see why! Wonderful pictures and a whole lotta exciting new ideas to try with my winter bird feeding. Fun, fun. Thanks!
Great information about feeding birds in winter! Congratulations on LotD!!
Congratulations on LOTD... it is such a compassionate thing, to feed birds in winter. Here, they feed off the madrone berries in the tree outside our door.
A very interesting and enjoyable read. I hadn't thought to put out potatoes, cheese or apples and pears and I'm going to try the recipes too. Not the microwaving though. I thought it was o.k. until someone told me it was bad so I checked out the research. It shows that microwaving food kills it's nutrient value and that eating microwaved food adversely changes the composition of our blood so we should avoid using them altogether. I threw mine away. Congratulations on getting Lens of the Day.
there are always loads of birds in my yard in the winter. it's a great activity for my cats to sit and watch them out the window.
The photo of the Crimson Rosella is stunning. Happy to see that this lens is LotD!
Congrats on your lens of the day! Great lens filled with beneficial information. Make it a great day!
This is a great lens, I always enjoying feeding the birds during the winter so the products listed in your lens really appeal to me. The video you included in this article is also very good. I hope this lens encourages it's readers to feed birds this winter. Oh and congratulations on lens of the day!
I love feeding birds though we don't have winter here.
We just bought more seed and peanuts at the weekend for our birds. I bought a cedar squirrel feeder in the USA, it's supposed to be filled with corn for the squirrels, but we fill it with peanuts for the birds. The wood pigeons devour them, literally! Round here they are huge, but not confident if the food is swinging around, so fun to watch. We have several families each of robins and blackbirds, plus loads of finches and tits, and sometimes a pair of dunnocks too. It's great to watch the birds, and ours are sometimes quite tame. COngratulations on getting lens of the day, well deserved.
We feed the birds all winter and I love the recipes you included--I will definitely try making some of my own bird feeds ~~~Blessed~~~
This is a awesome lens...You have really done your home work...Pleased you got lens of the day...you deserve it...well done.
I was just watching the birds feed like crazy a little while ago. Now it's snowing. I think they knew the snow was coming so they filled up on seed and suet. Congratulations of LOTD.
I don't feed birds but I do like to watch them doing their thing. Congrats on LOTD!
I used to feed the birds as a child but not any more. Hopefully one day I will have my own garden again and then I would like to start.
Congratulations on LotD.
Amazing lens.Congrats on LOTD
You gave me a lot of good ideas, thank you!
Very good lens, very educational. Congratulations on getting LotD!
Great job on the lens. Well thought out and informative.
We usually go to the lake during the summer with the family to feed the birds. I really like the information that you provided and love the pictures of these cute little birdies. Congrats on the Lens of the Day. Very much deserved. Have a great day.
A timely reminder that hungry birds will appreciate whatever you can do for them. SquidAngel blessings.
What a fantastic and beautifully written lens! I never would have thought of half of what you mentioned.
You are such a beautiful person. That's is the spirit of the nature. Feeding birds is wonderful and make us feel happy. Keep that spirit !!
- Author
@evelynsaenz1: Thanks Evelyn! It's always fascinating hearing about the different experiences around the world according to the local wildlife. We don't have bears here, the only thing we have to worry about is the squirrels stealing the bird food!
I love your pictures. I have been feeding birds for as far back as I can remember. Have a feeder hanging outside out kitchen window all year round...in the summer it has to be carried in overnight as we have black bears that love the seeds...have lost several feeders when I've forgotten:-) But they are a sight to see as well. Congrats on the LOTD!
Great lens and useful information about birds feeding. I live in Switzerland, it's pretty cold. I provide food, water and shelter for the birds all year round. I have a lot of regular cusomers! :D
Lots of interesting info about feeding birds and a fab range of different bird feeders - loved looking at all the beautiful, brightly colored birds :-)
congratulations on you LOTD
I might - though it's not so hard for me where it's relatively warm! Congrats on LotD, and here are some extra blessings for you!
Great lens. I have bird houses and make sure they have plenty of food and water during winter months. I now make my own recipes from scratch and the birds love it.
Thanks for sharing this remarkable lens "How to Feed Birds in Winter" and Congrats on Lens of the Day !!
My grandmother was an absolute bird feeding fan! She always had a ton of birds at her feeders.. thank you for this!
This is a very timely subject. I've been thinking about my wild birds and putting out some new shelters for them. I do put out the high energy suet during the winter. Hadn't seen those ground feeder options before. Excellent introduction to creative approaches to helping birds that don't visit traditional feeders. The aggressive jays around here tend to sneak off with the dog food I put out for my four-legged children. They also clean out any bird seed I provide for other feathered friends in about two minutes or less. I need to get more strategic in my approach. Thanks for helping me with that. Congrats on LotD!
Outstanding lens! Great information, easy to understand! I feed the birds all year but now I have more interesting ideas to help the birds! Excellent job! I really enjoyed this lens!
Being able to see so many birds is probably my favorite part of winter. Thanks for this great information on how to feed them, and congratulations on your well-deserved Lens of the Day!
Good tips about feeding birds during winter. The thing I love the most about birds during winter is the way they fluff themselves.
What a lovely tribute to our feathered companions! When we are home during winter, we definitely feed the birds - it's such a joy to watch them! Right now we're in South Carolina at a condo where they don't allow residents to feed the birds, so we really miss that. Beautiful lens! Congratulations on LOTD! :)
After squirrels used to eat all the bird seed, I now find myself putting out nuts for the squirrels and bird seed for the birds. It's costing me a fortune :-)
I having been feeding the birds over the last few cold snowy days and making sure they have water to drink. I used to feed them all year round - we had a bit old soppy cat who was quite happy for them to come into the garden and feed and he kept all the other cats out but unfortunately he died during the summer and now we get a lot of cat visitors and we nearly had a catastrophe with one cat in particular who would hide in the hedgerow! However when there is snow on the ground the cats stay inside and I was then able to feed them again. We also have 2 swallows nests in the eaves of our house and I love them visiting us every summer, raising their young, teaching them to fly and then all flying off to warmer climes for the winter...
Just popped back to say CONGRATULATIONS on a well deserved LOTD! I'd bless it again for you if I could.
We've always fed the birds all year round. Some great tips here. Congrats on LotD!
Brilliant lens packed with good info on how we can help these little creatures survive the cold weather.
Yes, I feed all year round. Great pictures and info. Totally enjoyed your lens.
When I lived in Britain I always fed the birds, here in Canada they do feed but there is a movement to discourage it, because it encourages the off course birds to stay in the wrong places and thus harm the population as it can make their chances of survival worse due to them being less well adapted to the local climate. I found that interesting, and probably more than likely the case to a degree.
We often get the tail end of tropical storms and I have seen many displaced birds even parrots from much farther South sometimes end up here in Nova Scotia. I still like to feed birds, but your point about the right foods and bearing in mind the needs of each specie were well made. Congratulations on the LOTD
Such a great lens. I have been meaning to get the leaves out of my feeder and put something in it. You have inspired me. I like the layout and flow of your lens as well. Making a mental note! Thank you.
Congratulations on a well deserved LOTD! Fantastic
Enjoyed this. We just started making our own suet, and the birds really like it. Well done, and congratulations on LOTD.
I love this winter season & i love birds your appreciate for great information provide our self...
Great lens and wonderfully written, Thank you
great lens:))I made 20 bird houses -for son,s kindergarten celebration, You can look at may site:)) http://spelinice.blogspot.com/2012_11_01_archive.h...
Great lens and congrats on LOTD
Congratulations on LOTD! I feed my birds year round but increasingly it is becoming more dangerous to do that here in New England. Bears now come up to the feeders so we are now encouraged to stop feeding the birds during the warmer months. Do you have that problem in the UK?
Squid Angel Blessed!
Congrats on LOTD! :)
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