Tag Archives: how to feed birds in winter

Third egg at Duke Farms…Tuesday in Bird World

20 January 2026

Good Morning Everyone,

-27 C

Thank you so much for your notes about Brock. We were delighted to see him on the front video camera, and our entire block became very animated on our private Messenger chat group. Brock is the only feral cat remaining in our area. As most of you know, he is four or five years old and has survived horrible winter conditions – and some rather hot, nasty summers, too. What has happened is that neighbours have come together to watch and protect him; slowly but surely, they have. I am no longer the only one who leaves food for him and waits for him to come. This is wonderful! The more who love and care for him, the better his chances of surviving or not falling into the dreaded hands of those who would euthanise him.

Our cold weather continues. Toby went for a short walk with Ellen. Toby is normally so excited and wants to keep going beyond the half hour, but today Ellen said that when they reached the corner, he wanted to come home. I don’t blame him. It was windy, and the chill factor was -26 C at noon. We continue to expect temperatures in the range of -33 to -35 by the end of the week and over the weekend. A break comes a week from today. In the meantime, it is inside activities! Today, Ann will take Don for several hours of walking at IKEA. Oh, how I wish someone would invest money in a very large indoor dog park with a coffee shop! There are a few places where dogs, including therapy dogs like Toby, are allowed, even though they are not classified the same as ‘service’ dogs. We will survive, and if I once complain about the heat of summer, you remind me about these cold, dark days of January.

Louis II and Anna II’s little fluff ball is nothing short of cute. Check out the Kistchie National Forest E1 nest!

The eagles at Duke Farms in New Jersey surprised everyone when a third egg arrived just after 1700 on Monday, the 19th of January! If all three hatch, this is going to be one busy family. (This Mum does tend to lay three eggs).

There is snow at the nest. This Mum – well, not this one, but an earlier one, spent her entire incubation period buried in snow one season (or so it felt).

The two little eaglets at Winter Park Florida BE nest are just great. Look at the fish hiding under the moss on that nest!

Work continues at nests around the world and their streaming cams getting them ready for spring.

Most of us know some of the ways that human behaviour has changed the lives of our beloved birds. Heidi and I made list after list one year. The Guardian published a good read on this very topic, along with some remedies we can undertake to improve the chances of raptor survival. Here is part of what the author says, “Many people look up to admire the silhouette of raptors, some of the planet’s largest birds, soaring through seemingly empty skies. But increasingly, research shows us that this fascination runs both ways. From high above, these birds are watching us too.

Thanks to the development of tiny GPS tracking devices attached to their bodies, researchers are getting millions of data points on the day-to-day lives of these apex predators of the skies, giving us greater insight into where they hunt and rest, and how they die.

The data shows human activity has hidden consequences across entire landscapes, and is more significant than previously thought.

One phenomenon the data has revealed is the “weekend and holiday effect” on days where more people tend to go to wilderness areas – such as the beach, or forest for hiking. Researchers found eagles expand their range on public holidays, an indication that they travel further to find food.”

The entire essay can be found here: ‘We thought they would ignore us’: how humans are changing the way raptors behave
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/19/we-thought-they-would-ignore-us-how-humans-are-changing-the-way-raptors-behave?CMP=share_btn_url

News Monday (on Tuesday) from Rita the Eagle, Ron’s former partner at Dade:

‘J’ sends us a Kakapo update:

👉 Update on Pearl | He whakahou mō Pearl

🥚 Pearl kicked off the breeding season as the first female to mate. She went on to lay a clutch of four, but we confirmed this morning that all her eggs are infertile.

🏝 Pearl hatched in 2002 (she will turn 24 years old in March). Her mother is Alice – one of the oldest kākāpō alive – and her father Waynebo died in 2011. Pearl was named for the successful kākāpō breeding season of 1999 on Pearl Island (which is near Rakiura/Stewart Island).

Pearl has 6️⃣ living offspring and could become a first-time grandma this season or next. They are:

• Attenborough and Faulkner from 2016 (with Felix)

• Tuarua from her second clutch in 2019 (with Boss)

• Mātāmua, Moana and Mokonui from 2022 (also with Boss)

Fun fact: Mātāmua was the first chick to hatch in the 2022 season. His name means ‘first born’ or ‘oldest child’ in te reo Māori.

🤞🏽 There is every reason to remain hopeful for Pearl to have offspring this season too. As an ‚early bird’, she still has plenty of time to mate and nest again.

Girri continues to fly strong around the tower at Orange. Magnificent.

Calico’s Tip for the Week – when it is cold cold, the birds need fat. Think suet! Poster comes from Home and Garden Tips FB.

Can you imagine -27?

Thank you so much for being with us today. Please take care. We will see you on Friday.

Thank you to the owners of the streaming cams that allow us to follow our raptor families, to the authors of the FB posts, to Rita the Eagle, who fills us in on her history on Rita’s History Monday, and to ‘J’, who sent us news of the Kakapo Recovery.

Taking care of the birds in winter

“RED BIRD in SNOW crg” by carl & tracy gossett is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

What you do to attract birds to your yard in the winter will depend on where you live. One of the first rules is that birds who are fed seed in winter require water, not just snow. How do you do this if you life in an area where the water freezes, like I do?

“Birds in Snow-9” by Tancread is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

You can purchase bird baths with heaters or various other water bowls with heaters that attach to your deck. If you do get a birdbath with an electrical cord you will need to stabilize the pedestal. That was the first great hint a birdie told me was to fill the pedestal with sand bags. It worked perfectly. Be sure to put the cord and the extension cord in first! Fill with sand bags and attach the top. OR if you want to save your money and you have an electric skillet that still works then you can do like my neighbour Bert. Bert had several old electric frying pans. He even set them on styrofoam sheets at the time so the feet would not get cold. Those frying pans worked well but they have to be set at a very very low temperature and you need to put rocks in them. So rule number 1 – birds need water all year round but especially in winter if you feed them seed. They cannot consume enough snow. Make sure that the source of water is kept clean.

“Fowl Spray” by Ian Sane is licensed under CC BY 2.0
“Early Birds in Snow” by alans1948 is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Mr Blue Jay eating his dried corn on the cob.

Buy good nutritious food for your birds. While they might love bread, do not feed bread. It is junk food for them. Sugar and salt and they love it like people but they will fill up on the bread and not get the proper nutrients. Our birds love black oil seed in winter but the shells are messy and you have to be able to clear them up. While chopped sunflower seeds and peanuts out of the shell are more expensive initially, you are getting as much bang for your buck because half the product does not wind up as opened shells on the ground. Where I live suet is very important. I put out one that is a grainy suet and another that is called peanut butter and jelly. The only place that I can spread seeds for the birds that like to forage on the ground is on the deck if it is dry or the snow is so frozen it will not melt.

Some of the birds will also find seeds under the feeders that gets knocked out. The type of food will, however, depend on where you live.

I love my Blue Jays and they are very thankful for dry corn cobs (if Dyson doesn’t carry those away) and peanuts in the shell.

“Bird in Snow” by Rajan Manickavasagam is licensed under CC BY 2.0

For the health of your birds the feeders need to be cleaned. Remove the feeders if you hear of any diseases spreading in your area like salmonella, trichomoniasis (that probably killed chick 4 at Collins Street), aspergillosis, or avian pox. Be careful what you use to clean the feeders. Many cleaning substances are toxic to the birds. This is what my bird seed supplier says to do: “To clean your feeder, take it apart and use a dishwasher on a hot setting or hand wash either with soap and boiling water or with a dilute bleach solution (no more than 1 part bleach to 9 parts water). Rinse thoroughly and allow to dry before refilling.”

Create windbreaks for the birds so that they can get away from the wind and blowing snow.

“Birds in our yard” by MN Photos is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Plant trees and shrubs that have fruit that the birds can eat in the winter. In my City, Mountain Ash is very popular. The Robins love the berries and they will eat and eat them entertaining you for a long time before they migrate.

I am not going to suggest stringing popcorn and cranberries and putting it outside for the birds to nibble on. Why? I bet you already know. That string – however thin – can tangle and cut those tiny, tiny little legs.

At this time of year there are various suet balls and ornaments to put in the trees for the birds. Just make sure that the bell or wreath does not have a string to attach it to the branch. Get the ones with the metal hooks. All those precious little feet and legs will thank you!

One last thing and this is a real biggie problem for the birds. Wreaths that have artificial berries that are plastic. Please do not put them outside where the birds can get at them. They will eat those plastic berries and die. It is a simple fix. If you have anything outside that has artificial berries, remove it. The birds and the wildlife rehabilitation clinics will thank you!

Thank you for joining me today. There will be an update on our favourite birds on streaming cams later today. Take care!