Winter Bird Feeders

Are you looking for something to do now that the holiday season is over? Like most people this time of year, you may yearn to be outside but it's too cold to stay there long. You should think about putting up a bird feeder. An overlooked gift card to a garden center or big box home improvement store can be beneficial to you, giving you a project, and helpful to some wildlife when they need it most.

By adding a feeder to your yard you can make their lives easier. As plants die back or go dormant, coupled with a snow cover, a bird’s food source is diminished. If you provide a feeder and seed during the winter time, you sustain our feathered friends which gives you a productive task during the bleak months of winter. A bonus would be to take up bird watching as a hobby too. You find anywhere from twenty-five to thirty-five different birds.

With that many kinds of birds, comes different feeding habits and food needs.  It might be good to put up different styles of feeders to be most helpful:

• Hopper feeders: It looks like a house with Plexiglas sides on top of a platform where the seed is dispensed as birds eat it. The Plexiglas makes it easy to tell when more seed needs to be added. The seed is protected against the weather but not so well against squirrels.
• Tube feeders: Hollow Plexiglas cylinders with multiple feeding ports and perches. These hanging feeders attract species that typically feed off the ground. You can attach a tray to the bottom to catch scattered seeds and to allow larger species to feed.
• Tray or platform feeders: Simple flat, raised surfaces on which you spread seed. Easy to make, they are one of the most popular feeders. Birds that typically feed on the ground are particularly attracted to this type of feeder. A disadvantage of platform feeders is that they are not squirrel-proof or weather resistant. They should have drainage holes for water and need to be cleaned often to remove bird droppings. Only one day’s worth of food should be put out at a time.

Taking care of our feathered friends is an enjoyable way to mark the time as winter progresses. Winter feeding isn’t just for the birds. For more information on this please contact the Penn State Master Gardeners in Lackawanna County and request a free copy of “Winter Bird Feeding”.  If you are interested in becoming a master gardener, we are having a new training class beginning February 24. We can be reached at 570-963-6842 or email: LackawannaMG@psu.edu.

Steve Ward
Master Gardener Coordinator