Songbirds are depending on you for food

This winter has been really rough on backyard songbirds. Some of them may not make it through the season. 

Natural sources of food, such as berries on shrubs, are depleted. Weed seeds in urban areas remain covered by snow. The same is true for fields whose grasses have been crushed by the weight of snow and ice. 

And the snow is bound to stay for at least 10 days more, although weather forecasters say that period will be extended if we get any more snow storms along with freezing weather.

This morning, the National Weather Service reported that the Lehigh Valley area has been snow-covered for 34 consecutive days. The last snow-free day was January 22. In the past 25 years, only two winters (1993-94 and 1995-96) have had that many consecutive days of snow-covered ground.

The Weather Service and AccuWeather both say the cold will persist for another 10 days, with some overnight low temperatures plunging into the single digits. The Eastern PA Weather Authority says we're not to expect any warm spells until mid-March.

So what does that mean for backyard birds? They'll be struggling a bit longer without sources of natural food. You can help them by keeping your feeders well stocked every day.

The National Audubon Society points out that in a normal winter, suspending your bird feeding for a few days doesn't hurt the birds' survival. "The only exception is if there is a bad snow or ice storm and natural food is buried for a long period of time," the Audubon Society says. "In that event, the seed you put out could be life-saving for some birds." They also state that chickadees need twice as much food in winter as other seasons for their survival.

Melissa Mayntz, who writes a birding column for the website About.com, says one of the top 10 mistakes novice bird feeders make is that they assume they don't need to feed birds during the winter. They think they do not need to place seed in feeders because they assume there are no birds around. "In fact, feeders can be even more critical to winter birds than they are during the summer," Mayntz says.

Also, don't forget suet! Many suet cakes are made of rendered natural beef fat and peanut butter along with other seeds or berries or insects included. The rendered fat and peanut butter provides high calories needed to high metabolism needs.