What to do when snow storms strike

Birds have an uncanny ability to copy with bad weather but you can help make their lives easier when snow storms and frigid weather is arrives.

Avian biologists say birds can detect on oncoming storm. Unlike humans, they don't need a meteorologist to send them to the grocery store for bread, milk and eggs. Birds sense changes in air pressure that signal the arrival of a storm, which usually gives them advance notice to prepare for adversity, according to Andrew Farnsworth, a scientist with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. How they manage this is unknown but the evidence is clear that this behavior exists, Farnsworth said.

(This doesn't mean that birds can conquer the weather. Storms sometimes blow migrating birds off course by hundreds of miles.)

Once non-migratory birds sense a storm is coming, their first strategy is to load up on calories and fat. The more fat the better. You may see many more birds at your feeders just in advance of a storm--and that the birds are staying longer and eating ravenously. They will need that nutrition to keep them alive once the snow covers the ground, preventing them from finding natural sources of food.



Black-capped Chickadee

As snow begins to fall, feeding stops. Birds then retreat to safe locations. They seek refuge in dense evergreens that offer the best protection from the elements. Junipers, arborvitae, spruce, hemlock, pine and rhododendron are among their favorites. Juniper shrubs are especially welcome for two reasons: The plants may still have edible berries and cones, and the dense, prickly foliage deters outdoor cats or feral cats.
By nature birds have several methods of coping with cold. Birds that normally are solitary during warmer seasons often congregate in roosts where they huddle to keep warm. They fluff up their feathers, creating a downy mass similar to the thick comforter that you may use for sleeping.

Birds also may seek out bird houses that have been cleaned of debris. (That's why it's so important to clean houses in the autumn.) If you have deciduous trees in your backyard, consider hanging a roosting pocket from a branch. Small birds such as chickadees or wrens may find that a welcome refuge.

You can make birds' lives easier during this time of extreme weather:

• Make sure your feeders are full. If there is snow on the ground, they may be the only dependable source of food. Keeping their dinner plate full minimizes the amount of time that they must spend pecking around shrubbery for food.
• Offer only fresh seed. There is nothing worse than offering birds spoiled or rancid seed that has been kept in a garage or shed since the summer. Birds could become sick from bad seed.
• Clean the snow off the feeders. You can use a soft brush such as a clean paint brush to remove the snow. The brush for cleaning your car's windshield also works. Ground-level feeders deserve special attention. They can become buried under a deep snow.

  

  Birds suddenly become the best dinner buddies when it snows

• Once the snow has fallen, shovel around the feeder or stomp the snow beneath the feeder. If seed falls from the feeder, it will land an open space where birds can find it. This is especially important for ground-feeding birds such as Dark-eyed Juncos (commonly known as "snow birds"), Northern Cardinals, Mourning Doves and White-throated Sparrows.
• Don't forget suet. This high-energy food contains nutritious fat. Suet that is blended with peanut butter, nuts, berries or insects provides much-needed sugars and protein. Woodpeckers will feast on special cakes that contain peanut and almond chips, sunflower seeds and cracked corn.
• If you run out of seed, never use bread crumbs as a substitute. Bread has very little nutritious value or fat content. Birds will fill up on the crumbs but the bread won't provide the high-energy food they need to maintain their metabolism during frigid weather. Likewise, don't feed birds table scraps. You're more likely to attract rodents.
• Instead go to your garage or storage shed to see if you have any grass seed left over from last year. As anyone who has tried to plant a lawn will attest, birds love grass seed. You can't plant the seed now anyway, so why not offer it to the birds? You'll be treated to Dark-eyed Juncos, Mourning Doves, House Finches, Song Sparrow and House Sparrows, among other species.
• Birds welcome fruit. Sliced oranges or apples work best. You can serve the slices in an empty suet cage.