Have you prepped birds for the snowstorm?

A hopper feeder provides shelter

Bread, milk and eggs. Humans flock to grocery stores every time a snowstorm is forecast. But what do birds do when snowstorms strike? What can you do to make their lives a little easier?

For birds, living in deep snow is like living in a desert: no food, no water, extreme temperatures. At a time when a bird's need for calories is at its greatest, natural sources of food are the scarcest. Most berries, fruits and nuts have been consumed by now. Snow will cover most naturally occurring seed. Water is frozen and the nights may be windy and bitterly cold.

When snow begins falling, birds hunker down in any safe place: a thick hedge, a dense evergreen tree or even beneath a carport or a porch roof. Birds that nest in cavities—chickadees, wrens, bluebirds and woodpeckers, for instance—can retreat to their usual homes in trees. For other species, spruces and junipers are a favorite shelter. The thick foliage keeps the ground snow free. Birds may even find a few windblown seeds beneath the shrub.

Birds tend to congregate when it snows or becomes cold. They huddle together for warmth. This practice also helps them keep an eye out for predators.

Feeders galore!

Birds can eat snow to survive from dehydration, but it takes a great deal of energy to warm the snow and restore body temperature. You're familiar with that experience when you eat a frozen treat to cool off on a hot summer's day. Birds may have to fly long distances to find unfrozen water sources such as creeks, ponds or rivers. That of course consumes a lot of energy which is in short supply. 

Water is important not just for hydration. Birds use water to preen their feathers to maximize fluffy insulation and improve aerodynamic flight.

Here are a few things that you can do to help birds weather the storm.

Keep feeders filled. Before and after the storm hits, provide plenty of food using seed blends that accommodate the widest variety of species. Black oil sunflower seed—or mixes heavy in that seed—provide fat that is converted into energy. A mix that contains dried cherries or other fruit is helpful. Peanuts have fat too. Be sure to keep tube and hopper feeders full.

Platform-style feeders present a different challenge. Unless they have a protective cover, they quickly become buried by the snow. Make sure to brush off the snow as soon as the storm ends. Then fill the platform. If the platform feeder hangs high above the ground, rely on mixes containing black-oil sunflower, white millet and shelled peanuts. Cardinals, blue jays, Mourning Doves and even bluebirds will benefit. If the platform is at ground level, include a greater proportion of white millet. This seed is the favorite of ground-feeding birds such as juncos, doves and sparrows.

Tamp down snow to help ground-feeding birds

Also, make sure to shovel or tamp down snow around the feeders. Give a wide berth. Any seed that falls to the ground from overhead feeders will eagerly be eaten. If fact, you can scatter some white millet seed directly on the ground.

Two cautionary notes: Do not use seed mixes that contain red milo or red millet seed. You can identify these seeds by their round shape and reddish cast. Most songbirds do not eat these seeds. Many big-box stores use them as fillers in a seed mix. You're wasting you money buying these blends. Also, do not feed bread crumbs to birds. Bread has no nutritional value for birds. It may fill their stomachs but it lacks the fat and protein required to generate energy that will keep the birds alive during inclement weather.

Don't forget suet! Cakes of suet (or suet nuggets) have a high concentration of fat and other readily digestible ingredients that birds welcome. Most wintertime suet cakes are high in rendered beef fat. They also may be mixed with peanut butter, berries, nuts or dried insects. Inexpensive suet cages can be hung from an existing shepherd's hook or beneath even the smallest tree limb. 

If you have a heated bird bath, make sure it is plugged in and the cord connections are safely secured from the weather. Fill the bath fully. During the snowstorm, the heater in the bath will automatically melt the snow and keep the bowl free of ice.

Bird baths are popular

Another option is to buy a heating element that can be inserted into a regular bird bath. Just make sure the bath is not made of ceramic or pottery. In a pinch, a heating element can be created in any shallow freeze-proof bowl. If the bowl is deep, place a few pebbles in the bottom so birds can feel comfortable alighting and perching.

The Bird House has 50 percent off on heating elements and any remaining heated bird baths in stock.

You may have noticed the sight of numerous robins on lawns lately. Earthworms and larvae—the robins' favorite food during warm months—have yet to emerge from the depths of the frozen soil. Robins will eat seed or berries if the food is placed on the ground. Robins don't usually eat from tube feeders, hopper feeders or any feeder high above the ground.

It is fortunate for the birds—and for us humans too—that the storm probably will be the last one of the season. The snow may last on the ground for a little while longer however. Usually by this time of year, the average daily temperature reaches into the upper 40s in the day—enough to melt the snow. Temperatures fall into the upper 20s overnight. AccuWeather forecasters say we probably won't come close to those readings until next week. Be prepared to keep your feeders well stocked and your baths full in the meantime.