Feeling Good About Fattening Up

As winter approaches, throw dietary caution to the wind.

We're not talking about some radical new nutritional plan. We're talking about feeding your wild birds high-calorie, high-fat foods to help them survive the winter.

Food is the most essential element to providing birds with the energy, stamina and nutrition they need during the winter months. To stay warm, birds will expend energy very quickly, some losing up to 10% of their body weight on a cold night.

An ample supply of a high-calorie food, such as suet, seed cylinders, or peanuts, is critical to a bird’s survival
Suet is a high-energy, pure-fat substance that is particularly helpful in winter when many birds have a difficult time finding the insects they would eat normally.

If you offer suet in addition to your seed, bird species, such as woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, titmice are even more likely to stop by your yard and become frequent visitors.

And if you aren't offering your birds peanuts, you're truly missing out.

Peanuts are also a high-fat food that a variety of birds will eat for an energy-filled treat. In their shell or out, your birds will go crazy for peanuts.

Let Wild Birds Unlimited help you prepare your birds for the upcoming winter.

Source: WBU Nature News