Wintering Birds Rainy Lake, Minnesota

Birds can make the winter season more entertaining; the snow is a pleasant backdrop to their flights of fancy. Providing food for birds will bring them to your yard, and it will aid in the birds' survival.

Chickadees and cardinals are permanent residents. Winter visitors of boreal regions are unpredictable.

Species that fly far from their normal ranges to find food:

• Red-breasted nuthatches
  
• Common and Hoary redpolls
• Pine siskins
• Red and White-winged crossbills
• Pine grosbeaks
  

Winter Bird Feeding: large seeds, small seeds, and suet.

Large Seeds

• Black-oil sunflower
• Striped sunflower
• Safflower
• Peanuts
• Shelled corn
• Ear corn
• Cardinal mixes that contain sunflower, safflower and peanuts

Birds that enjoy sunflower seeds:

• Northern cardinals
• Blue jays
• Black-capped
• Chestnut-backed chickadees
• House and Purple finches
• American goldfinches
• Evening and Pine grosbeaks
• Gray and Steller's jays
• Nuthatches
• Crossbills
• Titmice
  

Peanuts are enjoyed by:

• Black-capped chickadees
• Nuthatches
• Woodpeckers
• Blue jays

Seeds and mixes

Millet is enjoyed by:

• Dark-eyed juncos
• Mourning doves
• American tree
• Fox
• Harris'
• White-throated, White-crowned and Golden-crowned sparrows

Suet

Suet in winter offers an energy boost to birds when they need it most.

Use onion sacks, wire mesh feeders or placed on open platforms.

Peanut butter may be smeared on pine cones for a yummy treat!


Feeders

Use a heating element to keep water from freezing. Bird baths with heating elements can be found at bird-feeding supply stores.

Keep feeders closer to the windows to prevent collisions. Reducing the gap makes it harder for birds to build up speed.