Do birds like raisins

Feeding wild wintering birds in your garden or park is not just an act of mercy to our smaller brothers, but also a contribution to the future harvest. According to ornithologists, one tit can save up to 10 trees from pests per season, and one feeder provides food for up to 50 tits! The fact that sunflower seeds are most often poured into the feeder is known even to a child. But there are many different kitchen wastes that can also become a source of food for birds. Some foods on our table are perfect for birds, while others can do more harm than good. Let's take a closer look at what you can and cannot feed birds.

What is the best food for feeding wild birds?

The high nutritional value and high calorie content of the food will give the birds a lot of energy and provide them with fat reserves that will help the birds survive the cold winter nights. Therefore, you need to feed the birds in your garden with quality food.

Most types of garden birds will enjoy sunflower seeds, nuts, and live or dried mealworms. For convenience, you can use ready-made specialized high-quality mixtures for birds. At the same time, choose a food containing a large amount of sunflower and millet seeds. Mixtures with a lot of unappetizing fillers, such as wheat and corn, are not very attractive to birds.

Avoid seed mixtures containing beans, peas, rice and lentils. Only large species of birds can eat them in a dry form, but these very rarely fly to the feeders. But prepared bird food and sunflower seeds are not the only suitable foods you can feed birds with.

By using kitchen waste as bird feed, you are using excess food for a good cause. But you could just throw them away! By turning waste into bird food, you have nothing to lose. And the birds at the same time enjoy a wide variety of food, flying to the feeders again and again.

Attention: do not forget that specialized mixtures or sunflower seeds should serve as the basis of the diet when feeding birds. If birds didn't eat anything other than kitchen waste, they wouldn't be able to get enough nutrients for healthy growth and energy. At the same time, malnutrition can lead to health problems, such as obesity or deformed feathers. To avoid harm, offer food waste in limited quantities.

The best products for birds from our table

Fruits and berries without seeds or stones

Many fruits, berries, raisins, fresh grapes and even bananas and oranges can be used to feed birds. They are sure to love this meal. While many birds will enjoy fruits in hot countries, those birds that stay with us for the winter will also get the opportunity to feast on a vitamin supplement.

Arrange sliced ​​apples, tangerine slices, banana slices, grape halves and melon peels inside feeders, hang them on thorns or thin tree branches, and the birds will certainly appreciate the treat. Crushed or dried fruits and berries (such as cranberries) can be strung on a string to create a garland that will not only feed the birds, but also decorate the garden.

Boiled Rice

Remains of cooked brown or white rice often end up in the kitchen, and wild birds in your garden will also enjoy rice porridge. Some species of birds, such as pigeons and turtledoves, are able to eat both raw brown and polished rice. However, other species are unlikely to enjoy it, as the grains will seem too hard to them.

Pasta

Leftover cooked pasta can also go into the feeder. In this case, the pasta should be soft, and before serving, they should be cut into small enough pieces so that the birds can hold them in their beaks. However, never give birds pasta that has been seasoned with rich sauces, hot spices, or melted sticky cheeses.

Vegetables

In the wild, birds eat a wide variety of plant foods, and sliced ​​vegetables can also be a welcome treat for birds. Birds can be offered pumpkin, frozen green peas or corn (before putting them in the feeder, they should first be thawed). Pieces of canned vegetables from vegetable mixtures can also be occasionally offered to birds.

Lard

Due to its very high calorie content, lard is one of the best products on our table that can be offered to birds. This is an excellent winter food for birds! Lard is found in bird treats combined with a variety of ingredients, allowing it to be used to attract different types of birds.

Seeds, nuts, seeds and melted bacon treats can be shaped into various shapes such as balls, bells and rings to enhance your bird feeding experience. You can also cut the lard into sticks or grate so that even more birds can taste it. Attention! Only unsalted lard is used to feed the birds!

Read also our article Flower garden for birds.

Boiled potatoes

It may seem implausible, but not only people, but also birds like to eat potatoes. You can feed the birds leftover fried potatoes from your table, offer them mashed potatoes or a whole boiled potato. These dishes are guaranteed to be popular with your feathered friends. However, avoid processed potatoes such as potato chips.

Peanuts and various nuts

Peanuts are a high-calorie, high-fat food that attracts many wild birds, including jays, sparrows, and tits. Because nuts don't freeze to become hard, they're perfect for winter feeding, whether you offer shelled or shelled peanuts.

But never offer birds peanuts with any additives, or with chocolate or other coatings. Also be aware that peanuts can contain large amounts of a natural toxin that causes bird deaths. Therefore, it is ideal to buy a peanut that is designed specifically for feeding birds (can be found at a pet store). Other nuts such as almonds, walnuts and pecans are also attractive to birds. All nuts must be raw (not fried).

Oatmeal and flakes

Oatmeal is also great for many birds. Oatmeal can be a good source of nutritious food for the birds in your garden. Moreover, such top dressing is easily available and is often available in our kitchen. But still, it is best to use raw oats, including oatmeal, for feeding birds, as boiled oatmeal can harden around the bird's beak.

Cereals

Millet attracts mainly house sparrows, pigeons, finches and buntings (if they winter in your area). However, many ornithologists do not recommend feeding birds with millet, as it has few nutrients and quickly oxidizes in the open air, which is not good for birds. In its raw form, millet and wheat are suitable for birds. And almost any cereal boiled without salt can be used, including buckwheat.

Eggs and egg shells

Boiled chicken eggs can be added to the feeder as they contain many important nutrients for birds. Crushed eggshells are also good for birds, as they are an important source of calcium for all kinds of birds and help the digestion process well.

Pumpkin seeds

When cutting pumpkins, we often end up with a whole mountain of seeds, why not offer them to birds? Pumpkin seeds are very nutritious for birds, especially in autumn when they need more energy to migrate, molt and store fat to withstand the cold. Pumpkin seeds are high in carbohydrates and fats. They are a good source of protein, various micronutrients and nutrients that are essential for a complete diet for wild birds.

Raw seeds, freshly removed from the pumpkin, can be immediately poured into the feeder, or pre-dried. It is not necessary to grind the seeds, the birds themselves will cope with this task, tearing off pieces of the peel to get the pulp.

What should not be fed to birds?

Fruit pits or pome seeds

As mentioned above, most fruits are suitable for feeding birds, but it is important to avoid fruits that contain seeds or pits. If you are going to feed the birds in your garden with apples, pears, apricots, peaches, nectarines, or plums, be sure to completely remove any pits or seeds beforehand. The seeds and pits of these crops contain the toxic compound cyanide, but the seeded fruit is absolutely safe for birds to eat.

Dairy products

The digestive system of birds is not designed to properly digest milk. Eating dairy products can lead to stomach upset or even more serious health problems for birds, so never put a saucer of milk in the feeder.

Bread

Although bread is generally not harmful to birds, it is better not to feed them with bakery products in large quantities. Not only do they have a very low nutritional value, but they can also ferment in the digestive system of birds. This can lead to digestive problems up to the death of birds.

A small amount of dried crumbs will not bring any harm to birds. But it is better to use whole grain or white bread, while it should not contain spices and sweet additives. Moldy bread should never be offered to birds!

Chocolate

Just like us, birds can find it hard to resist chocolate or chocolate-containing products. However, even in very small amounts, chocolate can be toxic to birds. This is because chocolate contains theobromine and caffeine, which can cause birds to vomit, diarrhea, increase heart rate, leading to hyperactivity, seizures, and sometimes even death.

Salt

Salt is an important mineral for many birds. But just as an excess of salt is not good for humans, it is also bad for birds. And even just a little salt is potentially toxic to a small bird. For example, just one salty cracker or cracker can upset the water and electrolyte balance in the tiny body of a bird. This can lead to severe thirst, dehydration, kidney failure, and ultimately death of the bird.

Onions and garlic

Many people think that onions and garlic, like other vegetables, are good for birds. However, both raw and cooked, they are toxic to many animals and birds. Onions contain sulfur compounds that can irritate the mucous membrane of the mouth and esophagus of birds, causing ulcers. Garlic contains allicin, another chemical that causes anemia and weakness in birds. So from spicy it is better to treat the bird with a small piece of pepper, rich in vitamin A.

Raw meat

Many birds are carnivores, but do not offer them raw meat in any form, including ground meat or meat scraps. The fact is that these products deteriorate very quickly, and very dangerous bacteria multiply on them, which can kill birds. In addition, meat top dressing can attract unwanted guests to the garden in the form of mice and rats.

Store-bought snacks

Bread and crackers, any chips or crackers, biscuits, corn flakes, gozinaki, popcorn or puffed rice are poisonous to birds and should never be used to feed birds.

How to feed the birds in winter - do no harm!

The construction of winter bird feeders with children is a great tradition that they began to forget in vain. But in this way you help a variety of birds to survive the cold in a harsh time, when there is little food, and teach children to protect nature and take care of our smaller brothers.

Yes, you will provide yourself with a plus and a reserve for the future - do not forget that birds are excellent helpers for a gardener. Lure them to your summer cottage in winter - and in the warm season they will "thank you" a hundredfold by massively destroying garden pests and their offspring.

Although sometimes bird feeders-houses "from the Internet" sometimes look like real hand-made masterpieces and can simply decorate your garden to feed the birds in winter, you do not need to put in a lot of effort and look for some unusual materials for "building". To build a simple feeder, any means at hand are suitable - plastic bottles, pieces of plywood, even cans and plastic packaging from dairy products. Believe me - feathered visitors do not care where to get food from, the feeder should only be strong and stable enough to support their weight.

So, "why and why" it is worth feeding the birds, we figured it out, but the question "what to feed the birds in winter" is more complicated. Many believe that those "hungry" peck any high-calorie food in the cold - from chips and salted nuts to butter cookies with raisins or any moldy leftover cereal from the kitchen drawer. Do not do it this way! Birds will really peck all this - and in the end they will get, at best, an upset of the digestive system, and at worst - a very unpleasant death from poisoning with products that are not intended for bird stomachs. You don't want that, do you?

Even when you use good food that is healthy for birds, you should understand that your task is not to feed all the surrounding “freeloader” birds around the clock all winter long, but only to help them survive a particularly harsh time. Do not immediately pour mountains of food, replenish the feeder about once a day, as it is empty. Wild birds must remain wild, and the ability to independently seek and obtain food is an important part of their life.

So, what is the best way to feed forest and city birds in winter?

Let's start with the most logical thing that comes to mind right away - sunflower seeds. Is it so? Yes, almost all birds love them, from titmouses and sparrows to pigeons and ducks. This is a high-calorie (which is very important in cold weather) tasty food, rich in trace elements and vitamins, which is also easily digestible.

But an important clarification - the seeds must be raw and unsalted! Firstly, frying "kills" most of the nutrients in the seeds, and, secondly, it adds external "fat" to them, which is already excessive for the bird's gastrointestinal tract and can provoke its various disorders. Table salt in its pure form, in principle, is a poison for most wild birds of our latitudes, their excretory system simply cannot cope, especially for young animals. As for the size of the seeds, it is better to choose small enough so that any feathered guest can easily "cope" with the treat.

In addition to sunflower seeds, raw linseed and hemp seeds, oily gourd seeds - pumpkin, watermelon, melon - and dense oat flakes without additives are perfect for placing in the feeder. And many more in the winter will like crushed raw nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts) - even jays with woodpeckers can be flattered by such a treat.

Is it possible to feed birds in winter with cereals and grains - millet, buckwheat, millet, oats, pearl barley and others? Let's say right away that birds simply cannot digest large dry cereals like rice and buckwheat. Raw can be given, perhaps, only oats, millet and wheat. But in a boiled form (without salt!) Any cereal is suitable for birds.

But most sources of millet are categorically not recommended for birds. Let's explain why. Millet is obtained from millet by peeling grain shells, which in itself already leads to a relative depletion of the composition. And the remaining "naked" grain is prone to rapid oxidation of fatty acids in the composition, especially in the light and in the open air. You have probably at least once encountered a situation where "millet is bitter." In culinary practice, this property is removed by soaking cereals before cooking and subsequent heat treatment. Birds get just raw grain - and, being oxidized, it has a very bad effect on the digestive system and gradually worsens overall well-being. Of course, feeding millet does not mean that all the birds that eat it can die - but why take the risk?

For the same reason, it is strictly forbidden for wild birds to add any "leftovers from the table" to the feeder (this includes leftovers from the refrigerator and kitchen cabinets) - not only is human food basically not intended for birds due to the addition of salt, fats, preservatives, dyes and other substances, then, after lying down (not to mention the molding process), it is additionally "enriched" with harmful toxins and impurities.

The same goes for store-bought ready-to-eat snacks - bread and beer crackers, all chips and crackers, cookies, any salted or sweet nuts, corn flakes, popcorn and puffed rice - all this is poison to birds!

Is it true that birds enjoy lard and butter in winter? Not all, but some will like such complementary foods - the same titmouse. Only lard should be unsalted, and small pieces of butter should be frozen. In the same category of acceptable additives in the feeder, we include unsalted beef or chicken fat.

Is it possible to feed birds in winter with fresh and dry bread, bran or crackers? It would seem - of course, without question! After all, bread is baked from grain flour, and if it is not filled with additives like sugar, candied fruit or garlic, then it is perfect for birds, right? Not this way.

Almost any fresh pastry, even simple grain bread without additives, will surely “ferment” in the digestive tract of birds, causing a lot of trouble to the birds, up to death. So, only well-dried unleavened bread, and only white bread (it is much less sour and salty), can be crumbled into the feeder. And of course, bread for bird feed should never be moldy.

Are fresh fruits, berries and dried fruits good for birds too? Some of the birds will really appreciate such a treat. Tits, jays, siskins, thrushes, bullfinches, waxwings will enjoy chopped dried fruits (raisins, dried apricots, dates), dried berries of mountain ash, viburnum, wild grapes and hawthorn, slices of fresh apples, chopped into branches.

Some compassionate citizens, "so that it doesn't get lost", even add banana peels and citrus skins to the birds in the feeder - this should not be done in any case!

Is it possible to give "street" birds in winter specialized food for ornamental birds - parrots or canaries? Yes, if it is the simplest herbal granules or grain mixtures. Meal worms are also suitable for wild birds from the "cultural" diet for pets. Only all types of compound feed for farm animals are banned - again, due to the large amount of harmful additives and salt.

What other products are suitable for our winter bird feeders? For example, low-fat cottage cheese without additives and chopped boiled eggs - almost all birds will like them. The welded small fish will be appreciated by wintering waterfowl. Some feathered guests can "gnaw" even the cones of coniferous trees. And if you and your kids pick up maple lionfish in the fall and dry them, in winter they will be an excellent addition to the diet of birds flying to the site or window sill.

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