Do Birds Get Cold In The Winter?

Do you ever wonder what happens to birds on cold winter nights? How do they protect themselves from the harsh weather? Is there anything we can do to aide their survival?

These are just a few of the unnerving questions that can be answered by lifelong bird-watching enthusiast Chris Petherick of Wild Birds Unlimited of Fairfield. The backyard bird-feeding and nature shop offers expert advice on bird-watching and specializes in high-quality bird food.

Learn more about what birds to be watching for this season and how they are preparing for the winter months ahead, as well as what you can do to help, like offering a variety of foods and proteins and providing heated water access when temperatures are below freezing. Plus, get a sneak peak of the holiday open house that the shop is hosting!

Patch: Do birds get cold during the winter nights?

Petherick: Birds protect themselves from the cold in a number of ways. First, they tend to “fluff” out their feathers in order to help trap heat around their bodies. Their feathers also act as insulation. Second, birds will build up a fat reserve for winter. This fat reserve acts as insulation and it can provide them with energy to help them stay warm on cold nights. Birds will also slow their metabolism (entering torpor) to cool their body temperatures during the night. This helps them to conserve energy. By keeping a lower body temperature – as much as 40 or 50 degrees colder than during the day – birds expend much less energy. When night comes, birds find spots to roost, or spend the night. This is usually a protected spot that may have residual heat from the day. It can be a cavity in a tree, thick shrubs near a house or even bird houses and roosting boxes.

Patch: What kind of birds should we be watching for this time of year?

Petherick: There continues to be a great variety of birds during the winter months. You can expect to see many of our favorite feeder birds continue to show up, including cardinals, goldfinch (although they are not bright yellow during the winter), house finch, tufted titmice and several species of woodpeckers. Additionally, we have many winter visitors here, such as dark-eyed juncos, sometimes called “snowbirds”, at least five species of sparrows that aren’t here during the summer and some other members of the finch family, such as pine siskins. It can be quite fun and rewarding to watch your feeders and your yard for birds during the winter!

Patch: What are some of the best ways to attract birds during the winter time?

Petherick: Offer your birds a variety of foods, such as black oil sunflower seeds, nyger seed and suet. Many of the birds that show up during winter are ground-feeding birds. Offering food on a platform feeder or in a large hopper feeder can help encourage ground-feeding birds to come to your feeding station. In addition to food, water is a really great way to attract birds. All birds need water all year round. A heated birdbath will keep your water from freezing and allow birds to drink and bathe all winter.

Patch: What are some of the best ways we can aide and ensure their survival during the severe winter months?

Petherick: Even during the harsh winter months, our bird feeding is a supplemental food source for the birds. However, we can help birds in our yard by offering high fat and high protein foods along with water. Birds have a shorter daytime window for feeding during the winter and by providing a consistent food source for them they can expend less energy foraging and more time getting the fats and proteins they need to survive.

Patch: Do you sell any products at the shop that will help?

Petherick: We certainly do. We offer a wide range of high quality foods that will help attract birds to our feeders while also providing the birds with the fats and proteins they need during the cold, winter months. In addition to food, we have various feeder options that can help deter squirrels and other pests that many people don’t want at their feeders. We also have heated birdbaths so that the birds can get the water they need even if the temperature is below freezing!

Patch: What kind of food sources should we provide to help birds stock up?

Petherick: Offering sunflower seeds, peanuts, nyger seed, millet and suet will cover most of the essential foods that the birds in this area eat at this time of year. These food sources also provide the fat and protein that is essential to surviving the winter.

Patch: Do you have any holiday events coming up?

Petherick: On Saturday, December 2 we’ll be having a holiday open house. We’re calling it Owl Be Home for Christmas, because from 12pm - 2pm that day Christine’s Critters will be in the store with their education owls… live owls!

Image Credit: Wild Birds Unlimited of Fairfield