SOB! (Save Our Birds)

September 7, 2020 1:06 PM

We live in the mountains at 8500 feet. We have a major change in the weather coming tonight, from a high of 75 today to a high of 25 tomorrow and a low tomorrow night of 18. Oh yeah, and a foot of snow! Obviously, we are worried about some of our newer trees, and the aspens all still have leaves. I will need to go out and knock snow off of the branches and bring all of our potted plants in. However, what can I do for our neighborbood birds?

Last autumn, we had an early cold snap, but not this early. It was cold enough and lasted long enough that there was a very noticeable decrease in bird numbers. Some here estimated a 75% die-off in some species. These were not migratory birds, so they must not have had time to put on winter weight or grow in a layer of down. Mostly, the losses were chickadees, nuthatches, grosbeaks and other seed eating types. Their numbers are still down, and may be for a few seasons.

Is there something we can do for our local birds for the next couple of days? Will they take refuge in a large, open-sided box with a lightbulb burning? We have a sheltered spot under our overhang that we could make space in if we though we could do some good.

Advice or ideas?

Thanks!

posted by Don_K to Science & Nature (6 answers total)

Food with lots of fat in it is what many birds need when it's cold. Suet pellets or balls are widely available, but cut-up fat trimmed from meat also works. And for the seed-eating birds, sunflower kernels provide a lot of calories. Also, fresh (non-frozen) water.

Birds are unlikely to take refuge in a box unless injured. Don't leave lights on outside at night if you can avoid it - light pollution confuses birds and disrupts their day/night cycle.
posted by pipeski at 1:30 PM on September 7, 2020 [6 favorites]

Putting out birdseed, suet, and a birdbath they can drink from might help them weather it.

In my neighborhood in Denver, they tend to congregate in the thick bushes between two houses that is very sheltered. I have a bird feeder there they will empty in five days.

Hummingbirds might just survive a night like this if the can access a feeder.
posted by nickggully at 3:20 PM on September 7, 2020 [2 favorites]

When I took ornithology as an undergrad, my professor told us that songbirds basically never freeze to death -- they only starve. As long as they've got sufficient access to calories and/or fat reserves, they'll burn enough energy to keep their body temperature up even in extremely cold weather. This would support pipeski's advice to make sure there's plenty of high-quality food available, that doesn't get completely hidden by snow.
posted by biogeo at 3:30 PM on September 7, 2020 [10 favorites]

Was going to type exactly what biogeo said. Hope we didn’t have the same ornithology prof.
posted by hydrobatidae at 3:34 PM on September 7, 2020 [2 favorites]

I was thinking about what Aldo Leopold said about it, and found it here:
https://www.aldoleopold.org/post/how-do-small-birds-survive-winter/

"It seems likely that weather is the only killer so devoid of both humor and dimension as to kill a chickadee."

Snow might help leaves and plants survive the terrifying cold of space, on an 18 degree night under clear skies.
posted by the Real Dan at 5:00 PM on September 7, 2020

Response by poster: Well, in the end, thanks to advice here, I put out extra food and am changing the water bowl regularly so it doesn't freeze. The temps are falling and will continue to fall through the day and the snow is ramping up now. Cross your fingers for our birds and trees!
posted by Don_K at 8:24 AM on September 8, 2020 [4 favorites]