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One of the best winter activites to keep you active outdoors in the garden is taking care of our feathered friends. Hopefully you have already established natural shelter with dense evergreens and hedges, and also provide some natural food sources in your landscape like Coneflower, Viburnum, and Hawthorn. Now is the time to consider how to maintain the birds’ food and water source through the winter so they continue to return to your home. Feeders should be a clean, reliable, and generous source of food, close enough to your home to easily maintain and observe. The three general types of feeders to choose from are hoppers, tubes, and platforms. These will all vary greatly in shape, size, color and ornamentation, but what is most important is that they will withstand the elements, keep seed dry, and are large enough so you are not constantly refilling. Hoppers are appreciated by most birds and can hold all types of seed. Be aware that they also are the most frequented by larger, undesirable birds, squirrels and chipmunks too. Baffles and careful placement away from trees and structures will help relieve these problems. Tube feeders are specifically designed for smaller birds like goldfinches and sparrows. On tubes the seed openings are much smaller, so seed stays drier and safe from nuisance birds, critters, and deer. Platform feeders are nice if you are indiscriminate about which wildlife you choose to feed. They are great to supply seed, suet, mealworms, nuts, dried or fresh fruit, and baked goods like bagels pieces and pizza crust. Most birds that do not migrate south adapt well to eating seed; after all, insects and berries may not be readily available in winter. The most attractive seed to the most species of birds is sunflower, especially the black oil. Black oil is usually less expensive than striped and easier to crack open than striped. Cardinals, woodpeckers, blue jays, finches, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, and more enjoy black oil best. Niger thistle is the favorite of the goldfinches and is consumed very quickly. Safflower is excellent to use because squirrels, grackles, jays and starlings do not care for it while cardinals, chickadees, and woodpeckers do. White millet on a low platform feeder will attract sparrows, juncos and mourning doves and many others. If shopping for mixed birdseed read the label to make sure it is not full of inedible fillers like milo and wheat seed. The mix should be approximately 50% sunflower, 35% white millet, 15% cracked corn or any of the other desirable seeds or nuts. Just remember that one of the best attractants of birds in the winter is clean water, so keep your bird baths warm or replenish the water daily, and they will visit often.
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