I mean the generic type of bird I get outside my house … I guess they’re sparrows. I sporadically feed them in the summer, but I get lazy about it. In the winter, I try much harder to keep the feeder full.
Recently, it’s been REALLY cold here. Tonight we’ll be hitting -40 with the windchill and it hasn’t been much more than that today. I realized that I was out of birdfood a few days ago, and got a different brand than I had been using (out of convenience, it was the only one that seemed suitable at Walmart).
Today I notice that they’ve eaten the WHOLE feeder full of food. It usually lasts at least three days.
Is this because the food is really tasty?
Or maybe because it’s really cold out and they’re stocking up?
Or are they just eating because they don’t know when to stop and I’ve been careful about keeping it full?
Can they make themselves sick if they eat too much?
Any other tips for helping them out when it’s so cold out?
Birds know when to stop eating just like any other animal. That’s why caged birds an be fed from those feeder gizmos without worrying about them exploding.
There are probably a few reasons why your seed is all gone. Like other warm-blooded animals birds need to eat more when it’s cold. But the exceptionally cold weather probably also means that any alternative ‘wild’ food is gone and that other people aren’t as conscientious as you are about venturing out to by seed and fill feeders. Yours might be the only food left.
I would think they do. How many obese birds do you see?
Course I’ve seen a few chubby ones now and then.
I would get some suet cakes and hang them out. WalMart carries variouss kinds with berries and nuts etc in them. Plus they sell little cage gizmos to put the cakes in. I bought my first 2 on 12/31 but I’m not sure yet if the birds are that crazy about them.
I think they need the fat to keep them warm in the winter months.
WalMart also has some seed bells and seed cakes. The birds have just started attacking the seed bell.
I would simply recommend keeping the feeder filled up. I may be the best chance they have to get something to eat?
I’m no expert, but I sure enjoy watching them.
It’s well understood by falconers that these birds eat only when hungry. It’s reasonable to presume that this extends to all birds - I’ve never heard of a bird having a problem with overeating.
This plausibly has to do with the fact that a bird’s recent food is held in its crop prior to being digested. The crop can hold a substantial but not unlimited amount of food.
It is certainly true that birds’ energy requirements vary with the temperature - it’s normal that they would eat more when it’s cold.
Provided they have adequate food, they can handle almost any temperature. And they have other sources of food besides your feeder. So there is little need to worry.
Yes, good point, I got a pretty good sized hunk of fat from the local super market. Hung it on the bird feeder but I never saw any birds eating it. This was back when the weather was nice. I had to take it down and throw it out.
I don’t know…When I was in Manhattan in Soho there were some pretty anorexic looking pigeions(sp?). Actually they looked kinda ratty like and strung out from doing drugs.
Conversely the Battery Park pigeions(sp?) looked like Chickens and a lot of them had that NYC 'tude about them.
Here in Chicago one bird is pretty much the same size as the others.
