Water and Shelter
Bird baths, heated baths in freezing weather, and nest boxes. The parts of a bird-friendly yard that have nothing to do with seed, and in winter matter more than it.
Almost everything written about attracting birds is about food. Two other things belong in the yard, and in winter one of them outranks the feeder entirely.
The first is water. Birds can usually find seeds under snow. What they cannot easily find in freezing weather is anything to drink, and they need it for more than thirst: feather condition depends on bathing, and bathing is what keeps the insulation working in the cold. Heated baths solve the freezing problem and introduce a hazard of their own, which is the sort of detail the people selling them tend to leave out. That article is coming.
The second is shelter, meaning nest boxes. A nest box is one of the few pieces of backyard equipment where a single measurement decides everything: the diameter of the entrance hole determines which species can move in and, just as importantly, which cannot. The numbers are exact, published, and worth getting right before you buy.
Water for Birds in Winter, and the Heated Bath Problem
Water for birds in winter is harder to find than food. Heated baths solve freezing and introduce a risk the people selling them rarely mention.
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8 min read