How our winter flowers, the wintering birds, survive our frigid winters

During these cold below freezing days here in Akwesasne, I wonder how those little birds at my feeder manage to survive. I can barely stand the biting cold when I clean and fill my feeders every day. Every year I swear I will not feed them this year, but when I see a chickadee or two looking for last year’s feeder, there goes my resolution. I guess the rewards do outweigh the downside. The birds I watch through the window are my wintertime flowers. This year, for the first time, in a long time, I even have a beautiful colored blue jay at my feeder.  I am amazed at how the birds go about seemingly active and happy feeding at my feeders as if it was summer time. I feel really bad for them on the really cold and windy days. They seem to slow down, and I can see their delicate little feathers being blown every which way. If I thought I could get away with it, I would open my door and let them in the house. My cats would love that! The cats sit by the windows vying for the best seat to watch the birds. Every once in a while one, or more, of the cats will make the strangest rattle/sound I have ever heard. All of them seem to do this when they think they are hunting.  Their mouths quiver as they make this sound. My cats live their entire lives indoors, so this is, thankfully, the only bird hunting they will participate in and enjoy.

The birds only have several hours of daylight to eat enough food and store enough energy to take them through the long winter nights.  These birds have developed several strategies to endure even the harshest conditions that our winters throw at them.  Their feathers play the main role in keeping the birds warm and in conserving their energy. The black-capped chickadee has 1000 feathers in the summer, but that number can double to as many as 2000 feathers in the winter. The birds also fluff up their feathers to trap air, which helps reduce loss of heat. During the night, the birds to protect their uninsulated bills and eyes will tuck their heads into their back feathers. You would think a lot of heat could be lost through their unfeathered legs, but there are special adaptations in their circulatory system to help their legs and feet to cope with the cold. Warm arterial blood moves towards the bird’s feet passing through a network of small passages that are close to the cold venous blood that is returning to the heart. This system acts like a radiator. Heat from the warm arterial blood is exchanged to the cold venous blood that is returning to the heart. This is done in such a way that heat loss is quite minimal.  The lowest part of their feet are warm enough to stop their feet from freezing. This system also prevents the shock of cold blood from returning to the body.  Thermogenesis, a technical term for shivering, is another way they survive the cold. Flying generates heat, but when roosting or resting the birds shiver to keep warm in very cold conditions.  This shivering continues even when the birds are asleep.  All of this is good, but to be able to use these mechanisms, the birds must have sufficient fuel/food.

The chickadee can only eat enough food to get it through the night. If it is unable to eat the following day, it will die. Small birds are unable to store fat, so another way of conserving energy is used by them.  They use a process called heterothermy, which is the ability to drastically lower their body temperatures at night. This allows them to use fat reserves at a lower rate.  When this is done, the bird enters a state called torpor, and it becomes temporarily unconscious.  This is like a temporary self-induced hypothermia where both heart rate and breathing drop considerately. This state unfortunately, only lasts through the night. To survive, the bird must replenish fat reserves every day if it is to survive.  This is especially true during intensely cold weather.

Some wonder if the birds need us to provide them with seed, and some experts say they do not.  However, during very cold snaps our feeders may play an important role in their survival. It is a good idea, if you start to feed the birds, to be sure to do it for the entire winter. This is especially true if you live in an isolated area where no one else may be feeding them. The birds tend to stay around your feeder and depend on you for their survival. If you cannot commit to feeding them for the entire season, it is best not to start. It is also wise to measure how much seed you put out in a day so you can leave the same amount every day.  In this way, the birds will know how much to count on, and you will not attract more birds than you can feed.  Chickadees, however, are known as “scatter-hoarders” because they will hoard/hide their food in scattered places in the summer and fall. They scatter food all over to minimize loss from other birds or mammals finding it and devouring their stash.  Researchers have found that a part of a chickadee’s brain deals with spatial memory, and that part of the brain becomes larger in the fall. I shudder to think of how they found that out!  A few other birds are hoarders, too.

The great jay spends the entire summer stashing enough food to insure its survival. The great jay’s method is unique. They use a special mucous-secreting gland in the side of their beaks as a glue-like cover. Spiders, seeds, berries, and insects are covered in this glue and made into marble-sized spitballs. The great jay then pastes these spit balls to the trunks and branches of conifers.  It is felt by scientists that their saliva also contains a substance that preserves their captured food in the spitball. It is also believed that the great jay, like the chickadees, actually remembers where their thousands of food items are stashed. This is truly amazing!  I have watched the chickadees that frequent my feeder taking their stash from the trees in my backyard. To keep warm at night, some birds, like chickadees and nuthatches, will huddle together at night in tree cavities or nesting boxes to keep warm. This enables them to share body heat. If tree cavities and nesting boxes are not available they will spend the night sheltered from the wind in evergreen boughs. There is so much about bird survival that is still a mystery.  One particular bird that baffles the scientists is the golden-crowned kinglet.  This bird is much smaller than a chickadee, and the fact that it can survive frigid winter temperatures actually defies the laws of physics and physiology.  This is a great example of the wonders of nature. There are so many things we do not understand, yet so many of us continue to threaten many things here without knowing or seemingly caring how that will eventually affect all of us here on Mother Earth.

If you feed the birds or would like to, the following are some ideas. For long range, you can make your backyard a refuge for birds by planning for their needs. I googled and found this list of Trees and Shrubs you can plant here in the northeast region. I found it at The Helpful Gardener Website:  Downy Woodpecker - Serviceberry, Dogwood, Mountain Ash, Virginia Creeper, Nuthatch – Pine, Spruce and Fir trees, Chickadee - Winterberry, Serviceberry, Viburnums, Bayberry, Junipers, Pileated Woodpecker - Serviceberry, Elderberry. If you have not started yet, you could start by simply buying ready-made suet blocks locally and hang them in coated wire boxes in trees or on buildings out of direct sunlight. You can also make your own treats. I found a really good site on the Web that not only gives you the best foods to use - but also tells you how to make some of them visit: http://www.cedar-works.com/newsite/top_winter.html.

You can simply spread some peanut butter on the trees around your home. This is a great treat and food for the birds. If you buy seeds, buy high fat and protein seeds like black oil sunflower seeds as they provide the best energy.  To help conserve the bird’s energy you can also buy hulled sunflower seeds - these also come in bags of mixed seeds. Remember, like with dry dog and cat foods, the cheapest brands are not always the best, and many times they rob the very animals you are feeding of necessary and needed nutrition. I buy a finch mix with hulled sunflower seeds. It has mixed small seeds for a variety of birds, and the hulled sunflower seeds for the energy saving days. I also buy the black oil sunflower seeds because every day here in the winter is not frigid enough to warrant saving their energy. I believe the seed eating birds also need to keep their beaks strong by using them. Also, while birds eat snow for water, fresh water is appreciated. You can provide a birdbath and use de-icers.  Look for de-icers that are thermostatically controlled. Heated birdbaths are popular lately, and they can be found at local markets. A cheaper method is a heated pet bowl that can be found in pet and farm supply stores or even on the Internet. If you choose this type, add some rocks to the deep bowls to provide shallow areas for the birds to stand on as they drink or bathe. Believe it or not, they actually bathe in the winter to keep their feathers clean and in top condition, which also allows them to withstand the cold. Enjoy the winter flowers.