It never occurred to me to stop feeding birds. I should think they need food in the winter, even if they do fly around and find their own.
We shovel off the deck and put out a feeder heavy on sunflower seeds, and what a beautiful sight in the winter, blue jays and cardinals, juncos and sparrows. Looks like a Christmas card.
I've found most birds like sunflower seed and peanuts (in shell, or shelled, from a jar). Blue jays pick and choose the peanuts and 'swallow' one in their crops. They will hold a peanut with their toes and peck it open..... Cardinals have tiny beaks but I've watched them wrestle with a shell peanut trying to open it..... Smaller peanuts are eaten by all birds, I think. Unless the squirrels are out and hog all of them.
It never occurred to me to stop feeding birds. I should think they need food in the winter, even if they do fly around and find their own.
We shovel off the deck and put out a feeder heavy on sunflower seeds, and what a beautiful sight in the winter, blue jays and cardinals, juncos and sparrows. Looks like a Christmas card.
I've found most birds like sunflower seed and peanuts (in shell, or shelled, from a jar). Blue jays pick and choose the peanuts and 'swallow' one in their crops. They will hold a peanut with their toes and peck it open..... Cardinals have tiny beaks but I've watched them wrestle with a shell peanut trying to open it..... Smaller peanuts are eaten by all birds, I think. Unless the squirrels are out and hog all of them.