Who eats what at the feeding station: Winter feeding for birds
The feeding station reveals which bird prefers which food. The right winter feeding helps birds get through the cold season.
Mix it! That's the motto for all bird enthusiasts who want as varied a group of visitors at their feeding station as possible. But which bird likes what at the laid table?
Soft food or seeds: the preferences of birds
«Not everyone pecks the same thing,» says Eva Goris, press officer at the Deutsche Wildtier Stiftung. Only those who know their guests' preferences will have a full house and can occasionally spoil some extraordinary visitors. «Ornithologists distinguish between soft-food lovers and seed crackers,» explains Goris. «It's best to put together the bird menu yourself.» A good mix of fruit, nuts, and seeds along with dried insects (available from specialist retailers) attracts a variety of bird species.
Blackbird, thrush, wren, starling, dunnock, and robin are purely soft-food eaters. They normally search for food on the ground. Coarse seed feed is of no use to them. However, they come flying over in no time when ripe apples and pears, raisins, oats, dried berries of elder, hawthorn, rowan, or privet are on offer. Oats soaked in oil are real home cooking!
Tits, woodpeckers, and nuthatches are the flexible ones among the soft-food eaters: they switch to seeds in winter. If they cannot find insects, they will also peck sunflower seeds, hemp, or poppy seeds.
Seed eaters: chaffinch, sparrow, and more
Chaffinch, greenfinch, sparrow, bullfinch, siskin, and yellowhammer can be recognised by their beaks, which immediately reveal what their favourite food is: the beaks are short and compact, making them ideal for cracking seeds. If the seed selection is well stocked, black sunflower seeds, finely chopped hazelnuts, hemp seeds, walnuts, and beechnuts are a must. On the chef's recommendation, seed heads of millet, poppy, and linseed are also served. Further information on native wildlife can be found in the category of the same name.
What should not go in the beak
Old bread, white bread, salted food scraps – none of these belong in a bird feeder. Bread contains nothing nutritious for birds and swells up in their stomachs. Spices can be fatal to a songbird even in small amounts. Otherwise, the following applies: Clean the feeding station regularly with a hand brush and some hot water, and place the house in a location safe from cats and birds of prey. Refill the feeding station regularly – your visitors are counting on you! More on the topic Wildlife.
