Spread your wings! The month of February is National Bird-Feeding Month. February is one of the toughest months for wild birds to survive because of the transition from winter to spring. Around this time, birds begin to run low on their food supply. By mid-winter, food sources become scarcer and scarcer for wild birds. What little food is available can be buried under deep snow. A lot like you and I, birds cannot survive without food so doing something as small as handing a bird feeder in your backyard can help birds survive through the rest of the winter months!
Many may believe that bread is a suitable food choice for birds, but truthfully bread is empty calories for wild birds and can actually cause birds to die. Since there is no nutritional value in bread and bread does not metabolize it leaves birds with no energy to fight off predators and won't help to keep them warm during winter months.
The flesh from the fruits that are in the "Toxic Foods for Birds" category is not toxic but the pits and seeds to those fruits are. The reason that the pits and seeds of those fruits are toxic is because they contain cyanide. In small doses, cyanide is harmless for humans to eat but for a small bird it is lethal.
Benefits:
You've formed a new hobby! (be sure to be consistent when feeding birds because they will now depend on you as a food source)
You've helped the birds survive through the winter
You are more connected with nature by having the responsibility of going outside to feed the birds and by learning how important it is to feed them, especially through February
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