Date: 10/4/25 10:36 am From: <jwdavis...> <jwdavis...> Subject: A Bird Fall/Winter Reminder
You should have brush piles in your yard and if not build some.
Leave your leaves for winter feeding and mulch. You can shred with the mower in the Spring.
Skip the yard and pasture mowing until Spring to keep grass cover and seeds.
Get the heaters for your bird baths, birds need water every day of the year.
Keep your bird baths full of water clean and maintained all year.
Do not take up your hummingbird feeders yet and keep them out for late migrants.
Have winter roost boxes and insulate your nest boxes for winter roosting.
Do not clean out your nest boxes until winter is over, the nest material provides insulation for winter roosting and could save birds during polar events.
Remember that some birds like chickadees cache seeds behind bark and in cracks and creases but when ice covers the branches and seeds and insects, bird can die within a few hours without food. You need plenty of supplemental food to get them through these critical hours.
Put up your window collision protection.
Keep removing the exotics and replace with native plants.
Build and place new nest boxes and repair old ones for the next breeding season.
Keep your cats indoors.
Do away with your pesticide lawn maintenance and manicured lawns.
Stock up on seeds and suet because many wait until the last minute and other have made a run and temporally depleted the supply.
When the tree leaves are gone, check your yard to see if you had birds nesting this past breeding season. If not, ask yourself "why not"? Try to eliminate the limiting habitat factors. Most birds can carry out a nesting cycle with homeowners unaware. If your yard is only used because of the feeders, that is not enough and work to eliminate the limiting factors.
We are losing 4% per year and have fewer birds crossing the Gulf each year. The numbers are so low now that even novices are noticing the bird decline. In North America we are losing a billion birds to window collisions and another billion lost to 100,000,000 feral and free roaming cats. There are a hundred other factors are impacting birds. Birds need your help and do not need apathy and indifference or birders expecting someone else to take care of our birds and solve the problems. Our bird decline is caused by one person plus one person and needs to be corrected the same way and if you are not doing your part, the job is not getting done.
