On Wednesday, February 11, 2015 at 2:15:00 AM UTC-5, Christopher Helms wrote:
>> This time of year is very tough on all the little critters.

I often wonder how many perish. It's 10f right now and going to zero.
I feed them and wonder if I am helping. Must be hard to find food with all the snow.

PA

Thomas wrote:
>
> On Wednesday, February 11, 2015 at 2:15:00 AM UTC-5, Christopher Helms wrote:
> >> This time of year is very tough on all the little critters.
>
> I often wonder how many perish. It's 10f right now and going to zero.
> I feed them and wonder if I am helping. Must be hard to find food with all the snow.
>
> PA

YES! You are helping! In real nature many can (and do) perish during
the winter famine but there's always enough left that did survive to
carry on. When people put out food for animals in the winter
(especially after heavy snows), you won't save them all but you WILL
save the ones that find your food. At the very least, they will be
happier.

:-D

On Wednesday, February 11, 2015 at 10:28:07 AM UTC-6, Thomas wrote:
> On Wednesday, February 11, 2015 at 2:15:00 AM UTC-5, Christopher Helms wrote:
> >> This time of year is very tough on all the little critters.
>
> I often wonder how many perish. It's 10f right now and going to zero.
> I feed them and wonder if I am helping. Must be hard to find food with all the snow.
>
> PA


They're very good at locating anything people put out for them. I put out unsalted in shell peanuts. A lot of people around here are good about helping them out.

Christopher Helms wrote:
>Thomas wrote:
>>Christopher Helms wrote:
>> >> This time of year is very tough on all the little critters.
>>
>>I often wonder how many perish. It's 10f right now and going to zero.
>>I feed them and wonder if I am helping. Must be hard to find food with
>>all the snow.
>
>They're very good at locating anything people put out for them.
>I put out unsalted in shell peanuts. A lot of people around here
>are good about helping them out.

I feed birds an assortment of seeds including in-shell peanuts, suet
blocks, table food scraps, and they even help themselves to dried pet
food, nothing edible goes into my trash... rather than toss cooking
fat into the trash I scrape it out onto the snow.... many people feed
birds so they quickly learn to make their rounds... and since there
are many farms here birds are seen feeding with the livestock. Lots
of birds are killed from flying into glass, not many starve to death.
Naturally like all critters birds die of old age and disease. All my
fly-thru window situations are well identified to greatly minimize
birds attempting to fly through; I hang CDs and paper tags from thread
so that they flutter and the backs of my window shades have a black
raptor silhouette taped to them... there are web sites where you can
print the raptor silhouette. Plants on a window sill is a big NO-NO.
There are many products but I've found hanging CDs works best.
http://songbirdphoto.com/wordpress/?p=136
http://stores.santarosanational.com/
http://abirdseyeview.com/?gclid=CIfo...FQ0jgQodAFwArw
http://www.nixalite.com/?gclid=CNX5m...FRQQ7AodN1oA7Q
http://www.songbirdgarden.com/store/...idproduct=2615

Somewhere this year, I saw advertised raptor silhouettes to cling to windows,
that show only on the outside (bird's-eye view), so they don't interfere with
viewing through the window from inside the house.

N.

On Thursday, February 12, 2015 at 12:00:07 PM UTC-6, Brooklyn1 wrote:
> Christopher Helms wrote:
> >Thomas wrote:
> >>Christopher Helms wrote:
> >> >> This time of year is very tough on all the little critters.
> >>
> >>I often wonder how many perish. It's 10f right now and going to zero.
> >>I feed them and wonder if I am helping. Must be hard to find food with
> >>all the snow.
> >
> >They're very good at locating anything people put out for them.
> >I put out unsalted in shell peanuts. A lot of people around here
> >are good about helping them out.
>
> I feed birds an assortment of seeds including in-shell peanuts, suet
> blocks, table food scraps, and they even help themselves to dried pet
> food, nothing edible goes into my trash... rather than toss cooking
> fat into the trash I scrape it out onto the snow.... many people feed
> birds so they quickly learn to make their rounds... and since there
> are many farms here birds are seen feeding with the livestock. Lots
> of birds are killed from flying into glass, not many starve to death.
> Naturally like all critters birds die of old age and disease. All my
> fly-thru window situations are well identified to greatly minimize
> birds attempting to fly through; I hang CDs and paper tags from thread
> so that they flutter and the backs of my window shades have a black
> raptor silhouette taped to them... there are web sites where you can
> print the raptor silhouette. Plants on a window sill is a big NO-NO.
> There are many products but I've found hanging CDs works best.
> http://songbirdphoto.com/wordpress/?p=136
> http://stores.santarosanational.com/
> http://abirdseyeview.com/?gclid=CIfo...FQ0jgQodAFwArw
> http://www.nixalite.com/?gclid=CNX5m...FRQQ7AodN1oA7Q
> http://www.songbirdgarden.com/store/...idproduct=2615


It always struck me as fascinating how birds and squirrels that don't migrate and have never been in a place where peanuts grow can instinctively recognize them as something edible.

On Fri, 13 Feb 2015 10:31:37 -0800 (PST), Christopher Helms
> wrote:

>On Thursday, February 12, 2015 at 12:00:07 PM UTC-6, Brooklyn1 wrote:
>> Christopher Helms wrote:
>> >Thomas wrote:
>> >>Christopher Helms wrote:
>> >> >> This time of year is very tough on all the little critters.
>> >>
>> >>I often wonder how many perish. It's 10f right now and going to zero.
>> >>I feed them and wonder if I am helping. Must be hard to find food with
>> >>all the snow.
>> >
>> >They're very good at locating anything people put out for them.
>> >I put out unsalted in shell peanuts. A lot of people around here
>> >are good about helping them out.
>>
>> I feed birds an assortment of seeds including in-shell peanuts, suet
>> blocks, table food scraps, and they even help themselves to dried pet
>> food, nothing edible goes into my trash... rather than toss cooking
>> fat into the trash I scrape it out onto the snow.... many people feed
>> birds so they quickly learn to make their rounds... and since there
>> are many farms here birds are seen feeding with the livestock. Lots
>> of birds are killed from flying into glass, not many starve to death.
>> Naturally like all critters birds die of old age and disease. All my
>> fly-thru window situations are well identified to greatly minimize
>> birds attempting to fly through; I hang CDs and paper tags from thread
>> so that they flutter and the backs of my window shades have a black
>> raptor silhouette taped to them... there are web sites where you can
>> print the raptor silhouette. Plants on a window sill is a big NO-NO.
>> There are many products but I've found hanging CDs works best.
>> http://songbirdphoto.com/wordpress/?p=136
>> http://stores.santarosanational.com/
>> http://abirdseyeview.com/?gclid=CIfo...FQ0jgQodAFwArw
>> http://www.nixalite.com/?gclid=CNX5m...FRQQ7AodN1oA7Q
>> http://www.songbirdgarden.com/store/...idproduct=2615
>
>
>It always struck me as fascinating how birds and squirrels that
>don't migrate and have never been in a place where peanuts grow
>can instinctively recognize them as something edible.

Animals possess instincts, humans possess none