Food during colder weather can be scarce for most birds because the insects, berries and other plants they depend on as part of their regular diet are not as available to them during the colder months.

Because of this, people play a very important role for many wild birds. Since their food source can be limited, the food that people supply help many wild birds survive during the harsh months of Winter.

There are certain feeders and seed you may want to use to provide the best Winter diet for the birds. For primarily seed-eating birds like Cardinals and Jays, the best seed you can feed these birds would be black oil sunflower seed. These seeds have slightly thinner shells and a higher oil content than other types of sunflower seeds, making them a more efficient and nutritious food for birds in the winter. Sunflower kernels provide even more energy per bite.

Through the harsh seasons nyger seed and fine chopped sunflower seed would be the best choice to feed your Finches, as it is another seed that offers a lot of calories, which helps birds store the fat they need to keep warm through cold weather.

For Clingers, such as: Woodpeckers and Chickadees, the best two foods to provide, are suet and nut pieces. Suet is animal fat mixed with fruit, seed of nuts that offers a high calorie food source these birds need during the cold months. Nuts are another choice to feed the Clingers because nuts are a high calorie, fat-rich nut that doesn’t freeze in the winter.