Do you Enjoy Bird Watching?

How Feeding Birds Can Help You Enjoy Your Backyard in Winter

Lawnmark Plus Serving All of New Hampshire & Northern Massachusetts

Do you love to birdwatch? If you’re missing your backyard this winter, remember you can watch the birds enjoy the winter wonderland while you stay warm inside.

You’re not only providing birds food over the winter, but you can learn a lot about different bird species, develop a collection of interesting bird feeders and homes, as well as note different migration patterns.

In this blog, you’ll learn about 10 common winter birds that will visit your property this winter. They’ll put on a show for you as they fly and dance while waiting to take their turn at your feeders.

Do You Know a Junco from a Nuthatch?

When you hang suet or put out a seed mix, you’ll find a plethora of different bird species visiting your backyard. Here are 10 common birds that winter in New Hampshire:

1. Black-capped chickadees: You can recognize this tiny bird with his joyful song of “chicka-dee-dee.” They have black caps and throats. And they eat millet, cracked corn, niger and other seeds.

2. Blue jays: These winter birds aren’t shy—their squawking alerts birds and people alike that they’re going to make landing on your birdfeeder if it’s well-stocked with sunflowers.

3. Cedar waxwings: These birds look like a cross between a cardinal and a tufted titmouse. They have black eye masks, their bodies are tan with dark gray wings with a touch of yellow underneath the wings. They love berries, suet and seeds.

4. Dark-eyed junco: This is a true winter bird. You know the weather is cold when you see juncos jumping around on the snow eating seeds that dropped from your feeder. They’ll still eat from your feeders—but they don’t mind picking up after other birds either.

5. Pine siskins: These small birds are brownish with black spots on their bodies. They enjoy niger, millet and other seeds.

Protect your lawn this winter from rock salt. Read more in this blog.

6. Goldfinches: These small birds with the sweetest song will grace your feeders this winter. They, of course, won’t have their typical yellow feathers with black and blue wings. Instead, they look a bit duller. They eat millet, sunflower seeds and niger.

7. Northern cardinals: Probably the most famous winter birds, the male cardinals’ red feathers are a great contrast to gray, snowy days. They’ll eat millet, cracked corn, sunflowers and other seeds.

8. Sparrows: House sparrows brave the cold, snowy winters in New England. They don’t mind being close to humans and their pretty songs will make you smile each time you need to go outside to fill their feeders. Like other birds, sparrows eat millet, corn and sunflowers.

9. White-breasted nuthatches: These birds are fun to watch because they hang upside to eat. They also climb up and down your trees, using the bark to help them break open acorns and other nuts to get the seeds lodged inside. They’ll also eat suet.

10. Woodpeckers: If you live in the woods, you may not be a big fan of woodpeckers since they will peck on your roof and home causing extensive damage. However, if you’re not plagued with woodpeckers, you can hang some suet on your tree limbs, and they will come to feast on it.

Indeed, birds are fun to watch. You’ll be entertained on the coldest of winter days when you take time to feed the birds.

If you want to learn more about birds, feeding and habitat, here are some resources for you to check out:

• The Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Best 8 Bird Foods for Winter Season
• Mass Audubon.

At Lawnmark Plus, we provide optimized and organic lawn care programs for property managers and homeowners who live in northern MA and all of NH.

Keep us in mind when spring rolls around, and it’s time for springtime fertilizer and pre-emergent weed control. Call us at 603-262-1215 or fill out our contact form.