"It is not that if people do not feed birds, something very bad will happen to them. After all, birds also lived before people started thinking about deliberately feeding them" - said Marczewski. He emphasised, that you feed the birds, the most important thing is consistency. "We must remember that during the very long winter nights with low temperatures, birds use all their energy reserves, accumulated during the day. When they wake up in the morning, they are hungry and need energy. They will move to places where they are sure to find food. So if you start to winter feeding, better remember to do it regularly. If you think that because of obligations or planned, long trips you will not be able to guarantee the regularity, it is better not to start feeding than to interrupt in the most sensitive and difficult period for birds" - he explained.

Foods should be adjusted to the species visiting the feeder. Best are sunflower seeds, hulled or in shells. In the latter case, birds will leave shells you have to clean up afterwards. "If the feeder is standing on the side, this usually does not bother anyone. If you feed birds on the balcony, better consult your neighbors first" - suggests the representative of OTOP .

Bacon is very often yused to feed birds, especially tits. It can not, however, be salted or smoked. You should also remember to change the bacon roughly every two weeks and remove it during the thaw, otherwise it quickly becomes rancid and instead of helping, can harm birds.

"Sometimes people tell us that they feed sparrows and tits, but from time to time a sparrowhawk comes to the feeder - a small bird of prey that hunts other birds. People ask, what to do about it. I say: do nothing. If you feed birds - remember that all deserve to be fed, and the sparrowhawk is in no way inferior. He also benefits from feeding, although in an indirect way. But you should definitely not make it easier for sparrowhawk by putting feeder near the porch" - explained Antoni Marczewski. He se said that sparrowhawks hunt by surprise, for example, emerging from behind the fence, and then the feeder regulars flee in all directions. There should be no glass surfaces on their escape way, because the birds collide and the sparrowhawk has an easier task.

According to the OTOP representative,observations of birds at the feeder are "better than watching nature films". "Here we are witnesses of various scenes, we can observe interactions between species, see which of them are more aggressive, dominant, and which wait for their turn to feed. This certainly is a very educational and entertaining activity. We get to know birds, this is how many people start a serious adventure with birds. We become too sensitive to their needs outside of the autumn-winter season" - he said.

It is best to remember about birds already in late autumn. Although they can still find a lot of food on theirs own, they will begin to get used to places where they can find food when the frosts and snows come. At the beginning, put small amount of food into the feeder, with time give more and more. When should feeding end? In the early spring when it gets warmer, but there is still very little natural food. The amount of food should also be decreased gradually so that birds can get used to the fact that they need to start looking for natural food.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland

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