Winter is Here! Make sure your Birds and Critters have plenty of Food and Water.

Winter is Here! Make sure your Birds and Critters have plenty of Food and Water.

Be ready with bird & squirrel feeders, heated bird baths, warm birdhouses and premium quality bird and critter food.

We've got everything that you need to manage your own wildlife safe-haven and keep your critters and bird friends fed and watered through this winter season and beyond!

Water is a vital resource to birds in the winter.

• All birds need water to drink and will even bathe when its cold out.
• Offer fresh water to birds and squirrels through the winter months with a heated birdbath pan or small pond water heater.
• Also check out our heated pet bowls and accessories for your outside pets and backyard critters.

Squirrels - You either love em - or - hate em

But realize that squirrels are Gods creatures too ... and so we kinda have a responsibility to keep an eye out for them as well. After all, just like the chipmunks, foxes, raccoons, rabbits and deer, we've pretty much cut down, paved-over or built homes on much of their natural habitat.

And yet those "darn squirrels" can sometimes be really annoying pests and predators, as they jump on feeders, tear feeders open, hog all the seeds and threaten the birds.

But the answer isn’t always to just shun them away ... and trust me, those "darn squirrels" are very intelligent. Sometimes the best solution, as we have learned in our yard, is to give the squirrels their own feeders, so that they won’t interfere with the wild birds' feeding times. (In a "perfect world" ... Right!?!?

Well, actually, even though it is always a challenge to protect the birds from predators who are always looking to steal seed and destroy feeders and houses, there are ways to keep birds and squirrels happy together in your yard.

So what we did was place bird feeders and houses in various spots in our yard, with the bird feeders nearer to the house, at distances from tree trunks and guarded poles so that the squirrels can't make the jump or climb to the feeders, and with the squirrel feeders placed about 30 feet away. Yet still close enough to watch the comical characters, from our kitchen table with a cup of coffee, while they try to get a snack from our teaser feeders, bungees and twirlers.

Believe it or not, in our wooded yard (walnuts, oaks, fruits, catalpas and pines), with an average of 7 to 14 squirrels at any given time during the day, they (the Black squirrels, the big fat Fox squirrels and the trouble-making Grey squirrels) do not bother our feeders any longer. Sure, they climb up a nearby tree trunk or pole and stare, but they don't really bother the feeders any more. They seem to know their place, know the "yard rules" and are content with scavenging the ground for tossed seeds underneath the feeders.

Why is winter backyard bird feeding so important?

• Its because many of the natural seed sources that birds prefer, flower in summer (i.e., sunflowers), and are depleted in winter, making it an especially tough time to find naturally-occurring food.
• Even if seed is available, winter winds often blow away food or excess moisture makes that food inedible.
• The days are shorter, too, so there’s less time to spend looking for food.
• Even if you live in the southern warmer climate, during the winter, you're gonna have plenty of new visitors like Hummingbirds and Orioles, that have migrated from the north, to warmer climates, and will be looking for food and nectar.

Why is it important to feed the birds and why is premium bird food so important?

• In summer, backyard birds have a smorgasbord of foods to eat – insects, fruits, and abundant seeds.
• In winter, insects and fruits are nowhere to be found.
• While some birds migrate, the birds that don’t, have to adjust their diet from fruit and insects to seeds.
• When food types are limited, the birds need extra calories.
• Making sure you have plenty of seed, nectar, suet, mealworm, and feed during the winter, for your backyard birds, is important.
• But what is even more important is to have Good Quality food for your wild birds. Because, when birds have access to more nutrients in winter, the spring mating season will be more successful. Chicks will have healthier weights, and egg laying will happen earlier.

Order your bird food restock weekly or monthly! Try different mixtures and blends of food, seed and suet, to dial in on what your backyard birds really like and prefer! If they like it, it won't go to waste. Remember that last jumbo bag of economical bird seed you bought at the Big Box store? Remember the sticks and branches in the bag? Remember the birds pushing the cheap filler seed aside or pulling it out of the feeder and spitting it onto the ground? Wonder why the birds went through that jumbo bag of economy seed so fast? Now you know why!

Check out our huge selection of wild bird supplies now!