Rochester Hills, Michigan
We can show you how to turn your yard into a birdfeeding habitat that brings song, color and life to your home.

NOVEMBER

Winter is fast approaching. As we are preparing our Thanksgiving feast, your birds are busy preparing for the cold weather ahead. Cardinals, juncos, finches and others are pooling their resources, forming flocks to better search for enough food to get them through a cold winter. Birds don't want to be alone searching for food in scarce times. They might not find any without the help of others; if one bird finds food, they all benefit.

November is a great time for high-fat food choices like suet and peanuts for chickadees, nuthatches, and woodpeckers. November is the month we begin looking for ways to stay warm, and so do your birds. As we head indoors, the birds rely on their clean feathers to insulate them from the cold weather. With freezing temperatures arriving, it's time to put out the birdbath deicers (heaters). Remember a clean bird stays warm.

Cold weather means birds need more calories to stay warm, and this means more activity at your feeder. All the birds that come up to your feeder want black-oil sunflower - birds like cardinals, chickadees, house finches and nuthatches. Add white millet to your mix and these birds will kick it to the ground, where birds like juncos, sparrows and doves prefer to eat it, and by November these birds are looking for a yard to call home.

Not feeding suet this month is like not serving pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving. Your backyard is not complete without the addition of suet to the feast.

By November your birds are done raising their families and are settling in for the winter. Your nesting boxes can be a active in winter as they were during the spring and summer nesting season. They offer a safe, warm place for birds to roost. Another option is adding roosting boxes or roosting pockets that birds will use to keep warm.

Doing some fall clean-up in your yard; consider creating a brush pile for your birds to provide shelter from the cold and protection from predators.

Prepare a feast for your birds this month, and you will be rewarded with their presence all winter long.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Karl & Linda