Helping Wildlife in Winter
A Mockingbird drinks from a heated birdbath in December. The birdbath is an inexpensive, shallow, thick glass dish with a thermostatically-controlled, submersible heater/de-icer. A rock is placed over the heater to keep it in place and to discourage birds from bathing in it since their wings can ice up in very low temperatures.
Photo: ©2023, Elana Goren.
There are a couple of easy ways to help wildlife, especially birds, survive winter’s bitter cold. Keeping heated water out for them to drink and utilizing smart garden choices that provide native food will go a long way to helping our native fauna survive the freezing cold.
One of the best things you can do is to plant native plants in your garden that provide winter season berries and seeds which the birds count on during the colder months. Shrubs like Ilex verticillata (Winterberry), Ilex glabra (Inkberry), Viburnum nudum (Smooth Witherod) and other native Viburnums, Symphoricarpos albus (Common Snowberry) and Callicarpa americana (Beautyberry) produce berries that last well into the winter season. Trees like Ilex opaca (American Holly) and Juniperus virginiana (Eastern Red Cedar) produce berries and protective cover for overwintering birds. There have been so many times that I’ve seen wild turkeys run up to my native, evergreen Holly trees and grab the berries they can reach with their long necks. And Robins love nesting in these trees, as well.
A Goldfinch dines on the seeds from Echinacea purpurea (Coneflower) plants in December.
Echincea purpurea (coneflower) and Symphyotrichum species (Asters) provide food for finches and sparrows so it’s important to refrain from cutting spent flower stalks in the fall and keeping the seed heads upright and ready for birds to feast on the seeds. Besides, there is an architectural beauty to the seed heads sitting above the snow in winter. You can see more about which native plants certain birds prefer at the Audubon website at this link: https://www.audubon.org/news/grow-these-native-plants-so-your-backyard-birds-can-feast
Coreopsis seedheads poke through the snow and are adorned with little snow “hats”. Native plants that are left intact through the winter create interest in the winter landscape as well as provide food for hungry birds.