Mild winters are one perk of living in the Rio Grande Valley. Even so, our birds can use a winter feeding boost!

1. There's less wild food around in winter.
2. There's less daylight in which to find food.
3. And when we do get cold snaps, birds burn up fat reserves to stay warm. In fact, songbirds may use up to 75-80% of their fat reserves for energy during a single cold winter’s night! In periods of cold and severe winter weather, birds may use feeders as the critical source of food that enables them to survive from day to day. 

All that makes winter a particularly wonderful time to feed our Valley birds—for them AND yourself. Not only will you be helping them get the energy and fat they need, but more birds will be wanting to visit your feeders. Win-win!

You can help Valley birds thrive in winter by offering high-calorie, high-fat foods. 

High-fat Foods for Feeder Birds

• Oil sunflower is a great overall seed to offer in the winter. It has a high calorie/ounce ratio due to its high fat and protein content and its relatively thin shell. Oil sunflower has twice the calories per pound than striped sunflower, and its smaller shells make less mess when discarded by the birds.

• Suet is a great high-fat, no-mess food to offer many of the birds that will visit backyards in the winter. Suet is a high energy, pure fat substance which is invaluable in winter when insects are harder to find and birds need many more calories to keep their bodies warm. It can be fed in a variety of feeders ranging from a suet cage to a wood and cage feeder offering protection from the weather elements and designed to require the birds to hang upside down.

• Peanuts are another great food to offer birds in the wintertime. Peanuts have high protein and fat levels and are often an ingredient in suet products. Offering peanuts in a peanut feeder can provide a good source of protein for birds, too.

• Our Winter SuperBlend® is specially formulated to give birds that little extra seasonal boost of energy and fat. Packed with sunflower chips, pecans, peanuts, tree nuts, Bark Butter Bits and safflower, this blend is a nutritional powerhouse right when birds need it most. It can be used on its own or mixed into your normal seed blend. It's also available in seed-cylinder form for a convenient and long-lasting way to feed your birds; simply slide it onto one of our seed cylinder feeders.

• Our suet, Jim’s Birdacious® Bark Butter® and Winter SuperBlend® will help birds, such as woodpeckers, chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, wrens and others, maintain their high metabolic rate.

Nyjer® (Thistle Alternative) for Finches

• Nyjer is 50% fat and protein, and it’s a favorite of some of the Valley's backyard bird species, like the resident Lesser Goldfinch and Black-crested Titmouse, and in winter, American Goldfinch and Pine Siskin.

• Nyjer has a thin shell that small-billed birds can easily open - saving them time and energy as they eat their food.

• Specially designed to hold small seeds and accommodate small-billed birds, our EcoClean® Finch Feeders are the best feeders for offering Nyjer. They contain antimicrobial product protection, and their Quick-Clean® removable base makes them easy to clean.

• Nyjer® is a registered trademark of the Wild Bird Feeding Industry, and has an interesting history.

Seed Blends for Ground-feeding Birds

• Our Deluxe Blend is loaded with sunflower and safflower seeds and millet. Offer Deluxe Blend in a ground feeder like our EcoTough® Covered Ground Tray.

• Millet is high in carbohydrates and is especially good for attracting ground-feeding birds, such as native sparrows, quail, and doves, and overwintering towhees.