00:19
Kathy 
So it is definitely winter. And while many smart birds have migrated to warmer climates, a lot of the songbirds have actually stayed here in southwestern Ontario. And that's what we're going to focus on in this episode of wild about wildlife.

Thank you for tuning in today. I'm your host, Kathy Mueller. My special guest is Jeff Lee, manager of Wild Birds Unlimited. It's a bird lover's paradise if you haven't been, and they're very good friends of Salthaven wildlife. In fact, Jeff used to be a volunteer with Salthaven. So he's going to help answer some questions about how birds survive the cold Canadian winter, how we can best help them, and do birds even need our help?

So welcome, Jeff. So glad that you can join me today.

01:13
Jeff
thank you very much for having me

01:16
Kathy 
Yeah. So, let's start there. We see the birds outside and they're all fluffed up against the cold and the wind. How do they survive the cold winter and why don't they all fly south?
They have the capability of doing so.

01:32
Jeff
That's right. So with the birds that do stay here, they've either adapted, so through physiological evolution or just adaptations, and as well as behavioural adaptations through the way that they look for food, look for shelter, things like that. The main things that they have to do to cope with the winters that we have here is to maximize the number of calories that they intake as well as limiting or minimizing the calories that they spend and so they have to keep constantly replenishing. So the two things that they really have to do through the winter is to maintain a high body temperature just like humans we have to maintain 98.6 Fahrenheit I believe it is.

02:20
Jeff
With birds, and it can range because there's some of them that can actually lower their body temperature, it's anywhere between 100 to 105. So the main ones to begin with at first I will start with the physiological ones. The main one that always stuck out with me when you see your little chickadees and the birds flying around outside during the frigid cold, they still got their little feet sticking out. And you wonder how they're not freezing to poles and twigs and everything like that. The reason why they are able to do that is because their feet and their legs are mostly made of bone and tendons with very little muscle. So they don't actually have to maintain a higher temperature to keep those muscles going.

03:05
Jeff
So they have to regulate their feet at lower temperatures, actually close to freezing temperatures. So they're able to actually take the cold a lot better than we could. Now there's a couple of adaptations or evolutions that they've got in there as well. The blood flow to the feet in quite a few species is special because on the way down, and this is prevalent in chickadees mostly, but a lot of the other birds that are here too, the blood flow that goes down into the foot, it runs right parallel to the blood flow that's coming back out of the foot. So the warm blood going down, the cold blood coming back in, and it's actually heat transfer between those two arteries and veins so that a lot of that heat is actually captured going back into the body; it warms that cold blood before it gets back into the body so they're able to actually minimize the heat loss that way. 

04:02
Jeff
Another thing they have is the scales on their feet. They're actually especially a special scale that helps to maintain the heat inside the feet as well as the legs so they don't get as much heat loss that way either. And you actually touched on the next one, the feathers when they fluff up. So bird feathers are quite specialized compared to say our hair. And especially with the birds, they've got mostly two different types of feathers. There's the outer feathers as well as the under feathers. The outer feathers typically are water repellent and that's due to their preening oils that they have. In most birds that's the gland that comes out near the base of their tail and then they fix their feathers and you can see them kind of straightening their feathers, but they also run from the base of the feathers to the tip, and that's helping to spread that preening oil around which also weatherproofs the feather and so the birds that stay here for the winter have realized that it helps to keep off the snow and the rain and everything like that so the water just basically beads off and runs off.

And then underneath is that drilled downy layer. And the purpose of the downy layer is actually to track the heat in there. It works as a layer of insulation, basically. And the body heat gets stuck in the layer, and then it basically creates a warmer layer to separate from the outer frigid air to the core of the bird.

05:31
Kathy 
So are the feathers actually getting thicker, like a cat or dog gets a thicker coat in the winter? Is that kind of happening with birds or, or no, it's just that it's trapping the heat?

05:45
Jeff
Mostly it's trapping the heat, but birds do molt typically, but usually for molts it's to replace broken feathers or to just get a new feather basically in there. It might not be in the best shape. But the down is typically the most part, and even from when they're fledglings, they always have that down on there to help keep them warm. And then during the winter time, they fluff up their feathers, so they make them stick out instead of having them flat on their bodies, and that increases the air spaces that are there. 

06:19
Jeff
Another one would be just the reducing of their body temperatures. So chickadees, I believe, are one of the main examples. They can actually maintain their bodies at a lower temperature, especially at night. So it doesn't actually mean, or it doesn't mean that they lose as much heat, because they don't have to warm up as much. And then they're not having to spend as many calories to get up to that higher temperature as well. 

06:42
And then another one, especially with the food, is some of these birds do have a crop, which is like a special pouch that's off the esophagus, where they store seeds in nuts so they can carry back a large supply. Blue jays have been known to actually just stuff their crops full of sunflower seeds, like 100 or 200 of them almost, and take them back to stash them away. And then they have a good supply later on. And even still with all of these, most of these birds when it gets into a cold temperature, typically they're going to be shivering all night. And that's actually another adaptation. The movement of your muscles, that rapid movement actually does warm the body.

That is where most of those calories are going to be spent and the body fat used up during that cold night just to keep that bird's temperature warmer and shivering is actually a physical adaptation that's come around for many species. When we get cold we shiver and it's the same idea. It just helps to keep us warm.

07:47
Kathy 
And you talked about how the blue jays will take their cache and go and store it somewhere. Do they actually remember where they're storing it?

07:59
Jeff
Yeah, actually, it's not one hundred percent. So squirrels and a lot of the birds during wintertime, so jays, chickadees, nuthatches, and woodpeckers are typically the main four groups that you can think of. But squirrels and blue jays, they actually have been responsible for the northern distribution of a lot of oak trees because they don't remember or they get raided by other animals even in the same group, so acorns especially are prevalent with the blue jays and the squirrels. They're their favorite nuts so they do stash quite a lot. Even the blue jays can stash them about two and a half miles I believe it is away from the source, so quite a ways, and but yeah, they don't remember all of them. It's a very wide range depending on the squirrel, the populations that are all there. It can range from 25 percent of the stash or the cache that's recovered up to about 95 percent. So it fluctuates quite a ways based on the population and then the actual species of the squirrels too.

09:09
Kathy 
Yeah, so you mentioned chickadees and blue jays. I'll see cardinals in the winter. You can't miss their bright red, right? Juncos. I've got juncos at my feeder. So these are some of the birds that stick around. Do they even need our help? Would they be okay if all humans stopped feeding them?

09:33
Jeff
Yeah the wild birds that are out there, they still get the vast variety of their food from nature, natural sources. The feeders and things that we put out, and there's been studies that have been done, and it's ranges a little bit, but it's typically between 20 to 33 percent that the birds actually use out of their diet from feeders. So the vast majority of it, they still get from wild sources. And it can vary based on the species, but for the most part, they're still getting their wild sources out there. And the feeders are just supplemental to help them kind of get through.

10:14
Jeff
One thing I did want to touch back on with the chickadees though, the chickadees with caching behavior, they have a very large hypothalamus, which is actually the spatial memory part of the brain. So comparatively  it's quite large, but even during the fall it gets bigger. So it increases so they have a better memory for the fall through the winter. And there they've been known to stash, I believe it's up to about 80,000 different seeds in a season, and they can remember the vast majority of them, if not all of them.

10:45
Kathy 
Wow. So the chickadees are getting smarter in the winter.

10:48
Jeff
Yeah, it had actually been thought that the squirrels could do that too. But studies have shown that there's no real and size difference in the hypothalamus between the summertime and the fall. So it's kind of an old wives tale for them, but it does work for the chickadees at least.

11:07
Kathy 
Wow. That's just incredible. And, so then continuing and talking about food then. So, we are putting feeders out, we're or obviously putting food in how, or do we need to switch up the kind of food that we're putting out in the colder months compared to what we put out in the warmer months?

11:27
Jeff
Yeah, it's always a good idea during the colder months. Even if you feed year-round, you can still use the same seed that you have. Your main thing that you want to do is just keep an eye on the populations that you have out there, because you may get bursts of them basically when they get into really cold weather, so they may push to your feeders to help them regain that body fat that they're having to spend at night to stay warm.

So you may want to put out an extra feeder. You may want to take down one that you had before that they're not frequenting as often. But your food choices, you really want to go for high fat and high energy seeds. So sunflower seed is a good year round. Typically black oil sunflower seed, it's higher in the oil content, which is the fat content that those birds need.
Peanuts are great throughout the year but again during the colder months they have a high fat content as well as the protein so it does give them a good bit of energy and then suet. So fat sources other than the seeds and nuts. Suet is a very good one as well because it mimics the insect fat. So larva and pupae from the insects, it imitates that so that they can build up their fat stocks pretty quick. And usually they're mixed with other seeds and nuts as well as fruits, so carbohydrates and proteins as well to help keep that energy up too.

12:56
Jeff
But even with suet, the chickadees and jays and some other things have been known to feed off of carcasses that they found on the fat that's on them. So they're used to actually getting those fat sources in the wild sometimes too. But for goldfinches, everything like that, you want to keep those feeders out. A lot of people don't actually realize that the goldfinches are still here during the winter. It's just that they lose that molting colour, oh sorry, that nesting colour. They're not that bright yellow colour that we always encounter during the summertime.

13:26
Kathy 
And then with the feed that we're putting out, Wild Birds Unlimited has a, I'll just say it's like a spicy version of suet and feed to try and keep certain critters away.

13:41
Jeff
That's right. So, the hot pepper food that we have, and it's been researched, and this is one touchy so subject that's been coming up since we've had this, but we did all our research beforehand and including actually talking to Brian out at Salthaven, and if he'd actually encountered anything or heard of anybody that had encountered any negative effects of the hot pepper. But the idea with the hot pepper is birds have evolved alongside these hot peppers to help distribute their seeds, to help these fruits continue. But with the mammals, they tended to eat the plants and everything so the plant didn't tend to reproduce and so it was that arms race with them where the capsaicin that formed in it was felt by the mammals. So, one of the receptors that we have in our body, we can feel that burning sensation that spiciness. We've learned to like it but most mammals don't encounter it very often so they tend to have a, not really wanting to go eat that because it's not a sensation that they're used to feeling. So squirrels, raccoons are the big ones typically. Chipmunks can take it a little bit more because they have a fur-lined mouth so it may not be quite as effective with them. But with the birds they actually don't have the receptor; it binds differently in the birds so that they don't actually feel that spiciness and that includes in their eyes, their digestive tracts, their beaks and everything all their mouths. So they actually can't feel it at all. They don't have that burning sensation So it is quite effective against the mammals and still keep an eye on your birds.

15:24
Kathy 
Yeah, that's so frustrating when you put out the, you fill out your feeder and the next thing you see a squirrel hanging from it or right? They're just so ingenious as to how they can access, even if you've got the baffles and everything, right? They find a way around. When we're talking about feeders, do we need to change those up at all? What do we need to keep in mind in terms of feeders in the winter?

15:47
Jeff
So feeders typically are going to be different in some respects, at least from the summer to the winter. Your nectar feeders obviously aren't going to do too very well in the winter, so there's no point in leaving them out. The big one that you really want to have out, and especially for us, but mostly for the birds, is what we call a foundational feeder. A foundational feeder is typically a bigger feeder that can be filled and stay filled for a few days at least, and it'll support the main body of the birds that are out there.

But adding in those fat feeders, suet feeders, peanut feeders, even little treat feeders that have, say, suet nuggets or any different tree nuts, things like that, just extra little bits of food. And then, like I said before, adding in extra feeders if you notice a real big push to the feeders where you're getting a large population of, say, the goldfinches all of a sudden. We might have an ah eruption year with them. And so we may have all kinds of them out there all of a sudden and your feeder empties out in a day or two. So getting another one out there always helps. 

16:57
Jeff
Big thing all year round is weather guards. So especially during the snow, with us, it may bury some of those feeders or clog the holes up. So having the weather guards on there helps to keep those holes clean so that the birds can at least access some of those holes if not all of the holes.

17:17
Kathy 
Does placement matter, where you have them?

17:20
Jeff
Yeah placement does play a rather big effect especially for keeping the squirrels off. Squirrels typically can get to a feeder pole if they can jump about 10 feet typically so you have to keep it away from trees fences like that about 10 feet so that they can't get to it. The big thing really with feeder placement is just visibility for both you and the birds. If you have one hanging underneath a very thick tree, the birds may not see it, and so the food that's in there may just rot and go bad, go moldy, and that's just a bad thing for the birds all around. So birds actually find their food by sight, not by smell, and there's really only with one species of bird that does find it by smell, and that's vultures. So if we get it out in the most visible spot that we can, it'll help them to find it and then they will know where to come back and then we can still enjoy them as well because it's where we can see them.

18:19
Kathy
And then once you do start feeding birds, especially in the winter when they really need the food, do you have to keep it up? What if you get the luxury of being able to escape somewhere warm for a couple of weeks in the winter? Is that going to inadvertently hurt or compromise the birds that you've been feeding for six weeks?

18:43
Jeff
This is a question that we get asked a fair bit at the store, too. The big thing is, typically, no. Birds do adapt to find different food caches in stores that are out there. They may find, say, like an insect supply that's under an underside of an evergreen tree that they can gobble up. But then when they go back next time, there's nothing there. So they constantly have to look for food anyways. But with the fact that they only use our feeders supplementally, they'll just kind of move on and go there to whatever wild sources they can find anyways. They may just increase those wild sources if your feeders aren't active at the time.

19:27
Kathy 
Okay, good to know because it can run a little expensive too, trying to keep those feeders fed all the time, right?

19:35
Jeff
Yeah, it can. It's good entertainment though, and it actually is great for your mental health too, even just quick units.

19:38
Kathy
Oh my gosh, I could not agree more. Yes, it is my winter entertainment and the cat's entertainment actually too, sitting there in the window wanting to desperately to get out and be one with the birds.

19:53
Jeff
We have a lot of customers that actually use it as cat TV for their inside pets.

19:58
Kathy 
Yeah, my cat has no interest in the actual cat TV on YouTube, but put her on her cat tree in front of the window and she's happy. I'm speaking with Jeff Lee from Wild Birds Unlimited, and he is proudly wearing a sweatshirt with a big bird on it that says bird nerd. And the bird is wearing a pair of black glasses, almost like what Jeff is wearing. So we know we're in good hands speaking with Jeff today. The other thing that we haven't talked about that birds need well, just in general, is water. So providing a water source in the winter.

20:35
Jeff
Water is one thing a lot of people don't really think about because they think just oh there's lots of wild sources out there. The thing with winter is a lot of it's frozen. Usually with the birds they can maintain themselves even with frozen sources of water by eating snow. The only thing is that that actually uses up those calories that they're in there to help heat that water up so that they're not freezing themselves. So a heated birdbath or a de-icer does really help. They typically will maintain the water just above freezing, so the birds don't have to put in that extra effort to heat that water so that they can have their water source.

21:13
Kathy 
Yeah, and it's not like it's a hot tub for birds, right? It's not actually, water isn't hot.

21:20
Jeff
Yeah, that's right. And that's one of the misunderstandings that's typically done with the heated bird baths. A lot of people think that it's going to feel warm to the touch when they put their fingers in it. But the whole idea is just to keep it open and liquid without having to really change the input from the bird itself to actually warm that up.

21:43
Kathy
And shelter, do we need to be concerned about shelter or like, you you'll see so many of the little sparrows just come flocking out of those big cedar bushes, right? So they seem like they've got pretty good coverage for the winter.

22:01
Jeff
Yeah, a lot of the birds do find their own sources of shelter throughout the winter time. A lot of the time it's either, like you said, a conifer tree, a coniferous tree, or trees, really dense trees and shrubs. There's also crevices that they can find in trees or buildings even, and tree holes that have already been made. So when a branch breaks off and it regrows around the wound, typically it'll make a cavity. They might be able to nest in there and get out of there. 

The only real species that does make their own is actually the woodpeckers. And from winter to summer, it does change for them because they have nesting cavities as well as roosting cavities. And it's actually one of the behavioural adaptations that they've made because during the winter time, they may need to make a roost hole quickly so they can do it within about a day if it's something that's necessary for them to get into. But it's usually done in rotting wood at that time because it's softer and usually there's a little bit more air spaces in that rotting wood so it acts more insulation.

Whereas with the nesting sites, they're usually more solid wood and they may take a little longer but usually when they do make a roosting site through the winter they tend to use it for most of that winter too and then with the placement of them they've realized with the wind it seems that, so roosting holes are typically within about six feet of the ground on for them to get into, whereas nesting holes are typically about three times up so about 18 to 20 feet usually. And for me I believe that's just because of the wind so in the winter time you're lower down you're out of the majority of the wind you can retain more heat. Whereas in nesting time when you're up higher, warmer temperatures, you may catch that breeze and help to ventilate that hole better.

24:04
Kathy 
So is there anything that we as humans should be doing in terms of helping the birds out with shelter over the winter or just leave them to their own devices?

24:13
Jeff
If we have nesting boxes that are already out, we can always just leave them. It can be just like the woodpeckers, if they need a temporary shelter, they can just duck in there for the night. Anything you can do to get out of the wind especially is going to help them maintain that body heat. So usually if you have a nesting box in your backyard during summer, it's great to leave it out during the winter as well. And usually you don't really have to take out that, if a nest was in there during the nesting time, leave it in there. It just helps to provide insulation, but clean it out the next time, in March, before the next nesting comes along.

24:51
Kathy 
And speaking of cleaning and back to feeders then, because quite often from birding experts, you hear quite often, make sure you're cleaning your feeders. Is that just as critical in the wintertime as it is in the summer, or is it more of an issue in the summer simply because it's hotter and that impacts the feed more?

25:11
Jeff
Usually with the amount of the birds that are there is going to be the main factor. So cleaning usually is recommended at least every month, so every four weeks. Now it may not be a quite as in-depth cleaning. Usually we recommend just using dish soap and water to get the visible dirt off. And if there's more increases in defecation or anything like that, it's good to get it off before it can actually cause anything. So you may end up doing it more often, depending on the number of birds that are there and if they're being very dirty, essentially.

25:52
Kathy 
Okay. So basically just keep an eye on it, right? And do it at least once a month. But if you notice that it needs it sooner than that, then do it sooner.

26:00
Jeff
Yeah, and you can also disinfect, so you can do a light disinfecting if you notice it's moldy, anything like that that you might need to disinfect. You can use a water and vinegar solution, it does work well. If it's a really heavily moldy or needing a really good soak, 10 percent bleach solution it works really well, but make sure you do rinse it off later and don't leave it for like overnight or anything like that, just maybe a couple hours probably okay, as the bleach can actually corrode some of the metal parts and feeders.

26:33
Kathy 
In terms of survival in the winter, are birds more susceptible to predators in the winter?

26:42
Jeff
There's kind of a bit of give and take with the predators, usually around feeders. The main predators are going to be either the accipiter hawks, so your sharp shins, as well as the Coopers hawks, or house cats. House cats tend to be one of the bigger ones because they tend to stalk around certain feeders and they're not really hunting for food most of the time, they're just hunting for fun, so they may just grab whatever they can. So with the hawks in this case a lot of the time there's not a whole lot we can do about it. Any congregation of birds is going to get spotted by these hawks that are around so you may notice just all of a sudden everything takes off and you may notice a little pile of feathers that's floating around somewhere more than likely and that's one of those hawks that just zipped in and grabbed one of those birds. But the birds actually do have natural behavioural defences that they do for this. So usually when they're flocked around a feeder they have somebody that's looking out. So somebody will call if they see a hawk coming and then everybody just scatters.

27:54
Jeff
So something that we can do is to provide them places to go to once something like that happens. So having shrubs, trees, conifer trees around just quick places where they can bolt away to go hide works really well for that. But it's still nature. The hawks do have to eat as well.

With the cats in mind now, it's usually going to be better for them just to be indoor cats. And I know this is a big proponent of Salthaven as well with Brian. He's really helped me kind of understand this as well, but with keeping them inside, entertaining them in different ways instead of letting them go out and just hunt like they want to. Or, well, not all of them, but some of them. I know some real lazy cats that just don't even care. But yeah, with the house cats, because they tend to stalk and wait a little bit more, and they may be there every day where a hawk doesn't need to eat every day. I think it's about once a week at the very most. You can maybe not even see those hawks around your feeders often, whereas a cat, if he keeps coming around every day, you may notice a big dip in your population that's there.

29:12
Kathy 
Right, right. And like you said earlier, the house cats aren't necessarily looking for food, they're looking for entertainment. Or perhaps it's like, you know, quite often it'll be, oh, here, mom, look at the present I brought you, right? That sort of thing.

29:28
Jeff
Yeah, one thing we do have to keep in mind as well with keeping our feeders clean and around the base of the feeders especially, is that if it gets too over, like built up, you may start attracting vermin. So rats, mice, things like that. And they may actually attract more attention from owls and hawks as well.

29:50
Kathy 
So not just the feeder, clean the area.

29:53
Jeff
Yeah, so if you do notice that you're having a bit of a pile up underneath, you can always clean it up. For me, I always let my feeders empty down right to empty and then leave it a couple of days. And usually those ground birds or even the other birds will clean up what's on the ground and then fill up your feeders again so that they're taken care of. But if you notice there's a big pile up there that has built up, you can always just rake it up and dispose of it and then put your feeders back out again.

30:20
Kathy 
Okay. And then I was listening to a podcast and they were talking about ground feeders. And I'm not very familiar with ground feeders, but to me, it sounds like a pretty dangerous venture. Ground feeders it's obviously a feeder that's on the ground, but how do they work and are they safe to use?

30:38
Jeff
Ground feeders basically just mimic the location of a lot of food for some of the birds. So for example, the juncos, they're a ground feeder. Typically, if you have feeders, out you'll see them underneath. They may come up every so often and grab something off a feeder, but they're usually on the ground. Mourning does are another example of ground birds. But the feed that they usually, the natural feed that they go after is typically wildflower seeds. So native wildfire seeds and they're usually within a couple feet of the ground. So putting out a feeder that mimics that just makes it a more comfortable sort of area for them because they know where to look. Now there's give and take with that as well. So usually with a ground feeder, you could even just put a dish on the ground and fill it up. And that could be a ground feeder for you. But for us, for ones that we sell at the store, they're raised up off the ground, at least a foot so that it helps to keep the ventilation as well as the drainage for that food if it does happen to get wet. Again, weather guards or roofs on these feeders are always a good thing. 

31:46
Kathy 
And do you run the risk of, like if you have a ground feeder, then I'm thinking, do you run the risk of attracting, I don't know, possums or raccoons or a squirrel to gobble all of that up?

31:59
Jeff
Yes, that is one of the main things with a ground feeder that a lot of people do have to contend with. With the ground feeders like that, usually it's best recommended to not use a large amount of food. Just put out enough for the day, even let them gobble it up and then if there's anything else they can just clean up on the ground. That way you're not putting out too much that's going to attract things at night. So your rats, mice, possums, raccoons that typically are the ones coming out at night. So if you only put enough out there for the day, the birds will clean it up and then you don't have to worry about those mammals at night.

32:39
Kathy 
Okay. And is there anything that we, we've been talking about things that we should be doing to help the birds, or things that we can do to help the birds. Is there anything that we should not be doing so that we're not, we think we're helping them, but we're inadvertently actually not helping them.

32:56
Jeff
The big things that I find, and probably this is going to be one of the things that's encountered at Salthaven with the health of the birds too, with respect to placement of your feeders is window strikes. And it may not be something that anybody even thinks about, but there's kind of a little danger zone away from windows. So if the feeders are within three feet of the window, it's a safe spot. And if they're beyond 10 feet of the window, you're pretty much good. So between 3 feet and 10 feet away from that window is the danger zone for those birds. During different seasons, they may have different reasons for going into the window. But basically what happens is that they'll bolt away to go find, like in the panic mode basically so when those hawks come around they just go wherever they can. But to the bird what they're seeing is just the reflection off the window so it looks like a continuation of what's behind them and then smack. The other one is hormones. It's usually done through mating season, nesting season they think it's a rival and then they'll go at the window. But for this instance, it's typically just going to be the panic from the hawks coming around. So placing your feeders in an appropriate spot will help to lessen that. But again, it's something that people don't typically think about until it happens. 

34:25
Jeff
In regards to the health of the birds, though, the cleaning of the feeders may be one of the best things and it’s just neglect, really, letting your feeders go thinking they're doing fine. But you may be inadvertently spreading around conjunctivitis, a big one that actually does hit finches. And there's a fair few other ones as well. So keeping your feeders clean and the placement of them typically is going to be the main things. And it could be just ignorance for the fact that you just don't know. But that's why we're out here. I mean, you can always stop in the store and ask questions. We can help you with that. But that's part of the reason we're doing this too.

35:08
Kathy 
I guess the same goes for the heated bird baths too, is to make sure that they're regularly kept clean. And cause the birds are in there and they're flapping around and having their baths and probably, you know, using it as a toilet and, and all of that, just to keep it clean.

35:22
Jeff
That's very right, yes. Not only do the birds have it as a drinking source, but they do bathe in it as well. But then like you said, they do use it as a toilet a lot of the time, too. So if you can, every day would be ideal. But every two to three days, at the very least you want to change out that water, just to keep it as fresh as possible, limit any kind of contaminants that are in there. And also to keep any dirt that may collect in there because the birds actually do need to wash out any dirt or dust, anything that may build up in their downy layers to help keep that insulation layer going just fine so that they can stay warm at night.

35:59
Kathy 
So this is kind of a big picture question about climate change. I know just a tiny topic to talk about. Have you noticed, you talked earlier about how birds are adapting and they've adapted over the years to stay and face Canadian winters. Are you noticing any change in behaviour among the songbirds when it comes to climate change? Are more birds wintering with us that used to go south? 

36:28
Jeff
The big thing that's related to climate change with the songbirds is that they're changing their distribution mostly. So a lot of the southern birds, birds that we typically would get that would push forward when it does get colder, their food supplies run out. They are typically pushing further north now and losing some of their southern sites. The big ones that we've noticed as an increase here are still ones that we do see, but we're just noticing a population increase over the past 20 years or so. The tufted titmouse, the gray gnatcatcher, northern mockingbirds, and the red-bellied woodpeckers, there's been a rather big increase in them as they push further so north to find better food stashes.

With other songbirds typically it's going to be the same thing. They may have competition for those food sources because of the birds depleting their other food sources so they have to move into a new area. So when that climate change does affect the area it's basically just going to push them further north as things get warmer and then the opposite if it does get cold. But in that respect, for those northern birds that typically we do see during our winters, we may not see them as often because their food sources are more readily available up there because it's not as cold and so it may not be buried under the snow so that they're able to access it or they may have had a really good growing season that year and then that way they're able to just stay and so we may not see them.
Usually when we do get a cold burst and we see a whole bunch of those birds down here it's called an eruption. We get it with like red polls and even with goldfinches, you can see them if they have a really good year during the summer. You may just notice all of a sudden there's a lot more birds during that year. But beyond songbirds, yeah, I've noticed there's a lot more geese and ducks on the Thames River. Even since I was a kid, it's increased. That river hasn't really frozen over for, oh geez, I think I was a teenager the last time I saw it freeze over and was able to skate on it.

But yeah, the more those birds do stay here, they're depleting the natural sources of food that those other birds, so like chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, all the ones that we normally see over winter, they're going to be affecting that food source. So those birds may have to move their populations into a more food readily available area.

39:12
Kathy 
Right, so it's all interconnected, right?

39:16
Jeff
Yeah, a lot of the time with the warblers as well, if we have a warmer season, they may not migrate. They may migrate later. The big thing with climate change is it's really affecting the timing of the birds migrating, whether earlier or later. And with insect populations especially, so if it's a really warm year, the insects may come out earlier than expected. And if the birds are still sticking to their normal nesting schedule kind of thing, they may end up missing out on a good chunk of those insects. And so they may not be as so successful as that rearing those baby birds.

39:56
Kathy 
Right. I would love to know if you have a favourite songbird and why. Like for me, if we're talking about colours, it's that red cardinal or just the variations on a blue jay. But for me, the sound, it's the northern house wren and how something so small can put out such a beautiful song. It's just like, it just stops me in my track. So what would be your favourite song bird?

40:29
Jeff
My favourite songbird is actually one I've mentioned quite a few times today already. It's the black-capped chickadee. They're such a hearty, tough little bird. They're able to adapt to just about everything. They have a huge, broad range for their diet so they can survive on just about everything.

And they're really brave little birds. A lot of the time you can go out to your feeders they may even come and land on you and they're one of the few species you can get to come and eat out of your hand. But I just love that they're just such a tenacious little tough bird, looking so tiny.

41:08
Kathy 
Yeah, yeah. Before I let you go, let's do a little bit of a plug for Wild Birds Unlimited. So if people are interested in coming out to the store or hopping on your website. Give us some information about how people can find you.

41:29.75
Jeff
Sure. So the store is located at 502 Springbank Drive. It's just east of Wonderland at Wonderland in Springbank. We do have an online store as well. If you do Google it, I would do WBU London because there are quite a few different stores. That way you can find us.
We do have an online shop as well. Quite a few of our products are online, but not all of them. We do have quite a considerable amount of gifty stuff in the store. So if that is part of the thing you're coming, I would come to the store as well.

And you get to talk to us if you do come into the store as well. So if you have any questions or anything like that, we are all very versed about birds there. And we all are very active in the hobby as well. Every single one of us in the store has a feeder up at least one. And we can share our stories. We love having people come in, bring in pictures, the things they've seen.

And just really getting out to the community so if you guys come to us it makes it easier and we can help share that love of everything that we have there too.

42:26
Kathy Mueller
Yeah, and quite often you're doing events and having wildlife experts specialists coming into the store with different wildlife ambassadors and introducing the public to them. And yeah it's the best part about going into the store is being able to talk with you all and asking questions and getting that advice and not being made to feel stupid for asking the questions.

42:51
Jeff
Everybody's got to start somewhere. There’s not really a stupid question. It's not being willing to ask the question. You're never going to learn if you don't ask a question.

43:03
Kathy 
Absolutely. Well, we'll leave it there for now. Thank you so much, Jeff, for joining me today.

43:09
Jeff
My pleasure, Kathy. Thank you for having me.

43:11
Kathy 
So I hope the tips that you've heard from Jeff will result in flocks of songbirds coming to your backyard feeders this winter. For more birding information, the Wild Birds Unlimited website, as we talked about, has a lot of information including a podcast called Nature Centered. And of course, it's all about birds. Their website is london.wbu.com. 

If you have a question about something you heard in this episode, you can send me an email at wildaboutwildlifeatsalthaven.org. I'm also looking for ideas for future episodes. So if there's a particular wildlife animal you'd like to learn more about, just let me know.

I'm your host, Kathy Mueller. On behalf of everyone at Salthaven Wildlife, thanks so much for listening. Together, we can help keep the wild in wildlife.