Birdfeeders

Nature supplies plentiful foods for birds during the winter, but often it is spread over a great distance. For example, the white ash tree produces lots of seeds, but these trees can be spread out over a large forested area. In order to make finding food easier, sometimes birds work together in feeding flocks which consist of many different species. They typically spread out over a large area and alert the rest of the flock when food is found. This explains why during the winter you may suddenly have many species visiting bird feeders. If backyard bird feeders are filled with commonly appreciated food, such as black oil sunflower seeds or mixed seeds, the yard will be a busy place indeed. Different species also feed at different times of the day, so you are likely to have visitors to bird feeders at various hours. Diurnal birds are active during daylight hours, nocturnal birds only at night, and crepuscular birds feed at dawn and dusk. Therefore, different species can actually share the same area without conflict.