How to better feed the birds in winter? Our 4 tips

1. Absolutely avoid bread

This food is a scourge for all birds that, from sparrows to ducks, do not digest gluten. The bread swells their stomachs and contains salt, toxic to them. Result: this malnutrition ends up causing liver disease and bone malformations that can make them unable to fly.

The League for Bird Protection (LPO) has created posters, offered to traders, to raise awareness of this too little known problem.

2. Choose suitable and healthy food

In its natural state, birds eat plants, insects, molluscs and seeds. In winter, you can offer them black sunflower seeds (rather than striated), crushed corn, peanuts (not salty), fruits, and in times of cold, margarine or lard. Store these foods dry and sheltered from rodents, to avoid contamination by pathogens.

3. Pose, height, cleaning … Be careful on the feeder

The feeder should preferably be fixed, placed on a stake to accommodate a larger number of species. Be careful to locate it in height and out of the reach of cats, in a clear place. It is also very important to clean it at least once a week, with soapy water, to prevent it from becoming a home for contamination.

Favor small amounts of seeds to be renewed regularly .

4. Stop feeding wild birds from spring

Wild birds know how to eat very well alone. What you bring to them is only a extra side during the critical winter period, with the risk of leading to human dependence.

Scientists therefore recommend stopping the filling of feeders from the beginning of spring. Birds then need to find animal proteins (towards, insects, etc.) to feed their chicks. Cultivating a garden rich in biodiversity remains the best way to help them.

Sources: League for the protection of birds, National Museum of Natural History.