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Keep on feeding Experts at the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) are urging garden birdwatchers to continue providing food for visiting birds over the coming months. To help people select appropriate foods for this time of year, the Trust has produced a new leaflet that is freely available to those interested in helping their garden birds. This is the time of year when many people stop putting out food for garden birds in the belief that, having helped them through the winter, the birds will now be able to fend for themselves through the spring and summer. In actual fact, many birds will benefit from the provision of supplementary foods right throughout the year. As Mike Toms, coordinator of the BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch, notes ‘We all know that winter can be a testing time for many small birds, with low temperatures, long nights and a general shortage of food. However, it can be just as hard for birds at other times of the year. During the breeding season, small birds living in urban and suburban areas may find it difficult to find enough food to feed themselves and their hungry chicks. Research has shown that the provision of suitable supplementary foods can help birds meet the demands of breeding, possibly by allowing the adults to eat the food we provide while saving other ‘natural’ foods, like caterpillars, for their hungry chicks.’ ‘Of course, it is important to make sure that you provide food that is appropriate and there are certain foods that should be avoided. For example, peanuts should only be provided behind a wire mesh or as granules to ensure that young birds are not presented with whole peanuts that may cause them to choke. Similarly, salty foods and desiccated coconut should also be avoided. With an increasing range of wild bird foods now available to garden birdwatchers, it is relatively easy to get hold of suitable foods, like sunflower hearts, nyjer seed, peanut cake and even live foods like mealworms.’ In order to help people select appropriate foods and to provide food in a suitable manner, the BTO’s Garden BirdWatch Team have produced a new leaflet on feeding garden birds. To receive a free copy of this leaflet, please send your name and address details to GBW Feeding Leaflet, BTO, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk, IP24 2PU or telephone 01842-750050. Notes for editors 1. The BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch is the largest year round survey of garden birds anywhere in the World and provides important information on how birds use gardens, and how this use changes over time. See www.bto.org/gbw for more information. 2. Garden birdwatchers can discover which birds are likely to be found in their gardens by visiting www.postcodebirds.bto.org and entering their postcode. 3. Colour photographs of garden birds are freely available from the BTO Image Library for use in association with this press release. Please contact images AT bto.org to request electronic versions of these images. 4. Contacts. Mike Toms (Garden BirdWatch
Organiser) BTO Digital Image Library |
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