When temperatures soar, it’s uncomfortable for everyone, including the much-loved feathered friends who frequent our gardens!
Here, Maria Kincaid, in-house ornithologist for smart bird feeder, FeatherSnap, offers her expert advice on how to help our garden birds when it’s hot outside:
- Birds lack the sweat glands that humans have to help keep them cool, so they have to alter their behaviour in order to keep cool. When the sun is at its warmest, you’re most likely to find birds in the cool shade of the trees, as the shade can make the temperature feel between five and ten degrees cooler. By placing things like bird baths and feeders in shady areas, you’re giving them a cool refuge for food, and helps to prevent food spoilage. However, please be very wary of moving bird houses into the shade unless you’re a hundred percent positive that they are empty.
- One of the ways that many birds will keep cool, besides angling their feathers to catch a breeze and panting to help release heat, is to take a quick dip, much like we would. Provide a bird bath, and more than one if you’re able. Bird baths filled with cool, clean water not only provide a haven to cool feathers, but also a reliable source of drinking water to help replace what’s lost through respiration.
- Besides making sure to regularly clean and maintain your feeders and bird baths, other ways to help birds during the warm season are more long-term efforts. Plant native, bird friendly plants like sunflowers, honeysuckle, and holly to name a few. These plants offer shade, provide insects for food during the spring and summer, and provide seeds and fruit in the late summer and autumn.
- It’s also important to limit or better yet, completely avoid the use of pesticides in your garden. Insects are an important part of the ecosystem, and a vital food source for many species of birds, especially during the breeding season and while they’re feeding young.
Discover more at www.uk.feathersnapcam.com.