What do I do when it’s too cold to go outside? I sit by a window and watch the birds come and go at my bird feeders. The birds are such a delight to see. Over the past two weeks I’ve seen Yellow-throated Warblers, Downy Woodpeckers, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Chickadees, Titmice, Carolina Wrens, Brown Thrashers, Catbirds, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, American Goldfinches, Purple Finches, Bluejays, Cardinals, and others that are harder for me to identify.

The longer I watch the birds, the deeper I’m impressed with their ability to get along with one another. True, there’s an occasional spat, but for the most part they all feast excitedly side by side with as many as four and five different species of birds on one feeder at a time in today’s scramble for food with an impending winter storm on its way.

I’m also reminded of the Scripture Matthew 6:25-34 about how God cares for the birds who neither toil nor spin, and He also cares for us.

I started a new project of coloring the birds I see on my feeders. I purchased several Dover coloring books some time ago. I recently found a box of 100 Crayola pencils, each one a different color, so now I’ve taken on a project of coloring the birds I see on my feeders. Many of the birds are in these coloring books. I find coloring pages for other birds online.

I no longer have children at home, but if I did, I would encourage them to make a notebook or sketchpad of the birds they see at the feeders. They could draw the birds, color them using coloring pages, or simply find pictures of them online and print them out to paste into their notebooks. They could write about each bird describing what it looks like, what it eats, and when they first learned to recognize it. They could include anything they find interesting about the bird. The pictures and writing could be kept in a folder or notebook. Or the pictures could be displayed on the refrigerator for a period of time before saving them into a folder.

Do you have a bird feeder you can watch from the warmth of your home in the winter months? If so, you have probably already experienced the joy I’m writing about. If not, you might consider finding a way to put one where you can watch it. There are many kinds of feeders, and there are ways to feed the birds without a feeder. The closer it is to your window, the better view you will have, but the birds may be more easily frighted if they notice you watching them. Some feeders are designed to hang on the window with the use of suction cups. Other feeders are made to be hung on a tree branch or on a pole with one or more hooks to hold them.

If you do a little online searching you might find ways to make your own bird feeders if you are a do-it-yourself-er. Some require wood and tools while others are as simple as poking sticks through a plastic drink bottle for perches and making nickel-size holes above the perches for the birds to get the seeds. Fill the bottle with seeds and hang it from a tree.

The kind of feeder and the kind of seeds or suet you use will affect the kinds of birds you will attract. Some birds prefer to feed on the ground under your feeder. I have seen birds like Towhees and Morning Doves on my deck eating the seeds that fell from the feeders, while the other birds were busy at the feeders. Suet feeders attract many birds. They are especially good at attracting woodpeckers. If your yard is covered with snow, you might use a piece of cloth as a feeder. If it’s windy, put a weight on the corners, then pour some birdseed on the cloth. You might be surprised how quickly the birds will find it.

Keep in mind that it may take a little time for the birds to discover your bird feeder(s) if you haven’t had one before. If you chose one that is similar to feeders others in your neighborhood are using, they may find it quicker, but sooner or later they will come. While you are waiting for them to discover your feeder, you might spend a little time learning about birds common to your part of the country by searching online or going to your library. Invest in a good bird guide to help identify the birds as they come to your feeders. My favorite bird guide is The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America. Sibley also has another guide for Western North America.

Cornell University has a wonderful website about birds. One link is about Feeding Birds, and another link helps to identify birds. Another website, also by Cornell University is called All About Birds helps people identify birds and their sounds.

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