Winging the winter

By Paul Schnare

I just looked at the weather forecast on my cell phone for the next few days. Brrrrrrrrrrr!

Then I looked out the window and saw one of my feathered friends. I'll bet he also was saying "Brrrrrrrrrr!"

When I was growing up, my mother and grandmother always told me to drink plenty of water each day. That I did, without hesitation. But they also told me I had to take a bath every day. Now that was a different story. I wasn't so sure the bath was needed.

When you think about it, birds are like people in a sense. They need to drink water every day. In order to do that, they need to find free-flowing or standing water. This is not a problem until the temperatures drop like the current forecast. They then may have to fly a long way to find liquid water.

When the temperatures drop, you and I simply put on a coat, and maybe long johns and a sweater beneath that coat. A bird doesn't have that luxury. Feathers are its winter coat. In order for the feather coat to keep a bird warm, it must be clean. This allows the air between the feathers to provide insulation. If the feathers are full of dirt, the air and its insulating factor is lost.

If you are a bird lover and want to help your feathered friends, I suggest you provide them with warm water in a bird bath. This can be done by hooking a bird-bath warmer to an extension cord.

Simply place the bird-bath warmer in the bird bath, and then watch the neighborhood birds flock to the bath. You can also purchase bird baths with built in heaters.

If you place a bird bath and a bird-bath heater in your backyard, the neighborhood flock will be able to enjoy a bathing facility and have a great source of water for hydration. You not only will be helping them out, but you also will have a carnival of activity to enjoy.