Ruud Kleinpaste: How to look after birds in your garden during winter

A week away from winter – Everybody feels that – especially the birds in your garden.  

Food is becoming scarce, unless you’ve planted a heap of trees and shrubs that provide nectar and honeydew to keep the nectivores happy.  

Some species of Eucalypts are flowering right now; so do Tagasaste, some puriri and Banksia. Mexican Orange blossom does its best too, judging from the silvereyes that descend on those flowers.  

Nectivores are often attracted by sugar water, delivered in all sorts of ways: bottle feeders are available in garden centres and can be filled with dilutions of that sugar water. Do NOT use honey water as that may spread bee diseases from hive to hive.   

Be aware that we have heaps of Native Nectivores in Aotearoa: tui, bellbird, silvereyes to name a few.  

A lot of people feed birds dodgy supplements such as stale bread and food scraps; yes – sparrows and starlings (as well as mynahs and the odd blackbird) might initially seem to appreciate your gestures, but so do rats and mice (who are also looking for fodder). A Bread meal is often quite detrimental to birds – if they drink water afterwards, the swelling of the bread can rupture their stomachs.  

A number of bird species enjoy some seeds: sparrows greenfinches, gold finches and such introduced creatures; blackbirds don’t mind some seeds covered in fruity stuff.  

Julie has a different view on the matter: “Blackbirds are there to rip the mulch off the garden”, whether or not they want to catch worms or any other invertebrates…  

Another point we need to consider about feeding birds in your garden is that you’ll need to keep going till spring; Your generosity is something the birds rely on and when you stop, there will be consequences for the artificially-high populations created by extra feeding!  

I tend to target nectar feeders in winter. The afore-mentioned Tui, bellbird and silver-eyes are beneficial species!  Silver-eyes are particularly useful insect eaters, specialising in scale insects, mealybugs, aphids, psyllids, whitefly and a heap more of those quite damaging garden pests.  

I hate spraying systemic insecticides, so birds’ help is always welcome.  

And this is how I attract them to my garden from June onwards:  

Lard blocks made from dripping and contained in an old onion bag or in a small, metal “cage” where the birds can hang from. This last contraption feeds a wide range of birds that over-winter in my garden.  

Replenish frequently and remember to place the feeders in a spot out of reach from neighbourhood cats.   

A source of water might also be handy as – even in winter – birds need water  

My goal is to get the largest flocks of silver-eyes on the lard blocks and sugar-water stations throughout winter and right into spring, when the silver-eyes start to disperse to go breeding.

 You might think you will have “lost” them from the garden... they are getting very secretive around nesting time, but they will remember your place as a heaven full of food, so...  

In spring and summer they’ll c

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tame podcast
from News Talks at b aw.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Man In the Gardener's Road Climb pass gelder Rude, Kira Jack.

Speaker 3 (00:17):
I'm in an absolutely beautiful garden here in Bannickburn from
some friends of mine, and it's just gorgeous that two
weeks are everywhere at bell Berts you name it.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Oh, how lovely? How long are you there for?

Speaker 3 (00:28):
I've been here. I was on a kiwi hui this
week in Queenstown and I'm here today and after we finished,
I'm driving back to Julie because I think it's time
for me to go home.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah, is it isn't I mean, I feel like Central
Tago's home home we all wish for, isn't it.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Don't worry? That's what I think too. This is exactly
what it is. But yeah, I feel really blessed to
do this. But let's talk about these things, because you
know what they've got here. I mean, Karen and Garrett
have got these these two weeks feeding in these these
nectar bowls, right, and they made from sugar water, and
it's unbelievable to see how they actually appreciate these sort

(01:07):
of things. But it's not just them, it's the bell
birds as well, but also the.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Silver eyes well, especially at this time of year right
because it's freezer. You know, central targets raising, but it's
cold everywhere.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
Yeah, exactly. So it's a couple of things you can
do something about birds. So you know, even just talked
about Kiwi all week, I thought, I'm going to talk
about different birds for a change, and these birds really
need to be supported thinter. I feel if you really
want to keep them in your garden, and that I
think should be the gig very simple. The gig is that,

(01:39):
for instance, if you have a lot of silver eyes
in the garden right now, and you keep on providing
them with food, they will come back time and time
again until it's breeding time. And then what happens is
they kind of disappear, They become quiet, they make sure
you don't find the nest, but they are still there.
And what they do in summer once they know where

(02:00):
your garden is, what they do in summer is they
eat a fitz medi bugs, all sorts of other pests,
scale insects, and they actually do your pest control for you.
And may I say they do it for free.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Yeah, Yeah. So if you want to sit up, if
you want to sit up feeding for birds, what should
we be doing. Obviously, sugar water is a good option.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, not honeywater. That's actually against the law with diseases
of bird bees and all that. Yeah, but yeah, sugar
water and on a regular basis, and that sugar water
needs to be replenished every now and then, but they
usually get rid of it anyway. So that's number one.
Number two is plants, trees and shrubs that are flowering

(02:42):
at this time of the year and give you natural nectar,
you know, things like the sassi and stuff like eucalyptus.
Some pool really are flowering at the moment. Banks, Yeah,
i s are flowering. That all helps, and those are
really nice things to consider right now. If you don't
know what the plant in your garden, think about this
right now, and you will be absolutely stunted for the

(03:03):
rest of your life with all these creatures coming around.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
About leaving some seeds out in that kind of thing.
You shouldn't leave free to day.

Speaker 3 (03:10):
No bread when when the birds eat bread and it
becomes wet, you know, for instance, they drink water, it
swells up in their stomach and that courses all sorts
of stomach problems.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
I mean you can talk about ADHD, but this was
this is really bad, you know, So that's not good.
And the other thing is the light blocks, if you like,
and things like that. That is quite often the way
to go as well, dripping made into light blocks. I
put some pictures on the website people can see how
it works. And the other thing is the mad butcher

(03:40):
uses old offcuts of rubbishy meat and puts it together
and boy do they love their oh' just wonderful. Yes.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
The key though, is to make sure you're putting in
an elevated spot where the rat can't get to. You
want to make sure you're feeding the birds but not
various other wildlife.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
Around your totally right there.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Hey, thanks rude, Travel home safely, road climb past in
the garden for us.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks at B from nine am Saturday, or
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