Feeding station to help the birds
Everything grunts and bleeds, the feeders for the garden birds have long been stored again for the next winter. But it’s high season in the local bird world. Almost all bird species have already bred and are busy finding food for their offspring. It’s just not that easy, which is why the landesbund fur vogelschutz (LBV) is calling for year-round bird feeding.
"In our gardens, ornamental plants and exotics often replace native plants, which are often considered weeds and are important sources of food for birds. The leaf lice and caterpillars are killed with the chemical club. The feeding station in the garden therefore replaces to a certain extent the lost diversity in the garden", helmut schmitt, chairman of the LBV district group forchheim, explains the call for year-round feeding.
For years, the
The nature conservation federation (BN) has not yet said a clear yes, but neither has it said a clear no to year-round feeding. The topic has been discussed there for years, but opinions vary. The corn feed is not good, because the birds now need protein feed, i.E. Worms and insects, explains friedrich oehme of the BN forchheim.
This is also the opinion of the LBV. But schmitt says: "especially during the breeding season, such feeding is particularly important, because it allows the parents to cover their own food requirements quickly and easily at the feeding site and to invest the time saved in the search for insects to feed the young."
A young bird in the nest has to be fed about every half hour. If this can not happen, then it can quickly become dangerous. The downside is that the feeding stations only target ten to fifteen bird species whose populations are stable. The solution would be simple, the LBV and BN agree. "The garden should be an insect garden", says oehme. The alliance for nature conservation is trying to get garden owners excited about the so-called blood spots. These bloom spots can just as well be blooming bushes or shrub borders. "Flowering plants and herbs. Who has a compost, can leave there also a few nettles", council oehme.
The LBV district group forchheim also advocates starting in one’s own garden, because the thuja hedge, the standard lawn and exotic shrubs hardly offer any food for insects. "These insects are in turn the food of many birds. The best is a natural garden with native shrubs that bear berries in autumn and old trees with hollows. A meadow of flowers will also make its contribution and attract many insects", emphasizes schmitt.
Even if people like flowers, the exotic ones are not productive if they don’t pollenize. Oehme cites simple traditional flowers such as the daisy or the daisy as examples of good, insect-attracting flowers.
"The traditional farm garden is the ideal", says oehme, but also advises not to completely eradicate the lowen teeth. These plants, if left in autumn, are of great use to the bird world even in winter, as the birds feed on the seeds that have then developed.
Protein-rich feed
Who would like to support the birds with the all-season feeding, finds suitable, also protein-rich fodder in any case in the store of the LBV. Raisins and oatmeal are also readily accepted, and are quickly picked by the parent birds as their own food before they continue to search for caterpillars and worms for the begging offspring.
Water is very important in the dry and hot season. "A bird vine in the garden also has a positive effect", affirms schmitt. The results of the garden bird survey will show the state of bird life in the garden. The need of the feathered animals can be improved however by the all-season feeding in the short term, in the long term by a reorganization of the gardens.