While spending time on Birds and Blooms site this month I found this article. Nice easy enjoyable reading at a busy time of year. Enjoy...
The world of birding is full of myths. Some have been handed down for generations, while others have cropped up more recently.
When it comes to winter birding, it seems there are more myths than usual. Here are a few of the common ones I know. Hopefully, I can help debunk these myths once and for all!
Myth #1: Birds will freeze to death when temperatures get well below 0°.
Fact: Birds are well equipped to survive the coldest of temperatures. They store fat during the short days of winter to keep themselves warm during the long nights.
Myth #2: American robins always fly south for winter.
Fact: If there is sufficient food on their breeding grounds, American robins, bluebirds, and a host of finches and owls remain in the area where they spent the summer..
Myth #3: You should take birdhouses down in winter because birds don't use them
Fact:On the contrary &mdash a birdhouse makes a great roosting house in winter. Eastern bluebirds will pile into houses to spend cold nights. One photographer once even snapped a picture of 13 male bluebirds in a single house!
Myth #4: If you leave town during winter, the birds that rely on the food from your feeders will die.
Fact: Research has proven this one wrong. Scientists have shown that chickadees, for example, will eat only 25% of their daily winter food from feeders. They find the other 75% in the wild.
In addition, with so many people feeding them nowadays, birds in your yard will simply fly to a nearby neighbor to get their food until you return home..
Myth #5: All hummingbirds migrate south for winter
Fact: Though most hummingbird species in North America do migrate south for the winter, the Anna's hummingbird remains on its West Coast breeding grounds.
continue reading myth #6 through #12
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