Fall & Winter Fuel for Feathered Friends

Migratory birds traveling long distances need food to fuel their flight. And hardy year-round residents require food to provide them with the energy necessary to survive winter’s cold and snow. Birds that migrate make their flights not on what they eat, but on what they have eaten. Before they depart from one continent on their way to another, they stuff themselves, building up significant reserves of fat. Songbirds actually double their body weight with this additional fat, which serves as their “gas tank.” As these birds prepare to make their marathon flights, they need food-rich stopover sites. And nonmigrating birds store fat during the