Bird expert explains how they deal with the cold, gives winter birdwatching tips

The cold might make it difficult for people living their everyday lives, but low temperatures also have an effect on wildlife.

Saskatchewan is in the middle of a cold snap, seeing highs in the -25 C or lower range throughout most of the province.
It might not sound fun to live outside with that kind of a forecast, but birds manage to make it work.

Lacey Weekes, the manager of conservation and education with Nature Saskatchewan, explained the various factors that let our feathered friends keep warm, as well as what people can do to help them out.

“Different species have different ways to adapt,” she explained.

Black-capped chickadees can puff up their feathers and shiver to warm up. House sparrows, on the other hand, will gather up in flocks to share body heat.

A particularly interesting example is the geese and ducks who don’t fly south for the winter, and instead spend their time standing on frozen bodies of water, like Wascana Lake in Regina or the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon.

“They have a neat adaptation. When you see them standing on the ice … they have a neat heat exchange. Their arteries and their veins in their feet and their legs are really close together, so when the blood is flowing from the heart down to their feet, it’s also warming the blood in their veins,” Weekes said.

Still, for species that don’t stash food for the winter months, hunger can be an issue.

As such, Weekes said it is a good idea for people to put out a bird feeder in their yards.

“It’s tough out there,” she said. “Some of them won’t make it on these really cold days.

“If it’s really hard to find food, some of them won’t make it, (but) the majority of the time, they are adaptable to this weather … It is really beneficial, if you do have a bird feeder in the winter. They will definitely make use of that. It does help. If they’re well-fed, they’re able to stay warm.”

People who enjoy watching birds can still see quite a few different species that stay in Saskatchewan all year long.

Weekes pointed to chickadees, white-winged crossbills, nuthatches, magpies, ravens and some water fowl.