How to help robins survive the cold weather this winter

Retro

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If you have a garden, please help the animals that inhabit it. Here's how to help robins.

A robin can use up to 10 per cent of its body weight to keep warm on a single winter night, so unless it can replenish its reserves every day, a cold spell can prove fatal. This is particularly hard for them because daylight foraging is reduced to just eight hours or less, compared to over 16 hours during the summer. British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) research has shown that small birds must spend over 85 per cent of daylight hours just foraging for food to be able to consume enough calories to survive the long night.

Without supplementary bird feeding in gardens, up to half of our robins could die of cold and starvation. Robins are particularly susceptible as they remain faithful to their gardens no matter what the weather.

robin.jpg

 

Mars

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We have a little resident robin. He seems to have two residents: one in a goji berry bush at the back garden, the other in a little tree in the front garden. He is so so clever, got used to my call, I just have to stand outside the kitchen door, and there he comes, fluttering like a butterfly, and stands waiting on the stone pedestal, for me to give him his tidbits.
When I don't see him, I call out, and he normally flies in, but not always: probably otherwise occupied, with a worm, probably. Oh I love him!!!!
 

Tiffany

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We rarely see robins, but we do have little birds that pass through or others nest depending on the time of year and weather. Love the food list for robins in this article. I'll keep this list in mind for our sweet little birds that need our help. Thank you for sharing!
 
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