Today I spent about an hour taking care of the family's birdy buddies! Brought in the hummingbird feeders -- they were completely iced over. Replaced the frozen mixture with some new sugar water made with quite warm water. Brought in the seed feeder, thawed it out completely and put it in the oven at 200 degrees to take the water out of the seeds so they wouldn't just freeze up into a solid block once again. Brought in the suet feeder -- the half inch of ice wouldn't allow for any purchase on it, and the block inside was frozen over. Warm water took the ice off it and a new suet block was provided. Half of the thistle seed in the socks for the goldfinches was iced over, and they couldn't get to it. They got a dry sock and new seed.
This Fall, we left about 2-3 dozen apples on the tree outside the kitchen window. Yesterday when we came home, there was a Herd of robins chowing down -- and they were there again this morning.
Songbirds have a terrible time in ice storms. Take care of them, and they're a joy to watch - even in the snow and ice.
