Every year, millions of birds leave their nesting sites at the end of the breeding season to join their wintering areas in southern countries. However, some species stay in France all year round. These are called “sedentary birds”.
These birds present in our gardens all year round
Some passerines and corvids, omnivorous or capable of adapting their diet to the season, prefer to face the winter cold of our regions rather than undertake a perilous migration.
Among them, we find in particular:
- the blackbird, an omnivorous passerine with black plumage and a yellow beak;
- the house sparrow, a small omnivorous passerine, stocky and with a brownish back and densely streaked with black;
- the tits, including the great tit and the blue tit, insectivorous passerines in summer and tending to be granivorous in winter;
- the magpie, a large omnivorous corvid with black and white plumage;
- the Eurasian jay, a medium-sized omnivorous corvid with colorful plumage;
- and also the starlings, including the common starling, omnivorous passerines with a plump body.
It should be noted that in addition to migratory and sedentary birds, there are also partially migratory birds.
Among them, some individuals choose to stay in place while others migrate south. The robin, the chaffinch, and the dunnock are among them.
Note: due to climate change, thousands of migratory birds now spend the winter in southern Europe, and some have even become completely sedentary.
How to help sedentary birds prepare for winter?
To help sedentary birds prepare for winter, you can provide them with suitable food. However, the LPO recommends feeding only during the bad season, from December to the end of March.
On the other hand, you can install one or several bird baths in the garden all year round. These will be particularly useful during freezing periods.
Among the foods you can offer to sedentary birds, prioritize:
- black sunflower seeds, millet, or oats;
- peanuts, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, and crushed corn;
- seasonal fruits (apple, pear, grape).
However, do not give them roasted or salted seeds, pumpkin and castor seeds, animal fat, milk, peas, lentils, pasta, rice, biscuits, cakes, bread, crackers, salad, wheat, insects… In addition, fat balls in nets are strongly discouraged.
Finally, ensure perennial food resources for sedentary birds by promoting biodiversity in your garden (diverse cultivation of local plant species with flowers and fruits, reasoned mowing, absence of pesticides…)
